On March 31, 1971, Indian Prime Minister Indira Gandhi moved a resolution in parliament strongly criticising the military action in Bangladesh.
At 4:00am on March 30, 1971, Bangladeshi forces, comprising East Pakistan Rifles (EPR), police and civilians under the leadership of Abu Osman Chowdhury, then a major and commander of the fourth wing of EPR, attacked the Pakistan occupation army in Kushtia from three sides.
In the evening, Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujibur Rahman was flown via helicopter from the cantonment, where he was detained, to the Tejgaon Airport. Afterwards, he was flown to Karachi by a special military aircraft.
On March 28, 1971, American Consul General in Dhaka, Archer K Blood, sent a telegram to Islamabad and Washington captioned “selective genocide”. He reported that they were “mute and horrified by a reign of terror by the Pakistan military” in East Pakistan. Pointing towards various pieces of evidence, Blood suggested that Awami League supporters and Hindus were being systematically targeted by the martial law administrators.
American Consul General Archer K Blood in a situation report submitted on March 27, 1971, wrote that according to numerous accounts, including eye witness reports, the Pak military crackdown on Bangalee nationalists has been carried out throughout Dacca swiftly, efficiently (despite heavy resistance from some quarters, including pro-Awami League police and East Pak Rifles), and often with ruthless brutality.
Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujibur Rahman in a press statement issued today, called for a general strike throughout Bangladesh on March 27 against the army’s action in certain places in East Pakistan including Saidpur, Rangpur and Joydevpur.
There was a final meeting between Awami League’s team and Yahya’s advisers on March 24, 1971, at 6:00pm.
The representatives of president Yahya Khan and an Awami League team met twice today.
The New York Times in an editorial published today urges the US administration to promptly divert military supplies already en route to Pakistan.
The New York Times today published excerpts from a report by a mission of the World Bank that visited East Pakistan in June, 1971 and from a report on a survey of the western area of Bangladesh by Hendrik van der Heijden, an economist and member of the mission.
The Indian External Affairs Minister Swaran Singh told the Lok Sabha today that supply of arms to Pakistan by any country in the present context “amounts to an intervention on the side of the military rulers of West Pakistan against the people of Bangladesh”.
The first conference (July 11-17) of Sector Commanders began at the office on Theatre Road-8 in Kolkata today.
World Bank board members today received copies of an outspoken report on the dire situation in East Pakistan.
Henry Kissinger, US President Richard Nixon’s national security adviser, met privately with Pakistan President Yahya Khan on July 8, 1971. In a memorandum, prepared for President Richard Nixon on July 9, 1971,
The Pakistan government brought a group of East Pakistanis ti New York in an effort to persuade the press and diplomats that things were “normal” in East Pakistan.
A three-man Canadian parliamentary delegation was convinced that autonomy in Bangladesh was preferable to recognition, and a situation should be created where the elected representatives of the people would be allowed to fulfil their duties.
Bangladeshi freedom fighters knocked out the electrical power station in Dhaka. The city has been blacked out since July 3 night.
Home Minister of the exiled Government of Bangladesh AHM Kamaruzzaman today visited the youth training camp at Tekerhat, Sunamganj. He addressed the young trainees and said, " If any of you have any doubt about the victorious outcome of this war with the modern well-equipped Pakistan army, I am telling you to always keep in mind that seven and a half crore of Bangalees are with you in this fight.
