DACCA: The grim situation of our Armed Forces to defend East Pakistan and safeguard the country’s territorial integrity in the face of heavy odds has been eloquently voiced by the chief of our Eastern Command, Lt-General A.A.K. Niazi. Gen Niazi, who appeared at the Dacca airport last Saturday [Dec 11] … told newsmen: “Dacca will fall only over my dead body”. Slapping his chest the General said: “They (Indians) will have to drive a tank over this.” — News Agencies

[Meanwhile, as reported by news agencies from the United Nations,] The Deputy Prime Minister and Foreign Minister Mr Zulfikar Ali Bhutto … made an impassioned appeal to the UN Security Council to recognise the voice of the world embodied in the General Assembly’s resolution for the territorial integrity and national unity of Pakistan.

…[H]e urged the members to realise the value of the “uniting for peace” resolution… . The Resolution … called on India and Pakistan to institute a cease-fire and to withdraw troops from each other’s territory. However, he said, if the idea among some members was to filibuster the proceedings in order to let India occupy East Pakistan, they were sadly mistaken… . “We will fight and fight. We will fight for a thousand years”, he thundered.

Published in Dawn, December 14th, 2021