পাতা:বাংলাদেশের স্বাধীনতা যুদ্ধ দলিলপত্র (চতুর্দশ খণ্ড).pdf/৫৭৮

546 বাংলাদেশের স্বাধীনতা যুদ্ধ দলিলপত্রঃ চতুর্দশ খন্ড The battle for Dacca as suggested here will begin by this weekend. Pakistani resistance on the eastern front is viewed here as crumbling but questions are still being asked about Pakistani intentions. Will the troops trapped there make a last ditched stand and will they try for an evacuation by sea or will they surrender. The Indian Army Chief of Staff has addressed a second warning to the Pakistanis urging them to surrender or meet death. Meanwhile orders have been issued to Indian troops reminding them that they enter East Bengal not as conquerors but as liberators and behave as such. India's Defense Minister as congratulated the Indian air force on what is said here to be the complete destruction of the Pakistani Air force in the East. Unconfirmed reports from Calcutta say that the Pakistani Army Commander in the East has left for West Pakistan together with other senior officers, and officials and their families. The reports say the Deputy Martial law leader has been left behind to cope as best he can. 'აv9 | DESPATCH FROM NEW DELHI 10th December, 1971 by John Osman All India Radio says today that Dacca is now virtually encircled and cut off from the outside world. From New Delhi, John Osman. The gates of Dacca appear from here to have been almost opened now for the Indians with the officially reported capture of three strategic towns on the eastern banks of the Meghna River. They are the railhead river port of Chandpur, Daudkandi and Ashuganj. Of the three Ashuganj provides the easiest access to Dacca, but the bridge connecting it with the west bank has been blown up by retreating Pakistanis. The approach from the other two towns involves crossing a couple more rivers and such water obstacles are what Indian commanders have all along been emphasizing as important defensive lines. So it's not all over yet. But All India Radio says Dacca is drastically besieged and it may be that a last stand is being planned by the Pakistanis in the city's surrounding area. Meanwhile, Indian official claims of success continue to flood in from all three services and Commanders are being quoted directly in such a way that it would seem extraordinarily unprofessional if they are later proved to have exaggerated. For instance, the Air Officer commanding Western air command, Air-Marshal. Engineer, says a quarter of the Pakistani air force in the western section has been destroyed while in the East the Indians for the past two days now are claiming to have completely destroyed the Pakistani air force there. And reports from Shillong, the Assamese capital say Indian plane have shot up river vessels bearing tae remnants of Pakistan's eastern army from different sectors towards Narayangonj near Dacca. It said that about one hundred craft ranging from steamers and barges to motor boats and patrol boats have been destroyed or damaged. The Pakistanis it's thought here may be trying to get away through places like Barisal and Narayanganj, but the Indian in broadcasts and leaflets continue to tell them it's all hopeless. Meanwhile, the Indian navy claims to have established supremacy on the