THE STATESMAN, JUNE 1, 1971
BHASANI RULES OUT A POLITICAL SOLUTION
By Special Representative
The National Awami Party leader, Maulana Bhasani, on Monday ruled out the possibility of arriving at a political settlement of the Bangladesh issue. He did so almost in identical terms as the Awami League leaders had done a few days ago. There might be setbacks. But our fight against Pakistan would continue, if necessary for a hundred years. Either we win or die” he added.
Talking to reporters somewhere in Bangladesh the Maulana said even if attempts were made for a political settlement either by someone in Bangladesh or abroad the 75 million people of Bangladesh would reject it outright. The reason was that the people had lost their faith in the Pakistan Government, more so after its recent atrocities perpetrated on the people of Bangladesh which was something unheard of in human history.
However, he would not mind a referendum being held under the U.N. auspices to ascertain the wishes of the people of Bangladesh. He was sure that not even one per cent of the people would vote against independence. This could also give the lie to the Pakistani propaganda that the present Bangladesh freedom movement was sponsored by India. Why do not countries like the USA, USSR, Britain or China which were friendly to Pakistan send out their journalists to make an independent study of the Army atrocities?
For long popularly known as a friend of China the Maulana was asked if he proposed to visit countries like China or Russia to en list support for the Bangladesh cause. His reply was clear and specific. If, he said, they had not been prompted yet to discharge their moral responsibility in regard to the Bangladesh situation, he had doubts if his visits would achieve any useful purpose. He was sorry that except for India, no other country be it socialist or imperialist had taken any note of their plight.
advice to party men
The Maulana said that he had advised his party men and all Leftist forces in Bangladesh to form all-party “action committees” in villages to mobilize people for the protracted struggle against Pakistan. One of the tasks before these committees would be to urge people not to pay taxes to the Pakistan Government. The second most important task would be to counter anti-Indian propaganda by the Pakistani Army.
However, after his bitter experience of multi-party coalitions or platforms since the days of partition Maulana Bhasani pointed out he would not advocate the formation of anything like a national liberation front or a national government at this stage; more so because of his awareness of the possibility of quarrels over leadership.
But his more serious point of concern appeared to be not to weaken in any way what was being done by the people of Bangladesh. In this respect the Awami League or any other leadership was acceptable to him. Nothing should be done to provide an opportunity to the Pakistan Government to divide and rule the people of Bangladesh.
The Maulana would not give a direct reply to the question” as to whether he felt that a protracted struggle for the freedom of Bangladesh might give the extremists an opportunity to seize leadership. But his comments in this context, like “a tiger never forgets the taste of human blood”, “there are 1.3 million” educated unemployed in Bangladesh and “possession of arms transforms a man’s attitude and behavior” were eloquent.