পাতা:বাংলাদেশের স্বাধীনতা যুদ্ধ দলিলপত্র (পঞ্চম খণ্ড).pdf/৫১৯

495 বাংলাদেশের স্বাধীনতা যুদ্ধ দলিলপত্রঃ পঞ্চম খন্ড ১৩ ও ১৫ নভেম্বর, ১৯৭১ PAKISTAN IN TIGHT CORNER: D-DAY NEARING : WARNING FOR UN A senior editor of Newsweek has just been in Mujibnagar by way of Bangkok, after spending a number of days in occupied and liberated areas of Dacca district. Despite worldwide speculation about the imminence of an Indo-Islamabad war, privately he is of the opinion that Pakistan is hardly in a position to fight a full-scale war with India. The colonial army in Bangladesh is in a desperate position. After visiting several Mukti Bahini strongholds in and around Dacca he has concluded that the Bahini is not only a viable force but has already succeeded in cornering the invaders. Pakistanis are so short of ammunition supply that often they fail to reply to Mukti Bahini shelling. In more than 50 per cent of their operations the freedom fighters succeed in capturing enemy arms and ammunition stocks. He also reports that the Mukti Bahini has gained such confidence by these successes that they no longer retreat after the sudden attacks. They capture an area and stay there. This latest tactic has paid off handsomely in many ways. Not only this is destroying Pakistani morale but is wining at the same time, greater and greater confidence of the population. Pakistanis are in the habit of Surprise attacks against unarmed civilians anytime they suffer a defeat at the hands of the Mukti Bahini. Now this hit-and-crush policy has reduced civilian casualty considerably. The Newsweek man, a veteran of many wars including Vietnam, Algeria, South Africa and Biafra, is of the opinion that Islamabad is militarily nearly-finished. He thinks that even without an Indo-Pak conflagration the Mukti Bahini is capable of winning the war much sooner than Western observers would like to admit. He told a friend in confidence that Pakistan is certain to taste defeat in one or, at most, two months. Such an assessment by someone who is one of the few confidante's of Yahya certainly draws attention. Apparently, he has been personally requested by Yahya to make a secret realistic report to him about the predicament of his army in Bangladesh. This fact, of course, should prove rather disturbing for the Mukti Bahini boys who took the correspondent in confidence and showed him their camps and strategic installations. There is little to suggest that he was not spying for Yahya. Perhaps time is here for the Mukti Bahini to impose a security cordon against all foreign correspondents. During last one week or so, hundreds of these correspondents were frantically searching for Mukti Bahini stones. After pooh-poohing Bahini war efforts and their successful hits against Pak army for 6 long months suddenly they have realized the extent of the blunder they had committed. They are also keen on the story in a sort of Cuban way. As the Mukti Bahini is certain to be victorious they must discover the political character of the struggle. Are they all nationalists or Reds in disguise? And, as past experience shows, the conclusions generally have little to do with reality. So it is always better to stay away from them in every possible manner. The freedom fighters, even if they happen to meet these people, they must not talk on politics or war tactics. They must mistrust them all