June 9, 1971

Commandos of the Crack Platoon today launched an attack at InterContinental Dhaka. The commandos, armed with grenades, bayonets, and submachine guns, stopped in a car in front of the hotel. Five grenades were thrown in the attack which took place between 7:45pm and 8:00pm.

The purpose of the mission was to stop the World Bank aid mission and Prince Sadruddin Aga Khan, head of the UNHCR, from providing financial assistance to the Pakistani junta and, through them, draw the attention of the world to the strong resistance put up by Bangalee freedom fighters.

The team from the World Bank and the UNHCR had been informed and assured by the Pakistan propaganda machine that everything in the then East Pakistan, especially in Dhaka city, was absolutely normal. Moreover, they said that the eastern part of Pakistan was totally under the control of the Pakistani rulers and the army.

MOVE TO CUT AID TO PAKISTAN

A bipartisan amendment to cut off US economic as well as military aid to Pakistan was introduced in the Senate today.

The measure was cosponsored by Senators Frank Church (Democrat, Idaho) and William Saxbe (Republican, Ohio). It would suspend military and economic aid to Pakistan until food and medical relief supervised by international agencies was provided on a regular basis throughout East Pakistan and the majority of the five million East Pakistani refugees now in India were repatriated. Senator Church, a member of the foreign relations committee which would consider the measure, said in a Senate speech that "a full-scale international relief operation is mandatory".

He also told the Senate that the refugee situation not only imposed an unbearable burden upon India but could threaten peace.

"The creation of another refugee problem along the Indian border, like that which plagues the Middle East, would be alarming in its implications for the future," he declared. "Under these circumstances the United States must apply such leverage as it can to alleviate this human tragedy through the implementation of essential international relief and the speedy repatriation of refugees."

BRITISH FOREIGN SECY CALLS FOR POLITICAL SETTLEMENT

British Foreign Secretary Sir Alec Douglas-Home made a strong appeal today for a political settlement in East Pakistan, terming it an essential condition for any permanent solution to the Pakistani refugee disaster.

Speaking in an emergency debate in the House of Commons on the relief situation in East Pakistan and India, Sir Alec said the real tragedy lay in the fact that this was not a natural disaster but a political one.

He said the relief of immediate suffering should be followed "very soon by the creation of a political framework in which civil government can be formed and which will give confidence to the refugees to return home".

Sir Alec also urged continued restraint in the tense relations between Pakistan and India. Otherwise, he said, "the danger of war would be very real and would convert what is already a tragedy into a catastrophe".

Politicians of all parties rose to deplore the disorders in East Pakistan and to express concern at the plight of the refugees.

REORGANISING EAST PAKISTAN

The martial law administrator in East Pakistan issued an order reorganising the province. Radio Pakistan in a broadcast today said the province had been divided into four sectors -- Dhaka, Rajshahi, Jessore and Chittagong, excluding Chittagong Port. The object of the reorganising move was not immediately known.

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