পাতা:বাংলাদেশের স্বাধীনতা যুদ্ধ দলিলপত্র (দ্বাদশ খণ্ড).pdf/৯৭২

এই পাতাটির মুদ্রণ সংশোধন করা প্রয়োজন।

b8と。 বাংরাদেশের স্বাধীনতা যুদ্ধ দলিলপত্রঃ দ্বাদশ খন্ড Our forces are now closing in around Dacca from different directions. Parts of Dacca are within the range of our artillery. Since the two messages previously sent by our Chief of the Army Staff to Pakistani forces elicited no response, he addressed a third message yesterday to General Rao Farman Ali or any other officer who may be commanding the Dacca Garrison. He has referred in it to "the duty of all concerned to prevent the useless shedding of innocent blood". He has appealed to the Commander of the occupying forces to cooperate with him in ensuring that his humane responsibility is fully discharged by all concerned. He has urged that in case the Dacca Garrison, decides to continue to offer resistance, all civilians and foreign nationals should be removed to a safe distance from the area of conflict. I do trust that at least at this late stage General Manekshaw's advice will be heeded and wiser counsels will prevail in Dacca. We have been deeply aware of our responsibility to the civilian population in the area of conflict. It has been agreed with the Government of Bangladesh that protection should be provided against mob violence or any kind of maltreatment to the entire civilian population, including those who hail from outside Bangladesh. We have gone out of our way to make it possible for stranded foreign nationals to be evacuated from Karachi, Islamabad and Dacca. Our Air Force has refrained, during periods notified in advance, from striking at the air-fields near these towns to facilitate such evacuation. Similarly, the Indian Navy was able to re-arrange its operations so as to allow time for neutral ships to leave the Pakistani and Pak occupied harbours. The United Nations and a number of foreign governments have expressed their appreciation for the exceptional efforts made by our Defence Services in this direction. The enemy is, however, known to have abused the temporary suspension of our air and naval operations to land on his airfields war materials from broad and to mine the waters around his harbours. The Pakistan Air Force mounted preemptive attacks on our airfield in an attempt to destroy aircraft on the ground and render our installations and runways unserviceable. The House will be gratified to hear that they succeeded in destroying only one aircraft on the ground and all our airfields have, with the exception of short periods, remained operational throughout. On the other hand our retaliatory attacks have inflicted substantial damage of Pakistani signal units, runways and other installations. In consequence, daylight attacks by the enemy are now few and far between. At night however, enemy activity continues, though at a diminished level. The Pak Air Force has been providing valuable support to Pakistani ground operations in some areas. The Indian Air Force has been concentrating on dislocating the logistics of the Pakistani forces and breaking up their armoured formations and troop concentrations. The operations of our Air Force have been of very material help to our land forces in effecting a rapid advance in Bangladesh and in frustrating Pakistani design on our Western borders. Recently Pakistani bombing has become more haphazard and less accurate. It is possible that they are now deliberately attacking some civilian targets. Three days ago some villages near Jullundur were bombed with the result that civilian population