The Daily
Morning News
21 APRIL 1971
News headlines and details from the Daily Morning News.
News Headlines:
- Armed forces consolidate position in border belts: Pockets of miscreants, infiltrators cleared.Order to report for duty .
- P.O.F. stuff asked to report for duty.
- No resistance at Chuadanga, Meherpur.
- Central peace committee meets.
- Chittagong Port completely intact.
- Tajuddin, 4 others directed to appear before SAML.
Other Headlines:
- India's armed intervention condemned.
- Prior appointment necessary for visit to HQ/ML, Zone B.
- Indian press reports show involvement of Delhi in East Wing.
- 7 held in Kishtwar: Turned into Radio Pakistan.
- Our duty is to bring economy on normal footing, says Quasim.
- Disturbance at Bangla Desh fund meeting.
- Communalists have no love for East Wing.
- Sakhawat lauds ML authorities for saving country's economy.
- Break ties with India: Malik Jehangir.
The Pakistan Armed Forces have further consolidated their position in the border belts both in the eastern and the western region of East Pakistan and the borders have been firmly secured against any further infiltration from across the neighbouring Indian states, reports APP.
This follows the army action four days ago in which they cleared Brahmanbaria and Akhaura in the Comilla region and Chuadanga and Meherpur in the Kushtia region.
After securing these important border-
New Delhi Radio, true to its tradition of falsehood, has been putting out imaginary
tales about the re-
The Indian Radio report has been officially described in Dacca as wishful thinking of Indian interventionists and it is pointed out that these places have continued to be firmly under the control of the army. They were secured by them.
New Delhi Radio has also been putting out lies about the Sylhet airfield which it has been persistingly describing as Salutikar airfield.
It has been officially pointed out in Dacca that ever since the establishment of Pakistan, this airfield has always been known as Sylhet airfield and it would be as incorrect to call it by any other name as it would be to describe the Indian state of Uttar Pradesh as united provinces.
It is further stated in Dacca that Sylhet airport has all along been under the control of the army and PIA has been operating regular flights from Dacca to this airport.
It was announced through the press and broadcast on Radio and TV that all employees
under Govt. Departments, Directorates, Autonomous and Semi-
It is realised that in spite of their best intention, some employees may not be able
to report for duty to their own office on account of difficulty of communication
in certain areas. Such employees are directed to report for duty to the office of
their own department at the nearest district or sub-
Those employees who will be reporting for duty at stations other than their normal places of work, in pursuance of the above instruction, should, however, report to their own offices soon thereafter in order to resume their normal work. It should be clearly understood that no payment of their salary will be made until they report for duty to their own offices.
The resident director of Pakistan Ordinance Factory, Ghazipur, has directed all officers, staff and workers of P.O.F to report to A.S.I.D. Dacca cantt. Where they will be paid provisionally for the month of March and taken to their place of work or they must report to their place of work itself where they will also be paid.
Those who do not report by April 21 are liable to be dismissed from Govt. service and tried by military court.
Jessore, April 20 (APP): Chuadanga was taken on Friday evening and Meherpur on Sunday without any resistance, writes APP's special correspondent, Mohammad Afzal Khan.
I visited Chuadanga on Saturday and returned here Sunday evening after spending a
night there. Ours was perhaps the only vehicle moving out of Chuadanga towards Jessore.
When we left the town the troops were already half-
The 50-
At various places, however, we could see caravans of people returning on to their
roadside villages which they had earlier deserted after the arrival of the infiltrators.
I talked to a number of them who said they were returning home on hearing news that
the army had secured the area from anti-
In a small town Dak Bangla Bazar situated along the road about ten miles from Chuadanga over 100 people carrying Pakistan flags formed a procession as we reached there and raised slogans of "Pakistan Zindabad" and "Down with Indian Aggressors". There were a number of shops on both sides of the road most of which were open. I talked to one Haji Abdul Hasan aged about 50. He owned a small radio repair shop and had lived his life in the town. He was extremely pleased that the army had eliminated saboteurs and Indian infiltrators to allow them to a resume normal life.
