পাতা:বাংলাদেশের স্বাধীনতা যুদ্ধ দলিলপত্র (চতুর্দশ খণ্ড).pdf/১০৮

76 বাংলাদেশের স্বাধীনতা যুদ্ধ দলিলপত্রঃ চতুর্দশ খন্ড শিরোনাম সূত্র তারিখ ৩৩। শকুন আর বুনো কুকুর নিউ ইয়র্ক উইক ২৬ এপ্রিল, ১৯৭১ NEWS WEEK, APRIL 26, 1971 VULTURES AND WILD DOGS For more than two weeks, the Pakistani Army of President Mohammad Vahya Khan had played a curious waiting game. Sitting tight in their well-fortified cantonments in the rebellious eastern wing of their divided country, the federal troops virtually ignored the taunts of the secessionist "liberation forces." But then early last week, the full came to a sudden end. Springing from their strong-holds the Punjabi regulars simultaneously staged more than a dozen devastating attacks from one end of beleaguered East Pakistan to the other. And when the blitzkrieg was over, it was clear that the less-than-one-month-old Republic of Bangladesh (Bengal Nation) had been delivered a stunning blow. In a civil war already marked by brutality, the lightning attacks were notable for their savagery. In the port city of Chittagong, Pakistani troops reportedly forced Bengali prisoners to ride on the front of a truck, shouting "Victory for Bengal" -an independence slogan. When other Bengalis emerged from their hiding places, the Pakistanis opened fire with machine gnus. And in the cities of Sylhet and Comilla along the eastern borders. West Pakistani firepower routed the followers of nationalist leader Sheikh Mujibur Rahman and left the bodies of scores of dead peasants to be picked apart by vultures and wild dogs. All in all, the bitter campaign seemed to suggest that the West Pakistanis had more than purely military objectives in mind, in city after city, in fact, the soldiers were apparently determined to shatter the economic base of East Pakistan in order to crush the independence movement. On orders from the Islamabad high command, troops systematically gunned down students, engineers, doctors and any other persons with a potential for leadership, whether they were nationalists or not. "They want to push us back to the eighteenth century," said one Bengali soldier, "so that there will be famine and we will be reduced to eating grass. They want to make sure that no head will ever be raised against them again." Despite the devastating offensive, the Bengalis showed little inclination to throw in the towel. A group of Mujib's Awami League colleagues announced the formation of a Bangladesh war Cabinet, promising "freedom as long as there is sun over Bengal." Beyond the rhetoric, the rebels were hoping that the approaching monsoon season would sever the West Pakistanis already strained logistical lifeline. "The supply lines are Yahya Khan's Achilles' heel," said one pro-Bengali analyst. "By our calculations, the Pakistani Army is facing the monsoons without a supply margin. The commanders cannot be happy."