1971-05-04
By Malcolm W. Browne
Page: 3
KARACHI, Pakistan, May 3 — Pakistan charged India to day with “creating an atmosphere of confrontation” and accused Indian border units of having shelled Pakistani positions.
The Pakistani Foreign Office in Islamabad handed a note to the Indian High Commissioner there, charging that 100 artillery and mortar shells had been fired into East Pakistan from India on April 29.
The note to the High Commissioner — the equivalent of an ambassador — further accused India of having sent armed infiltrators into Pakistan to foment civil strife and to encourage Bengali separatists in their struggle against Government troops, who have been seeking to crush the independence movement.
The protest was the second in two days. Yesterday, Pakistan accused India of having sent two, fighter planes over East Pakistan in violation of her air space. There was no mention of casualties or damage in the latest note.
Pakistan said that she had been exercising “the utmost patience and restraint” in her tense relations with India and that she hoped the provocations would end.
In a second note today, Pakistan rejected Indian charges that Indian diplomats in Dacca, the East Pakistani capital, had been virtually interned by Pakistani authorities.
The Pakistanis said that the Indian diplomats had been free to move around Dacca but were kept under escort “for security.”
The note also demanded restoration of the rights of Pakistani diplomats in Calcutta, India, charging that Indian authorities had subjected them to “virtual confinement.”
The Pakistani radio reported that Gen. Tikka Khan, the Governor and martial‐law administrator of East Pakistan, had ventured out of Dacca yesterday on an inspection tour for the first time since the fighting began in the province March 25.
The inspection tour was presumably intended to show that the environs of Dacca were now sufficiently pacified to make possible the travel of high officials.
General Tikka Khan was appointed commander of East Pakistan when the fighting began.