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Liberation War 1971 and THE WEEKLY ECONOMIST.
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THE WEEKLY ECONOMIST (London) July 17, 1971
India is known to be giving the Mukti Fouj—the guerrillas in East Pakistan, some help. But how much help, neither party is eager to reveal. Sanctuary, invaluable to all guerrillas, is certainly being granted, and perhaps covering fire from the Indian border security forces. Training may still be in the hands of guerrillas themselves. But since even those of them who were previously a regular part of the Pakistan army had no training with explosives, and since they have recently pulled off some spectacular bridge blowing, it is likely that Indian sappers have been providing the explosives and know-how. Certainly the Mukti Fouj needs training. The East Pakistan Rifles and the East Bengal Regiment, which have now been merged into it, have dropped their previous tactics of fighting in battle order and now operate in small groups. But it will be harder to persuade them to swallow their regimental pride and wear civilian clothes.
THE ECONOMIST July 10, 1971
Things show no signs of getting better in East Pakistan even though on President Yahya’s timetable they should start picking up from now on. No more Awami League members of the National Assembly have come forward to co¬operate with the President beyond the 22 who have already declared themselves willing; indeed, a few of those have fled from Dacca because no one know who is to be on the list promised by President Yahya of Awami Leaguers wanted in connection with “crime” committed before the fighting started. The stories say there were at least 32 members on the list.
FAR EASTERN ECONOMIC REVIEW September 25, 1971
Karachi : In the past Zulfiqar Ali Bhutto has flourished on dilemmas. This .time it is different. The brittle, unpredictable, intensely power-conscious politician from Sind now faces a situation where he will either go all the way to the top or be thrown all the way out.
The Awami League’s emergence after the December election as a solid party commanding absolute majority in the national assembly had upset Bhutto as much as it had upset army hawks in Islamabad. It has since become common role in liquidating the effects of that election in East Pakistan and handing the province over to the predatory troops.
A FOREIGN REPORT :
Published by THE ECONOMIST NEWSPAPER LIMITED
25 St. James Street London, Swi 1215 , September 23, 1971
The first faint signs of what may be a retreat by President Yahya Khan of Pakistan over the Bengal question have begun to surface just as the drift toward another Indo Pakistani war looked irreversible. Reports from wholly different quarters indicate that Yahya is contemplating a negotiation with the captive Sheikh Mujibur Rahman to establish an autonomous East Bengal within a unitary Pakistan state. By general consent Mujib is the only man with the credibility and authority to lead the embittered East Bengali people back to some semblance of normality.
FAR EASTERN ECONOMIC REVIEW July 24, 1971
Islamabad
While the Pakistani troops in the Eastern wing face a sudden accumulation of bomb attempts and other acts of sabotage which, for the first time, indicate a more sophisticated resistance and signal further difficulties in “normalizing” the situation, Islamabad is becoming increasingly irritable about its external critics.
India, sympathizing openly with the secessionist forces, remains a major target, but it now shares this distinction with former colonial ruler Britain whose public and official opinion still carries disproportionately great weight in Pakistan.
THE ECONOMIST, June 26, 1971
The western aid donors to Pakistan are getting tougher. The World Bank’s aid to Pakistan consortium (which compri¬ses ten western countries and Japan) decided on Monday to- postpone any discussion of fresh aid to Pakistan until it sees what kind of political settlement President Yahya is prepare- • ed to offer in the announcement he is due to make on June 28. Even then, the consortium will probably wait to see whether President Yahya can actually persuade a reasonable proportion of the 6 million or so refugees in India to return to their homes.
THE WEEKLY ECONOMIST May 29, 1971
President Yahya needs to acknowledge realities, Mrs. Gandhi needs to maintain her cool, and the rest of us should be more helpful.
It is a standard practice of governments, especially those which are fighting wars, to put out self-justifying propaganda. This propaganda may fail to convince, which is troublesome. Or it may convince so well that the propagandists themselves are taken in, which is positively dangerous. The Government of Pakistan has clearly dug itself a credibility gap. The question now is whether it has also buried its head in the sand.
THE WEEKLY ECONOMIST (London) April 3, 1971.
East Pakistan's Sheikh
Mujib looks a loser today, but it is more likely that President Yahya has
chosen the road that leads to a civil war he cannot win.
President Yahya has taken desperate action.
He has chosen to break the deadlock about Pakistan's future by breaking Sheikh
Mujibur Rahman and his Awami League. No one thought he would dare to try, and
still less that he would succeed. But now it seems the army, after its sharp
and bloody takeover, has the upper hand. The reports from foreign journalists
whom the army failed to expel quickly enough show that in Dacca, at least, the
army's claim to have won control was accurate. And after prolonged fighting,
The same may now be true of Chittagong, the province's main port. How much
resistance there still is elsewhere is untlear. The army owed its apparent
success to the suddenness with which it struck arresting a number of the Awami
League leaders as well as shooting up parts of Dacca—and unpreparedness of the
Awami League Organisation.
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