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1971-04-11

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Jute Exports From East Pakistan Said to Be Resumed

By Eric Pace

Page: 26

KARACHI, April 10—Shipments of jute, the tough fiber that is Pakistan's main export, have been resumed in East Pakistan, according to reports reaching this West Pakistani port.

The West Pakistani press, which is loyal to the Government, indicated that the East Pakistan economy was on the mend now that dissidents were “destroyed” in the East Pakistani port of Chittagong and elsewhere.

To underscore what it says is its success in quelling “the miscreants,” the Government released to Pakistani newspapers tonight a photograph that purported to show the East Pakistani leader, Sheik Mujibur Rahman, in police custody at Karachi airport.

The photograph shows Sheik Mujib sitting on a sofa in his customary black jacket flanked by police officers. No information was issued with the photograph, but Sheik Mujib is generally thought to be in Government detention after having been brought here from the East.

The photograph was the first evidence produced by the Government to back up its earlier claim to have arrested him. Some Indian journalists had asserted that he was at liberty.

To strengthen its hand against any continuing unrest, the Government announced sweeping new regulations designed to keep “suspected persons” from traveling and otherwise to restrict their activities.

No further action by the armed forces in the east was reported today, and the people of Dacca were said to be “getting into the normal whirl of life” after last month's army crackdown on dissidents. Calm in East Pakistan is important because its exports account for much of the country's foreign exchange. East Pakistan grows 40 per cent of the world's supply of jute, which is used in making bags for agricultural produce.

Two Reported Seized



The Pakistani radio announced tonight that Government forces had captured “in action today” two men whom it called Indian infiltrators from the Indian Border Security Forces.

The report was the first time that the Pakistani Government has said it has captured Indian infiltrators lately, although unconfirmed Pakistani press reports have said that hundreds of infiltrators have been picked up during the present surge of ill feeling between the two countries.

The announcement came after the Pakistani Government had demanded that India remove what it called an unauthorized radio transmitter from the Indian diplomatic mission in Dacca, East Pakistan.

No details were given about the capture of the two alleged infiltrators except that they were said to have been picked up near Benapole, a checkpost in the Jessore district of East Pakistan, on the Indian border.

No comment on the capture was immediately forthcoming from Islamabad, the Pakistani capital, nor was there any immediate reaction there to reports that the United States was reviewing its aid program here and had asked whether American arms had been used in quelling dissidents in East Pakistan last month. The reports appeared in the afternoon newspapers here.