‘Unchecked Reign Of Terror’

Press, Volume CIX, Issue 31943, 21 March 1969, Page 11

‘Unchecked Reign Of Terror’

(N.Z.PA.-Reuter)

\ KARACHI, March 20. An unchecked reign of terror is rapidly spreading through the rural areas of East Pakistan, where hundreds of villages have ibeen razed, thousands of Bengalis have been left homeless, and more than 150 people have been slaughtered during 10 days of mob executions, I writer Peter Hazelhurst, iof “The Times.”

Hazelhurst writes: I In most parts of the country, the demoralised and outI numbered village police are [virtually cowering in their i barracks as huge mobs of villagers roam the country to settle old feuds or wreak vengeance on the lower echelons of President Ayub Khan’s regime.

Police stations have been 1 attacked, officials clubbed to death. In a wave of premeditated executions victims have been beheaded, crucified, drowned or thrown on to huge bonfires. Mob’s Targets I In most cases the targets ' of the mobs have been thieves or suspected criminals who bolstered the ruling Moslem League's authority in the rural areas. In other cases the villagers turned on unpopular police officials, rent collectors and I village council chiefs, the [“basic democrats,” who form [the lower tier of President ' Ayub’s indirect system of | elections. The wave of lawlessness was essentially begun by the students’ ultimatum last month calling for the resignation of all the basic democrats in the province. From Jamalpur, in the northern Mymensingh district, where Basic Democrats were crucified or burnt to death earlier this month, the

violence has spread south-; wards to Manikganj, a farm-: ing district 50 miles north of j Dacca.

Silent Spectators |

The young district superin-1 tendent and his small garrison of 13 policemen have re-|' mained silent spectators to j the last days of anarchy. All they hope to do is to avoid: attracting the mobs’ atten-j' tion. Villagers who have ap-i proached the police for pro-| tection have been told to[ “look after yourselves.” In many villages students: have set up “people’s courts” | to fine Basic Democrats and members of the Moslem League. Ferdoush Masan Azad, a student leader, says: “We are travelling through villages: pleading with people not to* resort to killings. We have: asked them to set up courts j and fine Moslem Leaguers. j “In a way it has been suc-[ cessful. They are paying up in their thousands rather than have their houses burnt.” Manikganj perhaps exemplifies the situation in the entire rural area northwards to the border of Assam. Soldiers and policemen are beaten and thrown out of first-class compartments in trains, cars are stopped and looted within miles of big cities. With authority diminishing every day, observers and diplomats are predicting a bleak future for East Pakistan. ‘Time Running Out’ j Time is running out rapidly [ for 70 million Bengalis who[ in normal circumstances [ barely manage to eke out a living from a land area which: is almost half the size of Britain. With widespread lawlessness and first reports of the looting of river cargo boats, farmers have begun hoarding food crops.

Vital movements of rice from surplus to deficit agri-

; cultural areas have virtually |i : come to a halt. Stocks at dis- i tribution points and ration!: ; shops are dangerously low, [ and food prices are spiralling i i up beyond the reach of the | average man. h i (Rice is selling at 8c per[l lib. The average daily in-! [come in rural towns is 15c.) h | Observers believe that un-ll [less law and order are re- i (stored within the next few [weeks the looting of food-11 istocks may break out on al: I massive scale, leading to mass I (starvation. [i Abdus Salaam Khan, a;i small farmer on the outskirts .of Dacca, has hoarded his en- | tire crop this year for personal consumption. “But I II don’t know what will happen,” he said. “About 30 per cent of the [village have stored food. The i I rest have nothing. I have just: iienough to feed my family but: iwhen the crowds come asking; J for food I shall have to hand! it over if I want to stay!' [alive.” In Cities : The situation in the cities || is no better. Abdul Monem ' Khan, the Governor, has not i; ventured out of his residence ! for several weeks, his writ I] does not extend beyond his I, office walls, while a policej, uniform has not been seen in:, the streets of Dacca for a! ( fortnight. Industry, commerce and , Government business have;, come to an entire standstill. | Strikers from every profes-i ' sion, trade and occupation, I from doctors to railway workers and power station en-ij 'gineers, parade through the . [streets almost every hour, de-(I jmanding more pay and better:; [working conditions. , Patients Leave I With doctors, nurses and | hospital staffs on strike, medical services are almost non-ii existent. |' Most of the patients in the;: 1000-bed Dacca Medical Col-i t lege Hospital were carried!' away by relatives this morn-11 ing when the sewerage sys- 1

item broke down and the kit[chens and wards were deIserted by employees on strike I Pools of sewage covered corridor floors and wards as patients, many of them desjperately ill, hobbled out of the wards. ! Bank officials cannot esti[mate the flight of capital from [the eastern province but they ‘describe it as “fantastic." The exchange rate has risen from 12 rupees to the pound (sterling to 30 rupees on the I black market as industrialists 'convert capital into foreign exchange.