PAK ARMY KILLING & DRIVING OUT HINDUS
SHOOT MEN & RANSACK HOMES
Boliadi, East Pakistan, June 27 (AP).
IN WHAT a commanding major described as a “routine patrol,” a platoon of the Pakistan Army smashed into the Hindu section of this waterlogged village before dawn Sunday, shooting men, ransacking homes and burning the market.
Twenty minutes after 24 West Pakistani soldiers and another dozen men in the uniform of the frontier corps from the Northwest frontier more than 1,000 miles (1600k) West of here, left the village, the commander, who identified himself as Major Omar told the Associated Press the troops had been on a “routine patrol.”
The major who said “I should not have told you my name” wore a blue beret and was barefooted, leading group carrying automatic rifles and umbrella to stay dry in the monsoon rain.
Two men carried small radios and other carried goods wrapped in cloths.
An inspection showed they left behind them three dead men and a desolated village still burning so fiercely the heat drove eye witnesses away and buckled iron sheets.
A few old women and children mourned the dead or wailed Bangali “They have taken everything.”
The rest of the village, which local Moslem residents said once housed 100 families, had fled into the Jute farmfields or across the creeks.
The body of an old white haired man was stretched across the mat in the groundfloor store of a two-story corrugated iron shack. A bullet had come through his back.
Villagers said that besides the three visible bodies, another five or six were killed in the live hours attack.
BRITISH MPs SLEEP
The attack occured one hour’s drive north west of Dacca where four British Parliamentarins investigating the situation in East Pakistan, Slept on the final day of their visit and at the same time ships carrying American ammunition and spares for the Pakistan Army were heading towards Karachi in West Pakistan.
Moslem villagers and many students who have fled Dacca March 25, said since Friday army patrols, some landing in small boats, have been striking at villages within a six mile (10mk) radius of this part of Dacca district. Other towns named were Kaliakair, Chapair, Kuripara and Bhrangraj.
Smoke could be seen unfurling and shots could be heard through the morning from the direction of those villages.
Major Omar refused to give details of the patrol or to name the outfit. The villagers said they believed the attacks were connected with reports of stepped up activity by the Bangla Desh secessionists “Mukhti Bahini”. Based 28 miles (45k) to the north near Tangail on the Brahmaputra river.
Few villagers wanted their names known or pictured taken but several hundred men and boys followed an Associated Press Newsman through the village which is built on several islands connected to the main road by bamboo bridge.
They said the army was killing and driving out Hindus but that in the early days of the army takeover Moslems were targets.
“Give this wide circulation,” said several young man who said they had been students in Dacca.
“Set the conditions of Bangla Desh,” said another in English.
“Why does Ainerica help the Pakistan Army?” asked a third when told the newsman came from the United States.
For the first time since March 25, one heard in Bengal cries of “Shahdeen, bangla”- independent Bengal- and “Joy Bangala”- long live Bengal.
Moslem villagers said the attack started about 0400 hours local time Sunday with shooting and looting. People ran from their homes near the water.
The troops set ablaze a Hindu bazaar which was a collection of tin shacks on a
hilltop under the trees across from what apparently was the main Hindu residential area.
Corrugated iron sheets cracked and split noisily and crashed to the ground.
On the approach to the residential area, one man lay in a hut shot through the neck. His wife crooned and cradled him to her lap.
Reference : Indonesian Observer, 28.06.1971