Morning News
20th November 1967
Gleanings from the Urdu Press
Mr. Bhutto’s politics
Mashriq, said in an editorial last week “Ever since Mr. Bhutto left the Central Cabinet, he has started feeling so much concerned about the people and their rights that he does not even bother to pause to think that what he was saying today was not only different but contradictory to his own previous utterances on the subject. Mr. Bhutto claims to believe in principles and says that no change has taken place in his views about the problems of fundamental national importance. But the statement issued by him in Lahore, explaining the aims and objective of his new organisation is selfcontradictory.
“His statement on the subject of One Unit is a masterpiece of self-contradiction. He, on the one hand, categorically denied that he was opposed to the One Unit and, on the other very cleverly refrained from affirming either that he was in favour of One Unit. He tried to save face by saying that if there really existed any problem about One unit, he would suggest that a referendum should be held on the issue.
“So far as the people themselves are concerned they are all in favour of the One Unit since its establishment was decided by themselves through the democratic procedure of a referendum on subject of all the West Pakistan Assemblies elected according to the principle of adult franchise. But Mr. Bhutto has so conveniently ignored this fact as if he was not even aware of it.
“Mr. Bhutto has also raised the slogan of freedom of Press and has said that the Trust Papers publish his statement and for that matter the statements of all other Opposition leaders, in a distorted form. This is a false allegation which he has made to cover his own contradictory statements. But he can never succeed in his designs since his contradictory statements have also become such a big problem for his own followers that they have already started disbelieving Mr. Bhutto and leaving his party.
“Similar is the case of his stand vis-a-vis the six-point programme of Sheikh Mujibur Rehman. He openly supported the programme while he was in Dacca. When he came back in West Pakistan he changed his stand and said that he was against entrusting foreign trade and currency to the care of the Provincial Government but on other points he was prepared to negotiate with Sheikh Mujibur Rehman. He has again forgotten the fact that he had characterised Sheikh Mujibur Rehman as a traitor only on account of his insistence on the acceptance of his Six-Point Programme by the Government.
“Mr. Bhutto goes on changing his stand from place to place. When he goes to Dacca he supports the Six-point programme. When he addresses those elements of the former Provinces Sindh, Frontier and Baluchistan, which want to disband One Unit for their own selfish interest, he opposes One Unit. When he addresses youth rallies he raises empty slogans like that of basic human rights and freedom of the Press etc. The greatest gratifying factor in the whole show, however, is that people have started realizing that unprincipledness is the only principle followed by Mr. Bhutto.”
Kohistan (Rawalpindi) writing under the “caption” Opportunist politicians “said,” Mr. Bhutto is busy these days in organising his new political party. One of his close associates is responsible for the report that he has started this game after having failed in his efforts to strike a bargain with President Mohammad Ayub Khan through common Aligarian friend. The former politicians were notorious for their opportunism but now Mr. Bhutto has also started following in their footsteps. He remained a member of the Presidential Cabinet for more than 8 years during which period he acted as a most active spokesman of the new political system, the constitution, One Unit all the foreign and economic policies of the Government. But after leaving the Cabinet and the Pakistan Muslim League he has started hating all these things.
“During the period when he was a Minister he had challenged Sheikh Mujibur Rehman to have an open debate with him on the question of the six-point programme. At that time he used to characterise the programme as having been chalked out to disrupt the unity and the solidarity of the country but now he thinks that it contains certain very good points. He has also started feeling concerned at the continued detention of Sheikh Mujibur Rehman.
“Mr. Bhutto has again changed his stand on the question of One Unit. Now he thinks that a referendum should be held on this point in which the members of the Assemblies elected on the principle of adult Franchise should be allowed to cast their voters. He has conveniently forgotten the fact that in 1954-55 the Asssemblies which had cast their votes in favour of the One Unit were elected on the same principle. Now when the One Unit has been successfully functioning for the last 12 years after its establishment was decided by the elected members of the people themselves, where is the necessity of undoing the entired arrangement. In fact Mr. Bhutto is not himself against. One Unit but a few Vaderas of the former Province of Sindh whose support he wants to gain for his new political party, are against it and Mr. Bhtto has been making curious statements on the subject only to please them.
“Mr. Bhutto has also been raising the slogan of socialism. When he was a Minister himself he was of the opinion that Islamic Socialism as enshrined in the Election Manifesto of the President, was the panacea of all the economic ills of the country but now he thinks that the economic ills of the country cannot be cured till all the major industries of the country are nationalized. Mr. Bhutto is not serious about his profession in this regard since even the Vaderas of Sindh, who are only interested in preserving their tremendously great holdings, raise this slogan to gain popular support. If Mr. Bhutto cares to consult the economic experts he will come to know that nationalization of the major Industries of the country at this stage of country’s economic development would do more harm than good to the country. Even Chaudhury Mohammad Ali would advise him against it.
“All this shows that Mr. Bhutto is an opportunist of the highest order. He continued to support the policies of the Ayub Government for 8 long years since perhaps he was more interested in remaining in the Cabinet than in anything else. Now if he has started seeing some good points in the six-point programme of Sheikh Mujibur Rehman. or feeling the necessity of having referendum on the question of ONE Unit it is only to gain the support of certain elements of the opposition groups. But he should know that a person who can change his opinion about the fundamental problems of the country so often cannot claim to represent the people”.
সূত্র: সংবাদপত্রে বঙ্গবন্ধু তৃতীয় খণ্ড: ষাটের দশক॥ দ্বিতীয় পর্ব