Pakistan-American Friends Association 1971-08-01

Pakistan-American Friends Association
47 West 29th Street
New York, N.Y. 10001

President Yahya Khan of Pakistan, in a broadcast to the nation on June 28, 1971, spoke of India's interference in the internal affairs of Pakistan in these words:

"Our plans for reconstruction of the economy and early resumption of political activity in East Pakistan are threatened by India's continued interference in our internal affairs. Armed infiltration and open encouragement and assistance to the secessionists have heightened tensions between the two countries. There has also been a spate of unfriendly statements from responsible sources in India, threatening unilateral action against Pakistan if we did not yield to arbitrary demands. The need of the hour is to desist from such actions and statements as would further inflame the situation. It is through discussions and not through conflict that problems can be resolved. Statesmanship demands the exercise of caution and restraint so that our problems are not further complicated. As I have said before armed conflict would solve nothing. On our part, we want to live in peace and harmony with all our neighbors. We do not interfere in the affairs of other people and we will not allow anyone else to interfere in ours. If, however, a situation is forced upon us, we are fully prepared to defend our territorial integrity and sovereignty. Let there be no misunderstanding or miscalculation about our resolve to maintain the independence of solidarity of Pakistan."

Referring to the rebellious agitation mounted by the Awami League in East Pakistan from March 2 to 25, 1971, and India's anti-Pakistan actions in support of the Awami League rebels, which necessitated federal military action, President Yahya Khan said:

"Whilst miscreants, rebels and intruders were putting up physical resistance to the Pakistan Army, Indian Radio and Press launched a malicious campaign of falsehood against Pakistan and tried to mislead the world about the happenings in East Pakistan. The Indian Government began to utilize every coercive measure, including diplomatic offensives, armed infiltration and actual threats of invasion."

"ENEMY NUMBER ONE"

Facts show that India has not reconciled itself to the existence of Pakistan since the birth of the Moslem- majority nation took place in August 1947 by a partition of the sub-continent. Twice it has sought to settle its dispute with Pakistan over Kashmir through the arbitrament of force--first in 1948 and then in 1965. Many of its leaders describe Pakistan as their "Enemy Number One." In the Indian Parliament sit representatives of a militant Hindu-dominated political party, the Jan Sangh, whose constitution openly advocates a united India, implying the annexation of Pakistan by the force of arms.

India and Pakistan are members of the United Nations. They are both signatories to the UN charter which forbids the member states from interfering in one another's internal affairs. Yet, over the years, India has used every conceivable strategem, tactic, pretext and ruse to foster internal subversion, to weaken Pakistan's national integrity and solidarity and to smear its good name in the outside world. India's latest act of pathological hostility towards Pakistan is the encouragement and help it has given to the secessionist movement in East Pakistan and the foster care, military training and arms it is furnishing to the secessionist elements which have been sheltered in the sanctuary of India's West Bengal state.

The rationale for India's moral, monetary and military support to the secessionist fugitives from East Pakistan has been aptly projected by the Wall Street Journal's Correspondent, Peter R. Kann, in a despatch from Calcutta published in that newspaper May 12, 1971:

"For many reasons, India has been openly sympathetic with the Bangla Desh cause. Pakistan is an enemy and half an enemy is better than a whole nation. An independent Bengal nation, under moderate leadership, might even be friendly to India . . . The sooner India provides--arms, training, border sanctuaries--for a Bangla Desh liberation army, the more likely it is that the Bangla Desh Movement will remain under moderate leadership. Some such aid is already being given."

Evidence that India is providing arms, training and logistic support to the East Pakistan secessionists is available in abundance in the despatches of foreign newsmen reporting from India. Sidney Schanberg reported from Calcutta in the New York Times of April 29, 1971;

"The Indian roads leading north from Calcutta to points along the border already look like supply route. Bengali trucks can be seen heading into Indian towns for fresh supplies--carrying empty fuel drums and ammunition boxes. Bengali independence forces have set up camps near the Indian border posts which probably explains some of the brief shooting incidents recently between Indian and Pakistani troops. In Calcutta, capital of West Bengal state, there are many stories of new instances of Indian military assistance. One report is that Indian ammunitions factories are turning out weapons and ammunition without Indian markings. Another is that Indian officers accompanied a large guerrilla force on a raid last week on a Pakistan Army garrison at Navaran on the road to Jessore."

