Unofficial reports reaching Calcutta last night spoke of fierce fighting continuing in Dacca, Rangpur, Comilla and other cities of the eastern wing. But with full press censorship imposed on the whole country, information could come only from clandestine radio stations and refugees crossing from East Pakistan into West Bengal.

East Bengal's "Liberation Army" claimed to have seized the military cantonments of Khulna, Jessore and Comilla.

It was reported that Pakistani bombers had attacked the ports of Chittagong and Chalna and that Army guns had sunk a naval tug. This was thought to mean that naval ships manned by Bengalis had joined the revolt.



From Peter Hazelhurst
Calcutta, March 28

While the Army continued to pursue its ruthless policy in East Bengal, Shaikh Mujibur Rahman's underground provisional Government today called for civil war and asked the 75 million East Bengalis to "rise against our new enemy and push them out of Bengal state ".

The call was made by a weak radio station calling itself "free Bengal radio". which was monitored here in West Bengal. The station said that the newly formed Liberation Army had wrested military contonment areas from the Army in many parts of the province, including Khulna, Jessore and Comilla.

As fierce fighting continued in the hinterland of Bengal tonight". a secret emissary from Shaikh Mujibur's Awami League crossed the frontier into West Bengal and asked the Indian authorities for "the moral and material assistance of the Indian people". The emissary, an unidentified member of the defunct National Assembly, met Indian authorities on the border and spoke to them for several minutes, according to Indian journalists who met him there.

The journalists also met men of the East Pakistan Rifles, now in the Liberation Army, who said that heavy fighting was continuing in all big towns of East Pakistan.

Unconfirmed reports from refugees suggest that the town of Khulna is under siege and has virtually been razed to the ground by the Army. More unconfirmed reports here suggest that the military airfield in Jessore has been destroyed.

Indian troops have massed on the frontier but it is understood that the Government have no intention of moving them into East Bengal.

The Pakistan Government station, Radio Pakistan, announced tonight that troop reinforcements were being rushed to Chittagong, where the Army and the civilian population are locked in bitter street fighting.

It claimed that the Shaikh had been arrested, whereas Free Bengal Radio said be would lead the underground Government and Liberation Army "until the enemy is driven out of Bangla Desh” .

According to Radio Pakistan, the situation is well under control, but there are many indications that the situation in Bengal is not as West Pakistan would wish it.

In the first place all journalists were suddenly escorted out of the province yesterday. At the same time the authorities hurriedly issued new martial law regulations prohibiting anyone from erecting barricades—a hint that the Army is meeting with stiff resistance.


Amalendu Das Gupta writes from Calcutta:
The Pakistan Air Force today bombed the ports of Chittagong and Chalna in East Pakistan and a naval tug was sunk as the result of shelling by West Pakistani troops.

This information was received in Calcutta this evening through channels much more reliable than broadcasts by the Free Bangla Desh Radio and is interpreted by authoritative circles as implying that units of the Pakistan Navy, manned by Bengalis, have joined the resistance movement led by Shaikh Mujibur.

According to a well-informed official source, wireless messages have been intercepted from West Pakistan Army units in East Pakistan speaking of a "multiple offensive". It is believed that the units have been forced to engage in such action after being surrounded by hordes of Bangla Desh volunteers, though most of the latter are armed only with primitive weapons like bamboo poles, spears and swords.

The clandestine Bangla Desh radio said last night that the Pakistan Air Force had bombed Dacca. Comilla and Khulna. It said that a hospital in Dacca had been destroyed in the bombing and all the patients were killed. Dacca University, an Awami League stronghold, was also said to have been destroyed by heavy shelling by Pakistan Army tanks.

The radio further claimed that some West Pakistan troops had surrendered to the "liberation forces" after a broadcast statement by Shaikh Mujibur Rahman, the East Pakistan leader, that those who surrendered would be granted safe passage back home.

Bangla Desh radio said that following the example of Bangla Desh". the people of Baluchistan, the North-West Frontier province and Pakhtoonistan had declared their independence. Another claim it made was that Awami League volunteers had captured the police armoury at Comilla.

Observers here are not inclined to accept all these claims by the radio station, not does it seem probable that at many as 100,000 people have been killed in the fighting as reported by the radio which quoted a so-called liberation force source. It is, however, believed that casualties may well have run into thousands. Pakistan Radio today denied having said yesterday that the Shaikh had been arrested.

In its broadcast, yesterday, Pakistan Radio reported that Lieutenant-General Tikka Khan, the martial law administrator in East Pakistan had been killed when Awami League volunteers stormed his residence in Dacca.

[The Press Trust of India today said it had monitored a Pakistan Radio report denying that General Tikka Khan had been killed or injured.]

One report says that Shaikh Mujibur's men are in control of Chittagong port. It has also been noted that official Pakistan Radio broadcasts refer mainly to the situation in Dacca.

In any case it is clear that troop movements have been severely hampered by the widespread disruption of communications. Not only Bangla Desh radio but also the refugees arriving in West Bengal and Assam have reported that people resisting military rule have put barricades across the roads, dismantled railway tracks and blown up bridges over rivers.

Yet there is some scepticism in official circles here about the freedom movement's ability to survive a massive military onslaught. Intelligence sources in Calcutta say that the Awami League's resources for armed resistance are nowhere near as large as might be suggested by Bangla Desh radio claims.

Chance for left in East Bengal, page 7
Leading article, Page 13








From a different edition of the Times

Pakistan army claims to be in full control but fighting reported in Dacca

Unofficial reports reaching Calcutta last night spoke of fierce fighting continuing in Dacca, Rangpur, Comilla and other cities of the eastern wing. But with full press censorship imposed on the whole country, information could come only from clandestine radio stations and refugees crossing from East Pakistan into West Bengal.

A monitored Pakistani radio report denied that Lieutenant- General Tikka Khan, the martial law administrator in East Pakistan, had been killed in an attack on his Dacca residence yesterday. The clandestine Bangladesh radio station said that the Pakistan Air Force had bombed a hospital in Dacca, killing all the patients.