Jessore: This second largest city, 24 miles from the Indian border in what was East Pakistan--now Bangla Desh-- died last week. Its railway station and bus stands were still; roads were deserted, shops and houses boarded up, offices and installations abandoned. In some areas, the stench of decaying bodies filled the air.

The responsibility for the military situation which has developed in this tragic province remains uncertain -- whether President Yahya Khan himself took the decision to move in the troops, or whether he is the puppet of his generals, is shrouded in the silence covering everything connected with East Pakistan in Islamabad. But the effects are clear.

The death pall enveloping Jessore and the positions held by Yahya's troops on one hand and Sheikh Mujibur Rahman's Mukti Fauj liberation forces on the other seemed typical. A four-day battle had ended in apparent victory to the Mukti Fauj. Three battalions of West Pakistani troops had entrenched themselves in key areas including a road junction which controlled the main entrance to the city. When it was all over, it looked as though the troops had ruled the roost for four days, knocked the city down, then decided to withdraw to the cantonment.

Their withdrawal meant the Mukti Fauj could exercise control over the now lifeless and largely deserted city. The cantonment itself--and the road to Dacca - were firmly in the hands of the troops. If they wanted, it seemed probable they could still come out into the city and take over by terror.

But this would require not just small platoons but large numbers of troops fully backed by armour. - The Mukti Fauj's main weapon is unity. Its civilian volunteers, though armed only with dilapidated 303s and crude bombs, were supposed to maintain constant watch and could relatively easily surround and annihilate a small group of government troops. Besides, the troops need to conserve their firepower, for supplies are hard to come by.

Supplies are one of the most acute problems facing the West Pakistani troops. Sizable battalions will have to be stationed in every town in the province if they wish to exercise effective control throughout Bangla Desh. Neither the available troop strengths nor the acute problem of finding food supplies in a terribly hostile environment permit this. This is probably behind their apparent strategy of holding the major cities and merely launching periodic forays into selected areas elsewhere.

The Mukti Fauj is thus able to declare many areas as liberated--which in turn allows journalists into the country to collect first hand information. The West Pakistani authorities are still maintaining a news blackout so complete that they have not even produced a photograph of Sheikh Mujib whom they claim to have arrested, or arranged for a radio broadcast by Dacca's military governor General Tikka Khan, whom the Mukti Fauj claims to have killed. By contrast Sheikh Mujib's forces seem anxious to keep areas bordering India liberated to preserve communications with the outside world.

As soon as Jessore was declared liberated reporters and cameramen camping in Calcutta went into the city. At the border post I saw Indian and Pakistani security guards standing together and chatting. Officially they would not let us walk across the border along the road. So we had to make a concession to continuing protocol and walk across a paddy field same 50 yards from the post. On the Pakistan side there was of course no question of passports and visas. Until a month ago Indians would have been subjected to all kinds of harassment, but this time Indian correspondents were greeted with embraces and cries of "Joi Bangla".

It is hard to come by transport to Jessore city. The few jeeps and cars Mujib's people have are busy transporting foodgrains, cigarettes, medicines, chewing gum, baby food, petrol and anything else smuggled across the Indian border by groups of students on either side. We were supposed to hitch a ride on anything that moved including a fire engine.

As we were about to get into a ramshackle old car which had offered us a lift half the way, we saw a militarygreen jeep of the East Pakistan Rifles roaring down the road to the checkpost. It carried a detail of four fully armed soldiers. As the jeep stopped and a crowd surrounded it, a corporal stood up on the seat, took a small piece of paper from his pocket and read out a statement from an East Pakistan Rifles major commanding the area that Jessore and some adjoining towns had been liberated. The crowd went into wild shouts of Shadhin Bangla (free Bengal).

The soldiers on the jeep looked as though they came straight from the battle front. They were excited, angry, tired. As soon as the announcement ended the local people started bringing loaves, tender coconuts, oranges and biscuits for the soldiers. They grabbed the food and wolfed it down as the crowd kept shouting slogans.

On the road to Jessore life seemed normal except that people in wayside villages gathered on the roads, shouting slogans and asking for news. The Bangla Desh flag fluttered from every shop and passing vehicle.

