Rajshahi. May 9 —The crushing force of West Pakistan's military operation against the Bengali separatists has apparently destroyed all serious armed opposition in East Pakistan.

This city, which used to have a population of 100,000. stands on the east bank of the muddy, sluggish Ganges, with India on the opposite shore a mile and a half away. Border towns like this were political strongholds of the now-banned separatist Awami League.

The national Army, made up mostly of Punjabis from West Pakistan, struck at the separatists throughout East Pakistan on March 25; by mid-April, apparently, the Army's campaign was virtually completed.

Last-ditch opposition in border regions was swiftly quelled and although army patrols still draw occasional sniper fire, the eastern wing of the divided nation seems firmly under control.

The cost for all concerned has been agony. Journalists have seen tens of thousands of levelled or gutted buildings.

Most of the members of the peace committee, to whom the Army has delegated a certain measure of civil administration, are Muslim Biharis, who moved to Pakistan from India when the two nations were carved out of British India in 1947.

Business and trade in East Pakistan are largely in the hands of Biharis, who are a small minority among the Bengalis. The latter are mostly Muslims but there is a substantial Hindu Minority.

Resentment on the part of many impoverished Bengalis towards the somewhat more prosperous Binaries was a factor in the Bengali separatist movement in the recent conflict. The impression, based on hundreds of interviews, is that when it seemed that the Awami League was about to come to power Bengalis in some communities slaughtered the Biharis and looted and burnt their homes.

The Bengalis in the national Army revolted to join the separatists. When the predominantly Punjabi army of West Pakistan smashed its way into the eastern wing it had ready allies among the Biharis, most of whom were spoiling for revenge.

The magnitude of the slaughter that followed has sickened most observers. As a result of the violence. most of the Bengalis and nearly all of the large Hindu minority in towns such as this have fled. Here, the block of buildings making up the main market area of the city lies smashed, apparently by mortar fire from army units that took the town on April 14.

Some five-storey buildings with ornately decorated wooden balconies still stand in the area, but some of them have their upper floors in ruins from the shelling.

Much of the city, however, is untouched by shell fire, and rickshaws and street vendors have begun once more to ply in the streets. The town again has its water, electricity and communications. and even a complaints bureau.— New York Times News Service.