পাতা:বাংলাদেশের স্বাধীনতা যুদ্ধ দলিলপত্র (সপ্তম খণ্ড).pdf/৩১৭

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283 বাংলাদেশের স্বাধীনতা যুদ্ধ দলিলপত্র : সপ্তম খণ্ড Two helicopters left in the small hours of 16 December while the third flew in broad daylight. They carried Major-General Rahim Khan and a few others, but the nurses were left behind because they could not be collected in time' from their hostel. All the helicopters landed safely in Burma and the passengers eventually reached Karachi. Back in Dacca, the fateful hour drew closer. When the enemy advancing from the Tangail side came near Tongi, he was received by our tank fire. Presuming that the Tongi-Dacca road was well defended, the Indians side-stepped to a neglected route towards Manikganj from where Colonel Fazle Hamid had retreated in "haste as he had from Khulna on 6 December. The absence of Fazle Hamid's troops allowed the enemy free access to Dacca city from the north-west. Brigadier Bashir, who was responsible for the defense of the Provincial Capital (excluding the cantonment), learnt on the evening of 15 December that the Manikganj Dacca road was totally unprotected. He spent first half of the night in gathering scattered elements of E. P. C. A. F., about a company strength, and pushed them under Major Salamat to Mirpur bridge, just outside the city. The commando troops of the Indian Army. Who were told by the Mukti Bahini that the bridge was unguarded, drove to the city in the small hours of 16 December. By then Major Salamat's boys were in position and they blindly fired towards the approaching column. They claimed to have killed a few enemy troops and captured two Indian jeeps. Major-General Nagra of 101 Communication Zone, who was following the advance commando troops, held back on the far side of the bridge and wrote a chit to Lieutenant General Amir Abdullah Khan Niazi It said: Dear Abdullah, I am at Mirpur Bridge. Send your representative.' Major-General Jamshed, Major-General Farman and Rear-Admiral Shariff were with General Niazi when he received the note at about 9 a.m. Farman, who still stuck to the message for 'cease-fire negotiations', said is he (Nagra) the negotiating team?" General Niazi did not comment. The obvious question was whether he was to be received or resisted. He was already on the threshold of Dacca. Major-General Farman asked General Niazi, 'Have you any reserves? Niazi again said nothing. Rear-Admiral Shariff, translating it in Punjabi, said: 'Kuj Palley hai"? (Have you anything in the kitty?) Niazi looked to Jamshed, the defender of Dacca, who shook his head sideways to signify 'nothing'. If that is the case, then go and do what he (Nagra) asks," Farman and Shariff said almost simultaneously. General Niazi sent Major-General Jamshed to receive Nagra. He asked our troops at Mirpur Bridge to respect the cease-fire and allow Nagra a peaceful passage. The Indian General entered Dacca with a handful of soldiers and a lot of pride. That was the virtual fall of Dacca. It fell quietly like a heart patient. Neither were its limbs chopped nor its body hacked. It just ceased to exist as an independent city. Stories about the fall of Singapore, Paris or Berlin were not repeated here. Meanwhile, Tactical Headquarters of Eastern Command was wound up. All operational maps were removed. The main head-quarters were dusted to receive the