1971-04-11
By Eric Pace
Page: 26
KARACHI, April 10—Shipments of jute, the tough fiber that is Pakistan's main export, have been resumed in East Pakistan, according to reports reaching this West Pakistani port.
The West Pakistani press, which is loyal to the Government, indicated that the East Pakistan economy was on the mend now that dissidents were “destroyed” in the East Pakistani port of Chittagong and elsewhere.
To underscore what it says is its success in quelling “the miscreants,” the Government released to Pakistani newspapers tonight a photograph that purported to show the East Pakistani leader, Sheik Mujibur Rahman, in police custody at Karachi airport.
The photograph shows Sheik Mujib sitting on a sofa in his customary black jacket flanked by police officers. No information was issued with the photograph, but Sheik Mujib is generally thought to be in Government detention after having been brought here from the East.
The photograph was the first evidence produced by the Government to back up its earlier claim to have arrested him. Some Indian journalists had asserted that he was at liberty.
To strengthen its hand against any continuing unrest, the Government announced sweeping new regulations designed to keep “suspected persons” from traveling and otherwise to restrict their activities.
No further action by the armed forces in the east was reported today, and the people of Dacca were said to be “getting into the normal whirl of life” after last month's army crackdown on dissidents. Calm in East Pakistan is important because its exports account for much of the country's foreign exchange. East Pakistan grows 40 per cent of the world's supply of jute, which is used in making bags for agricultural produce.