The Daily
Morning News
Some Important Entries
25 APRIL 1971
News headlines and details from the Daily Morning News.
News Headlines:
- Valuable records removed from chancery at Calcutta: Active connivance of Indian authorities.
- Band of infiltrators, anti-
state elements eliminated. - Entire Rahshahi district under full control of Army.
- Anti-
state elements and miscreants now lose all hopes. - Peace committees set up.
- India made futile attempt to engineer break-
up of Pakistan. - Life back to normal in residential colonies.
- A visit to Sheikh Mujib's residence.
Other Headlines:
- People have regained confidence.
- Briton blasts Indian press: Anti Pak cries.
- Pakistanis in Najaf appeal to Thant : Indian interference.
- Mumtaz Ali Bhutto condemns Indian interference.
- Ample evidences of conspiracy between India and Mujib.
- Appeal to E. Wing postal employees to resume duties.
- Indian aggression in E. Pakistan being condemned all over occupied Kashmir.
Active connivance of Indian authorities
(From Hasan Akhtar)
Rawalpindi, April 24: Valuable and confidential records of the Pakistan Deputy High Commission in Calcutta are feared to have been removed from the chancery by unauthorised persons with the active connivance of Indian authorities.
Former Deputy High Commissioner for Pakistan in Calcutta, Mr. Hussain Ali, and a
few others who claimed to represent so-
Despite repeated protest and demands of the Pakistan authorities the Indian Government failed to discharge its obligations under the Geneva Convention of 1961 pertaining to the protection and immunity of diplomatic missions and diplomatic representatives by making no effort to reject the unauthorised persons from the occupation of the Pakistan mission at Calcutta.
According to Article 22 it is the appropriate special duty of the receiving state (in this case) to take steps to protect the premises of the mission against any intrusion or damage and to prevent any disturbance to the peace of the mission and impairment of its dignity.
Various other articles of the Geneva Convention stipulate that property, records and communications of diplomatic missions would be safeguarded against damage or intrusion by the receiving state.
It is clear that by taking no steps against the illegal and the unauthorised occupation of the persons who had been formally declared by the Pakistan Government as persona non grata. The Government of India became guilty, serious breach of established diplomatic convention.
Diplomatic observers hold the view that in the light of Indian Government's tacitly connivance and failure to secure the release of the Pakistan mission from unauthorised occupation was left with no alternative but to close down its Calcutta mission and, on reciprocal basis, demand the closure of the Indian mission at Dacca.
It is now believed that the assurances given the other day by the Indian foreign office official in New Delhi and the Indian High Commissioner in Islamabad that India did not recognise "Bangla Desh Government" and that it would secure the release of the mission were, in fact, a clever move to gain more time to let the defected persons remove the secret and valuable papers and records from the mission premises at Calcutta.
It is now believed that with the closure of the mission at Calcutta by Pakistan, India would go a step further and grant some kind of recognition to the persons operating from the premises of the Pakistan mission at Calcutta in the name of "Bangla Desh."
This should, incidentally, make Calcutta both the headquarters and venue of the mission
of so-
A band of Indian infiltrators and anti-
Diesel trucks were captured
While Pakistan troops were mopping up Jessore area, the intruders and their collaborators tried to cross into India through Banapole border which had already been sealed. They were caught in a trap which proved a death for them all.
The local people actively co-
Rajshahi, April 24 (APP): The entire Rajshahi district, including the Rajshahi proper,
Natore, Nawabganj, Sardah and Naogaon, has been completely cleared of the armed Indian
infiltrators, miscreants and anti-
During my 3-
Rather, I found the dwellers of Rajshahi which is the major town in North Bengal eager to restore normal conditions in every walk of life, from banking to conservancy. As I drove through the roads and streets of the area I saw a large number of people filing into towns carrying their belongings. They had fled into rural areas out of terror of Indian armed men and miscreants and were coming back because they had made sure that life had started becoming normal.
Since March 26 I was the first outside journalist to visit Rajshahi town and first thing I did was to call at the local ML administrator's office and talked to people of different segments of the society who usually came at such places for sorting out their day to day problems.
