Pakistani Flags Fly Over Ruins of “Bangla Desh”
By Georg Spicker
The flags of Pakistan have been hoisted over the Eastern portion of this geographically-divided land once more.
And many of them are fluttering over the ruins of “Bangla Desh”.
Ashes and ruins, all that remain in numerous villages and city sectors of East Pakistan, are evidence of the thoroughness with which the military regime in Islamabad crushed the “Awami League” Independence movement.
Almost every inhabited house now has the national flag waving from its roof.
So do cars, and even the workers who have returned to the factories are displaying their loyalty to the Government in the form of little paper flags pinned to their clothing.
Foreign jounalists, who received permision to travel to East Pakistan walk through Chittagong itself revealed entire sections levelled by fire and artillery.
Not the Army only
But a number of East Pakistanis maintain that not the Army alone must be made responsible for the devastation, the countless dead and the hundreds of thousands of refugees.
The hatred of some Bengalese nationalists against West Pakistan knew no bounds when Government troops mounted their five week campaign against the resistance fighters, they say.
The Bengalese fanatics, they claim, killed thousands of non-Bengalese during the first days of the civil war.
The Awami Lague headquarters in Chittagong several hundred people who appears to have escaped serious damage.
Port authorities told the journalists that activity in the harbour, essential to the well-being of East Pakistan, was interrupted for only three days.
Nevertheless, the daily turnover of cargo has dropped from 11,000 tons to 5,000 tons, mainly because only a few foreign ships are calling on the port at the present time.
The port is heavily guarded, as are the airports in East Pakistan. Dacca Airport, for example is surrounded by barriers and anti-aircraft weapons.
And even on short domestic flights, two armed soldiers keep an eye on the passengers.
Reference : The Djakarta Times, 03.06.1971