DAILY DAWN
17th July, 1955
Mujibur Rehman urges Central Cabinet to quit
FAVOURS ALL-PARTY SET-UP:
STRESS ON DEMOCRACY
LAHORE, July 16: Mr Mujibur Rehman, MCA, General Secretary, East Pakistan Awami League, has called upon the Central Cabinet to resign forthwith. He told pressmen here that at best the character of the Cabinet was that of a caretaker government, but with the setting up of the new Constituent Assembly it had become unrepresentative of the people, and, as such, it had no right to continue in the saddle any more. He thought that in view of the political situation prevailing in the country, it was but proper that only a representative Cabinet responsible to the people and the Constituent Assembly should be at the helm of affairs. Asked whether an all-party coalition at the Centre would be acceptable to his party, he said it would rather welcome such a coalition, provided democratic principles were the basis of agreement. He reiterated that as for as the East Pakistan Awami League was concerned there could be no compromise on principles embodied in the 2-point programme. Some of the main principles, he said, were the recognition of Bengali as one of the State languages, full regional autonomy, joint electorates and no detention without trial. He thought that the Constitution could be ready within six months “if the ruling clique did not put any spokes in the wheel.” He said he had drawn this conclusion from the fact that all the right thinking Members of the Constituent Assembly were anxious to give a Constitution to the country as early as possible.
PEOPLE SOVEREIGN
Mr Mujibur Rehman said that he and his party, while seeing the Constitution through, would keep an eye on the face that ultimate sovereignty rested with the people. He was full of praise for the people of West Pakistan and stated that during their brief visit to the Western wing the Awami Leaguers from East Pakistan were more than convinced that the people here, like those of their own province, were extremely good. He however, advised them to organise and get rid of big landlords and vested interests, who claimed to represent the people. He said that such pseudo-leaders tied to the appron string of the Muslim League, had indiscriminately exploited the people of both the wings, bringing poverty, misery and widespread frustration. Mr Mujibur Rehman said that, in their race for personal aggrandisement, the Muslim League leaders had allowed problem after problem to crop up and, “while the people bled the Muslim League leaders indulged in cut throat battles amongst themselves for more and more pelf and power.
KASHMIR
Referring to the Kashmir problem, he said that the people wanted to maintain friendly relations with Bharat. He, however, warned the Bharati Government that it would be “foolish” on their part to presume that they could take advantage of the internal situation in Pakistan.
He considered the recent statement of the Bharati Home Minister on Kashmir as “most unfortunate” and said that all the political parties in Pakistan, despite their political differences, firmly believed that only a fair and free Plebiscite could peacefully decide the Kashmir issue. Mr Mujibur Rehman assured the Government of Pakistan that the people in East Pakistan would support any step taken by them to seek amends from Afghanistan for insulting the National Flag. He is scheduled to leave for Karachi tonight by air, Mr Ataur Rehman and five other Awami League MCAs are also leaving by the same plane.-APP.