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Background: According to border observers, India and Pakistan are now closer to open war this year than any other time since the fighting of 1965. There is evidence that India is encouraging East Pakistani rebels to attack Government forces and disrupt supply routes in East Pakistan. The Pakistan Government claims that Indian security forces are frequently crossing the border to aid the guerrilla forces, and that they are supplying arms with the intention of furthering the civil war.

Forces on both sides of the border are now on the alert, and are heavily armed in preparation for any emergency.

This report, from Ronald Robson in East Pakistan, shows some of the tension from this Pakistan side.

SYNOPSIS: The town of Comilla, only a few miles from the Indian border, is regarded by the East Pakistanis as a dangerous frontier town. During the civil war, about 60,000 of the local people fled across the border into India. Indian artillery is reported to have bombed the town during August, and the Pakistani troops are on a constant alert for possible fighting. Their trains are heavily protected against an attack, and the tension has built up to a level which may mean war between the two countries.

The Pakistan army claims that infiltrators from the Indian side of the border slipped through defences to blow up railway bridges in an attempt to disrupt the army supply lines. To combat further sabotage, local civilians have been armed and formed into a people's militia..... and the bridges have been temporarily repaired.

Although the Pakistanis admit that there had not been any bombing from the infiltrators for more than a month, they still point out damage done in the last attacks. Indian and Pakistan border forces claim that tension is running high on both sides.

The officer commanding the Pakistani troops on the fortified train explained that life in the area was back to normal, but added that the closer the train came to the border itself, the more the danger of attack increased.