1971-12-28
By Fox Butterfield
Page: 1
DACCA, Pakistan, Dec. 27—India and the new regime proclaimed by the Bengalis in East Pakistan have worked out a major agreement under which the Bengali guerrillas will be reorganized and disarmed within the next 10 days and the Indian forces in East Pakistan withdrawn in two to three months, an authoritative Indian source said today.
With these two crucial steps, the source said, India believes that the security situation in East Pakistan should return to normal.
Under the plan, work on which was completed today, the estimated 100,000 guerrillas of the force known as Mukti
Bahini will report immediately to newly established camps in their home areas to deposit their arms and be trained as a national militia.
Most of the Pakistani prisoners will be taken on river boats to Khulna in the western part of East Pakistan, and then transferred to trains for their journey to India. The Indian troops who escort the prisoners will remain in India, the source said.
[In New Delhi, the Indian Government said that it would consider holding war ‐crimes trials for those Pakistani military personnel charged with “heinous crimes” in East Pakistan. Page 3.]
The source in Dacca said that Indian forces would be gradually withdrawn over the next two to three months, as security permits. But, he added, “India is prepared to leave some small units behind on a long‐term basis if necessary.”
Last week, Indian officials in New Delhi predicted that their troops would have to remain in East Pakistan a long time until the situation here became stable.
The plan reflects India's concern for getting her troops out of Bangladesh (Bengal Nation), as the Bengalis call the nation they have proclaimed in East Pakistan, before Bengalis begin to resent the presence of those troops. Indian forces have backed. the Bengalis in their fight against Pakistan, whose forces were trying to suppress a separatist movement here.
No incidents of friction between the well‐disciplined Indians and the Bengalis have been reported.
The agreement was worked out for India by Durga Prasad Dhar, India's special envoy to the Bangladesh regime, and by Gen. S.H.F.J. Manekshaw, the Indian Army's chief of staff. General Manekshaw left Dacca today for India after two days of conferences with Bengali officials.