TRAINING CAMPS

Details of the military training camps set up in India for training the secessionists who fled from East Pakistan and their Indian supporters were featured in a despatch of Peter Hazelhurst from Calcutta in the TIMES of London of May 22:

"My informant said that three types of training camps have been set up in India . . . According to him, the East Bengali volunteers are screened at these transit camps and if they pass a physical test they are sent on a six week training course conducted by the East Pakistan Rifles and Indian instructors. Potential officers are sent back to Indian military establishments on a six month training course."

Sidney Schanberg in a despatch published in the New York Times of April 29, 1971 quoted Indian officials as stating in private "that some former Indian Bengali officers--given emergency commissions for the 1962 border war with Communist China and the 1965 Kashmir War with Pakistan but since retired may have joined up with the East Pakistani Bengalis. By their language and appearance they could not be told apart. And some Indian officials tell their friends that if the East Pakistanis come across seeking arms and training, they will find ways to get them." In the light of the afore-said despatches of foreign correspondents reporting from India, it is apparent that India is continuing to be the main prop of the secessionist movement sponsored by the hardcore militants of the outlawed Awami League in East Pakistan and that it is providing protection, funds, arms and training for potential saboteurs for operations in Pakistani territory as a part of its 24-year-old endeavor to wreck the neighboring state of Pakistan.

India's open solicitude for the East Pakistan rebels substantiates the prosecution charge in the inconclusive Agartala conspiracy trial of 1968 that with Indian funds and arms Sheikh Mujibur Rahman and 34 other accused persons planned to seize control of East Pakistan through an armed uprising. Although India had then vociferously denied the Pakistani charge, the events since the "Ides of March" 1971 prove to the hilt that India had looked forward to the break-up of Pakistan by aiding and abetting the secessionist caucus in East Pakistan. The federal military action in East Pakistan launched March 25 again shattered India's quarter- century old dream of destroying Pakistan. The loud and excited noise from India over the quashing of the Awami League insurgency in East Pakistan testifies to the widespread belief that India wanted to use the hardcore Awami League leadership for turning East Pakistan into a client state of India with a proxy government manipulated from New Delhi. It was indeed the hope of India's rulers that Awami League rule in East Pakistan would make "Bangla Desh" a market for India's goods, that India's commercial and military cargo would move through East Pakistan to Indian Assam and vice versa by the much cheaper waterways route (instead of the present round-about and much longer railroad route) and that all the jute needed for Calcuttas jute industry would come from East Pakistan at reduced prices through preferential tariffs. This was only a part of the economic bonanza which India was expecting from an Awami League takeover of East Pakistan. Pakistanis, therefore, did not feel surprised over the manner in which India reacted minutes after the federal army went into action in East Pakistan on March 25/26 to restore law and order and to crush the Awami League-sponsored rebellion. For days on end, India's press and radio, casting all journalistic ethics to the winds, duped their countrymen with fictional accounts of the phantom victories of the "Bangla Desh freedom fighters," and India's leaders immediately pledged all their support for the secessionist fugitives from East Pakistan even before most of them had arrived in India. Typical of the spate of ludicrously false stories which surged across the columns of Indian newspapers and the airwaves of All India Radio after the launching of the federal military action in East Pakistan was the following concoction splashed in the Times of India of March 28:

"The East Pakistan Martial Law Administrator, Lt. General Tikka Khan, who was seriously injured when Bangla Desh freedom fighters stormed his Dacca residence, died in a nursing home at 3:15 p.m., Bangla Desh time, according to a report received from across the border."

The Indian newspapers continued to purvey the fiction of General Tikka Khan's death for many days, ignoring Radio Pakistan's repeated denial of the Indian- fabricated news of his death.

