Cabinet Returns in Triumph to Bangladesh
By Clare Hollingworth in Dacca
Syed Nazrul Islam, acting president of Bangladesh, and seven other members of the Bangladesh Government arrived in Dacca from Calcutta in an Indian Air Force Caribou transport plane yesterday to a tremendous welcome from the Bengali population.
Pretty Bengali girls greeted Syed Nazrul and Mr Tajuddin Ahmed, the Prime Minister, with somewhat tired garlands of marigolds, while a guard of honor of the 2nd Bangladesh Regt presented arms.
There were shouts of “Jai Bangla” and “Release Sheikh Mujibur” the Awami League leader still held in West Pakistan as members of the Cabinet prepared to make a television and radio broadcast.
Chinese-made anti-aircraft guns left by the surrendered Pakistan Army were covered in white sheets. Laborers were still busy repairing the runway so Indian Airlines can start a regular service, which it hopes to do on Christmas day.
Ever since the Pakistani Army’s crackdown in March, the cabinet has been in exile in India. There has been some criticism in Dacca that they have taken six days since the Pakistani surrender to return.
An interim constitution is to be adopted which will include clauses defining the rights of minority groups. The new government said officials will tour refugee camps in India to make arrangements for the return of the millions of people who field there.
Guerrilla killings
A Baptist missionary from Faridpur reports that nine Razakars, the West Pakistan Army-recruited militia, were killed and their corpses left outside the church in Faridpur last Saturday. But he added that the local Bangladesh leaders promised to ensure public security in the future.
Near Goalundo, at Rajbari, in the Faridpur district as the Pakistan Army and Razakars withdrew, the Bihari population took up their arms and said “We will defend ourselves.”
Reliable witnesses claim there are now “hundreds if not thousands of bodies rotting in the sun.” The Biharis were completely annihilated by the Mukti Fouj.
I have personally witnessed widespread looting and seen some 30 bodies of men in the Dacca district killed. The Indian Army is making a great effort to restore law and order, but conditions in the countryside are still out of hand as gangs of armed youths shoot and pillage.
Reference: Telegraph, 28.12.1971