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Exiled leaders of Bangla Desh tell President Yahya to expect a fight to the finish
From Peter Hazelhurst

Calcutta, June 1.

The Provisional Government of Bangla Desh and left-wing opposition leaders from the ravaged province today ruled out any political settlement with the West Pakistanis. Both the Home Minister, Mr. A. M. Kamaruzzaman, of the Awami League, and his main political opponents, Mr. Maulana Bhasani, issued statement to the press categorically rejected President Yahya Khan’s offer of an amnesty. It’s a fight to the finish, they said.

Mr. Kamaruzzaman told journalists that the President’s word would never be trusted in East Pakistan again after he unleashed the Army on the night of March 25. According to the Bengali leader, President Yahya had actually accepted Bengal’s demands only the day before and had promised to announce this on the radio.

“Instead of doing so he ordered his troops to wipe out the Bengali race,” Mr. Kamaruzzaman said.

“To us in Bangladesh, the name of General Yahya Khan does not connote a normal human being. It connotes a bloodthirsty murderer, a betrayer and the disintregrator of Pakistan. After what has been done, the killing of innocent children and citizens, the raping of our women folk, it is impossible for the people of Bangla Desh to live under the same roof as Pakistanis.”

The ultra left-wing Bengali leader Mr. Maulana Bhasani told journalists today that no Bengali, whether leftist or rightist, would join any political negotiations with West Pakistan. The leader of the National Awami Party also attacked the socialist countries for their failure to support the cause of the East Bengalis.

After weeks of silence the elusive underground radio station, “Radio Free Bengal” was on the air again today claiming that the West Pakistan Army had been routed in several areas by guerrillas of the liberation army. Over 500 regular troops had been killed and a gunboat sunk.

The radio station went on to say that the Sylhet area in the northern provinces had been liberated, three major railway bridges destroyed and General Yahya Khan’s troops under heavy pressure.

Unfortunately, for many gullible and excitable Bengalis, the heroic battles and the pictures of a retreating and vanquished Pakistani Army are, like the underground station itself, perhaps figments of a fertile imagination.

Without wishing to deliberately shatter the hopes of the Bengalis, I used a radio direction finding coil this morning to try to track down the location of the radio which claims to be "operating from somewhere inside Bangla Desh".

To my amazement the direction-finding coil indicated that the strong, clear transmission was not coming east from the direction of Bangla Desh but as emanating from the north on exactly the same bearing as All India Radio broadcasts. Other checks made from several points in the city pointed unerringly northwards towards Chinsura and Magra where All India Radio transmitters are located.

This does not suggest that volunteers belonging to the liberation front are not harassing the Pakistani Army outposts near the border at every turn but it does support the growing belief that the Awami League leadership has failed and that the concept of Bangla Desh is being kept alive by the Indian Government on almost every front.

Almost every Bengali political leader of consequence has fled to India. Mr. Bhasani is apparently in protective custody in Calcutta, the Prime Minister of the Provisional Government, Mr. Tajuddin Ahmed and his family are also somewhere inside Indian territory, and Calcutta and Delhi are bustling with members of the stillborn National Assembly. They have been joined by a team of advisers, lawyers, doctors and teachers and there can be no doubt that the 70 million inhabitants of East Bengal are leaderless and demoralised.

Under these circumstances, there can be no doubt that effective leadership will slip into the hands of the liberation army led by the former officers of the East Pakistan Rifles - if and when Bangladesh achieves its independence.

At present, senior officers in the liberation army, assisted by Indian instructors, and training an estimated 30,000 volunteer recruits in about 30 camps near the border. At the same time, seasoned freedom fighters operating from bases within Indian territory and under the guidance of Indian military experts, have begun to hit back at West Pakistani units.

There is a growing evidence that the guerrillas are effectively harassing the Army on all border fronts. According to a reliable informant, they are making hit-and-run strikes on small Pakistani outposts near West Bengal, Assam and Tripura.

Sooner or later the Pakistani troops are going to chase the guerrillas over the border in hot pursuit and spark off an Indo-Pakistani shooting match.

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Our Delhi Correspondent writes: Mr. Swaran Singh, the Indian Foreign Minister, told Parliament today that India has emphasized to foreign governments, including the British, that any economic aid to Pakistan to rehabilitate its shattered economy would “in the circumstances prevailing in Bangladesh amount to condoning their oppression.”

When members attempted to force Mr. Singh to deplore the British Government’s attitude to the Bangladesh provisional government, he merely repeated the British statement that her “policy is to deal with aid regardless of political aspects of a country’s national life.”

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Delhi. June 1-—Mrs. Gandhi, the Indian Prime Minister, today received three rebel Bengali leaders from East Pakistan for 45 minutes —her first official reeeption of a rebel delegation. The deputation from the "provisional government of Bangla Desh" declined to say what happened at the meeting beyond calling it "encouraging". All three were officials of the Awami League - UPI.

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Our Political Staff writes : The convening of a special Commonwealth conference to try to resolve "the horrifying and chaotic situation in East Pakistan" has been called for by Mr. Russell Johnston, the Liberal Party spokesman on foreign affairs and MP for Inverness.

"Some people are calling for the cutting off of all British aid to Pakistan as a means of getting West Pakistan to withdraw its troops." Mr. Johnston said. "They may be right and their solution may become necessary, but I would prefer to see Commonwealth governments trying first by persuasion."