Jawans take position within 2 km of Dacca
By Our Special Correspondent, The unilateral offer of a Cease-fire, made by India through the US Embassy, was perhaps the only thing Lt. Gen. A. A. K. Niazi, Commander of Pakistani occupation forces in Bangladesh could do under the very desperate situation facing him in Dacca with Indian troops taking positions at several places within 2 km of the city.
It was indeed an offer short of an unconditional surrender and that possibly explains why the Indian Army Chief, Gen. Manekshaw made it quite clear that Gen. Niazi should agree to lay down arms immediately preventing unnecessary loss of human lives. The fact is that when the offer of a cease-fire came, Indian troops advancing from various directions, had left hardly any room for Gen. Niazi’s troops to escape from Dacca. Moreover, Gen. Niazi, who has all alone been trying to face the reality of the situation, gave the call for a cease-fire only when his headquarters in Dacca was directly hit by shells fired from Indian artillery.
Even then, till a late hour on Wednesday, Gen. Niazi did not respond to Gen. Manekshaw’s terms for a total surrender. General Manekshaw arranged for a radio channel for Gen. Niazi to contact him in case the latter agreed to lay down arms. But Gen. Niazi has not as yet established any radio link with Delhi for communicating his decision on Gen. Manekshaw’s offer. This raised some doubt about the very purpose of Gen. Niazi’s unilateral offer of a cease-fire.
Whatever may have been the purpose of Gen. Niazi’s cease-fire offer, the fact is that the Indian troops advancing from three different directions, are in a position to direct mortar fire on the Pakistani military targets in and around Dacca. In other words, Indian troops closing in from all sides are within 3,000 to 5,000 yards of military objectives in Dacca.
What is more, Indian troops started moving in a new column from Daudkandi point towards Dacca. Daudkandi on the Meghna is a ferry point in tre road from Comilla to Dadda. According to an Army spokesman the Indian troops by crossing the Meghna at Daudkandi point have crossed all waterways on way to Dacca. The thrust from the southern end virtually completed the encirclement of Dacca city. He said Operation Dacca was going on remarkably well. Even though, as directed by Gen. Manekshaw, air attack was suspended since Wednesday evening ground operation was continuing.
According to latest reports the enemy ranks were in utter confusion and a large number of civilians had already left the city. | Agencies add: Indian troops took position at several places within two kilometers of Dacca and attacked the military targets of the capital city with mortars according to a spokesman of the Eastern Command in Calcutta.
The spokesman said the mortar fire of the Indian infantry was being returned by Pakistani troops.
According to reports, enemy troops had occupied houses evacuated by civilians in Dacca to take fortified positions.
Replying to a foregin correspondent, the spokesman considered by our Army as military targets.”
Replying to another foreign correspondent, the spokesman said there had not been a landing of paratroopers near Dacca after last Saturday.
He said the columns of paratroops from the north-west of Dacca had made rapid advances to reach Joydevpur, 18 kms from the capital city within the Greater Dacca area.
He told a questionnaire that columns of the Indian troops and the Mukti Bahini from the north-eastern side of Narsingdi were also advancing fast towards Dacca.
The spokesman, however, declined to give the details of the Indian infantry positions near Dacca.
Indian troops liberated Siramani, a part of the Industrial town of Khulna where the isolated Pakistani troops were putting up a stiff fight for the fifth day on Wednesday. The Indian troops have already overcome the major obstacles of rivers and marshy land in the outflanking approach to Khulna.
The spokesman said the Indian troops had crossed the river Madhumati north of Jessore and had established a foothold on the other side of the river which gave access to the town of Faridpur and then on to Dacca.
In the Sylhet sector, where the Pakistani troops had been bottled up by the Indian troops, a company of the Baluch Regiment of Pakistan surrendered to the Indian Army on Wednesday, the spokesman said.
Fierce fighting has been going on at Kumarkhali Ghat in the Faridpur sector since Wednesday morning.
The port city of Chittagong, whose hilly hinterland is completely under the control of the Mukti Bahini was within striking reach of the combined forces of the Bahini and the Indian Army, he said.
Half of the Mainamati Cantonment near Comilla had come under our control. The Pakistani were still holding out in the garrisons at Saidpur, Dinajpur and Rangpur.
Reference: Hindustan Standard, 16.12.1971