বাংলাদেশের স্বাধীনতা যুদ্ধ দলিলপত্রঃ চতুর্দশ খন্ড শিরোনাম সূত্র তারিখ ৯৪। বাংলাদেশের জন্য যুদ্ধ নিউইয়র্ক টাইমস ১৭ অক্টোবর, ১৯৭১ NEW YORK TIMES, OCTOBER 17, 1971 THE GRIM FIGIET FOR BANGLADESH New Delhi-"If the Vietcong had been doing this well lifter six months, they would have considered it a remarkably good start" The foreign diplomat was talking about the Mukti Bahini (Liberation Forces), the Bengali insurgents who are fighting for the independence of East Pakistan, which they have named Bangladesh (Bengal nation). From a disorganized, confused band of freedom fighters that moved into action when the Pakistani Army struck in late March to try to crush the Bengali autonomy movement, the Mukti Bahini has become, if not a well-oiled fighting machine, at least a reasonably coordinated and more than reasonably effective guerrilla force. India has helped with arms training and sanctuary-and, clearly, without the Indian aid, the level of insurgent activity could never have reached its present pit. But the men and the motivation are East Pakistani, and, even if they were on their own, it is doubtful whether the Bengali resistance could be totally crushed by the troops from West Pakistan. An estimated 80,000 West Pakistani troops have been moved into East Pakistan, plus several thousand West Pakistani police. They have hastily trained about 10.000 non-Bengali home guards known as Razakars. Estimates of the number of Mukti Bahini pitted against this force range from 80,000 to 100,000; foreign observers think the lower number is probably the more realistic. The hard core of professional soldiers and same of these are not highly trained, consists of no more then 15,000-Bengalis who defected to the Bangladesh movement from the East Pakistan Rifles, a paramilitary border patrol Force, and the East Bengal Regiment, a better-trained regular army unit. In addition, an estimated 30,000 to 40,000 new recruits- mostly between the ages of 18 to 25 and mostly college students but including many village boys-have been trained. Many Bangladesh training camps and base areas are on the Indian side of the border, but a growing number of the Bengali troops have been operating from "liberated areas" just inside East Pakistan. These areas, though not-large, have been expanding, Some of the new recruits are being trained as regular troops and others as guerrillas. The letter adopt village dress and mix with the local population. There are many more volunteers, however, than the Mukti Bahini can absorb, primarily because of a shortage of weapons and a large number of boys simply mark time after getting their rudimentary basic training-which is hardly more than physical exercises and elementary driving. The Mukti Bahini's weapons are a moliey lot. There are some Stenguns, light machine guns and other automatic weapons, and many ancient single-shot rifles. The