Baseless Reports
This morning on hearing Indian reports of counter attack by infiltrators and regaining of Chuadanga, I talked to the army commander at Chuadanga from Jessore who said Indian publicists were giving utterly baseless reports of any resistance to Pakistan Army. He termed Indian reports as wishful thinking.
It seems that the Indian propagandists are concocting fantastic stories of resistance in a vain effort to boost up the already swagging morale of the infiltrators and saboteurs who are on the run everywhere in this sector.
They do not give any resistance to the advancing Pakistan Army and run away leaving behind most of their weapons and supplies in utter panic. Reports reaching here said they have scattered in remote villages while many others have crossed over the border.
Even since Pakistan Army started operation in Chuadanga sector, the Indian news media
have been giving fanciful reports of confrontation between the troops and the anti-
The Army entered Chuadanga which Indian Radio had named as the seat of the so-
Torture Reports
Accompanying us from Chuadanga were three women, eight children, two young boys and
an old man who had been rescued by the Army in Chuadanga. They told us that during
non-
The old man accompanying, Mohammad Ali, who owns a rice mill in Khulna and had fled
the town during reign of terror let loose by the miscreants was caught by the anti-
On Friday afternoon some miscreants rounded up the three women and their children along with Bukkal and shut them in a small house putting it on fire. They also set fire other buildings of the town. In the meantime the fleeing infiltrators arrived at the spot and informed the miscreants of the advancing Pakistani troops. They all then took to their heels. Pakistan Army rescued the women and children from burning and sent them to Jessore along with us next day.
The working committee of the central peace committee which met yesterday morning with convener of the committee S.K. Khairuddin in the chair discussed problems regarding the formation of peace committees in the province, reports APP.
The committee has deputed Prof. Gulam Azam, Mr. Mahmud Ali, Mr. A.J. Khaddar and Mr. Abul Kashem to visit Mohammadpur today at 3 p.m. to meet the local there to form peace committee.
The committee has appointed Mr. Mahbubuzzaman in place of Mr. S. Habibul Haq as one of the liaison officers in Lalbagh area. Mr. Fazlul Haq Chowdhury of 375, North Shahjahanpur, Shah Mahiuddin of 151, South Kamalapur and Mr. Abdul Hye of 225, Malibagh are selected liaison officers for Ramna P.S. Mr. Masihul Islam, 23, Central Road and Mr. Abdul Khalique are also appointed liaison officers for Lalbagh P.S.
For attending day-
1. Mr. A.M. Shafiqul Islam, 2. Prof. Gulam Azam, 3. Mr. A. J. Khaddar, 4 Mr. A.K.M. Solaiman, 5. Mr. Abdul Matin , 6. M.S.K. Khairuddin.
In the absence of Mr. S.K. Khairuddin, convener of the central peace committee Mr. Q.M. Shafiqul Islam, Mr. A.J. Khaddar and Mr. Monsur Ali convener of Dilkusha area met the people at Arambag and inspired them about the need of formation of peace committee and the local people took up the task of forming such a committee immediately.
Chittagong, April, 20 (APP): The port of Chittagong, which according to Indian propagandists no more exists, is completely intact and being geared up for normal operation, writes APP's special correspondent Altaf Yawar. First I keenly looked at the port area as my plane was coming down to land at the Patenga Airport yesterday to find any scar of destruction but found none. Then twice I drove into the port area to find that the huge complex of port facilities like jetties, berths, warehouses, storage facilities, godowns, loading and unloading platforms, disembarkation facilities, cranes, oil tanks, buoys, light house, meteorological centre and all other port facilities completely intact.
