The Daily
Morning News
30 SEPTEMBER 1971
News headlines and details from the Daily Morning News.
News Headlines:
- India will continue to meddle in Pak affairs, says Swaran
- UN funds for DPs in India almost exhausted.
- Sept. 18 announcement a step forward, says Bhutto
- Mahmud Ali meets Arab group in UN.
- Govt. sets up body to recommend economy steps.
- Teachers asked to persuade students to continue studies.
- Call for concerted efforts to clearly define Pak ideology.
- Turkish Prof. asks India not to bar return of DPs.
- Joint ML worker conference on Oct. 2.
- Asghar visits Mujib's ailing parents.
- 2,620 have surrendered so far
- kosygin for peace in sub-
continent
Other Headlines:
- Cyclone hits sundarbans: 3 ft. of water in Chalna.
- Harijans being killed in India
- President presides over Governors conference.
- Indira leaves Moscow for Delhi.
- Rana asks Bhutto to hold PPP elections.
- Govt. urged to revise citizenship policy in case of Mahajirs.
- Five more African countries support Pakistan
- Special envoy of Congo president arrives in Pindi
- Indian farm mission in Taiwan
United nations. Sept. 29 (APP): Indian Foreign Minister Sardar Swaran Singh said last night his country would continue to meddle in the internal affairs of Pakistan so long as it does not accept India's formula to solve the East Pakistan question, cables APP's special correspondent.
At the same time Sardar Swaran Singh declared that India was not interfering in Pakistan's internal politics.
Sardar Swaran Singh was exercising his right of reply to answer charges by Pakistan's chief delegate, Mr. Mahmud Ali who Monday exposed the Indian involvement in the East Pakistan crisis before 130 member UN General Assembly.
Tuesday was the second day of the general debate and Pakistan will be given the right of reply for the second time on Wednesday evening.
Observers here failed to understand the logic of the statement of Sardar Swaran Singh who on the one hand solemnly stated that India had no wish to meddle in Pakistan's domestic affairs and on the other hand declared that his country could not remain indifferent to the situation created in "East Bengal."
Although Indian Foreign Minister said that no one wished to see the break up of Pakistan,
he indirectly supported the so-
Moreover, he described East Pakistan as "East Bengal" most of the time. It may be pointed out here Pakistan had repeatedly protested to India not to use the term "East Bengal" for East Pakistan.
Sardar Swaran Singh offered no reply to the Indian leaders' speeches quoted by Mr. Mahmud Ali in support of Pakistan's argument but only said "They were torn out of context."
The burden of Indian Foreign Minister's speech was that India was not involved in the East Pakistani crisis and that it was not a India and Pakistan dispute. That was why he said India refused to talk to Pakistan.
He once again rejected UN proposal to post observers on both side of the border or to have a UN good offices committee visiting India.
Geneva, Sept. 29 (UPI): The United Nations said yesterday funds to help care for the millions of East Pakistani refugees in India are now almost exhausted.
A total of 114 million US dollars in cash and kinds has been pledged to the UN High Commissioner for Refugees to be distributed in India.
All except 3 million dollars of this amount has been used, the High Commissioners office said.
Officials said there are no exact figures on refugee numbers but, according to India, the total is now 9 million.
The total international assistance amounts to some 200 million dollars, they said.
Karachi, Sept. 29 (APP): Z.A. Bhutto, chairman of Pakistan People's Party, said here today that President General A.M. Yahya Khan's. announcement of September 18 about presenting a constitution in the forth coming National Assembly session was a step forward in the right direction.
He said that where as under the previous announcement of June 28 the National Assembly was to act only as a legislative body under a constitution to be given by the president, the new plan recognised the constituent character of the Assembly.
In a written statement distributed at a press conference held here at Hotel Metropole, he said "first what is now being prepared by the President's Committee of officials is a provisional constitution, to be given final shape after full consideration by the National Assembly and secondly the very fact that amendments on the provisional constitution are to be passed by a simple majority upholds the sovereignty of the Assembly as a constituent body."
He said: "It is also a step forward in that, whereas under the legal framework order, the president could reject the entire constitution passed by the Assembly without assigning any reason, under the plan announced on September 18 the president has pledged that he would accept any change provided it did not adversely affect the territorial integrity and solidarity of our nation, or the ideology on which Pakistan is based."
