Pakistan Envoy Flies Rebel Flag.
Calcutta, April 18. Mr. M. Hossain Ali today renounced his post of Pakistan’s Deputy High Commissioner to India and hoisted the green, red and gold flag of Bangladesh (Bengali nation) at his mission here….As he spoke. A crowd of about 300 Indians gathered outside the building shouting “Joi Bangla” (Hail Bengal).
Mr. Ali said: “It is clear from all the reports I have received here from people coming out (of East Pakistan) that the Pakistan Army is carrying out genocide in my country. “They have killed hundreds of thousands. No one knows how many,” he added. “Now a Government of Bangladesh has been sworn in that enjoys the allegiance of the entire people and I know in my heart that I had to support this Government.” Mr. Ali said that 30 of the more than 80 staff members of the mission were from West Pakistan and arrangements were being made to send them back to Islamabad.
Karachi, April 18. A purge of Bengalis from the Pakistan armed forces and key Civil Service posts was reported under way. Unofficial sources said that the aim was to remove “unreliable elements’ ‘ from every aspect of the Government’s drive against the independence seeking Bengalis of East Pakistan. The sources said that hundreds of Bengali servicemen in West Pakistan have been sent on leave but have been forbidden to return to their homes in the eastern province.
They added that the 20 Bengali civil servants who have either lost either their jobs or been given lesser positions includes Mr. Mafeesur Rahman, director-general of Pakistan state radio, and Mr. Syed Ahmad, secretary of the Information Ministry.- A.P.
Rawalpindi, April 18. Sheikh Mujibur Rahman, the imprisoned leader of the banned Awami League, has been taken to another jail after treatment in the Combined Military Hospital here, reliable medical sources said today. But according to Government informants. Sheikh Mujib was on a hunger strike.
The medical sources said that he was now at a prison at Mianwali. a sparsely populated area on the banks of the Indus river in Punjab. 100 miles south-west of Rawalpindi.-A.P
Reference: The Times, 19 April, 1971.