পাতা:বাংলাদেশের স্বাধীনতা যুদ্ধ দলিলপত্র (চতুর্দশ খণ্ড).pdf/৫৩৯

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507 বাংলাদেশের স্বাধীনতা যুদ্ধ দলিলপত্রঃ চতুর্দশ খন্ড The country's East wing: The first impression a visitor to East Pakistan would get is that life is gradually returning to normal. This is to some extent true in many parts of the province. People need to eat and earn their living no matter how much they disapprove of the regime But this return to normality is being slowed down by the guerrilla fighters of the Mukti Fauj. The Mukti Fauj have two weapons, fear and disruption of tile economy. Through Radio Free Bengal, the Mukti Fauj arc preaching a campaign of terror against anyone who collaborates with the army. They are backing this up by murdering members of Peace committees and other prominent collaborators, and by threatening factory workers, tea garden labor and jute growers. On the economic front they are sabotaging vital installation and doing their best to see that communications arc not restored. The Pakistan army is trying to meet this threat but they are in a very difficult position. In the first place they are very thin on the ground. They have to keep large numbers of their soldiers in the important towns because they are still afraid that there might be major uprisings there. The rest of their forces arc mainly tied down on the borders. This means that they have had to leave the guarding of vital installations to badly trained volunteers called Razakers. These volunteers' are still being raised in most places and even where they have been trained and are in action they are very often more of a menace than a help. Another problem is that the East Pakistan police force virtually disappeared in many places. The attitude of the population is also still extremely hostile to the army and there is still no sign that the army is getting any cooperation from them. There is always the possibility that the people of East Pakistan will become hostile to the Mukti Fouj if they continue, to threaten them and disrupt their daily lives. But unless the army can guarantee them protection from the Mukti Fouj, which they certainly cannot do at present, the people are not likely to run this risk of Mukti Fouj reprisals by giving information to the army. The main source of resistance are the Mukti Fouj guerrilla fighters who live in camps across the Indian border. The Mukti Fouj find it quite easy to slip between the Pakistan army's posts and as a result the border areas are for the most pail still in a chaotic condition. Things are not helped by the shelling which breaks out from time to time between the Indian and Pakistan armies. It is impossible to ten how many of these guerrillas there arc but reports indicate that they are spread out all round East Pakistan's border with India. The Pakistan army appears to be facing a virtually impossible task. In an underdeveloped country where communications are appalling everything is on the side of the guerrillas. So far they have certainly succeeded in preventing East Pakistan's two main industries-tea and jute returning to normal. All that can be said is that at this early stage many of the sabotage efforts have been bungled and that the Mukti Fouj still has plenty to learn. Everything hinges on whether they have the stamina and the skill to sustain a long and effective campaign. Bengali dawn news talk 24/25 July, 1971