পাতা:বাংলাদেশের স্বাধীনতা যুদ্ধ দলিলপত্র (দ্বিতীয় খণ্ড).pdf/৮১৮

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বাংলাদেশের স্বাধীনতা যুদ্ধ দলিলপত্রঃ দ্বিতীয় খণ্ড
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 At noon, again without warning, columns of troops poured into the old section of the city where more than 1 million people lived in a sprawling maze of narrow winding streets.

 For the next 11 hours, they devastated large areas of the “old town”, as it is called, where Sheikh Mujibur had some of his strongest support in Dacca English Road, French Road, Naya Bazar, City Bazar were burned to the ground.

 “They suddenly appeared at the end of the street”, said one old man living in French Naya Bazar area. “Then they drove down it, firing into all the houses”.

 The lead unit was followed by soldiers carrying cans of gasoline. Those who tried to escape were shot. Those who stayed were burnt alive. About 700 men. women and children died there that day between noon and 2 p.m. I was told.

 The pattern was repeated in at least three other areas of up to a half square mile or more. Police stations in the old town were also attacked.

Constables killed

 “I am looking for my constables", a police inspector said on Saturday morning as he wandered through the ruins of one of the bazars. “I have 240 in my district, and so far I have only found 30 of them- all dead.

 In the Hindu area of the old town, the soldiers reportedly made the people come out of their houses and shot them in-groups. This area too was eventually razed.

 The troops stayed on in force in the old city until about 11 p.m. on the night of Friday, March 26, driving around with local Bengali informers. The soldiers would fire a flare and the informer would point out the houses of Awami League supporters. The house would then be destroyed- cither with direct fire from tanks or recoilless rifles or with a can of gasoline, witness said.

 Meanwhile troops of the East Bengal Regiment in the suburbs started moving out towards the industrial areas about 10 miles from the Sheikh's centers of support.

 Filing continued in these areas until early Sunday morning, but the main part of the operation in the city was completed by Friday night- almost exactly 24 hours after it began.

 One of the last targets was the daily Bengali language paper “Ittefaq”. More than 400 people reportedly had taken shelter in its offices when the fighting started. At 4 o'clock Friday afternoon, four tanks appeared in the road outside. By 4-30 the building was an inferno, witnesses said. By Saturday morning only the charred remains of a lot of corpses huddled in back rooms were left.

Curfew lifted

 As quickly as they had appeared, the troops disappeared from' the streets. On Saturday morning the radio announced that the curfew would be lifted from 7 a.m. until 4 p.m. It then repeated the Martial Law Regulations banning all political activity,