Washington Star/Evening Star

The Indian army triumphed on it's eastern front today
with the unconditional surrender of Pakistan's army in
East Pakistan.

Then the Indian government ordered its troops on the
western front to stop fighting tomorrow night in a
unilateral cease-fire.

The Indian cabinet's decision to call a pause in the
Kashmir area was made in the face of a declaration by
Pakistan's president that he would carry on the war with
India until the "occupied areas are taken back."

In announcing the Indian government's decision, an
official spokesman said: "We have repeatedly declared
that India has no territorial ambition.

"Now that Pakistan armed forces have surrendered in
Bangla Desh, and Bangla Desh now is free, it is
pointless in our view to continue the present conflict.

"Therefore in order to stop bloodshed and unnecessary
loss of life, we have ordered our armed forces to cease
firing everywhere on the western front, with effect from
2000 hours Indian standard time on Friday, Dec. 17,
1971."

"It is over earnest hope that there will be a
corresponding immediate response from the government of
Pakistan."

The time given is 8 p.m local time, equivalent to 9:30
a.m. EST.

The eastern and western fronts are separated by about
1,000 miles, as are East and West Pakistan.

In the east, Indian soldiers marched victoriously into
Dacca and Prime Minister Indira Gandhi told her people:
"Dacca is now the free capital of a free country."
It has been the provincial capital of the east wing of
Pakistan.

Mrs. Gandhi declared refugees who had fled from East
Pakistan to India were already returning to the area
which India calls Bangla Desh, or Bengali Nation.

The Pakistan presidents Agha Mohammed Yahya Khan,
apparently refusing to write off East Pakistan,
broadcast his intention to put out, two weeks hence, a
new constitution that he insisted would apply to "both
the wings - of Pakistan"

Before New Delhi's announcement of its intention to
cease fire in the west, an Indian spokesman had reported
the biggest tank battle of the war as having taken place
in that sector within the past 24 hours.

U.N. IGNORED

The cabinet's decision for the western cease-fire was
immediately conveyed to Foreign Minister Swaran Singh,
now at the United Nations.

Mrs. Gandhi had earlier brushed aside a U.N. General
Assembly cease-fire appeal and had declared that India
would "fight on until Bangla Desh is liberated." The
announcement indicated she felt that her conditions for
a cease-fire had been fulfilled.

Announcement of the eastern-front victory brought cheers
in the New Delhi Parliament.

Mrs. Gandhi told parliament India's only aim in East
Pakistan, which she referred to as Bangla Desh, was "to
assist the people of Bangla Desh, and the Mukti Bahini
to end the reign of terror there." The Mukti Bahini are
East Pakistan s fighters for independence.

STRICT ORDERS

She said the Indian armed forces and the Mukti Bahini
are under strict orders to insure there are no reprisals
"against the Pakistan army soldiers and the Razakars,"
the locally recruited home-guards branded as
collaborators by the Mukti Bahini.

Mrs. Gandhi reported the Bengali refugees in India,
estimated to total nearly 10 million, "have already
started trekking back to their homeland."

We also hope Sheik Mujibur Rahman will take his rightful
place and lead the Bangla Desh people to peace, progress
and prosperity," she added

RAHMAN IN PRISON

Rahman leader of the outlawed Awami League, has been in
a West Pakistani prison since March 26 after his arrest
in Dacca on charges of treason .

The prime minister said the triumph of the Indian armed
forces and the Mukti Bahini "is not theirs alone, but
for all nations who value the human spirit and recognize
it as a significant milestone in man's quest for
liberty."

The Indian parliament erupted with cheers and desk
pounding when Mrs. Gandhi read her one-minute statement,
just as it did last week when she announced that India
had recognized Bangla Desh.

Indian troops invaded East Pakistan on the night of Dec.
3-4 with the declared aim of helping the Mukti Bahini
guerrillas establish an independent republic. Bangla
Desh - the Bengali nation is the rebel name for the
Eastern province.

Radio Pakistan said 54 civilians were killed and about
90 injured in all Indian air raid last night on Karachi,
West Pakistan's major city. It said 32 civilians were
killed in Lahore and 11 others died in other sections of
West Pakistan in Indian air attacks.

The war, the third fought between the two countries
since Britain divided the subcontinent in 1947, grew out
of the civil war in East Pakistan that followed Yahya
Khan's attempt to crush the independence movement in the
province.

East Pakistanis have long complained of neglect by the
central government in West Pakistan, which is dominated
by Punjabis. The smaller, more populous East is
predominantly Bengali, and its jute industry accounted
for the major part of Pakistan's foreign exchange
earnings. But West Pakistan got most of the benefits.

Last December, in Pakistan's first general electins in
23 years, the Awami League, a Bengali party promising
greater autonomy for the East, won 167 of the 313
National Assembly seats. Yahya Khan accused the Awami
leaders of fomenting secession and on March 25 unleashed
his army. The leader of the league, Sheik Mujibur
Rahman, was imprisoned and the troops carried out a
reign of terror that drove an estimated 10 million
refugees into India, imposing a crushing burden on a
strained economy.

SECRET TRIAL HELD

India repeatedly called on Yahya to reach a political
settlement with Sheik Mujib, but the president put the
sheik on trial before a secret court, banned the Awamis
from the assembly and outlawed the party. Pakistan
charged that India was arming and training the Bengali
resistance fighters.

Both countries moved their troops up to the borders and
for several weeks engaged in minor skirmishes. Ten on
the night of Dec. 3-4, Indian troops moved in force into
East Pakistan.

India had the upper hand both from a standpoint of
numbers and geography. She was estimated to have more
than a million men under arms compared to 392,000 for
Pakistan and nearly 3-1 superiority in the air. And the
80 000 Pakistani troops in the East were cut oft from
the Western half of the country by 1.000 miles of Indian
territory.