When we reached the road junction at Jessore, the atmosphere was different. Rows of thatched huts stood charred in the blazing sun, some of them still containing pots and pans and burned chapattis (round cakes of leavened bread). Beside one hut in the field lay a dead body, half eaten by a dog which was still nibbling a leg. Across the road in another field there were half a dozen more bodies. The West Pakistani troops had mortared the huts and shot the inhabitants as they withdrew. Among the victims were four women who, we were told, had been dragged out of their houses, raped and then sprayed with bullets.

Now only men were on the streets, keeping vigil. Most families had already fled to the countryside; some were waiting in makeshift refugee camps away from the streets and practically out of view. Old women and mothers with babies in their arms and cloth bundles on their heads were still making their way to these camps.

As an Indian, they were willing to talk and take me around. At one point, a local student, who entertained us with tea and sweets, asked a colleague of mine whether I was a Punjabi. The West Pakistani troops here are all called Punjabi soldiers and the Punjabi has become the symbol of Bengali hatred. I quickly said I was from Kerala, the communist citadel of India - and was relieved to see the smiles become warm again.

It was a depressing tour. Although morale was incredibly high among the Bengalis and it is certain they will fight to the last man to retain their identity, it was clear that they were oppressed with a feeling of desperation. A police inspector, describing the battle that had taken place, broke into tears. So did many men in the refugee camp. We had given a lift to a very old man and as we dropped him near his house, he silently got down and walked away sobbing heavily. His son had been killed the previous day.

The people we talked to invariably appealed, "Please help us, please tell the world to help us, please rush us ammunition." A sergeant, in tears, said Bangla had become a wretched country and Bengalis would be wiped out.

The desperate pleas for help naturally struck sympathetic chords in India. In West Bengal particularly the urge to rush to the aid of brethren across the border is intense. Without waiting for the government to take a policy decision, volunteer organisations in Calcutta started sending supplies unofficially-- almost certainly including arms and ammunition. Islamabad has already protested that armed infiltrators are crossing the border from India to assist the secessionist movement.

Politically India is in a dilemma. Events in East Pakistan affect it closely, but it is conscious of the complexities involved in any firm policy line. The All- India Congress committee this week adopted a resolution calling on Indians to give full support to the people of East Pakistan. Swaran Singh, India's foreign minister, accused Islamabad of "nothing but naked barbarism" in repressing its unarmed and defenceless people". But Prime Minister Indira Gandhi, allowing that it was neither proper nor possible for India to keep quiet, said that while India has always raised her voice against repression, it has never interfered in another country's internal affairs. Indians should keep their emotions in check and try to be constructive, she said. Her problem is to avoid taking any action which could be construed as being inspired by India's traditional confrontation with Pakistan.

It is clear, however, that Mrs Gandhi is under tremendous pressure to recognise the People's Republic of Bangla Desh. All political parties have pledged support for the people of East Bengal and her own Congress party's leaders have urged recognition, as well as raising a volunteer force.

Basically, India has three choices: to avoid involvement, apart from diplomatic pressure to stop the killing (but this could alienate both the people of East Pakistan and India's own West Bengali citizens); to send in unofficial supplies of arms and ammunition although this would help the Mukti Fauj, nobody could be sure who would receive the arms - and there is believed to be a growing Naxalite force in East Pakistan); or to recognise Bangla Desh and go all out to help it militarily even sending in troops, engaging Pakistani troops in the West and around Kashmir and mounting a naval blockade (but such action could precipitate a major international crisis, involving the US, the Soviet Union and China).

Nevertheless, opinion seems to be growing in India that the dangers of decisive action now are less than the dangers of watching the civil war in Pakistan continue. If the killing goes on for long, the leadership of the liberation movement will almost certainly slip from the hands of the moderate Mujib and the Awami League and go to the extremists. The longer the struggle lasts and the severer the repression, the greater will be the danger of a fundamental radicalisation of the movement and its take-over by Naxalite groups.

China's embarrassment was obvious and Peking has so far refrained from direct comment. It quoted Pakistan's protests against Indian "interference" subtly to convey its attitude. Peking wants to keep its options open preferring Pakistan to achieve its own solution. It evidently does not support a separate East Pakistan and would probably back Islamabad against any Indian intervention.

China could be in as great a dilemma as India. Peking may even be waiting, in the hope that its silent non- involvement may help radicalise Bangla Desh. But if this is what Peking is silently angling for, the Chinese must realise that its present stance will not endear it to the liberation movement - Not even the Naxalites.