1971-04-28
By Sydney H. Schanberg
Page: 15
NEW DELHI, April 27—India, charging that Pakistan had virtually interned Indian diplomats in Dacca in their houses, ordered “strict police vigilance” today on the movements of Pakistani diplomats in Calcutta.
Indian officials speculated that the action taken against the Indian diplomats in the East Pakistani capital was a response to a move India made yesterday.
That move barred all Pakistani nationals attached to diplomatic missions in India from leaving the country with out permission from the Indian Government. New Delhi said these travel restrictions were in retaliation for what it charged were similar restrictions recently imposed—but not announced—on Indian diplomats in Pakistan.
This pattern of diplomatic confrontation is an outgrowth of the independence struggle in East Pakistan, for which India has expressed strong sympathy.
While India is trying to bring home her diplomats from Dacca, Pakistan is trying to get back the East Pakistani diplomats who swore allegiance to the independence struggle and took over Pakistan's Deputy High Commission headquarters, or consulate, in Calcutta nine days ago.
Twenty‐nine staff members from West Pakistan have been kept out of the mission since then, and they are staying in private homes in Calcutta. These are the diplomats, together with a newly appointed Deputy High Commissioner, whom the Indian Government has placed under “strict police vigilance.”
The Pakistan radio quoted the Pakistan Government to night as saying it wanted the Pakistani mission personnel in Calcutta and the Indian mission personnel in Dacca to be repatriated simultaneously.
In East Pakistan, clashes were reported today in several areas between independence forces and the Pakistan army. Reports indicated that the army. was extending its control over population centers in the north east and in the delta area in the south—two areas were the East Pakistani independence forces still hold some towns.