Baltimore Sun

DACCA, EAST PAKISTANI June 23. - The 75 million poverty- ridden Bengalis of East Pakistan, their province's economy smashed by civil war, are threatened by famine in two months .

That is the view here of agricultural experts who say they expect a shortage of almost a million tons of rice. They warn that a delay in the monsoon rains could worsen the harvest. East Pakistan already is seeking two million tons of food grain from abroad.

Although the ports are expected to have facilities to handle food grain cargoes, inland transportation has been disrupted, making food distribution difficult.

VULNERABLE RAILROAD

The main railroad runs for 75 miles along the Indian border where dissidents easily can sabotage it.

Just three months ago President A. M. Yahya Khan ordered troops into Pakistan's eastern province to crush Bengali secessionist forces led by Sheikh Mujibur Rahman and his Awami League. Sheikh Mujib is now in jail in West Pakistan.

Dacca, the East Pakistan capital, once the home of almost a million persons, has been abandoned by thousands of refugees fleeing to the countryside and to India.

UNCLUTTERED STREETS

For lack of people in the streets, the sidewalks are uncluttered. For lack of automobiles on the roads, the traffic jams have disappeared .

"There is fear and mistrust here," said a United Nations official, trying to get facts on which to base a relief program.

To root out bomb throwers, West Pakistan police, who cannot speak Bengali, search the autos of residents who speak only that language. Guards at the cable office search patrons for matches and lighters to avert arson.

CONFISCATED RAZORS

In Chittagong, the port to the south, passengers about to board a Pakistan International Airlines flight to Dacca must give up razors and blades to security guards.

Bengali friends warn newcomers of tapped telephones. A World Bank official, who called on a local businessman, was followed into the office minutes after his departure by West Pakistani intelligence agents, who demanded to know what the businessman told the visitor.

Politicians are afraid to come out of hiding to start the political reconciliation that President Yahya has said he wants.