West Pakistan Troops Use Tanks In
Drive To Seize Rebel-Held Towns
Michael Hornsby
Bongaon, India-East Pakistan Border, April 11,
The Pakistan Army moved out of its guarded cantonments in East Pakistan this weekend in what appeared to be an attempt to seize some of the smaller towns still under the loose control of the followers of Sheikh Mujibur Rahman, leader of the Awami League. The exact course of events remains unclear. One infantry column was reported to have moved west from the town of Jessore and to have met resistance from units of the East Pakistan Rifles at Jhikargacha, about 12 miles from the Indian border. The Army was also said to be moving south towards Khulna and north-west towards Kushtia.
West Pakistan troops, who began moving west from Dacca last week, are believed to be ‘Somewhere above Kushtia. Further to the north, Army units moving out from Rangpur have taken Saidpur and are said to be heading for Dinajpur, near the Indian border. The Army is using some tanks in this sector. Rajshahi, further south. Is also under pressure. The possibility of a border incident involving Indian troops cannot be ruled out if the Pakistan Army moves up to the frontier. No observers here, however, have been able to find any evidence of the concentration of Indian forces along the frontier repeatedly claimed by the Pakistan Government.
The Pakistan Air Force is continuing to bomb areas held by the followers of Sheikh Mujib, but probably not as heavily as some of the reporting in the Indian press would indicate. The discovery by Italian journalists of charred bodies in the north-eastern town of Sylhet indicates the use of some kind of incendiary bomb, but there is no hard evidence yet to support the claim by spokesman of the Bangladesh [Bengal Nation) movement that Napalm is also being used. It is still difficult to assess the overall strategy of the Pakistan Army. The evidence is very strong that the military authorities in Karachi were unprepared for the situation they find themselves in. They had expected a revolt in the cities but discounted the countryside.
Our Calcutta Correspondent writes: Reports that the pro-Peking Naxalites from West Bengal have joined the independence movement in East Bengal in large numbers are exaggerated. According to an authoritative police source, few of the Calcutta Naxalites have left. Many of them have been arrested during the past week, in fact. Some Naxalites from West Bengal’s border districts have crossed into East Bengal. but perhaps more to escape the West Bengal police than to help the Bangladesh movement.
Uncertainty persists about China’s attitude to the conflict. The Chinese Note of April 6 accused India of “flagrantly interfering in the internal affairs of Pakistan”, but the Naxalites point out that the Note also referred to India, demonstrations “slandering China” as aiding the Pakistan Government “in its war on the freedom loving people of East Bengal”. The Naxalites are hoping that the fighting in East Bengal will be protracted and the resistance will become increasingly reliant on guerrilla action, in which case they expect the leadership of the resistance to pass into the hands of militant leftists. Should this happen, the Naxalites and other radical groups in West Bengal might become directly involved in a liberation movement on both sides of the border.
Though such a movement might appear to be one for a united independent Bengal, its real aim would be to establish a “liberated zone” which would be extended later to cover other states in eastern India. It is argued that the Naga and Mizo rebels would join in and China would be obliged to give active support to a struggle conforming perfectly to its revolutionary prescription. At present this is no more than a theoretical possibility. Various leftist groups are active in East Bengal, but in a disorganized: manner. Sheikh Mujibur Rahman’s name and the Awami League’s network still provide whatever potential cohesion exists in the independent movement.
Delhi, April II. Sheikh Mujibur Rahman’s “Liberation Army” today recaptured Lalrnonirhat in the Rangpur district after four hours of fierce Fighting against Pakistan troops, the Press trust of India reported here. Two companies of Pakistan troops were said to have been exterminated. The fighting began last night when about 1,500 rebels surrounded the town firing mortar shells and armed with submachine guns. About 100 non-Bengali Muslims, who fought with the West Pakistanis were killed.
The P.T.I. reported that the Pakistan troops were now trapped in Rangpur town, with Lalmonirhat airfield, Teesta river bridge, and Haragacha ferry under the control of the Liberation Army. All of Rangpur district. except for the town and Saidpur, which was said to be under the rebel’s control. Two companies of the Pakistan Army which tried to proceed to Dinajpur were ambushed and had to fall back to the Rangpur base, the agency added. Another report spoke of Pakistan troops shelling Dinajpur heavily today and of the Air Force bombing Rajshahi. West Pakistan troops had entered Sylhet without much opposition. and the Pakistan Army had made Chittagong port operational again. Fighting is said to be going on in Comilla, the key town on the railway between Chittagong and Dacca.
-Agence France Presse.
Calcutta. April 11. An Italian priest, Father Attilio Colussi, claimed today that about 200 people, mostly Roman Catholics. were mowed down last Sunday by West Pakistan troops using machine-guns inside a church compound near Jessore, East Pakistan. He said that a fellow Italian priest, Father Mario Veronesi, was also killed as he tried to calm the people. Father Colussi, rector of the Don Bosco missionary school in Calcutta, showed a letter about the shooting, but said the writer could not be named because he was still in the area. Quoting from the letter he said that more than 200 men, women and children had gathered in the compound of the church in Shimoga town for protection. The letter, sent through a Calcutta social worker, said six Pakistan soldiers suddenly entered the church compound with machine guns and began shooting everywhere. – Reuters
Our Washington Correspondent writes: A Senate resolution urging the United States to suspend all arms assistance to Pakistan until the civil war has ended was proposed at the weekend by Republican and Democratic sponsors. The resolution will be introduced on Wednesday.
So far the Administration has limited itself in public to urging the Pakistan Government to take all feasible steps to end the conflict, though hints have been heard that military and economic assistance programmes are under review.
Reference: The Times, 21 April, 1971.