In addition, it must state, whether the 90-
LFO Amendment Urged
He said, if the legal framework order could be amended with alacrity to allow the
nominated Ministers in East Pakistan to contest the bye-
In the second place, the terms of the draft constitution should not act as a dyke to prevent the programme of reforms.
"We have given our position the president on certain matters pertaining to the constitution."
"We have also firm views on the question of autonomy and have said that we cannot
countenance the imposition again of one-
"However, as we have not participated in the drafting of the constitution, nor have we seen the terms of the draft, we can but await, its early publication to solicit public opinion.
"Thirdly, constitutional governments should be formed both at the centre and the provinces, immediately after the National Assembly met to consider the constitutions.
'My Party's position, is, that the announcement of September 18 should not be made the excuse to delay the process of democratisation by three months.
"It must not be forgotten that the main justification for the president's presenting a provisional constitution has been that the people's government should start functioning without losing time.
Asked about the views on the formation of civilian governments under cover of the Martial law, he said: "We believe we should be able to meet the exigencies."
Fair Participation
Mr. Bhutto said: "Finally, the People's party should be allowed fair participation in the election in East Pakistan.
Under the prevailing conditions this is imperative and, indeed, the sine qua non on which the structure envisaged stands or falls.
"We believe the main task before us today is to save the country. Even constitution making must of necessity take a secondary role. No further time can be lost.
"Already, too much time has elapsed before the transfer of power. The lack of emergency that one feels pervading in Islamabad is indeed striking.
"In a situation where hours and days should matter, months have been allowed to pass."
"We know that the people what and have faith reflected their aspirations.
"We have been consistent in our attitude. As the majority party of this wing, we believe that we have the right to be, at the very least, informed of the Government's major decisions but unfortunately, we are kept in the dark."
Referring to the general amnesty he said: "I must take it clear that we do not want to be associated with the decisions of the Government, we merely seek information so as to understand the decisions and to prepare for the future."
Even this much liasion is repressed. We fail to comprehend why such an attitude is adopted by a regime seeking to transfer power to the elected representatives of the people.
Mujib's Trial
About Shaikh Mujibur Rahman's trial in camera he said: "We know for ourselves and are definite that there was some sort of involvement of Sheikh Mujibur Rahman in the offence he is charged with, But we do not know how it transpired and the extent of the Sheikh's involvement."
Referring to the brochure written by him entitled, "The Great Tragedy", he said: "It will show why the PPP wanted a grand coalition of the majority parties of the two wings, how before the postponement of the National Assembly session announced by president General Yahya Khan on the first of March, we made every effort to meet the essential demands of East Pakistan and how after that date we maintained that any proposal to resolve the dead lock should be put to the newly elected representatives in the National Assembly empowered to frame a constitution."
"With the divergent and conflicting needs of the two wings accentuated by an inequitious economic system and the cumulative mistakes of the past, it was virtually impossible to arrive at a constitutional settlement with the Awami League with in the short span of two months."
"In the national interest, I pressed president Yahya Khan on the 11th of February in Rawalpindi to permit us about six weeks time to make an earnest endeavour to arrive at such a settlement but instead the Assembly was summoned to meet on the third of March.
"The validity of our position has been belatedly confirmed by president Yahya Khan in his broadcast to the nation on the 28th June 1971, when he discussed that Sheikh Mujibur Rahman had clearly indicated to him that all the major provisions of the constitution would be settled by the political parties in parleys outside the Assembly."
United Nations, Sept. 29 (APP): Pakistan's delegation leader Mahmud Ali Tuesday night met the Arab group in the United Nations.
Group sources said Mr. Mahmud Ali put across Pakistan's point of view on the East Pakistan question. He listed the steps taken by Pakistan Government towards facilitating the return of refugees who have crossed over to India and restoration of democracy in the country.
Sources said a discussion ensured and Pakistan's chief delegate answered questions from the group members.
Mr. Mahmud Ali was accompanied by Ambassador Agha Shahi and Additional Foreign secretary Mumtaz A. Alvie.
Mr. Mahmud Ali yesterday continued his round of discussion with Foreign Ministers attending the 26th session of the UN General Assembly.
Mr. Mahmud Ali met Foreign Minister of Arab Republic of Egypt, Mr. Mahmud Riad Wednesday evening and explained to him background of the recent events in Pakistan.
