1971-07-05
By Malcolm W. Browne
Page: 4
KARACHI, PAKISTAN. - Pakistan protested to India last night that the Indian Air Force attacked a village in East Pakistan earlier in the day. India's acting High Commissioner in Islamabad was called to the Foreign Office to receive a stern note, a Pakistani Government spokesman said.
According to the Pakistani complaint, four Indian fighters and one armed helicopter penetrated six miles into East Pakistan yesterday shortly after noon and strafed the town of Amarkhana in Dinajpur district. The Pakistanis said the town was shelled later in the day by Indian mortar batteries.
The government statement did not mention casualties or damage.
Last Thursday Pakistan presented the Indian High Commissioner, who is the equivalent of an ambassador, with a protest charging 18 armed interventions by Indian forces in Pakistan between June 21 and 25.
Meanwhile, Pakistanis relations with Britain have sharply deteriorated during the last two weeks, and there is speculation in the Pakistani press that a break in diplomatic relations could occur.
Pakistan charges Britain with having sided with the Indians, providing them with diplomatic, moral and economic support in its dispute with Pakistan over the autonomy movement in East Pakistan.
Yesterday the Pakistani Government instructed its High Commissioner in London to resign the vice presidency of the Royal Commonwealth Society of London The gesture was in protest against the airing of Indian propaganda by the society, Pakistan said .
Pakistan's anger at Britain is partly the result of London's view that continued aid to Pakistan should be contingent on a satisfactory political solution in East Pakistan, where the Pakistani Army has moved to crush the autonomy movement.