While General Tikka Khan was in perfectly good health and was attending office and making public appearances in Dacca and while Sheikh Mujibur Rahman was under arrest, the Times of India in its issue of March 30, carried the following fabrication:

"Sheikh Mujibur Rahman is still a free man while Lt. General Tikka Khan who headed the martial law regime in East Pakistan is dead."

On March 31, both houses of the Indian Parliament adopted a resolution expressing their "profound sympathy and solidarity with the people of East Bengal in their struggle and sacrifices which will receive the whole- hearted sympathy and support of the people of India."

HYSTERIA

India's leaders, by their irresponsible statements against Pakistan's measures to restore peace in East Pakistan, whipped up a veritable hysteria among the Indian people. The columns of Indian newspapers were inundated by statements of support for the "freedom fighters of Bangla Desh" issued by ruling leaders such as the Indian Prime Minister, Mrs. Indira Gandhi and the Chief Ministers of many Indian states such as Kerala and Bihar. The Pakistan High Commission in New Delhi was subjected to intimidation and threats through stage- managed demonstrations. India then launched a diplomatic offensive to slander Pakistan and to urge the UN and world powers to pressure Pakistan into halting the army action against the armed secessionist bandits in East Pakistan.

The Times of India of March 31 reported that the Indian Ambassador to the UN met the UN Secretary General U Thant for halting the military action in East Pakistan. India's Ambassador in Moscow, Mr. D. P. Dhar called at the Soviet Foreign Office to put pressure on Pakistan not to continue the action against the lawless elements in East Pakistan. The Indian Ambassador in USA met the Assistant Secretary of State for Near Eastern and South East Asian Affairs in Washington to "convey India's deep concern over the West Pakistan Army's use of force in East Pakistan."

A number of clandestine radio stations claiming to be the voice of Bangla Desh" but actually based on Indian territory sprang up in quick succession until their Indian origin was exposed to the world.

A leading Calcutta newspaper, Amrita Bazzar Patrika reported on April 2:

"A powerful central organization to render all possible help and assistance to the freedom fighters of Bangla Desh was formed in Calcutta on Thursday with Mr. Ajoy Kumar Mukherji, the Chief Minister designate as its President. The organization was named the "Committee for Assistance to the Freedom struggle of Bangla Desh." The Committee intends to mobilize aid and assistance for the fighting people of East Pakistan and campaign for the recognition of the People's Republic of Bangla Desh and arms and ammunition to them by the Government of India."

Graphic: Some of the Indian arms and ammunitions captured by Pakistan Army near Maslia in Jessore area recently. The gunny bag which bore false marking of medical aid, in fact, contained small arms ammunition. (78K)

The Times of India of Bombay in its issue of April 10 carried an article by an Indian commentator which said:

"Bangla Desh will require a massive program of assistance worked out in detail over a long period to develop into viable, self-reliant nation. Sentiments as well as self-interest dictate that India bear the bulk of the burden."

Governmental leaders in a number of Indian states vied with one another in issuing statements of support for the seccessionist movement in East Pakistan in raising funds for the "Bangla Desh freedom fighters" and in urging the Central Indian Government to recognize the phony "government of Bangla Desh." As public contributions for the "Bangla Desh cause" in India were in driblets, the congress-supported government in West Bengal hastened to sanction on April 7 a sum of Rs. 2.5 million (about a quarter million dollars) for aiding the "freedom fight of the people of Bangla Desh." Volunteers corps were raised in many Indian cities for "helping Bangla Desh freedom fighters."

The Indian Express of Bombay reported in its issue of April 1, 1971 that the Governor of the state of Bihar, Mr. Dev Kant Barooah, had appealed to the people of Bihar state to donate liberally for "the relief of the brave fighters of Bangla Desh."

Volunteer corps were started in some Indian states, including Bihar, Uttar Pradesh and Manipur to raise personnel for aiding the "freedom fighters of Bangla Desh." The Sunday Searchlight of Patna, Bihar state, reported April 11 that a "Tagore Sena" volunteer corps is being raised for supporting "the freedom fighters of Bangla Desh" in the state of Uttar Pradesh.

