Mukti Fouj kills 48 in three encounters
KRISHNAGAR, JULY 11 – Six Pakistani troops were killed when Mukti Fouj guerrillas made a pre-dawn attack today on the Naohata airstrip, north of Rajshahi, with grenades, report agencies.
Two Pak helicopters immediately took off from the airstrip to avoid damage. Heavy exchange of fire between the liberation force and Pakistani troops were continuing since last midnight at Kathuli, Maheshkundi and Ichhakhali in Kushtia District
The Pakistani troops were using three-inch mortars and firing recoilless rifles from Kalachandpur, four miles north of Meherpur. Mukti Fouj replied with three-hour constant firing.
Pakistani Army casualties were reported to be heavy but exact figures were not yet known. Four Pakistani Army officers and eight soldiers were killed by liberation army fighters when they ambushed some speedboats of the Pakistani army in the Saldanadi area on Saturday, a report from across the border said on Sunday.
The guerrilla fighters also captured one radio set, three rifles and a machine-gun from the speedboats. The Pakistani Army pursued the guerrilla fighters as they were returning with the bodies of the officers. The freedom-fighters however returned to their base with the insignias torn apart from the uniforms of the officers.
In another encounter on Friday in the same area 30 Pakistani soldiers were killed by the Mukti Fouj. Our Mekliganj Correspondent adds : Pak forces shelled heavily on Indian border villages on Saturday night in which four persons including a child died and Sitalkuchi Agricultural Farms were badly damaged. The Security Border Force fired in return. Pak forces also fired on Hemkumari of Haldibari thana area on Saturday night. Casualties are not known.
The Pakistani authorities are clearly irritated at the exposure of the genocide in Bangladesh by the foreign Press and other communication media and have gone to the extent of accusing them of acting as “vassals of All India Radio” agencies continue.
A lengthy dispatch by the Government-owned news agency Associated Press of Pakistan speaks of “malicious propaganda offensive” by Air and the Press and says “In this campaign a section of the Western Press lavishly toed the Indian line throwing to the boards all canons of journalism, objectively, facts and truth.”
The dispatch is front-paged by both the English dailies of Dacca, the Morning News and the Pakistan Observer under the identical headline “Indian conspiracy to cripple East Pak economy unfolded.”
Recruitment to Pakistan National Service will begin on Monday at four different places in West Pakistan. Reporting this Radio Pakistan said the recruitment teams will visit Gujarat. Gujranwala, Peshawar and Karachi from July 12 to 25 for the purpose.
All eligible young men have been asked to appear before the team for an interview on the dates notified to them.
Our Jalpaiguri Correspondent adds : After a fierce fighting between Mukti Fouj and Pak Army at Panchagarh sector of Dinajpur since wednesday the freedom fighters captured Amarkhana post and hoisted a Bangladesh flag four miles from an Indian outpost, Chaulhati Mukti Fouj also took possession of a large quantity arms and ammunition from retreating Pak forces.
Meanwhile a three-member Canadian parliamentary delegation arrived at Rawalpindi on Sunday from New Delhi for a five-day fact-finding tour of Pakistan, agencies further say.
The delegation will fly to Karachi on Monday evening enroute to Dacca for an on-the-spot study of the situation in East Pakistan. The delegation is expected to meet President Yahya Khan on Monday.
The Japanese Ambassador in India. Mr. Atasushi Uyama has expressed the hope that a political solution envisaged by the people of Pakistan would be worked out to settle the Bangladesh issue.
Talking to newsmen in Jaipur on Sunday Mr. Uyama said the Government of India had taken a very correct approach towards the Bangladesh issue and said many friendly governments had supported it.
The Union Deputy Home Minister Mr. F. H. Mohsin said at Gulbarga on Sunday that Pakistan by its “barbaric killing” of innocent Hindus and Muslims has clearly exhibited in the Islamic world that it has no value for Islamic principles and tenets. He was speaking at a public meeting organised by Congress (R) in Momaipura a predominately Muslim locality.
The Bharatiya Kranti Dal Chairman, Mr. Charan Singh said on Sunday that Mrs. Gandhi’s Bangladesh policy had “miserably” failed and she was now looking for scapegoats. He was addressing a news conference in Lucknow.
The Congress (0) leader Mr. Morarji Desai characterized the Union Government’s policy on Bangladesh as “improper” but he did not think it was influenced by any foreign power.
Mr. Desai, who was talking to newsmen in Ahmedabad said “It was possible to create conditions whereby the influx of refugees from Bangladesh into India could have been completely stopped.”
The President of the Calcutta University Bangladesh Students Relief and Aid Committee Mr. Sudhir Saha, in a statement has requested all the Bangladesh students to contact their office at Darbhanga Building for all sorts of help including admission facility.
Reference: Hindustan Standard, 12.07.1971