MYMENSINGH: Bharati troop movements on the Assam-Mymensingh border have intensified during the past seven days, according to reliable reports… . …[T]roops have been concentrated particularly at different points on the border facing the partially excluded areas of Mymensingh. Large … concentrations are reported … encamped on the banks of the River Bakla about one-and-half-mile north of Pakistan border. The … forces consist of Nepalese and Santhal units ... equipped with modern weapons… . — News agencies
[Meanwhile,] In reply to Pakistan’s Prime Minister’s original note, Pandit Nehru said on July 17: “India’s policy continues to be to … avoid war. We have demonstrated this by our reduction of the Indian Army last year… .” However, barely six months previously … [he] … said: “The type of reduction … is … those elements … which are NOT properly equipped and … not so well trained… . …
A spokesman of the Pakistan Government … said … that in 1949 not only .. [was] the Bharati Army … not reduced but there were supplementary demands for increased expenditure on … [it]. The Bharat Premier has … admitted … that the orders for even the progressive reduction … were cancelled in the middle of 1949.
Published in Dawn, August 5th, 2026