পাতা:বাংলাদেশের স্বাধীনতা যুদ্ধ দলিলপত্র (চতুর্দশ খণ্ড).pdf/৪৩৪

এই পাতাটির মুদ্রণ সংশোধন করা প্রয়োজন।

বাংলাদেশের স্বাধীনতা যুদ্ধ দলিলপত্রঃ চতুর্দশ খন্ড "We have a problem here," said the captain, who wore a heavy upcurving moustache and parachutist's wings. "Look at them," he said, indicating Bengali farmers in conical straw hats squatting to plant rice in the flooded green fields. "They all look the same to us. How can we tell the miscreants and rebels from the ordinary people?" Forlorn Dogs The entire population of the Benapole reception centre was five forlorn dogs. The captain said the centre was probably closed because of its proximity to the border and directed me to a camp further back at Satkhira. I drove to this camp and found that there were 13 refugees in residence, three of them Hindus. The number tallied with the arrivals and departures noted on the camp's admissions board. As I walked around I got a snappy military salute from two razakars, two young men armed with shotguns. I was told that they were there to guard the camp. ( From whom? From miscreants, rebels, etc.) and to help with security checks. I was asking the people in charge of the camp (ordinary Bengali menial workers whose sincerity I fully accept) whether the presence of unknown armed men asking about people's political views was, in the climate of East Pakistan, the way to make a returned refugee feel at ease when the sudden arrival of another 100 refugees was announced. These people looked well fed and dressed and told me they had all come from the same place in India, Hasnabad, just over the border had all been there the same time, 22 days, and had all come back together. None of them could produce an Indian ration card because, they said, they had not been given any, I asked the people in charge of the camp, which has enough room in an old school house and adjoining buildings for 2,000 people, whether refugees who had not actually been over the Indian border were eligible for help at the Satkhira centre. I was told they were not. From Satkhira I proceeded to Khulna, administrative capital of the district. On the way I passed a bridge being hastily rebuilt. It had been blown up by saboteurs ten days ago-presumably by members of the Mukti Fauj, the "Freedom army", which now claims to be operating underground. Local people told me-I thought with some gleethat the bridge had been defended by 25 razakars who had fled at the first burst of gunfire. I was unable to confirm this when I later met the razakar high command. A quarter of the population of the whole district, which was more than three million at the last census, is missing, dead or gone to India. The local civil authorities estimate that one half of the land in the district is not being cultivated. On orders of the Government in Dacca arrangements are being made to put abandoned land, shops and property in the hands of "caretakers" who are to be selected by the peace committees. The ordinary work of civil administration is close to a standstill. The Senior Magistrate, Rajendra Lai Sarkar (a Hindu) is missing, believed killed, while Khulna was being "secured". The senior Muslim magistrate, Chaudri Senwar Ali, has been arrested by the army and his whereabouts is at present unknown.