THE STATESMAN, JULY 4, 1971
MUSLIM NATIONS WARNED AGAINST PAK PROPAGANDA
From Our Special Representative
New Delhi, July 3.-A spokesman of the Bangladesh Government today appealed to the Muslim nations of the world not to be hoodwinked by Pakistani propaganda. Was it Islamic, he asked, for Pakistani soldier to rape young Muslim girls, to kill Muslim doctors and intellectuals, to burn the property of Muslim villagers and to massacre Muslim women and children?
The Muslim nations, he said, should put these questions to themselves and then only take a stand on the reign of terror let loose in Bangladesh by the military regime in Islamabad.
Mr. Amjadul Huq, the spokesman of the Bangladesh Mission here, told a Press conference that his Government regretted the attitude of the Muslim nations. He attributed the present attitude of these countries to the “heinous propaganda being made in the name of Islam by the Pakistani military warlords.”
Bangladesh, he added, was a fait accompli and there could be no compromise on the basis of a united Pakistan in the name of Islam. The Pakistanis were utilizing the name of a great religion for mischievous purposes and for misleading the Muslim world. By raising the slogan that the existence of the largest Islamic country was being threatened the military rulers were justifying the butchery of millions of peaceful and unarmed Muslim citizens of Bangladesh.
The resumption of arms supplies to Pakistan by the USA had in this context come as a great shock and disappointment to the freedom fighters. “We urge the U.S. Government that it should immediately stop the arms shipments to Pakistan and also demand an assurance that no further shipments of military hardware will be made to Pakistan for these will only be used to perpetuate military oppression and to further intensify the campaign of genocide” he said.
Mr. Huq wondered why international organizations like the Human Rights Commission had not cared to take Pakistan to task for the genocide perpetrated in Bangladesh. “When 75 million people of Bangladesh arc fighting war of freedom, justice, democratic rights and peace, what is the position of these international organizations?” he asked.