CALCUTTA, India, Nov. 24—India acknowledged today for the first time that her troops had crossed into East Pakistan to battle Pakistani forces, but said they had done only once—last Sunday—and then only “in self‐defense.”

That admission was made in Parliament in New Delhi by Prime Minister Indira Gandhi and elaborated on later in the day by a Government spokesman at a briefing on the border situation.

The Prime Minister declared that Indian troops had been instructed “not to cross the borders except in self‐defense.”

The spokesman said that there were no Indian divisions in East Pakistan now and that all the fighting going on there was between the Pakistanis and the Bengali insurgents fighting for the independence of East Pakistan.

Pakistani Attack Alleged

Both the Prime Minister and the Government spokesman said Indian troops crossed into East Pakistan Sunday to repulse a Pakistani attack with tanks and artillery in the vicinity of Boyra, an Indian border town 75 miles northeast of here.

Mrs. Gandhi, in her statement to Parliament, said: “Pakistani propaganda media have been putting out the story that we are engaged in an undeclared war and have mounted massive attacks with tanks and troops. This is wholly untrue.”

The admission that Indian forces had crossed the border came as the Government sharply tightened restrictions on travel by foreigners to border areas—apparently to keep foreign newsmen from seeing the troop activity.

Yesterday this correspondent witnessed large convoys of Indian troops and equipment rolling toward Boyra at a point less than six miles from the frontier with the Jessore District of East Pakistan, where the heaviest fighting has been reported since the Indian‐supported Bengali offensive began over the weekend. Indian officers at the scene made no attempt to conceal the fact that their men were going into action in East. Pakistan.

Heavy Fighting Reported

With foreign newsmen barred and Indian newsmen not reporting the border crossings, details of the fighting in East Pakistan remained sketchy. Reliable reports indicated that heavy fighting was continuing in the districts of Jessore, Dinajpur, Rangpur, Mymensingh and Sylhet.

Key objectives seemed to be capture of the cities of Jessore and Sylhet. The airport at Jessore was reportedly being shelled.

Sources in the insurgent government of Bangla Desh (Bengal Nation) said that Indian tanks were supporting the guerrillas in a big battle around Meherpur, north of Jessore District.

Yahya Khan Is Berated

Mrs. Gandhi told Parliament that the national emergency edict issued yesterday by President Agha Mohammad Yahya Khan of Pakistan “is the climax of his efforts to divert the attention of the world from Bangla Desh and to put the blame on us for a situation which he himself has created.”

The Prime Minister said that India was only responding to months of warlike Pakistani moves—among them a troop build‐up in the borders in October and the military action in East Pakistan, which, according to Indian estimates, has send over nine million Bengali refugees fleeing into India.

“It has never been our intention,” she said, “to escalate the situation or to start a conflict. To this end we have instructed our troops not to cross the borders except in self-defense.”

“Even though Pakistan has declared an emergency, we shall refrain from taking similar step,” her statement concluded, “unless further aggressive action by Pakistan compels us to do so in the interest of national security.’

“In the meantime, the country should remain unruffled. Our brave armed forces and our people will insure that any adventurism on the part of the military regime of Pakistan meets with adequate rebuff.

“The rulers of Pakistan must realize that the path of peace —of peaceful negotiation and reconciliation—is more rewarding than that of war and the suppression of liberty and democracy.”

At the briefing the Indian spokesman said that in the move across the border on Sunday Indian tanks and other forces had destroyed 13 Pakistani tanks.

Despite India's assertion that this was the first border intrusion, official sources have confirmed that Indian troops have crossed the border several times in the last few weeks to go into battle.

The briefing spokesman, asked how far the Indian forces intruded on Sunday, said: “I can't say the length. It is only a short distance.’

Asked how far the Indians could go across the border, he said it was not possible to prescribe a limit.

To a question as to the level at which a decision to cross the border could he taken, he said, “The man on the spot will decide”—down to an individual soldier.

Big Convoy Near Border

Indian citizens coming into Calcutta from border areas say Indian troops are crossing into East Pakistan. They also report the sounds of heavy firing across the border, particularly at night.

A convoy of at least 50 vehicles carrying troops of the 50th Paratroop Brigade moved out of Calcutta today in the direction of the border. The trucks were carrying recoilless’ guns and full equipment. The troops were in battle dress, with camouflaged helmets.

The Calcutta airport has been placed under semi‐blackout conditions and flights have been rerouted slightly to keep, them at least 10 miles from the border.

More and more border areas are being put under sunset‐to-sunrise curfew.

Curbs on Foreign Newsmen

The Indian Government issued a press ‘release today saying that it was “keen that freedom of information should not be hampered” and promising more expeditious handling of newsmen's applications for border permits, “subject to considerations of public interest, national security and administrative feasibility.”

However, foreign newsmen, including this correspondent, who were trying to get close to the border, were stopped by policemen in Barasat, which is only 18 miles from the heart of Calcutta.

The police said that they had received new orders that no border permit was valid unless it had just been issued. A police superintendent said the crackdown had come because foreign newsmen traveled yesterday to border areas where they could see Indian troops heading for East Pakistan.

That was also the reason for the cancellation of this correspondent's permit to visit Meghalaya, an Indian territory that borders East Pakistan on the north. Ashok Kapur, Under Secretary of the West Bengal State's Home Ministry, refused to issue the permit though had been approved by the central Government in New Delhi.

“You have behaved irregularly,” he said. “, I'm afraid you've compromised yourself.”