909 বাংলাদেশের স্বাধীনতা যুদ্ধ দলিলপত্রঃ চতুর্দশ খন্ড Hossain Ali by then was so severely beaten that he was not in a position to come ՕԱլ. Other Bengalis alleged that Mr. Hossain Ali was dragged inside and kept inside a room in the quarters unconscious. When a count was taken it was found that Mr. Khaliluddin's wife with two daughters and a son along with Mr. Hossain Ali's family could not come out. Mr. H. R. Chowdhury told newsmen that the entire Bengali members of the High Commission staff had been expressing their desire for the last several months to opt for the Bangladesh Government. But they had been kept forcibly inside the Commission's premises. After defection by some Bengali employees from the mission, the High Commissioner ostensibly decided to remove all restrictions and to allow the members of the staff to go out if they so wished with their families. Mr. Chowdhury said that the decision was taken in his presence when he was still working with the High commission and as head of the Pakistan chancery the order was issued under his signature. Mr. Chowdhury said that this was also the understanding the Pakistani High Commission gave to the Government of India. Apparently, the Pakistan High Commission did not want the Bengalis to take the order literally. When the Bengali employees asked by the West Pakistanis where they were going to join the Bangladesh Government the West Pakistanis began beating them mercilessly. Some of the employees were later taken to hospital. The two sons of Mr. Hossain Ali who is still confined within the mission premises and other Bengalis who had escaped from the High Commission began a round-the-clock sit-in in front of the High Commission demanding the release of Mr. Hossain Ali and his family. The Bangladesh mission chief warned the Pakistanis that if within 48 hours, Mr. Hossain Ali was not released not a single West Pakistani in Bangladesh would be safe in the hands of the Mukti Bahini. The Bengali members lodged a complaint against the non-diplomat of West Pakistani members of the High Commission with the Chanakayapuri police station here for assaulting them. Under international law the non-diplomatic staff of any mission are not immune from the law of the land. One of the first acts of the Bengali staff after their escape from what they described as the "Pakistani concentration camp in the High Commission" was to switch their allegiance to the legally and popularly elected government of the Sovereign Independent Republic of Bangladesh. To them, Pakistan was "dead and buried". Most of them confirmed that the West Pakistani personnel inside the High Commission were thoroughly demoralized with the growing success of the Mukti Bahini in Bangladesh.
