THERE was no issue of the newspaper on Oct 6, 1971, on account of the Shab-i-Barat holiday. The following excerpt has been taken from the previous day’s edition.
DACCA: India-trained rebels are entering East Pakistan under the garb of saboteurs to surrender themselves to the authorities as they are not otherwise allowed by the Indians to return to their homeland. This was evidenced by independent reports reaching here today [Oct 4]. One was a statement by Mr. A.B.M. Shahjehan, a returnee in Sylhet, who said that rebels in India who are being forced into East Pakistan, take it as a good opportunity to return to their homeland.
Another report from Comilla said that the rebels are abandoning their arms and ammunition before their surrender to the authorities. — News agencies
[Meanwhile, as reported by agencies in Lahore,] the Special Police have started a thorough probe into the theft of important documents stolen from a fashionable hotel relating to the United Nations aid for the rehabilitation projects in East Pakistan. … [T]he documents belonging to Mr. J.R. Kelly, an Officer of the United Nations, were stolen during his stay at the hotel.
Published in Dawn, October 6th, 2021