A leading Calcutta daily, Amrita Bazzar Patrika, called for the setting up of an international Brigade to help the "freedom fighters of Bangla Desh."

The daily Indian Nation of Bombay, India, reported in its issue of April 6, 1971 that the Bihar State Chief Minister, Mr. Thakur, reaffirmed his determination to lend the best possible help, including supply of arms and ammunition to the liberation forces of Bangla Desh."

The Searchlight of Patna reported in its issue of April 11, 1971 that Mr. Jayaprakash Narayan, director of the Gandhian' Peace Academy, had appealed to all able- bodied retired military officers, police officers and ex servicemen of Bihar state to join the volunteers corps for aiding the Bangla Desh freedom fighters.

A correspondent of the Columbia Broadcasting System of USA, New York, Ernest Weatherall reported in a broadcast report from India on March 31, 1971:

"It is believed that Sheikh Mujib received supplies of small arms from outside sources for a long period and these were hidden till the crunch came from Yahya."

Graphic: Some of the Indian Weapons captured by the Pakistan Army in East Pakistan. These weapons were recovered from a number of the armed Indian infiltrators who had entered the East Pakistan border areas.(110K)

Weatherall added in his report to CBS from India that many Western diplomats in New Delhi "feel these weapons could only have come from India"

London's Daily Telegraph reported in its issue of April 14, 1971:

"A train load of Indian weapons has apparently reached the secessionist forces near Madaripur, 70 miles east of the Indian border. At least one Indian army major was reported to be instructing Bangla Desh forces in the use of weapons."

The Far Eastern Economic Review of Hong Kong said in its issue of April 17, 1971:

"Indian local authorities in the border regions adjoining Sylhet were accused of having channelled arms, ammunition and money into areas with large Hindu populations."

The daily Ceylon Observer of Colombo said on April 19, 1971 that the Indian Government, All India Radio, and the entire press have gone beyond the limits, morally and materially, in boosting and helping the secessionists.

PHANTOM GOVERNMENT

In mid-April, the Indian Press triumphantly reported the formation of "the Government of Bangla Desh" and duped the world by claiming that it functioned on Pakistani soil. Foreign press despatches, however, proved how false the Indian claim was. In point of fact, this phantom government was an Indian creation, conceived and delivered in Calcutta, capital city of the Indian state of West Bengal. A British newspaper, the GUARDIAN, reported in its issue of April 21, 1971, in a despatch from its correspondent, Martin Woollacott, from Calcutta, that the Indian press report that the so- called provisional government was "somewhere in Bangla Desh" was a fiction. The Guardian's despatch said that the members of this phantom government were in Calcutta where they were housed in the Government's State Guest House. The despatch further said that the Indians helped these people in stage-managing the earlier "proclamation of independence" by providing chairs and other furniture and also the Indian troops in civilian clothes to police the ceremony. The Guardian's despatch added that the Indians were openly sheltering groups of armed insurgents consisting of deserters of the East Pakistan Rifles, militiamen and irregulars who crossed over the borders in recent days.

Similarly, France's daily newspaper, Le Monde of Paris, said in its issue of April 20, 1971:

"The provisional government of Bangla Desh was proclaimed under a mango grove one mile from the Indian border but this was done for the benefit of the foreign press to emphasize that it existed on East Pakistan's territory although the Government was formed in Calcutta (in West Bengal)."

The New York Times of April 18, quoting a despatch of the Associated Press from India, said that the Indian authorities played a major part in the ceremony of the formal proclamation of Bangla Desh.

