SCORCHED EARTH OPERATION ALONG E. PAKISTAN BORDER
by Dennis Neeld Shikarpur, India, June 15 (AP) “The Pakistan Army has launched a scorched earth operation along the frontier between East Pakistan and India, according to Indian military and civilian authorities in the spot.
President Yahya Khan’s groups are buring frontiers villages, destroying jute and sugar cane plantations and ordering those inhabitants who have not already fled to India to pull back at least five miles (8 kms) from the border, the Indians report.
The operation seems designed as a defensive measure against guerrilla attacks by East Pakistani secessionist forces- the Mukhti Fauj- building up their strength in the safety of Indian territory.
The operation has resulted in yet more refugees crossing into India from the scorched earth belt although they are coming over in far fewer numbers than in recent weeks.
The Pakistan Army has attempted to seal the border but refugees still are sneaking through at night.
There seem to be sound military reasons for the Pakistani precautions. Newsmen touring the Indian side of the border area stumbled across a Mukhti Fauj encampment in a clearing in the woods near Shikarpur, about 110 miles (175 kms) Northeast of Calcutta.
Some 20 tents were pitched in the clearing a quarter of a mile (.4 km) from the border and armed guards stood sentry at the entrance. In the camp was a truckload of sikh light infantry, turbaned troops of the Indian regular army.
“We are just here to supervise the incoulation of refugees” an Indian army officer explained lamely.
TRANSIT POINT
A captain of the Mukhti Fauj claimed the camp was a transit point at which Bangla Desh- Bengali Nation- soldiers received some initial military training. It was not an operational base, he asserted.
In the grounds of a nearby Christian mission was what the officer deseribed as a Bangla Desh youth camp. The youths were in khaki battledress. … Shikarphur is the … point … along which tens of thousands of East Pakistani refugees poured into India earlier this month.
Mainly Hindus they came from towns like Faridpur and Khulna deep in the interior of East Pakistan.
Reference : Indonesian Observer, 16.06.1971