○、○ বাংলাদেশের স্বাধীনতা যুদ্ধ দলিলপত্র : অষ্টম খন্ড The reason for killing the Awami League leaders was left-evident. As for the Hindus, my informant is convinced that the troops were led to believe that they were the malign force behind the secessionist movement. No single observer could possibly have observed all that went on during the five days of fighting, but what follows was actually seen. At the University of Dacca, the residential dormitory Jagannath hall was reserved for Hindu students. Tank tracks led to the wall of the compound, which had been blasted down. Outside the building there was a fresh mass grave. Inside blood streamed from every room which had also been looted. There were bodies of six savagely-killed men in the servants quarters nearby. In the apartments of the faculty staff, children were seen shot dead in their beds. The dead bodies of what appeared to be the entire family of a senior professor, were found in another apartment. Outside were seen the bodies of students still clutching lathis, or bamboo staves, in the other predominantly so, the stench of dead and burning bodies was so overpowering that the survivors walked about with cloths over their noses. At least seven or eight bodies were seen in the rubble of ruined buildings and on refuse dumps. In tow of the old city's largest bazaars, one entirely Hindu and the other predominantly so, the stench of dead and burning bodies was so overpowering that the survivors walked about with cloths over their noses. At least seven or eight bodies were seen in the rubble of ruined buildings and on refuse dumps. In one House, my informant saw the still warm corpse of a man who had been shot to death minutes before. It was surrounded by his wailing wives. This is what was actually seen. What follows is an account of what happened during the five days of the fighting. Parts of it are reports received by the informant from friends before he left Dacca. The Army moved in, in force, to occupy key points of the town shortly before midnight on March 25, President Yahya Khan had departed for Karachi only a few hours before, and the assumption was that the troops acted on his personal instructions. According to official spokesmen, the Army had been warned of a plot to barricade all the approaches to the cantonment shortly after the president’s departure. Barricades had certainly gone up throughout the city, and from midnight until noon the next day, Dacca echoed with the sounds of firing from heavy artillery, heavy machine-guns and other automatic weapons. Throughout the night, there was the glare of large fires and tracer bullets. By dawn, a large pall of smoke covered much of the city and drifted slowly northwards towards the wealthy suburb of Gulshan. Fire were also seen in the Bihari area, the scene of communal friction earlier in the month.