INDIA HARBORS REBELS

The London Times, in a despatch from Michael Hornsby from Calcutta, April 19, said that the headquarters of the rebel government were supposedly to be in Chuadanga close to the Indian border but there was no evidence that any member of this phantom government was actually in Chuadanga. The Far Eastern Economic Review of Hong Kong reported in its issue of April 24, in a despatch from T.J.S. George, that there was no evidence yet that this (rebel government) has a base in "Bangla Desh" (East Pakistan) itself. One report alleged that the cabinet in fact met in Calcutta. It is amusing that soon after Pakistan's federal forces moved to restore law and order in East Pakistan on March 25/26, the Indian press, while reporting the ghost victories of "Bangla Desh freedom fighters," claimed that a Major Zia Khan had become head of the "provisional government of Bangla Desh." Since mid-April nothing was heard of either Zia Khan, but in mid April it was blandly announced from India that the head of the so-called government was a Nazrul Islam. To provide an operational base to the so-called "Bangla Desh government" the Indian authorities manipulated the seizure of Pakistan's diplomatic and consular mission in Calcutta by a handful of defectors and handed it over to the secessionist fugitives from East Pakistan on April 18. The New York Times, in a despatch from its correspondent in Karachi, Malcolm V. Browne, reported on May 3:

"Pakistan' Deputy High Commission or consulate in Calcutta has been the center of a diplomatic war since the predominantly East Pakistani staff took it over on April 18 and transformed it into a mission of the newly proclaimed provisional government of Bangla Desh--the Bengal nation. The Pakistan Government as Islamabad sent another official to take charge of the mission but the East Pakistanis continued to occupy it and Indian authorities declined to dislodge them."

Graphic: Some of the Indian arms and ammunitions captured from a border area in Rajshahi district on April 25, 1971.(80K)

The Times of London, in a despatch from Peter Hazelhurst on the Indo-Pakistan border, reported on May 6:

"In spite of the Liberation Front's claims that its members control a large belt of territory adjoining the border, it is evident that the Pakistanis have pushed the volunteers over the border."

In Dacca, capital city of East Pakistan, a group of six foreign newsmen saw on May 7 Indian arms and ammunition seized from the infiltrators sent from India into East Pakistan. Maurice Quaintance of British News Agency, Reuters, wrote as follows after seeing the seized arms and meeting the captured Indian soldiers:

"In Dacca, three Khaki-clad soldiers Friday confessed they were captured prisoners sent from India to Pakistan last month to help the dissident East Pakistan Rifle units supporting the secessionists. Speaking through an interpreter, one told six foreign correspondents at Dacca Army headquarters he came into Pakistan territory at night after being told with others of his platoon that they were moving to the border post . . . The soldier gave his name as Lance Corporal Mamla Pati Singh, 23 of 104 BSF (Border Security Force). The Army said he was captured at Sylhet, about 15 miles inside the border. Two other captured prisoners presented to the press today identifed themselves as Ram Raawesh Sharma, 23, a private from 104 BSF, and Pancha Ram, 25, a private of 108 BSF, normally based in Rajasthan . . . Army Headquarters in Dacca Friday displayed a selection of captured weapons and ammunition said to be mainly of Indian origin. They included rifles, mortar bombs and hand grenades all of which, the army said, bore markings proving they were manufactured in India."

"VOICES"

A clandestine radio claiming to be the voice of Bangla Desh has intermittently operated ostensibly from Indian soil, although Indian officials disclaimed its Indian parentage. Peter Hazelhurst, in a despatch from Calcutta published in the Times of London of June 2, 1971, substantiated this view in these words:

"After weeks of silence, the elusive underground radio station "Radio Free Bengal" was on the air again today, claiming that the West Pakistan Army had been routed in several areas by guerrillas of the Liberation Army . . . Unfortunately for many guillible and excitable Bengalis, the heroic battles and the pictures of a retreating and vanquished Pakistani army are, like the underground station itself, perhaps figments of a fertile imagination. Without wishing to deliberately shatter the hopes of the Bengalis, I used a radio direction finding coil this morning to try to track down the location of the radio which claims to be operating from somewhere inside Bangla Desh. To my amazement, the direction finding coil indicated that the strong clear transmission was not coming east from the direction of Bangla Desh but was emanating from the north on exactly the same bearing as all India Radio broadcasts. Other checks made from several points in the city pointed unerringly northwards towards Chinsura and Magra where all India Radio transmitters are located. This does not suggest that volunteers belonging to the Liberation Front are not harassing the Pakistani army outposts near the border at every turn but it does support the growing belief that the Awami League leadership has failed and that the concept of Bangla Desh is being kept alive by the Indian Government on almost every front.... At present, senior officers in the liberation army, assisted by Indian instructors, are training an estimated 30,0~0 volunteer recruits in about 30 camps near the border. At the same time seasoned freedom fighters operating from bases within Indian territory and under the guidance of Indian military experts, have begun to hit back at West Pakistani units.... Sooner or later, the Pakistani troops are going to chase the guerrillas over the border in hot pursuit and spark off an Indo-Pakistani shooting match."

