Priests on Pak Army Atrocities in Jessore
JESSORE, DEC 13. “The Indian troops are great – They behave a lot better than the Americans when they entered Italy during World War II” a cheerful Italian missionary told newsmen yesterday. The Pakistanis were a different matter, he said.
The priest estimated that the Pakistani soldiers had butchered about 10,000 persons in two weeks. The killings started on April 4, when Jessore had a population of 60,000.
“We are very happy now, we are happy with the people. We are with them all the way.” Father Francis Espagnola, from the Order of Parma said. He has been in East Pakistan since 1943.
PRIEST KILLED
Asked whether there was any pressure on the missionaries, Fr. Espagnola said another priest was killed on April 4.
“He was walking down the street. The Pakistani soldiers shouted at him to stop and come over with his hands up. He did so and when he was near they shot him. They often did it that way. They fired at me too but I ran into a banana field and that stopped the bullet.” he added.
Fr. Alberto, the other surviving priest in Jessore said the day he talked to the Pakistani soldiers they told him that they had received orders to kill everybody. “And they did it. Men, women, babies-I cannot describe it. It was too terrible.”
The priests also confirmed stories that the Pakistani soldiers had rounded up young girls and took them to their military compound.
Asked by newsmen whether it was true that these girls were held there stark naked all the time. Fr. Alberto shrugged his shoulders and said : “Yes, we knew that – and when you come to the Cantonment (military compound) in Dacca, you might still find many of them.”
The priests said before April it was mostly the Hindus and Christians who suffered under the occupation forces. One day a group of Pakistani soldiers walked into the Catholic Mission in a village five km from Jessore. Holding the inhabitants at gunpoint they selected four girls and raped them.
“I went to the Colonel and complained about it but he just answered that his soldiers would not do that. The officers were educated men and they used to be friendly with us but they completely ignored what their soldiers were doing.” he added.
The priests emphasized again what they called the splendid behavior of the Indian troops who were now occupying the city. They had not heard of any complaints so far. – UPI.
Reference: Hindustan Standard, 14.12.1971