Big Guns Blast Unarmed Bengalis
Sydney H. Schanberg
This despatch was filed from Bombay by Sydney H Schanberg of the New York Times following his expulsion early yesterday from Dacca. capital of East Pakistan.
The Pakistan Army is shooting its way into control of East Pakistan. It is using artillery and heavy machine-guns against unarmed civilians to crush the movement for autonomy in this province of 75 million people. The attack begin late on Thursday night without warning. The West Pakistani troops, who predominate in the Army, moved into the streets of Dacca, the provincial capital, to besiege the strongholds of the independent movement; one was university.
The firing was at first sporadic, but by 1 am on Friday, it had become heavy and nearly continuous and remained that way for three hours. Scores of artillery bursts were seen and heard by foreign newsmen who were ordered not to leave the Intercontinental Hotel on threat of death. From the hotel which is in the northern part of Dacca huge fires could be seen in various parts of the city, including the university area and the headquarters of the East Pakistan Rifles, the paramilitary force composed of Bengalis (East Pakistanis).
Some fires were still burning and sporadic shooting continued early on Saturday morning when the 35 foreign newsmen were expelled from Dacca. On the ride to the airport in a guarded convoy of military trucks. They saw troops setting fire to the thatched roof houses of poor Bengalis who live along the road and who are some of the staunchest supporters of the self-rule movement.
“Bangladesh is finished. Many people are killed”, a West Pakistani soldier at the airport said in a matter of fact tone. Bangladesh means “Bengal nation” and it is the name given by the autonomy movement to this eastern region of Pakistan. East Pakistan is separated from West Pakistan by1,000 miles of Indian territory,
By our Foreign Staff
The fate of Sheikh Mujibur Rahman’s attempt to set up a break-away nation in East Pakistan was still uncertain last night. Conflicting reports reached the world as fighting went on in a second day of civil war in West Pakistan, the Central Government’s radio claimed that the break-away leader had been arrested at 1:30 am on Friday at his house in Dacca, the Eastern capital. But a clandestine radio station claimed that Sheikh Mujibur was still free and had set up a headquarters at Chittagong.
Among the reports that came out via New Delhi and Calcutta was the assertion that 10,000 unarmed civilians were killed in the first day of the civil war, but diplomatic observers are apparently skeptical of such unconfirmed claims. Another unconfirmed report said that 1,500 civilians armed only with spears and daggers, were killed by machine-gun fire as they tried to take over an airport at Jessore.
Reference: The Times, 24 March, 1971