1971-04-03
By Associated Press, Agence France Presse
Page: 4
Singapore, April 2—"The road from my home to Dacca airport was a mass grave," a British woman refugee from the East Pakistan capital said tonight, claiming that reports of 300,000 deaths in the conflict were no exaggeration.
"The roadside lanes were filled with corpses. mostly of women and children," she told reporters shortly after arriving in Singapore with 101 other evacuees.
"I asked a Pakistan Air Force officer why they had to kill children. He replied: 'If you leave the child an orphan, he will grow up to be anti-West Pakistan. That a the best way to curb revenge' "
The woman was one of 40 Britons who with smaller groups of Canadians, Australians, New Zealanders, Swedes and Dutchmen, arrived from Dacca on board an R.A.F. Hercules transport.
The refugees had any films, notebooks or other documents confiscated by the Pakistan authorities before they boarded the aircraft.
The British woman, however, disregarded earnings from R.A.F. officers to keep silent, and spoke of seeing "decomposed bodies strewn all over the streets in Dacca"
The evacuees were professional men or their families, for the most part. Many arrived in pyjamas, saying they had received only a few minutes' notice before leaving. More evacuees are expected here tomorrow and the next day, —A.P. and Agence France Presse.