‘Scorched-earth policy in East Pakistan'

Press, Volume CXI, Issue 32633, 15 June 1971, Page 13

‘Scorched-earth policy in East Pakistan '

SHIKARPUR (India), June 14. The Pakistan Army has adopted a scorched-earth policy along the frontier between East Pakistan and India, according to Indian military and civilian authorities.

President Yahya Khan’s troops are burning frontier villages, destroying jute and sugar cane plantations, and ordering those inhabitants who have not already fled to India to withdraw to at least five miles from the border.

The operation seems designed as a defensive measure against guerrilla attacks by East Pakistan secessionist forces the Mukhti Fauj—who are building up their strength in the safety of Indian t'.rritory. The Army’s action has resulted in still more refugees crossing into India, although they are coming over in far fewer numbers than in recent weeks. The Pakistan Army has attempted to seal the border, but refugees are still sneaking through at night. Military camp There seem to be sound millitary reasons for the Pakistani precautions. Reporters touring the Indian side of the border area stumbled across a Mukhti Fauj encampment in a clearing in the woods near Shikarpur about 110 miles north-east of Calcutta. About 20 tents were pitched in the clearing a quarter of a mile from the border, and armed guards stood sentry at the entrance. In the camp was a truckload of Sikh Light Infantry, turbaned troops of the Indian Regular Army. “We are here simply to supervise the inoculation of nrugees,” an Indian Army officer xplained lamely. A captain of the Mukhti Fauj claimed that the camp was a transit point at which Bangla Desh (Bengali Nation) soldiers received some initial military training; it was not an operational base, he asserted.

l In the grounds of a nearby , Christian mission was what ’ the officer described as a ’ Bangla Desh youth camp; the • youths were in khaki battle- [ dress. Villages burnt • Robert Kaylor, of United ■ Press International, reports from New Delhi that the Pakistan Federal forces are burning villages and destroying ' crops in northern East Paki- ’ stan in an apparent effort to ’ deprive secessionist rebels of J food and shelter, according to reports published today by the ■ Press Trust of India. The news agency says that . Pakistani soldiers can‘be seen j from the Indian border openi ing fire n villages and then ■ putting torches to dwellings - and fields in the Dinajpur district, 250 miles north of Cal- . cutta. As many as 250 villages ’ along a 66-mile frontier strip may be involved, according to the P.T.1., which adds that guerrilla units have been in action along that stretch of I border, and that the scorched- . earth operatior appears to be , aimed at them. ; Death trail ■ Dennis Neeld, of the As- ) sociated Press writes (through the N.Z.P.A.): Shikarpur is the | beginning of the 50-mile death i trail along which tens of thou--1 sands of East Pakistani ret fugees poured into India earlier this month. Mainly Hindus, they came , from towns like Faridpur and i Khulna, deep in the interior of East Pakistan. With them, > they brought cholera, and f they died in hundreds. / The road to Krishnagar, 50 miles away, is marked by i mass graves and by the rags > and sleeping mats of refui gees who dropped by the ) wayside. Many graves have 1 been flushed open by mont soon rains, and dogs and vul- - tures still fatten on the bodies.

The District Officer (Mr D. K. Ghosh) reported that 400,000 refugees flooded across the border in the Shikarpur area between May 24 and June 2. Most of them came from about 100 villages in the area of Faridpur, 150 miles from the frontier. Easy prey “By the time they reached India they were exhausted and famished,” Mr Ghosh said. “They were easy prey to disease, and by May 26 we were receiving reports of a cholera epidemic," Mr Ghosh said. “The road between Shikarpur and Krishnagar was choked with refugees. Relief trucks and ambulances could not get through.

“People just staggered off the road and died where they fell—about 2000 of them.

Bodies were everywhere. It was almost a week before we could get them buried.”

Mr Ghosh admitted that local authorities were unprepared for such a mammoth influx. "Our arrangements were swept away,” he said.

The refugees fanned out into villages along the way, spreading cholera everywhere they went. Local hospitals designed for 10 patients were taking 600, most of whom lay on the ground in the open or undet rough shelters of rags and palm fronds.

The death rate among cholera cases quickly rose to 40 ' per cent. Two hundred patients died in one hospital alone.

Mr Ghosh reported that 10,000 cholera cases were admited to hospitals in the Nadia district, of which Krishnagar is the headquarters. He estimated the district’s death toll at 4000. ‘On top now’ As the international rescue mission gathered momentum, cholera vaccine, drugs and rehydration saline fluid were rushed to the area. “We’ve got on top of the epidemic now,” Mr Ghosh

said. “Yesterday, only 100 new cases were admitted, and there were only 12 deaths. At the peak, we were recording 1000 deaths a day.

“We have sufficient food cash and medical supplies now, but there is shelter for only half of the 600,000 refugees in the Nadia district. “Almost every square-mile is cultivated, and we just do not have the space to accommodate them.

“Our fear is that, with the onset of the monsoons, lack of shelter will lead to serious epidemics of pneumonia and similar diseases, especially among the children.

Protest in London

(N.Z.P.A -Reuter—Copyright) LONDON, June 14. One thousand chanting Bangla Desh supporters marched through the streets of London yesterday, calling for an immediate end to British and American economic aid to Pakistan. Protest letters handed to the United States Embassy in Grosvenor Square and the British Prime Minister’s residence, No. 10 Downing Street, alleged that British and American arms had been used “in the rape of Bangla Desh and in the stifling of democracy?"