Road to Freedom: This Day in Bangladesh Liberation War History

December 1, 1971

WE WILL NOT TOLERATE ANY INTERFERENCE: TAJUDDIN

The prime minister of Bangladesh, Tajuddin Ahmad, today said the proposal to send UN observers to Bangladesh was nothing but a "planned conspiracy" and "a foul attempt to protect the military regime from the back door".

Tajuddin added that the supporters of the proposal would be solely responsible for the fate of anybody who would try to come to Bangladesh as observers at "the peak period of our victory".

He further said those who had been silent spectators at the time of an unprecedented genocide in Bangladesh by Yahya's invading army had now come out to save the army junta in the name of sending UN observers.

"We will not tolerate any interference on any pretext in this final stage of our liberation struggle against the colonial force," added the Bangladesh premier.

US SUSPENDS ARMS SHIPMENT TO INDIA

The USA today suspended what it called the licensing of arms shipment to India.

BRITISH MP WANTS COMMONWEALTH TO EXPEL PAKISTAN

British MP John Pardoe called for a special Commonwealth meeting to expel Pakistan from the organisation and to recognise Bangladesh as an independent and sovereign country. He made the appeal in the British parliament.

ON THE WAR FRONT

Mukti Bahini attacked Pakistan army today at Shamsernagar in Sylhet at the break of dawn. The rigorous assault forced Pakistan Army to retreat. Mukti Bahini declared Tengratila and Duarabazar areas independent. Their continuous operations forced the occupation army to retreat from some other parts of Sylhet -- Gara, Alirgaon and Pirijpur.

Freedom fighters also kept the fight up against the Pak army in Mymensingh, Jashore, Khulna, Kushtia, Chattogram and Dinajpur sectors and inflicted heavy loss on the occupation force.

A Pakistani spokesman today said the aggressive pressures mounted by the Pakistan Army at four war zones in East Pakistan were continued.

People's Party office in Dhaka was damaged in a bomb attack. The office was opened by Zulfikar Ali Bhutto months earlier, an AFP report said.

Freedom fighters killed two Muslim League supporters during an operation in Dhaka. Two others were injured in the attack.

As guerrilla activities increased, West Pakistani armed forces started killing and burning villages according to the junta order, a report of the New York Times said.

At least 87 guerrilla suspects, including women and children, were killed at Jinjira in Dhaka.

Shamsuddoza Sajen is a journalist and researcher. He can be contacted at sajen1986@gmail.com