CHINA-PAKISTAN BORDER Foreigners barred from area

Press, Volume CXI, Issue 32779, 2 December 1971, Page 15

CHINA-PAKISTAN BORDER Foreigners barred from area

(N.Z.P. A.-Reuter—Copyright) RAWALPINDI, December 1. The Pakistan Government yesterday closed northern areas bordering China to all foreign visitors.

British newspapers today speculated that the reason for the closing of the northern borders of West Pakistan and China to foreigners was because it was the area through which a new highway linking the two countries passed.

The official Pakistan Government reason is that the frontier zone has been sealed off because of the country’s state of emergency.

However, the "Daily Express” today reported that the shutdown would prompt speculation that China was sending increased military aid down the highway. The newspaper also said that sealing off the border areas could also mean President Yahya Khan was mobilising Pakistani forces there to hit back at India.

It added that the closed northern zone could be the launching pad for attacks on the Indian Army in Kashmir. All-weather road The “Daily Telegraph” reported that the new allweather road linking the two countries was nearing completion. The newspaper said the Chinese-built road would make it possible for Chinese troops and supplies to aid Pakistan.

It said that according to Western intelligence sources, Pakistan was relying on the link at the present moment and was fortified with assurances from Peking that China had no intention of abandoning her. The road has been described as the eighth wander of the world and runs through gorges which were hitherto passable only to mules.

The “Daily Telegraph” said that according to Pakistani information, the Russians had secretly withdrawn their support for India if India attacked East Pakistan, but would maintain support if Pakistan attacked. It said that there was only one land route to Russia, through Afghanistan, whereas China now had six routes of possible entry into the subcontinent.

Locked in battle Pakistani and Indian troops were still locked in battle today in at least three areas of strife-tom East Pakistan, and reports continued to reach New Delhi of further advances by the Mukti Bahini (Bangla Desh guerrillas). Pakistan Radio, monitored in New Delhi last night, admitted that “Indian troops” were making small gains in various areas of East Pakistan, but “at great costs.” The radio said India was using tanks and bringing in troops on all fronts. An All-India radio broadcast early today said the Mukti Bahini, in a series of fresh offensives, had “liberated” three areas in the Sylhet sector in the east and had launched an all-out attack on the strategic town of Feni in the Noakhli district The radio added that latest reports also said that Faridpur, south-west of Dacca and home town of the gaoled Awami League leader, Sheikh Mujibur Rahman, and the southern town of Barisal were completely under the control of the Mukti Bahini. Indian statements Meanwhile, the Indian Prime Minister (Mrs Indira Gandhi) and the Defence Minister (Mr Jagjivan Ram) both made statements which observers saw as edging India still further from acceptance of a compromise political settlement in East Pakistan.

Mrs Gandhi told Parliament: “We cannot allow the annihilation of people next

door to us (in East Pakistan). “It is not in our interest that the entire people, not fust the Mukti Bahini, but the entire unarmed population of Bangla Desh should be annihilated.” Mrs Gandhi then called on President Yahya Kahn of Pakistan to withdraw his troops from East Pakistan as a gesture of peace and added: “The very presence of Pakistani troops in Bangla Desh is a threat to our security.” Political settlement The Prime Minister, who conferred with her closest colleagues before making her speech, reiterated that she did not believe the people of Bangla Desh would settle for anything less than liberation from Pakistan. ■

She said that the only possible solution was a political one and Sheikh Mujibur had to be released from prison in West Pakistan where he is facing trial for “waging war against Pakistan.” Mr Ram said on television last night that war between India and Pakistan could be avoided if Pakistan’s rulers respected the wishes of the people of East Pakistan and gave them their independence.

Mr Ram told a panel of Indian journalists: “War could still be avoided if the rulers see the writing on the wall and give independence to the people of Bangla Desh, respecting their wishes.”

An N.Z;P.A-Reuter correspondent, Ram Suresh, reporting from the West Bengal border town of Krishnagar, was told by defence officials that Indian troops were engaged in fighting with Pakistani troops in at least three areas inside East Pakistan. However, the officials denied Pakistani claims that it was Indian troops who were involved in most of the fighting in East Pakistan, an assertion backed by various informed Calcutta sources, including Western diplomatic circles.

One of the battles being fought out between the Pakistanis and Indians was in the Hilli area of East Pakistan, 190 miles north of Calcutta, where the action has continued since Saturday when Indian troops crossed the border to try to silence Pakistani artillery which has been blasting the Indian border town of Balurghat. The Indians say that they have knocked out four Chafee tanks in the Hilli fighting and killed or wounded a total of 160 Pakistani troops. Indian casualties are put at 35 dead or wounded in the four days of fighting. '