Troops Take Control Of Riot-Torn Calcutta

Press, Volume CIII, Issue 30338, 14 January 1964, Page 11

Troops Take Control Of Riot-Torn Calcutta

(N.Z .P. A. -Reuter— Copyright) CALCUTTA, January 13. Indian Army troops last night took over full command of the disturbed areas of Calcutta, where Hindu-Moslem clashes in the last four days have claimed more than 60 lives.

Firemen yesterdayattended about 200 cases of arson, and ambulances took to hospital more than 110 people injured in police shooting and in stabbing incidents.

A West Bengal Government statement said 2000 people had been arrested in the city and outskirts since Saturday night. A 24-hour curfew was clamped on parts of central Calcutta yesterday, but reports of looting and arson still poured in. A crowd of about 3000 held up a passenger train near Ultadanga • station, and attacked and killed three passengers.

At Durgapur village one person was killed when police opened fire to stop a crowd looting and burning. The disturbances followed reports of Hindu-Moslem conflict in neighbouring areas of East Pakistan, where Hindus are in a minority. Mr G. L. Nanda, the Indian Home Minister, said the Government had asked the troops to act vigorously and to complete their task quickly—within a day if possible. Mr Nanda told reporters last night there had been no declaration of martial law, but the Army had been given full legal and administrative authority, as implied in martial law, to operate in the disturbed areas quickly and

effectively with the assistance of civil authorities. Police and troops are now patrolling the streets with orders of shoot to kill to end the disturbances. Altogether troops and police opened fire more than 50 times in the city and surrounding districts yesterday. AU schools and colleges have been ordered to close because of the situation. The rioting, the worst since 1950, first took the form of assaults on Moslems. It turned to arson and looting. In Karachi yesterday, the Pakistani Foreign Minister (Mr Z. A. Bhutto) said he held

Indian authorities “responsible for the anti-Moslem riots” in West Bengal. Mr Bhutto said: “If the Indian authorities really meant to stop lawlessness in West Bengal it could have been done in 24 hours.” Pakistan could not remain unconcerned while Moslems in India were being killed in riots, he said.