404 বাংলাদেশের স্বাধীনতা যুদ্ধ দলিলপত্রঃ চতুর্দশ খন্ড But a razakar field commander, Abdul Wahab Mahalder, aged 31, whom I met leading his platoon to an operation, told me he believed that 200 razakars and peace committee members had been killed in Khulna district in recent weeks. Mahaldar said that his own group had a body count of two "miscreants" killed. This may correspond to two allegations of murder which have been lodged with the Khulna city police against razakar. The police were informed that two schoolteachers were shot down without warning or provocation. The police cannot, however, investigate these cases as a military directive states that complaints against razakars are to be investigated by the military authorities. Nor can the Khulna civil police proceed with the investigation of charges brought against Moti Ullah, a non-Bengali member of the Central Peace Committee of Khulna, of possession of explosives on the day before the army began "securing" the town. A "Goonda" Moti Ullah has previously been charged with aggravated assault and demanding money with menaces and was actually on bail on the explosives charge when appointed to the peace committee. There was an explosion at the back of his house where neighbours alleged he was storing dynamite for use in riots. The same man had been refused a gun licence on grounds of bad character, and a police report describes him as a "goonda" -a professional criminal specializing in violence. I have been unable to arrive at even an estimate of how many people have been killed in rioting and, army security operations in Khulna and the surrounding district. One observer, a magistrate confined to his riverside home by the army-imposed threeday curfew, counted 48 bodies floating down the river in one 10 minute period during the height of the operation. There are many areas in the town which have been burnt out-in what is described by the authorities as "slum clearance"-and one road leading to the Khulna news-print mill has been completely demolished on both sides- for more than a mile. Col. Shams told me he had a hard fight with "rebels" but had not used heavy weapons. He told me that the large holes in reinforced concrete buildings has been caused by miscreants using petrol bombs. Army casualties during the operation in the town were reported to me (not by Col. Shams) as none killed and seven wounded. In the period around the army operation, Khulna hospital admitted 159 cases of bullet wounds, 25 gunshot wounds and 70 puncture wounds of the kind caused by knife, dagger or bayonet. It is likely that some of the deaths were caused by fighting or massacre of non-Bengalis by Bengalis, as well as by non-Bengalis killing Bengnlis, and by the army operation. But it seems clear the army had all the fire-power. The truth may never be known as no official inquiries are under way about casualties or damage, in sharp contrast to the normal practice of the Pakistan police who have to submit a written report every time they fire one round and may only do so with the permission of a magistrate. Even more obscure is what happened in the down-river port area of Mangla, which is reached by boat from Khulna. The whole waterfront and market area of this small port
