বাংলাদেশের স্বাধীনতা যুদ্ধ দলিলপত্রঃ চতুর্দশ খন্ড In one complex of villages only 300 people out of over 1, 00,000 had been recruited. Led by a grey-bearded ex-N.C.O. from the British India Army, they drank large amounts of tea in the village shop and talked enthusiastically of what they would do. But it was sadly obvious that they could achieve little with their sharpened bamboo sticks and their ragged parades that paid more attention to looks then fighting skill. "We will cut roads and bridges and get guns from our enemy," said one. However there is no reason to believe that he would react any differently from his brothers in Dacca. Dream world In the capital the students, reckoned to be the militant hard core of the Awami League, lived a similar dream world. They talked endlessly of fighting to the death. But they had nothing more than a few rifles from the 1939-45 war, equally ancient pistols, and some homemade bombs which, when the army moved in on March 25 were apparently not used. Once the shooting started the jeering, the shouting, the open defiance of the military might of the Pakistan Government died a quick death. And this pattern is being repeated throughout the country. When I toured the devastated areas of the city most people shrugged their shoulders and turned away when questioned about the possibility of resistance. These were the students, the intellectuals and the businessmen who only days before had raised the flag of Bangladesh over their homes, and who only the previous afternoon had joined anti-Government demonstrations in the streets. Now with thousands of innocent people massacred, all they can say and quite understandably is "what choice do we have in the face of the guns?" The only other people who might be able to put up a fight are the underground Left-wing and Communist movements. As yet there have been no reports of any of their leaders being rounded up. There are three main groups who could eventually be expected to put up some kind of armed resistance. All of them are Peking orientated. I met several of their members at secret meetings in Dacca early in March. They admitted their organizations were still small and had few arms. Their only supplies to come from the Naxalites in West Bengal India and possibly some from the Burmese rebels. They operate mainly in the industrial areas around Dacca and Chittagong and to a lesser extent in the rural areas of the north. Most of their support comes from the trade unions.
