Pakistan Still Uncivil | The Economist | 27th May 1971

When the shooting started at the end of March, President Yahya Khan promised to bring on civilian government in East Pakistan as soon as “the situation returns to normal.” Since then, foreign pressure has been directed to holding president Yahya to his promise. But even though General Tikka Khan stated last week that “organized armed resistance has been liquidated all over the province,” there is still no sign of a political settlement on the horizon. The main problem is that few Bengalis are willing to play along.

What the Pakistani government apparently has in mind is a limited transfer of power. The East Pakistan provincial assembly will be revived (along with the four provincial assemblies of West Pakistan) and given much of the autonomy Sheikh Mujibur Rahman demanded—apart from control of the sensitive areas of foreign trade and currency. But the snag is that in the elections last December the now-banned Awami League won 288 out of 310 seats in the local assembly, as well as a majority in the national assembly. General Yahya may be hoping that a fair number of the people in the Awami League will be prepared to ditch Sheikh Mujib and take their seats. But so far only three of them have done that.

There are other possibilities. At the beginning of April, a group of Bengali politicians offered to form a “citizens committee.” But only one of them, Nurul Amin, had any standing in East Pakistan; and nothing has been heard of the committee since. Nurul Amin had talks with President Yahya last week in East Pakistan, but it seems that nothing came of them. President Yahya still claims to be trying. He is reported to be planning a trip to Dacca (his first since the start of civil war) in June. Only at the lower level has the Pakistani government has any success in finding civilians collaborations. Local “peace committees” have been formed. But the few… (rest are missing)

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Tushar Mondal