40 বাংলাদেশের স্বাধীনতা যুদ্ধ দলিলপত্রঃ চতুর্দশ খন্ড Army Burns Slums In the city, where fighting broke out early Friday morning, on March 26, the foreigners said the army had burned to the ground many of the flimsy slums of the poor, the staunchest supporters of independence. The ashes of the bamboo huts in these neighborhoods were still smoldering, the foreigners said, as they were taken to the docks under military escort yesterday morning to be evacuated. The Pakistan Radio, speaking for the Pakistan Government, contends that all of East Pakistan is calm and that life is returning to normal. "Nothing is calm, and nothing has come back to normal," said Mr. Martinussen. Who came to Chittagong seven months ago with his wife Karen to study Pakistani politics as part of his master's degree program at Aarhus University in Denmark? "They systematically burned down the districts of the poor people, apparently because they felt they couldn't search them thoroughly," he went on. "They seemed to be enjoying killing and destroying everything." "Many Bengalis have been killed," the 23-year-old student went on. "In the river just four days ago. you could count 400 bodies floating in one area." Mr. Martinussen, who related several accounts of civilians being gumned down in shops and on the street, forecast eventual victor)' for the 75 million East Pakistanis, who have long protested their exploitation by West Pakistan, which is situated more than 1,000 miles away across Indian territory. Independence Movement "So many Bengalis want their Bangladesh," said the slim student, "that I'm sure they will get it." Bangladesh is Bengali for Bengal nation. It is the independence movement's name for East Pakistan. His views were echoed by Mr. O’Toole, who is 26 years old. Chittagong is controlled by the army," he said. "It is controlled by brute force and terror. The army kept coming in. They were shooting civilians. We saw dead bodies. We smelled the stench of death. "There was a lot of harassment and beating," he added, "and there was indiscriminate looting and burning by outsiders. Vengeance Reported Mr. O'Toole did not explain what he meant by "outsiders" -but he apparently was talking about West Pakistanis living in East Pakistan.
