(* ՀՀ বাংলাদেশের স্বাধীনতা যুদ্ধ দলিলপত্র : অষ্টম খন্ড Bodies still lay sprawled in the streets where they had been caught in the Army cross-fire. Shanty towns by the railway had been burnt down. The people still appeared stunned by the shooting and deaths. The Government went to extreme lengths to prevent a large contingent of foreign journalists from witnessing the Army’s intervention and the subsequent violence. Thirty-five foreign correspondents were detained in the Dacca Intercontinental Hotel and only this reporter and a British correspondent evaded the Army cordon and subsequent deportation of newsmen to Bombay. Later the Army at Dacca airport frisked me and seized film and notes on Dacca. At Karachi, the police forced me to strip, my luggage was searched again, and film was seized.-A.P. THE TIMES (LONDON) APRIL 2, 1971 Political and Intellectual Leaders Being Wiped Out in War of Genocide By Louis Heren The Pakistan Army is alleged to have waged a war of genocide in East Pakistan. The objective is said to be the elimination of the political and intellectual leadership, and it might well have been achieved. Old religious enmities are also said to have been revived. Thousands of Hindus are alleged to have been slaughtered by Muslim troops. This and other charges were made in London yesterday by a young man who left Dacca earlier this week after spending the past two years there. For many reasons his name cannot be revealed, but I know him to be a level-headed and responsible man. He confirmed that Sheikh Mujibur Rahman, the East Bengal leader escaped the carnage, but 11 members of his bodyguard were killed. The Sheikh was arrested by troops last Thursday, held in the Adamji school for two days, and then flown to West Pakistan. he is believed to be held in Multan. According to this informant, a systematic pattern of physical and psychological destruction became apparent even during the first night of fighting of March 25. Soon after, if became clear that certain groups had been selected to be the victims of completely unrestrained brutality. These included Awami League leaders, students (who are the most radical members of the League), professors and their families, and any Hindu who could be found. The Army commanders had apparently concluded that the students were the nucleus of a future Bengali independence movement. The professor represented the East Pakistan intelligentsia, vital for the administration of a future independent Bengal.
