UNITED NATIONS: UN Secretary-General U Thant has sent Security Council members a memorandum expressing his concern over relations between India and Pakistan, informed sources said today [July 23]. The sources said U Thant was keeping the members informed about the situation, which he feared would soon turn into an armed conflict.

… Diplomatic sources here consider the situation in the Indian sub-continent as one of the most explosive in the world. … According to one report, the United States shares this concern fearing that the risk of a great Power confrontation is greater than any other part of the world. The US favours the despatch of international observers to oversee the repatriation of refugees from East Pakistan. — Agencies

[Meanwhile, as reported by agencies in New Delhi,] Three hundred alleged Pakistani “spies” have been rounded up in the two eastern order states of Assam and Meghalaya in recent months, official sources … said yesterday [July 22]. … [I]n Shilong the Assam capital, arrests were made since the outbreak of the East Pakistani crisis last March. They said that 8,500 Pakistani nationals who had been deported earlier from Assam for illegal entry into the state had also been taken into custody during the same period.

Published in Dawn, July 24th, 2021