At 1500 hours on 9 December, Kler sent a note through a Mukti Bahini courier to the Officer Commanding 31 Baluch at Jamalpur to surrender as his routes had been cut and he would get an even heavier pounding if he continued to resist.
According to plan, 13 Guards, who had by now reached Kurna against negligible opposition, were directed to follow 1 Maratha Light Infantry to the south of the river. Leaving one company on the Sherpur axis, it used the same facilities as 1 Maratha Light Infantry and eventually concentrated behind the roadblocks on the Jamalpur-Mymensingh road by 0600 hours on 9 December. The roadblocks around the Jamalpur defended locality were by then in position, and there was an opportunity to destroy or capture the garrison so as not to fight the same troops over and over again. At 1400 hours on 9 December, while the helicopter carrying Kler’s party was hovering over the area to land, he noticed signs of fighting in it. Some red Very lights were also fired, warning him off. He however ordered the pilot to land.
On landing, he was told that about a company of the enemy had tried to outflank one of our companies in an attempt to clear the roadblock. The enemy however suffered heavy casualties, and leaving behind two prisoners of war and 13 weapons, including two machine guns, pulled back at the cost of one havildar of 1 Maratha Light Infantry killed. The enemy also attacked 13 Guards’ bullockcart column carrying three-inch mortars and ammunition under the command of Maj S. R. Singh. He fought resolutely and threw the enemy back. In this action, one JCO of 13 Guards was killed, shot through his helmet. The casualties were loaded in the returning helicopter for proper cremation.
Kler commanded the operation from his command post alongside 1 Maratha Battalion HQ. His problem was that although the cordon was complete both north and south of the river he had no troops left to attack. He had no option but a stalemate of a siege in which he hoped to squeeze the enemy gradually. This was a time-consuming process. At 1500 hours on 9 December, Kler sent a note through a Mukti Bahini courier to the Officer Commanding 31 Baluch at Jamalpur to surrender as his routes had been cut and he would get an even heavier pounding if he continued to resist. In the evening, Lt Col Sultan Mahmood replied rejecting the offer. A Chinese bullet accompanied the reply. “Hope this finds you in high spirits. Thanks for the letter. We here in Jamalpur are waiting for the fight to commence. It has not started yet. So let us not talk but start it. Forty sorties, I point out, are inadequate. Please ask for many more… Hoping to find you with a sten in your hand next time instead of the pen you seem to have so much mastery over. I am most sincerely, Commander, Jamalpur fortress.”
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