Hide Article Text (OCR)
India WarnsUS WarshipsDacca Hard-Pressed AsTod!°xSut India Troops CloseBy SPENCER DAVIS Associated Press WriterWASHINGTON (AP) — India has told (he United States to keep the U.S. nuclear aircraft carrier Enterprise and escorting warships out of the Bay of Bengal and has promised to give help to alt foreign nation* als seeking safety in the East Pakistan war.India’s Ambassador Lakshmi Kant Jha, making this known to newsmen Tuesday, said he had received reliable reports (he U.S. fleet might seek to “establish a beachhead for the evacuation of not only American personnel, but also Pakistan army officers and men as well as civilians who feel insecure.”Jha said he had sought a denial of the report from Asst. Secretary of State Joseph Sisco but had failed to receive a satisfactory reply.American officials continued their silence on activities of (he 71 h Fleet task force. Defense, State and White House sources have declined to comment on (he movement of any U.S. naval forces.But it was learned from authoritative sources that theAmerican fleet is poised at theStraits of Malacca near Singapore awaiting instructions to take part in an evacuation plan if necessary.At the same time, U.S. Intelligence sources disclosed that Soviet naval strength in the Indian Ocean is being increased to about 15 vessels. One force is 800 miles south of the West Pakistan coast. A second, smaller group is some 1,-500 miles off the East Pakistan coast in a southerly direction.Ambassador Jha said the Soviet fleet units “are not going (o gel anywhere near the zone of conflict. If they did we would be as sharp in our reaehion as we are to reports of the American fleet activity.”Major Quake Off SiberiaPALMER, Alaska (AP) — An earthquake measuring' 7.8 on the Richter scale was recorded Tuesday night off the east coast of Siberia’s Kamchatka Peninsula, the Palmer Observatory reported.The observatory issued a seismic sea wave watch for Alaska's Aleutian Island chain, about 800 miles east of Kamchatka,, and the National Weather Service in the Hawaiian Islands alerted its stations to watch for signs of a sea wave.Bui a spokesman at Palmer said, “At this time we really don’t think there will be a Pacific sea wave.” He said the quake was centered about 1,700 miles west of Anchorage and was not felt in Alaska.Japan's Meteorlogical Agency also issued a wave warning for Northern Japan’s Pacific coast.Seismographie instruments in Washington located the epicenter of the quake on Kamchatka, where a smaller tremor registered 7.3 on the scale Nov. 24.But Japan's meteorological agency located the focus near the Komandorskie Islands, about 150 miles east of Kamchatka.Report Fierce FightingBv THE ASSOCIATED PRESSThe Indian government put a news blackout today on its forces closing in on Dacca, but Indian ground forces were reported within four miles of Chittagong, East Pakistan’s largest port.Radio Pakistan conceded that Indian troops were “putting pressure on Dacca, the East Pakistani capital which the advancing Indian artillery began shelling Tuesday.The official All-India Radio said it had received no news from Dacca since reports Tuesday night that New Delhi’s troops had begun bombarding military targets in the city.Newsmen in Dacca reported that the first barrages set government buildings afire and hit several other targets.The Indian Navy announced Tuesday night its ships and planes had given Chittagong, 120 miles southeast of Dacca, a devastating pounding and “not a single vessel in the harbor can hereafter put out to sea.” The purpose appeared to be to prevent evacuation of any troops that might be used to attack India’s border with West Pakistan,Radio Pakistan reported hand-to-hand fighting in Khulna, a river port 90 miles southwest of Dacca. IndianSoviet Posture on India Critical to Nixon VisitBy FRANK CORMIER Associated Press WriterWASHINGTON (AP) — The White House is playing with big diplomatic chips in seeking to link President Nixon’s Moscow-trip plans to the Soviet posture in the India-Pakistan war.The latest word is that if the Soviet Union does not act quickly to restrain the conflict, Nixon might reassess the wisdom of a recent agreement for him to visit Moscow late next May. There were hints that Moscow’s future actions regarding the war might lead to reappraisal of the entire U.S.