Earlier Mr. Mahmud Ali had similar meetings with the Moroccan Foreign Minister, Mr. Abdelatif Ficali, Tanzanian Foreign Minister Mario Cardoso of Congo (Kunsasha).
On Monday last Mr. Mahmud Ali met the Foreign Minister of Norway Mr. Andress Calpalen.
A meeting of the Governor's Council of Ministers held yesterday at 9 a.m. in the cabinet Room of the East Pakistan, secretariat discussed various matters pertaining to general administration. The Governor presided, says a Government handout.
The Council decided to set up a special committee headed by the Finance Minister for recommending economy measures in the administrative expenditure of provincial Government Departments and autonomous bodies. The other members of the Committee are: chief secretary (Dev), Senior Member, of Revenue and the Finance Secretary , who will also act as Secretary of the Committee. Besides, the ministers decided to introduce a 5 to 10 percent cut in their salaries.
The Governor, Dr. A.M. Malik, informed the meeting that he had also decided to forego over 16 percent of his salary.
It may be recalled that the Ministers had already reduced their entitlement for furnishing their official residence by 50 percent.
Dr. A.M. Malik, Governor of East Pakistan and Chancellor of the University of Dacca
attended a tea party given by professor Syed Sajjad Hossain, vice-
The provincial Education Minister, Education Secretary, Members of the syndicate, Deans of the various faculties, the Heads of the Departments and the provosts of the Halls were present. The Governor very frankly discussed with them the present educational problems being faced by the province.
Dr. Malik appealed to the teachers to persuade the students to continue their studies
and not to make mistake by creating a vacuum in the field of education. In this connection
he reminded them the mistake once done by the Muslims during the non-
The teachers assured the Chancellor that they had been counselling the students not to waste any further time and resume their studies in right earnest.
Lahore, sept, 29 (APP): Chief Justice of the Supreme Court, Mr. Justice Mahmoodur Rahman yesterday called for concerted and solid efforts to clearly define the Pakistan ideology.
Speaking on the second day of the three day seminar being held at the Punjub text board on Pakistan ideology and text books, he said such efforts were must in order to remove misunderstanding in the minds of the Pakistani youth regarding the ideology.
He said a great responsibility devoloved on those who write text books for the students to clear up the minds of the youth by giving the genesis of Pakistan movements in true perspective and the dangers inherent in forsaking this ideology.
He said the text book boards such one in the Punjub must undertake the task.
Mr. Justice Hamoodur Rahman said once the youth had made proper appreciation of the Pakistan ideology, it would be easy to embark upon second logical step of instilling in them the sense of nationhood and pride. This aim, he said, could be achieved by projecting the already discovered similarities between the people of East and West Pakistan.
Time had come to add, when the talk of differences between the people of East and West Pakistan must come to an end and the similarity between the two people which outnumbered the differences were highlighted.
The Pakistan Chief Justice illustrated his point by emumerating common features of the people of East and West Pakistan in different walks of life such as eating and dressing habits. He suggested that anthropologists should under the task of discovering more common things of the people of the two wings.
We welcomed the on suggestion of elderly statesman of East Pakistan that Urdu should be made compulsory subject in East Pakistan and Bengali in West Pakistan. He said the measure would greatly help in forging national unity.
There should not be much difficult introducing Urdu in East Pakistan in schools because Urdu was already understood there however, bigger effort would be needed to introduce Bengali in West Pakistan because it was not understood here.
Vocabulary of Words
Mr. Justice Hamoodur Rahman said while accepting Pakistan as a bi-
He said some shared word had already been done in this behalf by the writers Guild and the central Bengali Development Academy.
The former had prepared a working vocabulary of about 3,000 words while the latter had evolved lexicon of over 5,186 words.
He said in order to popularise Bengali in West Pakistan, Bengali books should be printed in Arabic script. He showed to the delegates of the seminar some Bengali material published by Aniuman Harooful Quarn, East Pakistan in Arabic script.
About the utility of Arabic script the chief justice of Pakistan said it could have served excellent medium of introducing Urdu as national language in both of Pakistan because Arabic was common to all the people of Pakistan, being the script of the Holy Quran. More over it would have served as a good bridge with Arabic speaking world.
But that chance, he said, was lost in 1951 when Sanskrit script for the Bengali Language was officially accepted.
