The curfew in the East Pakistan capital, Dacca, was relaxed for an extra hour yesterday as the Pakistan Government claimed that complete calm continued in the province taken over by the armed forces on Thursday night. But it hinted at serious trouble in Khulna, the second largest port in the province, where Left-wing forces are best organised. The Government said a mob of “miscreants” has created some trouble. It claimed that in Chittagong, the region’s principal port where troops were trapped on Wednesday night by crowds barricading the streets, the situation continued to improve and was well under control. In spite of claims that Sheikh Mujibur Rahman, the East Pakistan leader, is still free, there is strong evidence that he is in prison in Dacca, as the Pakistani authorities claim.

A four-man team from the International Red Cross Committee left Geneva yesterday to try to reach East Pakistan to assess the relief needs of victims of fighting. The all-Swiss team was flying to Karachi and hoping to go on to Dacca. India rejected a protest from Pakistan that it had interfered in Pakistan’s domestic affairs during the crisis as “false and mischievous” Pakistani allegations that the clandestine radio “Voice of Bangladesh” was based on a ship moored in the Hooghly river, near Calcutta.

The Press trust of India reported fewer bulletins from the Clandestine radio today. One of these claimed that Sheikh Mujib’s “Liberation Army” had captured the important northern town of Rangpur after bitter fighting with West Pakistani troops. The radio also said army units were marching to Dacca from Chittagong. The Indian news agency reported that “Free Bangla Radio” had claimed that a provisional Bangladesh Government had been set up, headed by Major Jia Khan, commander of the “army”. He had appealed for diplomatic recognition and for material aid.

It is difficult to know what weight to place on Press Trust reports that mobs have seized district headquarters at Rangpur. It seems extremely unlikely as Rangpur is not only a brigade headquarters but the station of the one armoured regiment in East Pakistan with its tank force. Another report that Dacca radio had announced that martial law headquarters had called for reinforcements in East Pakistan was not monitored on later bulletins and would be a surprising item for a Government-controlled radio which often ignores disturbances completely.