There I found a large deputation of local political leaders having a meeting with
the administrator. They belonged to the Pakistan Democratic Party, the Jamaat-
They handed over a joint resolution to the Administrator assuring him their unstinted support and cooperation in maintaining law and order and in helping the Pakistan Army wipe out Indian intruders and infiltrators.
Timely Action
They also congratulated the president of Pakistan for taking timely action in saving the country from disintegration.
The joint statement further said: We strongly condemn the false and malicious propaganda being carried on by All India Radio and other Indian news media with a view to undoing Pakistan.
Peace committee Formed
A 13-
The committee which is headed by Mr. Mohammad Ayenuddin of the Convension Muslim
League has Mr. Ahfazuddin Ahmed of the Jamaat-
This meeting was immediately followed by a meeting of the heads of local departments and utility services with the local ML administrator.
Each officer informed the administrator of the progress of work in his respective sphere. The officer incharge of food supplies told the meeting that the food stocks in the district were adequate.
Efforts were being made to expedite movement of foodgrains.
The chairman of the municipality said six anti-
Attendance
During my round of some government offices I found almost normal attendance. At the commissioner's office, the Assistant Commissioner gave me the figures of the attendance in the town.
According to these figures class-
Rajshahi Medical College Hospital was also working when the Medical Superintendent, Dr. M.R. Chaudhury, took me around; some doctors, male and female nurses attending to patients in the male and female surgical wards. The outdoor patients counter was also thrown open to public today.
Power and water supply to the Rajshahi town was being maintained at normal level. Gangmen were working on defective telephone lines.
However, important telephone connections in the whole district were in order.
Radio Pakistan's Rajshahi station is functioning normally. While male staffers and artistes joined work immediately on resumption of transmission, the female staffers and artistes joined duty today and one of the programmes I saw on the air was the ladies' programme. Police training school in nearby Sardah town has also been working for some days now.
Rifle Training
In Natore I saw about 60 persons taking rifle training.
They had volunteered their services to the Army authorities to protest the population of the town from the excesses of miscreants.
Among them were three young men of nearby Santahar town, whose entire family members totalling 20 were butchered by miscreants.
Their names were Ahmed Ali, Monammed Hushim and Mohammad Abbas Ali. Abbas was taking training despite injuries to the feet which were bandaged.
In Pardeshwar the market was bustling with activity. Commercial activity was also
picking up but one noteworthy rather amazing aspect of the activity was the emergence
of Urdu sign-
Names of roads and streets now appear in three languages Bengali, Urdu and English.
After having been routed by the Pakistan Army with the help of the patriotic people
of East Pakistan, the miscreants and anti-
But despite their maximum efforts and despite the fact that inspired rumours are made to circulate in quite large numbers, people who had moved to the rural areas have returned to the provincial capital and the city now bears a calm, peaceful and business like look.
And in this the fabricated and baseless stories of trouble in East Pakistan spread by the Indian Radio and press have also failed to be of any help. It is because the local people are able to verify the falsehood of the Indian propaganda with their own eyes everyday.
Reign of Terror
People had started fleeing from Dacca, much before the army action against the miscreants
and anti-
A Dacca shopkeeper who returned to the city after the army had restored law and order in the city, said,"I left with my family because of present cause of death, loot and arson. And we were fed with wrong notions about the strength of the miscreants.
Now we know only a handful of people had made life miserable for lakhs of peace loving citizens. And these handful of goondas out of the way, life has returned to normal all over the city. At Sadarghat, boats and ferries full of men, women and children were seen arriving, many carrying their beddings and suitcases to return to their homes. In many cases where men had returned first and found life quite normal and completely safe were now fetching their families.
