Karachi June 18. — The last group of British tea planters are leaving Sylhet immediately after the abduction of two of their colleagues from tea plantations there, Mr James Kilfedder, Conservative MP for Down, North, reported here today.

Mr Kilfedder, who has made a three-day tour of East Pakistan as guest of the Pakistan Government together with two other MPs, Mrs Jill Knight (Conservative, Edgbaston) and Mr James Tinn (Labour, Cleveland) flew to Sylhet yesterday.

He said that two Scottish Planters, Mr Philip Chalmers and Mr James Boyd, were taken separately by uniformed men and each was later said to have been seen at the Indian border. But the evidence for their having been seen was unsatisfactory and other planters believed that they were seized by liberation forces and shot.

British High Commission sources here said they did not doubt the second version on the fate of the two men.

Mrs Knight said that a widely quoted news agency report that she said in Dacca that she was “happy to know they both were alive” was totally false, and she had already taken the matter up with the reporter concerned.

The three MPs are to meet President Yahya Khan tomorrow at his invitation.



Delhi, June 18. —A press release issued by the Pakistan High Commission here tonight reported Mrs Knight as saying that they appreciated why the Pakistan Army had had to act “swiftly and effectively” in the province.

The release claimed that in an interview with Radio Pakistan in Dacca “Mrs Knight confirmed the views of her colleagues that the foreign press carried wild propaganda about the happenings in East Pakistan. She said she had known the traditions and character of the Pakistan Army which had acted swiftly and effectively.
“She said she appreciated why the army had to do it”. the release said.—Reuter.