The Washington Post, reported in its issue of June 2, that the Indian Prime Minister Mrs. Indira Gandhi met June 1 for the first time three Bengali rebel leaders from East Pakistan who said the meeting was encouraging. The Awami League fugitive leaders from East Pakistan were guests of honor at a reception held by the Indian Parliament "which has sympathized with the separatist cause."

DIPLOMATIC OFFENSIVE

As a part of India's diplomatic offensive against Pakistan and to force Islamabad into accepting the Indian demand for seeking accommodation with the secessionist fugitive leaders in India instead of the East Pakistani political leaders who disdained to leave their country and preferred to remain in their homeland, Sardar Swaran Singh, the Indian Foreign Minister, was asked by the Indian Government to tour Big Power capitals. The Evening Star of Washington of May 31 reported that the Indian Foreign Minister, Sardar Swaran Singh, will fly to several Western capitals shortly in "a bid to block financial aid to Pakistan." When the Indian Foreign Minister arrived in Washington, D.C., he said June 17, while addressing the National Press Club, that all countries should cut off military and economic aid to Pakistan.

The Daily Sun of Baltimore reported in a despatch published on June 8 from its New Delhi correspondent that "India's campaign for the liberation of East Pakistan is being intensified" and that India was sending two Ministerial missions to tour Europe, USA and five Asian countries.

India sent out one of its leaders, Mr. Jayaprakash Narayan, who claims to be a believer in the Gandhian philosophy of non-violence, to many world capitals, including Washington, to urge Western nations not to give economic aid to Pakistan. The New York Times, in a report from Joseph Lelyveld said June 13 that Mr. Narayan was touring the world capitals to ask that all economic aid to Pakistan be cut off so that the economy of both East and West Pakistan should collapse and cause acute suffering, and possibly starvation, to their inhabitants.

The Washington Post of June 8 reported in a despatch from Lee Lescaze in Calcutta that in addition to the shelling across the border (East Pakistan-- India), "the freedom fighters" of East Pakistan are now operating from bases inside India, making hit-and-run raids against the Pakistani Army." Lee Lescaze said that the "freedom fighters" have not shown themselves able to do much against the Pakistani troops and he quoted a leader of the rebels living in Calcutta as saying "that we have switched from conventional tactics to guerrilla tactics."

The Chicago Tribune of June 12 reported:

"Several thousand Mukti Fauj-Bengali freedom fighters are in camps along the borders. Guerrilla raids are slowly increasing, India is supplying small arms and training bases although the Government denies this."

In a despatch published in the Times of London on June 15, British news agency, Reuters, reported that recruiting centers for guerrillas to fight in East Pakistan were now being run by the so-called Bengali National Liberation Army in the West Bengal border East Pakistan border area. There were probably about 100 such recruiting centers in West Bengal (India), said the Reuters report.

The New York Times, in its issue of June 16, carried a despatch from New Delhi which said that the Indian Prime Minister Mrs. Indira Gandhi, had declared in the Indian Parliament that India will "never acquiesce" in a political settlement "at the cost of democracy and the rights of the people fighting there" (East Pakistan).

DICTATING TO PAKISTAN

Mrs. Gandhi, assuming the right to dictate to a sovereign and independent country such as Pakistan as to what it should do in East Pakistan, said in the Indian Parliament on June 15:

"We shall not for a moment stand for a political settlement that means the death of Bangla Desh."

The Washington Post of June 21 carried a statement of the Indian Defense Minister Jagjivan Ram that "war might be thrust upon India as a result of East Pakistan civil strife and he called on the army to prepare for any eventuality." Ram was addressing army units during a visit to Jullundur near the India-West Pakistan border.

