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By SYDNEY R. SCHANBERG
special to The New York Times
DACCA, Pakistan, March 27
Mr. Schanbcrg was one of 35 foreign newsmen expelled Saturday morning from East Pakistan. He cabled this dispatch from Bombay, India.
The Pakistani Army is using artillery and heavy machine guns against unarmed East Pakistani civilians to crush the movement for autonomy in this province of 75 million people.
The attack began late Thursday night without warning. West Pakistani soldiers, who predominate in the army, moved into the streets of Dacca, the provincial capital, to besiege the strongholds of the independence movement, such as the university.
There was no way of knowing how many civilians had been killed or wounded. Neither was any information available on what was happening in the rest of the province, although there had been reports before the Dacca attack of clashes between civilians and West Pakistani soldiers in the interior.
The firing here was at first sporadic, but by 1 A.M. yesterday it had become heavy and nearly continuous, and it remained that way for three hours. Scores of artillery bursts were seen and heard by foreign newsmen confined to the Intercontinental Hotel on threat of death.
From the hotel, which is in North Dacca, huge fires could be seen in various parts of the city, including the university, Dacca, Khulna, Daulatpur, Chittagong and Rangpur.
In a broadcast, Sheik Mujib was said to have denied a West Pakistani radio report that he had been arrested. "I'm free and all right," he was quoted as having said. "Comrades, go ahead with your program to achieve the goal of freedom. Do not be misguided by enemy propaganda."
The fighting between the troops of the central Government in West Pakistan and the East Pakistanis was reported to have erupted yesterday. A proclamation of the East's independence, attributed to Sheik Mujib, was also reported then.
Sheik Mujib has been campaigning for autonomy for East Pakistan, which his followers now call Bangla Desh - Bengali for Bengal Nation. The autonomy movement in the eastern wing of Pakistan, which is separated from the western wing by 1,000 miles of India, is based on the two sections' completely different cultures, languages and physical features as well as on the fact that the western wing has dominated the eastern since the Moslem country was carved from the Indian subcontinent in 1947.
special to The New York Times
DACCA, Pakistan, March 27
Mr. Schanbcrg was one of 35 foreign newsmen expelled Saturday morning from East Pakistan. He cabled this dispatch from Bombay, India.
The Pakistani Army is using artillery and heavy machine guns against unarmed East Pakistani civilians to crush the movement for autonomy in this province of 75 million people.
The attack began late Thursday night without warning. West Pakistani soldiers, who predominate in the army, moved into the streets of Dacca, the provincial capital, to besiege the strongholds of the independence movement, such as the university.
There was no way of knowing how many civilians had been killed or wounded. Neither was any information available on what was happening in the rest of the province, although there had been reports before the Dacca attack of clashes between civilians and West Pakistani soldiers in the interior.
The firing here was at first sporadic, but by 1 A.M. yesterday it had become heavy and nearly continuous, and it remained that way for three hours. Scores of artillery bursts were seen and heard by foreign newsmen confined to the Intercontinental Hotel on threat of death.
From the hotel, which is in North Dacca, huge fires could be seen in various parts of the city, including the university, Dacca, Khulna, Daulatpur, Chittagong and Rangpur.
In a broadcast, Sheik Mujib was said to have denied a West Pakistani radio report that he had been arrested. "I'm free and all right," he was quoted as having said. "Comrades, go ahead with your program to achieve the goal of freedom. Do not be misguided by enemy propaganda."
The fighting between the troops of the central Government in West Pakistan and the East Pakistanis was reported to have erupted yesterday. A proclamation of the East's independence, attributed to Sheik Mujib, was also reported then.
Sheik Mujib has been campaigning for autonomy for East Pakistan, which his followers now call Bangla Desh - Bengali for Bengal Nation. The autonomy movement in the eastern wing of Pakistan, which is separated from the western wing by 1,000 miles of India, is based on the two sections' completely different cultures, languages and physical features as well as on the fact that the western wing has dominated the eastern since the Moslem country was carved from the Indian subcontinent in 1947.
Assembly Postponed
Pakistan's President, Agha Mohanunad Yahya Khan, in a nationwide radio broadcast last night, charged Sheik Mujib and his followers with treason and outlawed the Awami League. In three weeks of strikes and other protests against the central Government, it had in effect gained control of the region from the martial-law authorities.
The Awami League's protest had been directed against President Yahya's decision to postpone the March 3 opening of the National Assembly, which the league would have dominated to start drafting a constitution to return Pakistan to civilian rule.
President Yahya said in his speech that he was ordering the army to restore the Government's authority to save Pakistan's integrity, President Yahya had been in Dacca for 10 days, discussing the political crisis with Sheik Mujib and political leaders from West Pakistan. He slipped out of Dacca unannounced on Thursday and flew back to West Pakistan.
The negotiations over East Pakistan's demands for self-rule had broken down Thursday afternoon, although this was not known until the Army went into action.
The President said that it had been his ''keenness to arrive at a peaceful solution" that kept him from taking action against Sheik Mujib "weeks
ago."
For 17 days, ever since the Army killed scores of demonstrators, the Bengali population had supported Sheik Mujib in refusing to cooperate with the martial-law regime.
In his speech, President Yahya said the Army bad been "subjected to taunts and insults of all kinds."
"I compliment them on their great restraint and sense of discipline," he continued. "I am proud of them."
Indian news agencies remained the major source or news from East Pakistan. After the martial-law administration imposed strict censorship on reporters in Dacca, news began to come out from many Indian towns bordering East Pakistan.
Sheik Mujib's forces were said to have effectively obstructed the movement of Pakistani troops by blowing up bridges and railroads; even in normal times, East Pakistan; crisscrossed by many rivers. is difficult terrain in which to move fast. Central Pakistani forces were also said to be handicapped by inadequate stocks of gasoline. The supplies must be brought in by air from West Pakistan.
Reports of More Troops
News reports quoting East Pakistani sources said that West Pakistan was flying more troops into Dacca's airport to reinforce the 70,000 men already in the East. Meanwhile new martial-law regulations were broadcast to warn people against putting up barricades on roads and on airport runways.
According to one report of the fighting, Pakistani Government troops were forced to withdraw with heavy casualties after attacking a center of the East Pakistan Rifles in Khulna.
In Daulatpur, near Khulna, west Pakistani troops were reported to have fired into a crowd, killing 90 civilians. Reports also said that West Pakistani soldiers were shelling and burning houses and factories as Awami League volunteers poured into towns from their villages and attacked the troops.
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