CALCUTTA: Bharati troops with fixed bayonets moved tonight [May 27] into Howrah, a densely populated satellite town of Calcutta to cope with disturbances which have claimed 16 lives in the last 48 hours. Martial law was proclaimed this evening as the `situation continued to deteriorate and went out of civil authorities` control. ...` Announcing the imposition of martial law in Howrah a West Bengal Press note admitted: `Brutal murders had been committed in some places and mob attacks on innocent persons had been made in other areas. Assaults had also taken place at several railway stations.` It also spoke of `a great deal of excitement and panic` during the past two days.

[News agencies add from Rangpur, East Pakistan,] refugees continue to pour into East Pakistan from the adjacent Bharat territories of Jurnea (Bihar), Jalpaiguri (West Bengal, and Cooch Bihar). Hundreds of people ... are trekking into East Pakistan with only a few belongings that they could collect before making a desperate bid for freedom and which again [were] looted on the way by Hindu volunteers. Trains coming into East Pakistan from ... Bharat ... are full of Muslim refugees but without any police guard.