East Wing Sealed off
Killing on a mass scale is underway in East Pakistan, caught in the grip of a vicious civil war, according to all available indications from the province, which is now virtually sealed off from the outside world.
Diplomatic sources which still have tenuous radio links with their missions in Dacca, as well as foreign observers who have left the province since fighting began on Friday, say the 70,000 West Pakistan soldiers are showing no mercy in their bid to suppress the Bangladesh independence movement.
Victories Claimed
With communications now almost entirely cut, the sporadic reports coming from Dacca and elsewhere in East Pakistan cannot be verified.
Sheikh Mujib’s clandestine radio has claimed the capture of the key town of Rangpur. It said hundreds of young men surged towards the Army’s district headquarters in the town and took it after a bitter fight with West Pakistan troops.
Since then, the radio claimed, all West Pakistan soldiers and border guards had retreated from the district, the radio said thousands of volunteers of Sheikh Mujib’s Awami League were now marching on the capital, Dacca.
It also claimed the capture of Army cantonments at Comilla, Jessorc, and Khulna by Bangladesh forces.
According to the radio, West Pakistan forces have resorted to bombing undefended positions held by masses of Bengalis. It said that at least two hospitals, including one at Dacca, have been badly hit.
Helicopters were shelling the heavily populated towns of Comilla and Chittagong in the south-eastern half of the region Chittagong was the center of greatest tension all through the crisis which led to the present fighting.
Pretense Dropped
The official Government Radio broadcasting from Dacca, last night dropped. its pretense that the situation was “normal” and “under control”. It reported that “several thousand” extra troops had been airlifted to Chittagong to quell mass disturbances.
The official radio, as well as Pakistan envoys abroad, repudiated a report on Radio Bangladesh that the martial law chief in East Pakistan, Lieut-Gen. Tikka Khan, had been killed by a “freedom fighter”.
The Pakistan High Commissioner in New Delhi, Mr. Sajjad Hyder, said yesterday Gen. Khan was “very much alive.”
But the clandestine radio repeated its claim and said that four aides who were with him were also killed. Reports coming across the border in the Tripura region of northeast India said the General was a victim of a petrol bomb attack in Central Dacca.
Concern In India
The civil war in East Pakistan is causing mounting concern in India. The Indian Army Commander-in-Chief, Gen. S.H.F.J.. (“Sam”) Manekshaw, rushed to Delhi for consultations at Cabinet level.
India’s own crisis-ridden State of West Bengal, still chronically unstable and under President’s rule direct from Delhi, borders on East Pakistan. There are fears that the wave of Bengali nationalism sweeping through the eastern half of the former
There are about 100,000 Indian soldiers in West Bengal at present. They were stationed there to maintain order during the General and State elections earlier this month. Their presence now could prove vital to Indian security.
There are fears that chat conflict could spread to West Bengal in two ways. Feelings of solidarity with fellow Bengalis in East Pakistan could be exploited and whipped by the political agitators.
Significantly, the Marxists in West Bengal have already put forward their own version of Sheikh Mujib’s now irrelevant “six points’: and are demanding greater autonomy from New Delhi.
There is also concern that fighting may simply spread across the border, which is open for many miles, like a forest fire. This could be a particular danger if the West Pakistan army adopted a “scorched earth” policy in a mood of sheer vindictiveness-a quality it does not lack.
Mrs. Gandhi told the India Parliament on Saturday that India would play whatever part it could in alleviating the distress of the people of East Pakistan.
Despite pressure from many members to show a more positive response to the plight of innocent civil war victims, Mrs. Gandhi spoke in cautions and moderate tones. She indicated that India could not openly support a “secessionist movement” in a neighboring country.
India, she said, had to take into account the national and international repercussions of the crisis. But the Premier made clear that she deplored West Pakistan efforts to suppress the East wing’s popular movement by force.
She said the borders with India would remain open for refugees. Her statement was welcomed by Radio Bangladesh last night.
Following an emotional discussion in the Lok Sabha (Lower House), Pakistan protested to India about interference in its internal affairs. The Pakistan High Commissioner, Mr. Hyder, also lodged a complaint about Indian news coverage.
There is no indication of how the estimated 600 British expatriates are still in East Pakistan faring, as the British High Commission in Dacca, along with all foreign missions, has been forbidden to use its transmitter. But there is no great cause to fear for their Safety.
Reference: The Daily Telegraph, March 29, 1971