পাতা:বাংলাদেশের স্বাধীনতা যুদ্ধ দলিলপত্র (চতুর্দশ খণ্ড).pdf/৫৭০

538 বাংলাদেশের স্বাধীনতা যুদ্ধ দলিলপত্রঃ চতুর্দশ খন্ড Mrs. Gandhi has leaned over backwards to avoid involvement in the bloody repression of the Bengali population continuing inside East Pakistan. That anyway is my impression from the border areas themselves on both sides of the frontier. Militarily, nothing official has been done to help the beleaguered irregulars in the East, though they were short of arms, ammunition, petrol and food. Unofficially, as far as one can tell there's been little help either, certainly not on an organised basis. Genuine sympathy there has been by the bucketful, but practical aid has been minimal, certainly along the western frontiers. Refugees including wounded irregulars and former members of the mainly Bengali East Pakistan Rifles are all being accepted (20'laps) its true and they are getting basic food and shelter. The wounded are in Indian hospitals. Until this week the frontiers were wide open, nothing on the East Pakistan side, no signs of any units but the usual border security force on the Indian side. When Pakistan Radio was talking of six Indian divisions massing alsong the Indian West Bengal border with East Pakistan there was no military (O'lap) activity discernible and the presence of 200,000 troops could hardly have passed unnoticed. Military Sources said it simply wasn't true. Though it was true that the division of troops sent to the volatile Calcutta area for the Indian elections had been kept on. In the last few days small Indian Army units have begun to appear in the West Bengal frontier areas, though not right at the border itself in Keeping with the tacit agreement with. Pakistan in force for some years that regular Army forces would keep back some three miles from the borders. The Indians feel they have to be prepared though for any Pakistan Army breach of this understanding. But from the small sizes of the units seen, the moves look like routine precautions. At the back of their minds is the fear that in cahoots with the Pakistan Government, the Chinese might agree (O'lap) to stage some diversionary' action on the leg of Tibet, which juts down between Bhutan and Sikkim where India feels particularly vulnerable. So far, and It's a point to emphasize, none of the Indian fears have been realized and for their part militarily, as well as politically, they do seem to be (O'lap) moving with extreme caution. ૭ DESPATCH FROM GENEVA by Alan Mcgregor 7th April, 1971 EAST PAKISTAN Mr. Stanley Mitton, Emergency Relief Officer of the World Council of Churches, has returned to Geneva after a week's visit to East Pakistan frontier area, north east of Calcutta, and to Karachi and Lahore. He is reporting to the Council that under present circumstances nothing can be done about getting medical or food supplies into the area where the fighting has been going on. From Geneva, Alan McGregor sends this report.