THE NEW YORK TIMES, SUN DA Y. AUGUST 1, 1961
East Pakistan:
SHADES OF THE VIETNAM WAR
Dacca. Pakistan-The Government’s army is largely confined to the towns and roads. The guerrilla rebels in the countryside get help from across the border. A clandestine radio transmitter reports “liberation army” successes and predicts eventual victory.
A visitor to East Pakistan can drive” through much of the region without observing anything abnormal. Yet many foreign diplomatic observers have been tempted to compare the Bengali situation with the opening phase of the Vietnam war, and some of the parallels-such as those listed above-are unmistakable.
Neighboring India from the outset has provided a haven, training and material support for the Bengali rebels, as North Vietnam did for the Vietcong. Even the lush, rice growing terrain of the Ganges River Delta, making up most of East Pakistan, is similar to that of the Mekong River delta in Vietnam. Rebel posters blossom briefly in Dacca and other towns, warning civilians to leave before the Liberation Army (Mukti Bahini) opens a bloody new offensive.
But if a guerrilla war in East Pakistan is under way, it has a long way to go before reaching the level of effectiveness seen in East Asia during the past few decades. Behind the volume of propaganda on all sides, not very much seems to be happening.
Some kind of war is unfolding in East Pakistan. At least a few people are getting killed and many others are suffering. But in this passion-wrenched land it is as difficult to verify a fact as it is to find a dry place to stand in the current monsoon rains.
Along East Pakistan’s eastern border, Pakistani and Indian artillery thunder away at each other, and both sides have augmented their forces in the region during the past week. Military men and ordinary people expect a surge in violence during the next few weeks, possibly timed to coincide with Pakistan’s national day of August 15.
The 60-mile road between Dacca and the important frontier garrison of Comilla is open. There is little to show that the Government is having any difficulty maintaining this strategic link. One mine was planted on the road recently, and the rebels dynamited a key bridge on the road, but traffic was detoured over a rickety wooden bridge a few hundred yards away.
In Dacca, guerrillas have made their presence felt during the past two weeks by knocking out the city gas supply and damaging the electricity supply badly enough so that there are frequent blackouts. There are nightly sounds of explosions and gunfire. Neighborhoods that were blasted and burned out in March are still flat. But Dacca is again full of people, rickshaws and commerce and looks as though it is nearly back to normal.
In many populous areas in the countryside crops are growing, and It there are serious food shortages they are not evident.
The political background to this strife is easy enough to trace. East and West Pakistan, separated from each other by 900 miles of Indian territory, share a belief in the Muslim faith but little else. The Bengalis of the east speak a different language from the Urdu of the west they have different cultural and social traditions and even look different. The Bangalis have long regarded the Punjabi of West Pakistan as economic exploiters of the eastern region.
Latent Bengali yearning for autonomy from West Pakistan came to a head last March and some Bengali leaders called for outright secession and the creation of a new Bengali nation, Bangladesh. On March 25, West Pakistan’s army-East Pakistani military units had joined the rebels-moved into Bengal as an invasion force. They have applied an iron hand to the administration of the region ever since.
Just how many persons were killed in the process remains one of the many persisting controversies. The Government forces have never disclosed their own estimates, saying only that “enemy dead are not counted; they are thrown into the river.” Estimates range all the way from 10,000 to several hundred thousand killed. In any case. West Pakistan’s three regular divisions now control every aspect of life in East Pakistan, apart from hinterland zones they do not take the trouble to occupy.
And the prevailing impression remains one of despair on the part of the Bengalis rather than challenge. For many observers here, the saddest and most significant fact is that somewhere near seven million people have fled to India, and the refugee flood continues.
-Malcolm W. Browne