the first lunge came. At scattered points along the 1,300-mile frontier between India and East Pakistan, troops stood poised while cach side probed and harassed the other of provocations and self-righteously maintained that they themselves would never be the aggressors. But in fact. India was preparing to strike. And though New Delhi barred all reporters from border areas to conceal its troop movements. NEWSWEEK'S Senior Editor Arnaud de Borchgrave along with a correspondent of The New York Times, managed last week to slip through the Indian net. De Borchgrave's report:
There was not a sign of war as we drove the miles from Cal to the border town of Bangaon -no military traffic no Indian Army units; no thudding artillery. When the road turned east, at a sign reading “Pak Border- Two Miles,” we followed it until an Indian major stopped us, explaining that the Pakistanis were firing on the road just ahead. The major took us down a roadside ditch toward the border, and though we could hear the tumble of distant shelling and the whistle of an occasional bullet as we walked, the area was still calm. Where is the fighting, we asked, and the major replied: “All quict on this side. A bit of automatic stuff at night, a few mortar rounds but otherwise no movement” At the border itself, Indian troops were well dug in and sturdy red-brick walls blocked the road. But beyond the walls, a sign was still visible, and it read: “Welcome to Pakistan."
Bound For The Border
But tranquility suddenly vanished as we were driving back to Bangaon. In choking clouds of red dust, an awesome convoy was churning toward the border. Lumbering Soviet-built trucks towed twelve 105-mm artillery pieces, turbaned Sikhs manned a steady stream of jeeps mounted with recoilless guns and cumbersome trailers hauled pontoon-bridge equipment. We slipped in among a seemingly endless procession of trucks, each jammed with soldiers in full combat gear and automatic weapons. Everything from amphibious armored personnel carriers to furniture for command posts was in the convoy, and it all indicated that the Indian Army was positioning itself for an incursion into Pakistan. Even though we were waved off the road just before the border, the army made no effort to conceal the border-bound caravan or India's intentions. “My man have been waiting to move forward for a month.” one officer told us as we joined him for tea. “Their spirits are high."
It was patently obvious from the unceasing convoy as well as from conversation with the field commanders that India, for all its public proclamations to contrary, was finally lending the Mukti Bahini guerrillas a direct hand. After our observation of the Indian troop movements. Prime Minister Indira Gandhi acknowledge for the first time that her army had been given the go-ahead to cross the Pakistani border in selfdefense. But in fact, India's tactics were more like the doctrine of 'hot pursuit.” For even before we saw the convoy. Indian forces had crossed the border north of Bangaon and destroyed thirteen Pakistani tanks. And, in another clear indication that India was stepping up its involvement in the battle for Bengal, an Indian Cabinet minister told me: “There is no time now for interim or compromise solutions. Speed is now essential."