Islamabad, Sept. 29 (APP): A Prominent Turkish professor, Mr. Ahmet Sukur Esmer, has called upon India not to prevent the return of East Pakistani refugees to their homes as it is not in the interest of peace in the region.
Instead of doing so, India should do her best to convince the refugees to return to their country, where civilian rule has been restored producing conducive conditions for their return. He has made these observations in an article published recently by the Turkish Daily Basis of Ankara.
The Professor deplored that India actually does not want to see refugees going back to Pakistan and is trying to prevent their return.
New Delhi, he said, had declared that East Pakistani refugees would not return to their homes unless a political solution was found for East Pakistan Similarly, the Indian press was carrying out hostile propaganda against Pakistan right from the beginning of disturbances in East Pakistan.
And the Indian Foreign Minister Sardar Swaran Singh, had openly said that an independent state of Bangladesh was to be established and that the Indians were full of sympathy towards this new state.
Professor Ahmed warned that those who were trying to prevent the return of East Pakistani refugees to their homes and establish a BanglaDesh government were not serving the cause of peace in the region because this might lead to a war between India and Pakistan.
Referring to Indian propaganda about Sheikh Mujibur Rahman's trial, he said the Indian claim that Mujibur Rahman did not start agitation or revolt was not convincing because it was the open revolt which led to military action in East Pakistan.
A joint conference of the workers of three factions of Muslim League will be held here at Moinuddin Choudhury Memorial Hall on October 2. reports APP.
This was stated in a joint statement issued here yesterday by three leaders of Muslims league emphasising the supreme need for the merger of three factions of the party without any further delay.
They leaders belonging to the three factions of Muslim League in their statement stressed that merger should be effected promptly in order to strengthen the solidarity and integrity of the country which, they said, was now passing through a grave phases.
The signatories to the statement were, Mr. Abdur Rahim, joint convenor, convention Muslim League, Alhaj Sirajuddin and Hakim Irtejur Rahman of Council and convention Muslim Leagues respectively.
Tehrik-
The Air Marshal who was accompanied by the Secretary General of his party, Mr. Muklesuzzaman Khan, enquired from Sheikh Lutfor Rahman, father of Sheikh Mujibur Rahman, about their welfare Sheikh Mujib's mother, who was too weak was sleeping when the Air Marshal went there.
Incidentally, Begum Sheikh Mujibur Rahman was present there on the occassion and replied to the Air Marshal's queries about the well being of the family and Sheikh's children. The Air Marshal patted the seven year old son of the Sheikh who was accompanying his mother.
The 80 year old mother of the Sheikh was admitted into the hospital on Sept. 22 with acute exasperation of chronic bronchitis and asthma. Two days later the 91 year old father of the Sheikh was also brought to the hospital for treatment of ulcer, anaemia, eye defects and other ailments.
Meanwhile, doctors reported that Sheikh's mother was showing some ups and downs in her health condition since admission in the hospital, while on operation of cataract was scheduled for the father of the Sheikh.
Over 2,620 persons have so far surrendered to the authorities at different places in the province since the announcement of general amnesty on September 5, reports APP.
The reports of surrender have been received from Barishal, Chaudanga, Bhola, Dinajpur, Comilla, Sylhet, Haluaghat, Sirajganj, Sreemangal, Mymensingh, Brahmanbaria, Feni, Newabganj and Dacca.
Those who have come back include defector from East Bengal Regiment, East Pakistan Rifles, Police, Ansar and Mujahids besides a larger number of defunct Awami League workers, students and Government employees.
About half of them are workers of the defunct Awami League. Thirty five percent of them are EBR/EPR personnel while the remaining are students and Government servants.
The surrendered Government servants including armed forces personnel have been given the salaries for the period during which they were absent from on duties and allowed to proceed on leave to see their families and relations before resuming duties.
Non-
Reports of surrender are still trickling in Dacca from various districts and sub-
Moscow, Sept, 29 (Reuter): The Soviet Prime Minister, Mr. Kosygin has said his country
will do its utmost for the maintenance of peace in the Indo-
He was speaking in Moscow yesterday at a lunch for the visiting Indian Prime Minister, Mrs. Indira Gandhi.
Mr. Kosygin expressed anxiety over the situation in the sub-
In her reply, the Indian Prime Minister regretted that the Bangladesh stunt was being generally ignored by the world.
She added that the international response had fallen short of expectations.
Profile of Bengal