now fully under way. Volunteers were under training in every district in the garb of “Sangram Parishads". Arms and ammunition from India had been, smuggled in and stocked at strategic points all over the Province including the Jagannath Hall of Dacca University. An idea of how well-planned and well organized the Awami League move was can be gathered from the mortar fire which came from Jagannath Hall on the night between 25th and 26th March and the appearance within 3-hours of innumerable barricades all over the city of Dacca on the same night.
What the Awami League failed to win by persuasion, it sought to grab through Nazi style tactics. A reign of terror was unleashed and unmentionable atrocities committee. The true dimensions of the killing directed and carried out by Fascist of the Awami League, are now becoming clear.
All evidence goes to show that the small hours of March 26 had been fixed as the zero hour for an armed uprising and the formal launching of the “Independent Republic of Bangladesh." The plan was to seize Dacca and Chittagong lying astride army's air and sea lifelines to West Pakistan. The army at that time consisted of a division of 16 battalions including 12 from West Pakistan, spread thinly over cantonments in the interior and deployed along the border with Indian Arrayed against them were infiltrators from India Are deserters from the East Pakistan Rifles, the East Bengal Regiment and other auxiliary force equipped with mortars, recoilless rifles and heavy and light machine guns, and according to subsequent evidence, liberal supplies from across the Indian border. The Awami Leagues' bid for secession was now under way. Having exhausted all avenues of peaceful transfer of power, the President called upon the Armed Forces to “do their duty and fully restore the authority of their Government."
Q. 24: Is it correct to say that by using force, the Government is trying to undo the verdict of people expressed in a free poll'?
Answer: The people of East Pakistan had voted for autonomy within the framework of a single Pakistan. The Awami League's public statements of its leaders, all underline a commitment to a united Pakistan. The military action was forced upon the Government when it saw, much to its dismay that the Awami League extremists were bent upon flouting the verdict of the people in favour of provincial autonomy and seeking instead unilateral declaration of independence. The people had never voted for the break-up of the country.
Q. 25: Is it correct to say that as a result of force, the concept of a united Pakistan has been rent beyond repair. Isn't the military action in East Pakistan a conquest of the majority (living in East Pakistan) by a minority (living in West Pakistan) controlling the military machine?
Answer: No, this is not correct-nor is the assumption that the majority of the people of East Pakistan were behind the secessionists. If they were, no Army could have brought the situation under control in such a short time. This became possible only because the Armed Forces have the full support of the overwhelming majority of the people of East Pakistan
