PAKISTAN OBSERVER
14th July 1955
Consembly To Have Speaker And Deputy
Bill Passed Unanimously
Political Victimizations Strongly Denounced
MURREE, JULY 13: THE CONSTITUENT ASSEMBLY TODAY PASSED THE CONSTITUENT ASSEMBLY (OFFICIALS) BILL WHICH PROVIDES FOR THE ELECTION OF A SPEAKER AND DEPUTY SPEAKER AND FOR THE MAKING OF RULES RELATING TO THEIR FUNCTIONS.
The Bill was passed unanimously almost without any discussion, The debate on the Constituent Assembly (Proceeding and Privileges) bill was then resumed and had not finished when the house adjourned to meet again on Thursday morning.
SHEIKH MUJIBUR RAHMAN AND MR. DILDAR AHMED OF THE AWAMI LEAGUE, MR. ABDUL WAHAB OF THE UNTED FRONT AND MIAN IFTIKHARUDDIN OBJECTED TO SOME OF THE CLAUSES AND DEMANDED CATEGORICAL PROVISIONS IN THE BILL FOR IMMUNITY OF MEMBERS FROM ARREST AND VICTIMISATION ON POLITICAL GROUNDS.
MUJIBUR EXTOLS SHAHEED
Taking the floor, Mr. Mujibur Rahman (AL) said that he had nothing to say about privileges of members, but he wanted to discuss certain points to show what had been happening in Pakistan for the last seven years. Paying a tribute to Mr. Suhrawardy, he said that he was fighting for communal harmony after the partition at the risk of his own life. Once he went to East Bengal to preach communal harmony when Khawaja Nazimuddin was the Chief Minister there. A meeting was arranged in Mymensingh, but Mr. Suhrawardy who was also an MCA was detained at Dacca and asked by the Government to leave East Bengal, though he has been in the forefront of the fight for Pakistan.
21ST FEBRUARY RECALLED
Continuing Mr. Mujibur Rahman said that in 1952 when Mr. Nurul Amin was the Chief Minister of East Pakistan and Khawaja Nazimuddin was the Prime Minister of Pakistan. Khawaja Nazimudding went to East Bengal and declared that Urdu and Urdu alone would be the state language of Pakistan. The People of East Pakistan wanted that Urdu and Bengali both should be made state languages of Pakistan. On February 21, the people demanded that Bengali should also be declared a state language along with Urdu. He said that Mr. Nurul Amin ordered shooting and firing for suppressing the demand. Many persons died and three leaders were arrested because they were opposed to the firing. Seven hundred workers were also arrested. He warned the leaders that they have not come here with a divine right to rule for the whole of their lives. Tomorrow they might be thrown out of power. Therefore they should fight for democracy alone, or Pakistan would become terror-stricken. Proceeding, he referred to Section 92-A and said 99 percent of the people of East Bengal voted “for us.” But the Government was thrown out of office. The Government could be thrown out of office but imposition of Section 92-A was not necessary. After the imposition of Section 92-A members of the Assembly were arrested and some were declared traitors. Continuing he said: “Now let us see who is a traitor. We never believed that Mr. Fazlul Huq is a traitor. But the prime Minister of Pakistan on February 28 last year declared and distributed pamphlets printed in English, Urdu and Bengali, dubbing Maulvi Fazlul Huq as a traitor. The people would judge who were the real traitors.” He said that he himself was implicated in a case when rioting broke out in East Bengal. He was arrested along with many others but the court later said that Mr. Mujibur Rahman was not a law breaker but a peace-maker.
PM CHALLENGED
“The Prime Minister of Pakistan has the cheek to call us traitors of Pakistan and to call us rioters,” he added and challenged the Prime Minister on the floor of the House to prove that he was not a lover of peace. He claimed that he could defeat the Prime Minister on every platform. Proceeding, he said that 1,500 workers, including Maulana Bhashani, were arrested in East Bengal and many properties were confiscated. Fifty MLAs were imprisoned. “Why should they be detained without trial? Are they antiPakistan?” he asked. Mr. Mujibur Rahman said that the people of Pakistan would judge or rather they had already judged it. Ninety-five percent of the population of East Bengal had voted for “us” and “We are now the real representatives of the people. We are not fighting here for power, but we have come to safeguard the interests of our constituencies whom we represent.” Continuing, he referred to the state of affairs in Sind and said that the Speaker of the Assembly there was arrested while going to attend a session of the Assembly. At this stage, Pir Ali Mohammed Rashdi (ML), Sind’s Revenue Minister pointed out that the case referred to by Mr. Mujibur Rahman was subjudice. It should not, therefore, be discussed. The Chairman asked Mr. Mujibur Rahman not to make reflection on cases under trial.
WARNING
Proceeding Mr. Mujibur Rahman said that he wanted to tell the House that if this sort of things continued in Pakistan he did not know what would be the fate of Pakistan. The people in power today might be thrown out tomorrow. For example, there was Mr. Nurul Amin who now moved about in Dacca and nobody cared for him, because for six years a reign of terror continued in East Bengal under his Government. Referring to the language question Mr. Mujibur Rahman said that Members from East Bengal should be allowed to address the House in their own mother tongue as some of them could not express themselves fully in either English or Urdu. Demanding Facilities for Bengali Members to speak in Bengali, he cited examples of Russia, Swiss and Canadian Parliaments, where Members could speak in more than one languages.
Concluding, he said that Mr. Suhrawardy was a real champion of democracy and hoped that he would bring forward only such legislations before the House which were based on true democracy.