পাতা:বাংলাদেশের স্বাধীনতা যুদ্ধ দলিলপত্র (চতুর্দশ খণ্ড).pdf/৪১১

379 বাংলাদেশের স্বাধীনতা যুদ্ধ দলিলপত্রঃ চতুর্দশ খন্ড The government of Pakistan has let the world know about that first horror. What it has suppressed is the second and worse horror which followed when its own army took over the killing. West Pakistani officials privately calculate that altogether both sides have killed 250,000 people- not counting those who have died of famine and disease. Reacting to the almost successful breakaway of the province, which has more than half the country's population. General Yahya Khan's military government is pushing through its own "final solution" of the East Bengal problem. "We are determined to cleanse East Pakistan once and for all of the threat of secession, even if it means killing off two million people and ruling the province as a colony for 30 years," I was repeatedly told by senior military and civil officers in Dacca and Comilla. The West Pakistan army in East Bengal is doing exactly that with a terrifying thoroughness. We had been racing against the setting sun after a visit to Chandpur (the West Pakistan army prudently stays indoors at night in East Bengal) when one of the jawans (privates) crouched in the back of the Toyota Land Cruiser called out sharply: "There's a man running Sahib" Major Rathore brought the vehicle to an abrupt halt, simultaneously reaching for the Chinese made fight machine-gun propped against the door. Less than 200 yards away a man could be seen loping through the knee high paddy. "For God's sake don't shoot," I cried. "He's unarmed. He's only a villager". Rathore gave me a dirty look and fired a warning burst, As the man sank to a crouch in the lush carpet of green, two jawans were already on their way to drag him in. The thud of a rifle butt across the shoulders preceded the questioning. "Who are you?" "Mercy, Sahib! My name is Abdul Bari. I'm a tailor from the New Market in Dacca". "Don't lie to me. You're a Hindu. Why were you running?" "It's almost curfew time. Sahib, and I was going to my village." "Tell me the truth, why were you running?" Before the man could answer he was quickly frisked for weapons by a jawan while another quickly snatched away his lungi. The skinny body that was bared revealed the distinctive traces of circumcision, which is obligatory for Muslims. The truckloads of human targets At least it could be plainly seen that Bari was not a Hindu The interrogation proceeded.