Pindi version of Killings “diabolical lie”
A spokesman of the Bangladesh Government on Saturday in Calcutta characterized as a diabolical lie the reported statement by General Tikka Khan to a group of visiting reporters in Dacca yesterday that the massacre in Bangladesh was directed mainly against non-Bengali, pro-Pakistani elements, reports UNI.
The spokesman said that Pakistan had armed the no-Bengali Muslim League supporters to the teeth and it was they who sided with the troops in the carnage of Bengalis.
He said it was also a total lie that Hindus had been killed by Bengali Muslims. The statement was designed to inflame communal feelings in India.
He said Muslims and non-Muslim in Bangladesh were united in their struggle for freedom. For this reason the troops and the non-Bengali Muslims had made Hindus and Awami League supporters their special targets.
He said the Bangladesh Government had definite information that the Pakistani Government had carried out large-scale repairs at all places where they had intended to take the journalists.
He said it was a conducted tour and the six journalists were being shown only what the Pakistani Government wanted them to see. The Government had done its utmost to suppress all evidence of the atrocities committed by the troops.
The journalists were not even taken to Dacca Cantonment. Had they been taken there they would have seen hundreds of girls abducted by Pakistani troops.
The journalists had no opportunity to meet Bengalis as most of the Bengalis at the places shown to them had fled their homes.
It was the Army which fired the first shot and not the Bengalis as stated by General Tikka Khan. The Bengalis were unarmed and thousands of them were massacred. There was no question of their being disarmed.
Reference: Hindustan Standard, 07.05.1971