পাতা:বাংলাদেশের স্বাধীনতা যুদ্ধ দলিলপত্র (চতুর্দশ খণ্ড).pdf/৮২

বাংলাদেশের স্বাধীনতা যুদ্ধ দলিলপত্রঃ চতুর্দশ খন্ড শিরোনাম সূত্র তারিখ ২১। হত্যাযজ্ঞের মধ্যে বাঙালীদের নিউইয়র্ক টাইমস ১৪ এপ্রিল, ১৯৭১ মন্ত্রিসভা গঠন NEW YORK TIMES, APRIL 14, 1971 BENGALIS FORM A CABINET AS THE BLOODSHED GOES ON The following dispatch is by the New Delhi correspondent of The New York Times, who has just completed a four-day trip through, the border region of India and East Pakistan, as well as inside East Pakistan. By Sydney H. Schanberg Special To The New York Times Agartala, India, April 13-Although large number of East Pakistani secessionist leaders have been reported killed and with wholesale bloodshed continuing, several members of the movement's high command are alive and have formed a cabinet. They include Tajuddin Ahmed second in command to Sheikh Mujibur Rahman, whose Awami League took the steps for independence, that brought West Pakistan's military crackdown. In an East Pakistani border area visited by this correspondent, at least six secessionist leaders met to name Mr. Ahmed Prime Minister and Defense Minister of the state they call Bangladesh, or Bengal Nation. They proclaimed Sheikh Mujib their President, although privately the secessionist leaders acknowledged that he was in prison in West Pakistan. While the central Government, which is dominated by West Pakistan continues to announce that the situation is calm in the East and conditions are returning to normal, a far different picture emerges on the scene, Daily Battles Reported Daily battles are reliably reported in many sectors. Hordes of East Pakistanis have fled the cities to seek refuge or join the secessionist army, and thousands of refugees, carrying their meager belongings in cardboard Suitcases and sacks, are crossing into India for temporary haven. This correspondent saw Pakistani soldiers burning villages to deny the resistance forces cover or hiding places. As the smoke from the thatch and bamboo huts billowed up on the outskirts of the city of Comilla, circling vultures descended on the bodies of peasants, already being picked apart by dogs and crows. There is no way of knowing exactly how many of East Pakistan's "75 million Bengalis the army has killed, but authoritative reports from many sources agree that the figure is at least in the tens of thousands; some, reports put it much higher.