DACCA: The death toll in the recent East Pakistan cyclone will run into four digits if the unofficial reports, which are continuously pouring in from the affected areas, especially from Barisal district, are to be relied upon.

APP adds: At least 1,000 persons are believed to have been killed and several thousands rendered homeless in Bakerganj district by the cyclone which hit the province on May 9.

Official figures of casualties are still being collected in the interior of the district and will not be available until tomorrow or the day after.

East Pakistan Governor Lt-Gen Mohammad Azam Khan left for Barisal early this morning by steamer to see for himself the havoc wrought by the cyclone. The general will return to Dacca tomorrow evening, after a brief stopover at Chandpur, fully equipped with first-hand knowledge of the disaster.

Meanwhile, unverified reports reaching from Patuakhali, a sub-division in the Barisal district, speak of colossal loss of human life. In a few police stations of that sub-division, over 500 persons are feared killed. No official confirmation of this figure was, however, available. The Perojpur sub-division had also reported an almost equal number of deaths.

Grand Mufti in Karachi

THE Grand Mufti of Jerusalem, Al-Haj Amin-el-Husseni, left for Beirut yesterday afternoon by PIA after a 24-hour stay in Karachi.

The Grand Mufti came to Karachi on Tuesday from Bombay where he had gone to attend the inauguration of the university established by the Dawoodi Bohra Chief, Syedna Tahir Saifuddin, in Surat.

He broke his journey in Karachi for a day before proceeding to Mecca via Beirut for performing Haj. In Saudi Arabia, the Grand Mufti will be the guest of King Saud.

While in Karachi, the Grand Mufti sent a telegram to President Mohammad Ayub Khan felicitating him for the progress Pakistan has made under his revolutionary regime. He prayed for the peace, prosperity and progress of Pakistan.