-Soviet relationship.Such intelligence was made known Tuesday on condition the source not be identified. But The Washington Post reported in today’s editions that the apparent White House warning to Moscow came in a background briefing by presidential adviser Henry A. Kissinger.The Post said Kissingerbriefed five pool newsmen whoaccompanied Nixon to the Azores for two days of talks with French President Georges Pompidou. The Post said it was not part of the pool and learned of the briefing independently.At the White House, presidential press secretary Ronald L. Ziegler said Tuesday night: “No U.S. official was suggesting or intending to suggest that the United States was considering canceling the United States-Soviet summit. That report is not correct.An administration spokesman, who would not be named, noted that the Soviets three times in recent days vetoed United Nations Security Council resolutions calling for an In-dian-Pakistani cease-fire.He suggested the Soviet Union may have been trying to prove to the world that mainland China, to be visited by Nixon in February, is powerless to prevent the virtual collapse of Pakistani forces in the Eastern sector of their country.The White House has goneout of its way to express strong displeasure at the Soviet vetoes of Security Council actions aimed at ending the South Asian conflict.The most recent denunciation came at 1 a.m. Tuesday when Ziegler summoned reporters, some clad in pajamas, to an impromptu briefing session in the Azores.Ziegler said the President strongly regretted the latest Soviet veto of an American-sponsored call for an India-Pakistan cease-fire and mutual withdrawal of troops from foreign territories.It is suggested in some quarters here that Nixon’s principal objective is to halt the fighting before India, a clear winner over the Pakistanis in the East, can mount a determined offensive against the heart of Pakistan in the West.India Orders Bombing HaltBy THE ASSOCIATED PRESSThe Pakistani commander in East Pakistan has appealed to the Indian army chief of staff for a cease-fire, the government in New Delhi announced today. India ordered a halt to the bombing of Dacca and gave the Pakistanis 16 hours to surrender.Gen. Sam Manekshaw, the Indian chief of staff, replied that he would order a cease-fire as soon as the Pakistanis confirmed their surrender, an Indian spokesman said. The appeal was from Lt. Gen. A. A. K. Niazi, who prevfously had vowed to fight to the last man.The exchange between the two generals came as an Indian army spokesman reported Indian troops fired mortars into Dacca from less than two miles away and the battle for the East Pakistani capital “is in its final stages.”Indian troops also were reported within four miles of Chittagong, East Pakistan’s largest port, Its harbor area was hit Tuesday by an air and sea bombardment.Manekshaw warned that “if you do not comply with what I have stated you will leave me with no other alternative but to resume my offesnive with the utmost vigor at 0900 Dec. 16.”spokesmen had acknowledged fierce fighting there Tuesday, but there was no report of the outcome.A doctor in a Dacca hospital said the wounded Pakistani soldiers being brought in were “more than we can deal with.” But despite a pledge from the Pakistani commander in the east to fight to his last man, there were no reports of military activity by the defenders.An Indian spokesman in New Delhi said Indian advance units were six miles from Dacca and that all three attacking columns were within artillery range of the provincial capital. India’s heaviest artillery has a range of slightly more than 15 miles.As the Indian forces closed on the city, A.M. Malik, East Pakistan’s governor, and his council of ministers resigned and took their families to sanctuary with the Red Cross at the Hotel Intercontinental.Jack Foisie of the Los Angeles Times and Dan Coggon of Time magazine reached the front-line fighting Tuesday at Demra, on the Lakhya River seven miles southeast of Dacca, and reported a Pakistani rearguard unit retreated across the river under fire as Indian and rebel East Pakistani forces en-tere a village on the west bank.The Pakistanis settled into defensive positions for a delaying action and soon came under artillery, mortar and machine-gun fire from across the river.The newsmen reported East Bengali guerrillas armed with Slen guns were operating along the road between Demra and Dacca.Dacca’s Bengali policemen were reported disarmed Monday night to prevent them from attacking the Pakistani troops. Red Cross officials reported a growing shortage of food even (hough the city's population of 1.5 million was estimated cut to less than half that by residents fleeing Jo the countryside.There was no immediate response from Washington or Peking, but India’s ambassador to the United States, Lakshmi Kant Jha, said he had received reliable reports a U.S. naval task force which left Vietnam last Friday might try to evacuate Pakistani droops and civilians from East Pakistan as well as the few American personnel remaining in the territory.Regional ForecastOvercast today with periods of rain, temperatures rising into the 50s. Windy and mild tonight with showers, lows in the mid 40s. Tomorrow continued windy and turning colder with a chance of showers, highs about 50. Southerly winds 10 to 20 miles an hour today increasing
Newspaper Details
Wellsville Daily Reporter
Wellsville, New York, US
Wed, Dec 15, 1971
Page 13
Full Page
Clipped by
Anonymous
NA, 16 Aug 2019
Other Publications Near Wellsville, New York
Wellsville Free Press
Wellsville Allegany County Reporter
Wellsville Allegany County Democrat
Wellsville Genesee Valley Free Press
Spectator