I also saw ships flying flags of different countries berthed along with Pakistani ships. Among the foreign ships were one from Somalia and other from some East European countries. Alongside these ships could be seen oil tankers of western oil companies operating in Pakistan. Quite a number of ships were seen moving in the hurbour area.
Most of the goods awaiting clearance are the import cargo particularly of foodgrains, cement and fertilizer. The authorities are making efforts to transport these items especially foodgrains and fertilizer into inland ports for distribution. A heartening aspect is that there is no export cargo left uncleared. One Pakistani ship loaded with export goods was yesterday preparing to leave for its destination.
The Eastern oil refinery which had been closed down for periodic repairs long before the disturbances in early March will start working by April 25. A competent authority told me yesterday over 100 refinery employees out of a complement of 400, were working yesterday on the machinery of the refinery. I was told that the refinery could be worked to normal capacity with 200 workers also.
Economic Activity
Economic activity elsewhere in this port town is also being resumed. For instance tea auction which is a fortnightly affair, is due to resume on Wednesday, April 28. Decision to this effect was taken at a meeting of tea traders presided over by chairman of Tea Board, Mr. M. Zaman CSP, yesterday. Mr. Zaman flew in especially from Dacca to preside over the meeting. He told me later that there were enough stocks of tea in Chittagong to meet requirements of both East and West Pakistan. Though business is going on at several places in the town I found three places as of particular interest.
These were the Laldighi Commercial Area, the Station Road and the vegetable market. Counters of banks located in Laldighi were full of clients. Restaurants both in Laldhighi and Station Road were catering to a large number of visitors. The prices of goods were the same as before the disturbances except in cases of food items which were a bit higher in view of suspension of movement of foodgrains.
Governor's Appeal
A shopkeeper told me that after the appeal of Governor Tikka Khan calling for fuller
co-
Traffic in the town as a whole is picking up. Buses, both local and mofussil, private
cars, taxis, autorickshaws, pedal rickshsws, bicycles are not in large numbers and
people who had left for countryside out of terror of miscreants and anti-
Incidentally as I roamed the streets of Chittagong yesterday I saw Pakistani flag displayed in such big numbers as I have never seen throughout my life. In addition to houses, I noticed that there was not a single means of transport without the Pakistan flag. All the buses, private cars, taxis, autorickshaws and rickshaws and even bicycles were flying the flag. Almost the entire people on roads wore the mini version of Pakistani flag on their lapels.
One gets the impression after seeing hundreds of thousands of Pakistan flags on buildings, on means of transport and also on the persons of the people that Pakistan flag has become the symbol of displaying patriotism.
Reaction
I asked a couple of locals of Chittagong why people have taken fancy to the national
flag. They told me it was a reaction to the reign of terror let loose during the
days of so-
At the hill top residence of Convention Muslim League chief Mr. Fazlul Quader Chowdhury, I met a cross section of residents of Chittagong and inquired from them how they felt about the prevailing conditions in the town.
They said the Pakistan Army had commendably performed the job of clearing the town
of armed secessionists, miscreants and anti-
However, when I visited the local ML Administration's headquarter, in the Circuit
House I saw about a dozen miscreants and anti-
They had been hauled up from different localities of town on charges ranging from homicide including infanticide, providing shelter to armed miscreants spreading fear and despondency amongst the population.
Tikka Khan has ordered five persons of Dacca, Bakerganj and Mymensingh to appear
before Sub-
Following is the text of the notice :
1. In exercise of the powers conferred on me under MLR-
1) Tajuddin Ahmed, 751 Dhanmondi Residential Area, Sat Masjid Road, Dacca.
2) Tofail Ahmed, Village-
3) A.M. Nazrul Islam, Langul Shimul, Post-
4) Abdul Mannan, Mansoor Villa, 110. Siddheshwari, Dacca.
5) Abidur Rahman, proprietor "the people", Dacca to appear before SAML sector-
2. If any one or all of you fail to appear as aforesaid you will be tried in absentia
in accordance with the provisions of MLR-
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