Hustle and Bustle
Everywhere in the city life throbbed with the usual hustle and bustle of a modern
commercial town. When I drove through Nawabpur Road, Sadarghat and Islampur Road
on Wednesday morning such was the rush of traffic that the car could move only at
a snail's pace. Countless cycle rickshaws jolted for space with pedestrians, buses,
cars, motor cycle, rickshaws and hand carts. Shops and restaurants were full of customers
and footpaths were overflowing with pedlars of all kinds of goods. Green and white
national flag fluttered from roof tops, shop windows and street poles while slogans
like "Pakistan Zindabad", "Quaid-
In Liaquat Square yellow topped taxies waited in a long queue for passengers headed
for Narayangonj. At the Gulistan bus-
The Dacca University Campus is a standing monument to the falsehood of the Indian propaganda. Nothing has been razed to the ground. Even the Iqbal Hall where the army had to break up resistance stands showing signs of only limited damage. Same is the case with the nearby Hindu hostel Jagannath Hall.
Another surprising thing is that despite the abnormal conditions through which the city has passed, there is no shortage of foodstuffs and essential commodities. While there has been no abnormal rise in prices. The prices of commodities like vegetables and fish have actually come down. The price of kerosene oil has registered an increase of only about 50 paisa to one rupee per tin while the price of rice is reported to have gone up by about two rupees a maund.
This rise is insignificant considering the fact that the distribution of foodstuffs
and other commodities has been hampered due to the anti-
In a meeting held in the union committee office at Goran in Dacca city on Friday
it was resolved that peace committees be formed at Goran, Malibagh and Khilgaon-
Karachi, April 24, (APP): India's brazen-
The foreign press has now come out with conclusive evidence to show that it is India
which has conceived, planned and subsequently made attempt to engineer the break-
In this connection, the leading French paper le monde, has made a striking revelation
in its issue of April 20, 1971. Quoting its Calcutta correspondent the paper says
that the so-
Correspondent of the daily telegraph of London, David Loshak says that emissaries
claiming to represent the so-
With the resumption of dutes by the employees of various Government, semi-
Government New Market, Baitul Mukarram, Jinnah Avenue and other marketing centres of the city are attracting increased number of customers everyday.
Most of the school going children, who had left Dacca earlier, are again back to the capital city to attend their schools due to open shortly.
City cinema halls are attracting a large number of cinema fans. There is a usual rush of customers at the bank counters.
More buses, trucks, private cars, scooters and rickshaws are plying on city roads.
Children's park and playgrounds are again full of life and children are enjoying various games there in the afternoon.
A visit to the Dhanmandi residence of outlawed Awami League leader Sheikh Mujib convinces
any impartial observer that all stories about fierce fighting and mass-
As I visited the house bearing Number 677 in Bengali letters on Wednesday morning, light rain was falling and the entire lush green Dhanmondhi area bore a picture post card look of peace and calm. Some children were playing on the narrow road by the side of the canal like Dhanmondi lake in front of the house.
In view of the stories of stiff residence supposed to have been offered at the residence
by volunteers I was surprised to find that the irongate, the boundary wall and grey
coloured two-
In the front verandah, there was cane furniture and two chairs lay overturned. Inside the house the belongings looked intact.
In the lawn a high flag pole stood broken in the middle and was apparently the pole
from which 'Bangla Desh' flag had flown on top of the two-
I checked up with the neighbours and was told that Sheikh's family had gone out immediately after his arrest in a hurry. Some neighbours had met members of the Sheikh's family and were able to confirm that no family member was killed. They discounted the story of the Sheikh's son being killed.
Accoding to neighbours there was no fighting or resistance at the Sheikh's residence
itself. The entire operation which started around one past midnight was over in about
half an hour's time. As the Army arrived they were confronted with a road block at
the entrance of the bungalow side road at the point of its junction with the main
road. The road block was manned by miscreants, who ran helter-
As the Sheikh was arrested his wife moved into a neighbouring house. The Army personnel did not bother any of the family members and let them alone. Also no damage was done to the house.
The Sheikh's family members, I was told, are still in Dacca and are living with relations and friends. As I did not see any Army or police guard around the house or anywhere in the whole area they apparently are living out of the house of their own free will.
August 1971
September 1971
October 1971
November 1971
December 1971
Profile of Bengal
