Yahya ‘loosing balance’
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ward Bloc, Mr. N. G. Goray of the PSP. Mr. Loknath Mishra of the Swatantra. Mr. Pranab Kumar Mukhejee of the Bangla Congress, Mr. I. K. Advani of the Jana Sangh, Mr. Biju Patnaik of the Utkal Congress and Mr. Bhupesh Gupta of the CPI.
Mr. Ram said that as the pressure of freedom-fighters in Bangladesh had been increasing and as guerrillas were making the life of the Pak army “too hot”, it appeared that President Yahya Khan was “losing his equilibrium and balance.” Hence the threat of war. Mr. Samar Guha said that there had been 16 air violations by Pakistan during May He wanted the Government to see whether there was any use of electronic device by Pakistan to jam the Indian radar system. He also asked why no siren was sounded. The Defence Minister replied that there were 43 air violations till yesterday. He declined to go into details of the intrusion. In the Rajya Sabha, the Defence Minister said in reply to a question that if Pakistan tried to meddle with our freedom, “we know give a fitting reply”. He told Mr. Chitta Basu (Forward Bloc) that the Government was not going to do anything merely on provocation. He said that he was not aware whether the Chinese troops had been coming to East Bengal recently, but before the conflict started Chinese troops were there to render training. Defence authorities were not taken unawares by the intrusions, says INFA. On both occasions the Pak planes were duly intercepted by Indian fighters and chased back into Pakistan. The defence authorities, however, did not think it fit to shoot down the aircraft as they were determined not to allow Pakistan to precipitate an armed conflict at this juncture.
Reference: Hindustan Standard 24.7.1971