Bangabandhu will be put on trial very soon: Yahya
July 19, 1971
YAHYA'S INTERVIEW WITH FINANCIAL TIMES
Pakistan President Yahya Khan in an interview published in The Financial Times today said Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujibur Rahman would be put on trial "very soon".
The trial would be by a military court and in secret, he said. He did not give the precise charge, but he said it would carry the death penalty -- subject to confirmation by himself as president.
THE BANGALEES STRIKE BACK
Newsweek, an influential American weekly, today wrote, "Throughout East Pakistan, the embattled Bengali resistance movement seemed more determined than ever to prove, that it was alive and well — and capable of making life extremely difficult for the heavily armed but thinly spread occupation forces of the Pakistani Army."
"All across Pakistan's ravaged eastern province, revitalized rebel units made their presence felt last week in no uncertain terms. Taking advantage of a crash training program and of weapons, and ammunition supplied by India, Mukti Bahini went on the offensive. Factories were sabotaged. Key bridges were toppled by well-placed dynamic blasts. Vital barge traffic was attacked from concealed machine gun emplacements. And railroad locomotives operating on the relatively few remaining open routes were blown off the tracks by mines," it added.
The Pakistan army responded in kind, the Weekly commented. After guerrillas blew up a bridge north of Dhaka, Punjabi soldiers put several neighbouring villages to the torch, killing scores of residents and taking others into custody, reported Newsweek correspondent Jenkins.
He also provided a terrifying account of the Pakistan army's response to the assassination of a pro-army official in Khulna named Ghulam Sarwar Mullah: "The morning after Sarwar was beheaded, workers travelling to Khulna's jute mills found seventeen dead bodies lined up neatly in front of the railroad station. Their hands had been tied behind their backs and each man had been shot. The army left the bodies in view for a full 24 hours to make sure the population got the message."
Newsweek quoted a Western diplomat in Dhaka who said, "It may be too early to view the Mukti Bahini as a serious military threat. But there is no doubt that what we are witnessing is the first stage of bloody, long-lasting guerrilla warfare. …Yahya Khan and the military high command thought they could terrorise the Bengalis but the result has been just the opposite. Sure the Bengali has been frightened. But he has also been made to hate as he never did before—and he realizes that it is only through violence that he has a chance to free himself."
US STOPS AIRLIFTING REFUGEES IN INDIA
The United States airlift of East Pakistani refugees away from the border areas of India ended yesterday at the request of the Indian government, an American embassy spokesman said.
Four C‐130's moved about 23,000 people from the eastern territory of Tripura to Assam in the last four weeks.
The spokesman said India had asked that the airlifts last a month and had not sought any extension. The reason given was that bad weather, which led to the cancellation of 44 flights, would become even worse and make flying very difficult.
Shamsuddoza Sajen is a journalist and researcher. He can be contacted at [email protected]
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