In a report published in the Daily Observer of London on June 20, Colin Smith reported from Calcutta:

"Hidden in tented camps along East Pakistan's western border with India are the official armed forces of the Bangla Desh government in exile, the Mukti Fauj. In some cases, regular Indian army units, ignoring the treaty in force since partition under which both sides would keep their forces five miles back from the border, have moved right in beside them. They are easy to find because their signallers have not had time to bury the field telephone cables that lead from divisional to battalion headquarters and you can follow them from tree to ditch right up to the border."

Describing his visit with a platoon of the armed rebels to their base near Bongaon, the OBSERVER'S correspondent further said:

"Nearby, heavily camouflaged under trees, was the headquarters of a Sikh infantry company.... At the base I visited, the Mukti Fauj was entirely made up of East Pakistan Rifles who had simply walked over the border with most of their equipment intact. Tents were provided by the Indian Government who made up any kit deficiencies.... Their tents were pitched around some trees about half a mile from the Indian side of the border."

Quoting the Captain of the company of "Bangla Desh freedom fighters," Colin Smith said:

"Most of their activities, said the captain, involved disrupting communications and laying mines. Occasionally they might ambush a Pakistani patrol."

The Christian Science Monitor of Boston, in a report from Henry S. Hayward in Calcutta, on June 22, said:

"The governing organization of the freedom movement for East Pakistan (Bangla Desh to its supporters) is both visible and invisible here. The visible portion is its Bangla Desh mission to India in downtown Calcutta. Since April 18, the mission has been headed by Hussain Ali, former Deputy High Commissioner.... He barred non-Bengalis from the building, ran up a new flag and continued operating without losing one day. But although he heads the large mission, Mr. Ali admits that he gets his instructions from a government that has no fixed abode. In short, from an often invisible Bangla Desh regime.... Five selected Ministers form the Government which keeps on the move most of the time to avoid Pakistani reprisals. These men have no fixed addresses but they like to make their presence known whenever security permits."

INDIA'S WAR THREATS

Since the federal military action was mounted in East Pakistan to put an end to anarchy and restore peace on March 25/26, Pakistan has been subjected to repeated threats of war by India's ruling leaders. The Times of London said in a despatch from Peter Hazelhurst in New Delhi on June 26:

"Mr. Swaran Singh, the Indian Foreign Minister hinted today that India might go to war if the crisis in East Pakistan and the refugee problem were not resolved by a satisfactory political solution in the near future.

"In what is regarded as his clearest warning so far, the Minister told a private meeting of Congress party MP's: 'We may have to take action on our own if a satisfactory political solution to the Bangla Desh crisis is not found soon.'

"Mr. Swaran Singh sounded his ominous warning soon after Mr. Jagjivan Ram, the Minister for Defense, had left Delhi to inspect troops deployed on the borders of East Pakistan.

"Indian colleagues informed me today that their relatives and friends in the armed services have received emergency orders to report to operational bases by July 3....

"Outlining India's concept of a political solution under which the millions of refugees would return to their homes in 'safety,' he said that Sheikh Mujibur Rahman, the Awami League leader who is reported to be in prison in West Pakistan, would have to be a party to any plan for transfer of power."

The testimony of foreign and Indian press reports fully substantiates President Yahya Khan's observation in his broadcast to the nation on June 28 that:

"Our plans for reconstruction of the economy and early resumption of political activity in East Pakistan are threatened by India's continued interference in our internal affairs. Armed infiltration and open encouragement and assistance to the secessionists have heightened tensions between the two countries. There has also been a spate of unfriendly statements from responsible sources in India, threatening unilateral action against Pakistan if we did not yield to arbitrary demands. The need of the hour is to desist from such actions and statements as would further inflame the situation. It is through discussions and not through conflict that problems can be resolved."

Graphic: Pakistani citizens who crossed to India under the influence of false and malicious propaganda have begun to return in large numbers. Photo shows a group returning near the Reception Center at Meherpur (Kushtia) on June 12,1971(123K).

Pakistan-American Friends Association

India and Bangladesh: Testimony from the Foreign and Indian Press