পাতা:বাংলাদেশের স্বাধীনতা যুদ্ধ দলিলপত্র (চতুর্দশ খণ্ড).pdf/৪৭৮

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446 বাংলাদেশের স্বাধীনতা যুদ্ধ দলিলপত্রঃ চতুর্দশ খন্ড A mile further down the road were the remains of Rupdia, a hamlet unlucky enough to be the scene of a delaying action by Pakistani infantry, desperately covering the rear of a 2,000 strong column which included almost 1,000 wives and families of officers formerly stationed at Jessore. The flattened huts were still burning and three buses used for a barricade had been raked with builets from-end to end. Moving forward through a battalion of the Madrasi Regiment-small, cheerful men who waved and smiled at everyone-our photographer Penny Tweedie and I hitched a short ride on a Russian-built T55 tank of the India 63rd Cavalry. Clanking and grinding up the narrow road, ducking the big 105mm gun as it swivelled to point towards Pakistani positions, we arrived at the foremost point of the Indian advance. A full squadron of 1455s was assembling to support the Madrasis in their next push down the Khulna road. Crouching nervously behind the comforting bulk of the tanks every time a shell from this Pakistanis 105mm guns landed anywhere remotely near us, we watched Indian advanced units carefully probing the enemy's positions. A company of Pakistani infantryman-probably from the 27th Baluch Regiment-was holding up the advance with mortar and machinegun fire: the sound of small arms fire could be heard clearly a few hundred yards away. When shelling failed to dislodge the Pakistani rearguard, the local commander, Lt.Col. Naregyear-an amiable, imperturbable Madrasi-decided to call for air support. Radios crackled impressively and map references were busily exchanged, and checked. Everyone looked expectantly upwards. Nothing happened for a while. Then, quite suddenly, two of the Indian Air Force's Russian SU 7 fighters appeared high in the enormous blue sky. For a few minutes they circled gracefully, like hawks searching for prey. Then, after a tank fired a blue smoke-maker shell, they banked into a steep dive and straightened out at tree-top level. From where we stood. I could see the flashes from the big 30 caliber machine-gun as the jets strafed Pakistani positions. When the planes turned away for their base near Calcutta, the Pakistani guns had been silenced. The tanks roared into life again and crashed away through the brightyellow mustard fields, followed by the Madrasi infantry. "Khulna is finished Colonel Naregyear, shouted as he sped away in his command jeep.' DAY 8: Closing in 011 the capital On Friday Pakistan's hopes for a stalemate began to collapse. In the East, Indian troops began to close on Dacca where they were awaited with calm by the Bengalis and with obvious fear by the Bihari Muslims and the Punjabis. In the West, Pakistan's desperate thrusts into Kashmir were being held. Now came the first significant crack in Pakistan's tightly knit military establishment. The United Nations received an appeal from Major-General Rao Farman Ali, military adviser to the Governor osłast Pakistan, asking for help in ending the war on terms which clearly admitted a Pakistani defeat. Farman Ali asked for the UN to repatriate Pakistani troops and civilian officials to West Pakistan with guarantees of their safety until this could be arranged. In return he was prepared to offer the establishment of an elected government in East Pakistan.