Dawn
16th February 1969
‘Participation of Bhutto, Mujib, Bhashani vital’ : Asghar wants end of political cases, black laws at a stroke
LAHORE, Feb 15: Air Marshal Asghar Khan today strongly pleaded for the inclusion of Mr. zulfiqar Ali Bhutto, Sheikh Mujibur Rahman and Maulana Abdul Hamid Bhashani in the roundtable talks between President Ayub and Opposition parties. Talking to newsmen at his residence after his arrival here today from Larkana the former chief of the Pakistan Air Force said that the exclusion of these leaders from the talks would be very unfortunate.
He knew there were certain difficulties in extending an invitation to Sheikh Mujibur Rahman, but these difficulties, he said, were not insurmountable. It would be a tremendously good gesture on the part of the Government to remove those difficulties.
He said, responsible leaders of sound political parties should not and must not be ignored. In case an invitation is issued to them, he added, they should be given a week’s time to have consultations with their colleagues and leaders of other parties. The week’s time, he said, should be calculated from the day invitations are extended to these leaders.
Asked if he meant postponement of talks, he replied, the people who had been in jail very recently or are still in imprisonment would require at least a week to prepare themselves adequately for talks. “You can’t expect a man to go straight from jail to a conference table. He must have time to consult his friends”, he arrested.
I replying to a question he said he had not received any invitation from the president but he added, it was not important. What mattered most was that leaders of political parties were not left out of the talks.
CONGENIAL ATMOSPHERE
The Air Marshal however, wished all success to the proposed talks and hoped that the parties concerned achieved their desired objective. In this context, he said, the political climate in the country should be made appropriate for the talks.
He regretted that the Government was not talking adequate steps to create a favourable climate for the talks. “On the one hand they talk of showing their goodwill and on the other they resort to repressive measures to suppress popular expression of demands and grievances” he said.
In this connection, he particularly referred to the “uncivil” behaviour of the police in yesterday’s clashes in Lahore. He made specific mention of “Police entry in the house of Mr. Shorish Kashmiri violating its privacy, slapping his wife and children and breaking his furniture and utensils”.
The party in power, he said, should exhibit its goodwill in deeds and not merely pay lip service to it.
He also referred to the tractors’ case against Mr. Bhutto and said far more important issues were at stake at the moment which needed the concentrated attention of the people and the Government. Such a case loses its meaning in the face of such big issues. Therefore, it should be withdrawn. It will be a real good gesture, conducive to the creation of friendly atmosphere for talks.
TOO LITTLE, TOO LATE
To bring about a favourable climate for the talks Air Marshal Asghar Khan said all preventive laws which are in force in the country since 1958 or so must also be repealed and all political cases in East and West Pakistan withdrawn.
He again appealed to the Government to take initiative and take one big step to remove all repressive measures at a stroke, “Too little, too late has always been the case so far. To accede to the people’s demands drop by drop and to be always behind time, has been the feature of this Government. It has never comprehended issues in the entirety and has never understood the right mood of the people”, he said.
NO CLASS WAR
Asked if the thought that the present movement of the people might lead to a class war, he said, “no One good feature of this movement is that it was free from class malice and was not motivated by class hatred”. Violence here and there was only an expression of political frustration of the people.
Reverting to the question of police, he said the police in the country was like a pare-armed force whereas in all civilize countries of the world it was civil force. Its dress, uniform and the arms etc etc issued to it resembled like those of the army. With these arms and uniform they try to behave like army.
He thought if arms were with drawn from the police the police’s attitude would change. Any future Government, he stressed, must give its careful thought to this problem and reform the police.
Asked about the nature of his talks with Mr. Bhutto at Larkana, he smilingly said, “we had very satisfactory talks about the unsatisfactory situation in the country and other relevant matters.-APP.
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