বাংলাদেশের স্বাধীনতা যুদ্ধ দলিলপত্র (ত্রয়োদশ খণ্ড)/২৯
| শিরোনাম | সূত্র | তারিখ |
| বাংলাদেশে ত্রাসের রাজত্ব বিরাজ করছেঃ চারজন বৃটিশ এমপি'র ঘটনা বর্ণনা | দি স্টেটসম্যান | ২৯ জুন, ১৯৭১ |
REIGN OF TERROR PERSISTS IN E. BENGAL, SAYS BRITISH M P.
By a Staff Reporter
The four British M. P.'s came to Calcutta by air from Dacca on Monday afternoon. Their observations on the present situation in East Bengal, pieced together, lead to the following conclusions; an atmosphere of terror is pervading. Army-ruled East Bengal; people are still fighting in a “complex situation"; people with “hands chopped off with bullet wounds" were seen; the university campuses bore “marks of a struggle", and the situation in East Bengal was far from normal.
The M.P.'s who came by a special RAF plane were Mr. Arthur Bottemley (Lab), Mr. Reg Prentice (Lab) both of whom were former Overseas Development Ministers, Mr. James Ramsden, former Conservative Secretary of State for War and Mr. Toby Jessel (Conservative). They were received by Mr. Ashok Roy, Joint Secretary, Ministry of External Affairs, the British Deputy High Commissioner in Calcutta, Mr. F. S. Miles, and senior Government officials. They are 'staying at Raj Bhavan.
Earlier, addressing a Press conference in Dacca, Mr. Toby Jessel said he had evidence of continuing large-scale persecution of Hindus in East Pakistan, “You cannot impose a reign of terror and expect the country to flourish economically" he added. The Conservative M.P., said; “Continued sackings of villages and disappearance of local people add to fear. The Pakistani Army must stop trigger-happy and arbitrary units".
Mr. Reg Prentice did not think that the evacuees should go back to East Bengal under the present situation as “an atmosphere of fear" was persisting there. He said that there was complete Army rule there and that the people “are basically afraid of the military rule". He said that some sort of terror complex was prevalent in the eastern sector of East Bengal.
The team, which stayed in East Bengal for four days, visited Chuadanga. Rajshahi, Chittagong, Sylhet, Barisal, Dacca and Mymensingh by plane or by helicopter. Describing the tour, Mr. Arther Bottomley said that “we had a pretty wide journey in a helicopter flying low so that we could see everything", Mr Toby Jessel said that they saw few people in some places and some villages with demolished houses. Mr. Jessel said that they were to have visited a village today but “we could not go there as the village had been completely sacked by the Pakistani Army and all sorts of obstacles were put to prevent our visit there".
Asked whether he thought there could by any political settlement in East Bengal, Mr. Ramsden said that restoration of normal conditions was more pressing than a political settlement. About the return of evacuees, Mr. Jessel said that the Pakistan Government was disappointed with too small a number of refugees returning to the reception centers in East Bengal. He said that the Pakistan Government was expecting about 500 evacuees to return to the newly set up Chuadanga reception centre every day, but they saw only 200 refugees, including two Hindus, there.
Replying to a reporter, Mr. Ramsden said that “parts of Dacca appeared to be normal but it could not be said there was normalcy there”. Rail and steamer services in the country, he said, operated in limited arcas.
Replying to a question whether he had seen any sign of persecution in East Bengal, Mr. Bottomley said; “I would not like to use the word ‘persecution’. The fact is that it happened and it must be stopped. We saw people with hands chopped off, with bullet wounds and still suffering.”
The M.P.s will submit their reports to their respective party leaders on their return to England.