পাতা:বাংলাদেশের স্বাধীনতা যুদ্ধ দলিলপত্র (চতুর্দশ খণ্ড).pdf/৪৭২

440 বাংলাদেশের স্বাধীনতা যুদ্ধ দলিলপত্রঃ চতুর্দশ খন্ড throw an army across them if they are defended. Besides, the ground is too wet and cut across with canals which are natural tank traps. All this could help the Pakistanis, provided they still have supplies, communications and ammunition, But do they? Friday Evening A United Nations attempt to make Dacca an open city failed today. The Indians would not agree, I understand, fearing some tactical disadvantage for themselves. The UN (U Thant in person at the behest of Paul Marc Henri, the UN representative here) urged the Plan on humanitarian ground. Henri, a bustling figure of almost Falstaffian proportions who might easily have made an outstanding Gaullist Minister, has now decked out the UN compound with blue and white signs on neutrality. He is in daily conference with consular representatives, to arrange flights out for the women and children. One objection after another arises and has to be eradicated-the Indians insist on relief planes flying into Dacca through Calcutta, to emphasize the existence of a 'Bangladesh' government there. So we are now nearly a week without those flights. An Indian bomb fell not far from the UN complex this morning. But there, later, was Henti and his group, shooting off messages to New York surrounded by papers and files and half empty whisky glasses. Rumors abound, some spreading from radio sets which pick up snippets and stories from Delhi. One strong rumor two days ago was that the Pakistani commander, General Niazi had skipped but of Dacca in a small propeller driven plane at night. The story was heard on the news from Delhi. But the rumor was proved also today when Niazi appeared in the Dacca streets, large as life (which is very large) in the middle jeep of three surrounded by his escort. Niazi has never been faulted for his courage. He wears the ribbon of a Military Cross won in the Second World War fighting the Japanese. Second to him. Major-General Farman Ali Khan has once or twice in the past week appeared to journalists, but he too. like all the small in-group of top administrators here, has been working relentlessly round the clock. And there was nothing much they cared to say. Their lot is not a happy one.