May 6, 1971

A heavy fight broke out today at Teliapara, Sylhet. Pakistani Army in the guise of Indian BSF breached the defences of Bangladesh force and were in firing position. They formed an inner circle. However, the Bangladesh force, under the command of KM Shafiullah Bir Uttam, fought the Pakistan army back. The enemy, over two companies strong, made a hasty retreat. The battlefield of Teliapara was left littered with dead bodies of the enemy. The Bangladeshi force also lost a number of men. 

STOP ARMS AID TO PAKISTAN, SAYS SENATE BODY

The Senate Foreign Relations Committee called unanimously for an immediate suspension of American military aid and arms sales to Pakistan until the conflict there was resolved and the distribution of relief supplies was resumed.

By a voice vote the committee approved a resolution sponsored by Senators Clifford P Case, Republican of New Jersey; Waiter F Mondale, Democrat of Minnesota, and 14 other senators. In so doing it overrode state department objections that the language of the resolution was too imprecise to be applicable.

The resolution, which would now go to the Senate, had no force in law. However, if approved, it would reflect growing concern in Congress over the protracted fighting in East Pakistan during which, the state department conceded that United States arms had been used. A similar resolution would be introduced soon in the House of Representatives.

Defense department sources said that the effect of the Senate panel's action would be mainly symbolic. There had been no deliveries of United States arms or ammunition to Pakistan since March 25, when the fighting began, they said.

INDIA APPEALS ON REFUGEES

The Indian government, growing increasingly concerned about its ability to cope with the mounting flow of Bangladeshi refugees fleeing the Pakistan army, issued a new appeal today for outside help and said the refugees were an international responsibility.

At a news conference, RK.Khadilkar, minister of labor and rehabilitation, said the refugees were now pouring in at a rate of 60,000 a day and that the total number had passed 1.5 million.

The official estimated that perhaps as many as five million would eventually cross into India. It would cost the government possibly about $150 million a year to support them, he said.

TIKKA KHAN DISPUTES REPORTS OF CASUALTIES

Gen Tikka Khan, the military governor of East Pakistan, said today in Dhaka that his staff had estimated that 150 persons were killed in Dacca on the night of March 25, when the army moved to reassert control over this province, reported the New York Times. The general, speaking at a reception, said that other estimates of the number of people killed, ranging up to 10,000, were wildly exaggerated. In addition to the correspondent of the New York Times, General Tikka Khan saw five other correspondents. They represented the Associated Press, Reuters, Time inc., The Financial Times of London and Xinhua, the Chinese Communist press agency.

The New York Times further reported that vehicular traffic was fairly heavy although most shops remained shuttered. It had been estimated that half the city population fled to villages when the fighting began. Even Dhaka's Intercontinental Hotel was operating with only 20 percent of its normal staff, he added.

Some Bangalee slum dwellers complained to newsmen that the outside world had not been told of the "massacre" here.

Tikka Khan said armed resistance to government forces in East Pakistan had practically disappeared and he was thinking soon of ending the curfew in Dhaka. He conceded, however, that the vital railroad from the port of Chittagong on the Bay of Bengal to the interior was still not running because many bridges had been dynamited and because of other obstructions.

The military governor saw no possibility of the emergency of a guerrilla war here of the type fought in Vietnam, although Indian infiltrators could continue to foment trouble, he said.

The governor said food was in adequate supply although distribution remained a problem.

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