41 | বাংলাদেশের স্বাধীনতা যুদ্ধ দলিলপত্রঃ চতুর্দশ খন্ড শিরোনাম সূত্র তারিখ ১৬২ পূর্ব পাকিস্তানে দুভিক্ষ অনিবার্য টেলিগ্রাফ ৩১ আগষ্ট, ১৯৭১ THE TELEGRAPH, AUGUST 31, 1971 EAST PAKISTAN FAMINE INEVITABLE THIS WINTER By Clare Hollingworth in Dacca With an acute shortage of foodstuffs already in parts of East Pakistan a winter famine in isolated areas is inevitable. This is the view of American and other foreign experts who have been attempting for six months to assess the food and transport situation in the province, Whether or not the shortage becomes a famine now depends on the efficiency of the distribution system. Many foreigners are deeply disturbed by the refusal of Lt-Gen, Tikka Khan, military governor of East Pakistan, to allow food to be distributed by foreign voluntary organizations working under the United Nations. He insists that this powerful political weapon remains firmly in the hands of the Pakistan administration which will naturally operate under the West Pakistan Army. Armed Volunteers This means in practice that food will be handed out by peace committees and the armed volunteers they employ. A handful of the men who form the peace committees are sincere members of the Moslem League thrust into the political wilderness by the popularity of the now outlawed Awami League. But the majority are opportunists, glad of a chance to gain local power by cooperation with the West Pakistan Army. It is the local peace committees who technically employ the armed volunteer home guards, the Razakars, who in many areas, have acquired reputations for thuggery and Violence. There are genuine fears that those who make a show of collaborating with the Army will receive more rice and wheal than those known to support an independent East Pakistan. Baghat EI Tawil, United Nations man on the spot, has done something to overcome this and there will soon be about 73 officials working to sec that food reaches the right mouths. But they are hardly sufficient to cover the 65 to 70 million people believed to be living in East Pakistan.
