Easter States alerted about spies
By A Staff Reporter, The Government of India is taking steps to arrest spies and saboteurs, quite a large number of whom have entered the border States in the guise of tourists. The Centre has already alerted the Eastern States about the same.
Mr. B. D. Bhattacharjee. Union Joint Secretary, had high level talks on this issue in Calcutta on Thursday. In the past few months there has been a sudden spurt in the number of tourists in the eastern region. Sources close to the Centre said that the Army and civil intelligence were working together in this matter.
Sources close to Mujibnagar, said that some international agencies as well as the Pakistan Government had been spreading the rumour of a famine in Bangladesh.
The idea behind it, they said, was to use the relief material obtained this way for the Pakistani Army which was running short of food and transport vehicles.
Evacuees who entered India recently have revealed that the crop position in Bangladesh is quite good, Already 11.5 per cent of the population of Bangladesh has crossed over to India. It is however, likely that because of the total breakdown of the transport system, there may be some scarcity “pockets”.
Reference: Hindustan Standard 30.10.1971