পাতা:বাংলাদেশের স্বাধীনতা যুদ্ধ দলিলপত্র (চতুর্দশ খণ্ড).pdf/৪৩৩

401 বাংলাদেশের স্বাধীনতা যুদ্ধ দলিলপত্রঃ চতুর্দশ খন্ড Zaman, in his headquarters near the frontier. Col. Shams said there were frequent mortar exchanges with the Indian troops over the border-always, he said, begun by the Indians. "They certainly need us here to defends them," he said. "These Bengalis don't know how to fight. Now, I come from the North-West Frontier, where fighting is in our blood. I have been using a rifle since I was ten. We've got guts. CoL. Shams directed the military operations of the past three months in this area, beginning with the "securing" of Khulna town during the period March 25-29. He told me that it was only in the past month that his troops had been able to get the upper hand all over the district from "miscreants and rebels". It appears that it was Shams who began the system of razakars by the distributing police rifles to civilians in Khulna-"good chaps, good Muslims and loyal Pakistanis" he explained. There are now, according to the military authorities, 5,000 razakars in East Pakistan, 300 of them in Khulna district. They are paid Rs 3 a day (25 pence at the official rate) and receive seven days' training which appears to consist entirely of learning how to shoot a police Lee Enfield rifle. Their work consists of "security checks'-guiding the West Pakistan troops to the homes of supporters of the Awami League. They are supposed to be under the orders of local "peace committees" which are selected by the military authorities on a similar basis of "loyalty to Pakistan". These people are, in fact, representatives of the political parties which were routed at the last elections, with an admixture of men with criminal records and bigoted Muslims who have been persuaded that strong arm methods are needed to protect their religion-a mixture weirdly reminiscent of the Orange Lodges, "B Specials and political terrorists of Northern Ireland. But at least there are a lot of Protestants in Ulster. The election results in Khulna district show how minute the non-criminal political base of the peace committee and razakars really is : the now banned Awami League won all eight seats in the district and scored 75% of the total votes cast. The three branches of the Muslim League got 3 to 4% between them and the fanatical Jamate-Islami 6% . I asked Shams whether he expected refugees to come over the border at Benapole- the main road from Calcutta to Dacca, opposite some of the biggest refugee camps in West Bengal-when his men had blocked the road with a truck and were covering it with machine-guns. He said they would have no trouble coming by "unauthorized routes" which included rowing down rivers and wading through rice fields. "Miscreants, rebels and Indian infiltrators" could not, however, sneak across so easily because he was maintaining constant and vigilant patrols. "Let them come, we're ready for them," he said, My notes leave it unclear whether he meant the Indian Army, or the refugees. I walked back with a captain assigned to me by Col. Shams from the border to the Benapole refugee reception centre, about a mile away.