Yahya Arrives in Dacca
To Talk on Confederation?
Sheikh Issues Directives
DACCA.- President Yahya Khan Flew into Dacca from Karachi Monday in a bid to save the Pakistani nation from virtually splitting into its Eastern and Western halves.
A presidential spokesman said the Head of State would be meeting with East Pakistan leader Sheikh Mujibur Rahman, but that no time had been fixed.
However an authoritative Awami League spokesman said that the most to be expected from their meeting would be agreement on “some kind of confederation” between the two sectors.
“We cannot resist the will of 75 million people”, the source said.
Civil servants, police and students have joined in the mass Bengali movement in demand for the creation of an independent state.
President Yahya drove straight from Dacca airport to the Presidential palace which was heavily-guarded by military police and troop: in armed jeeps.
The President was accompagnied by Lt. Gen. Tikka Khan, martial law administrator of Zone B, the military title of Eastern Pakistan, who met him at the airport where strong security measures were also in force.
The President’s arrival came a few hours after Sheikh Mujibur had issued a series of directives which virtually amounted to the declaration of an independent state of Bangla (East Pakistan).
President Yahya Khan, expected to offer the East Pakistan leader participation in a new coalition government.
The President is also considered likely to inform Sheikh Mujibur that the National Assembly would at the same time formulate a new Consitution.
The visit, following week-long demonstrations in Dacca, come after the comment from Sheikh Mujibur that President Yahya will be our guest.”
This is being widely interpreted that East Pakistan already considers itself a seperate nation and that prospects for a settlement looked dim.
Transfer of power to the Sheikh’s dominant Awami League has also brought opposition from West Pakistan-based People’s Party leader Zulfikar Ali Bhutto.
Bhutto argued in a speech Sunday that if the Awami League took control of East Pakistan, his own People’s Party should be allowed to assume power likewise in the Western sector of the country.
However President Yahya’s mission to Dacca could be part of a two sided arrangement in which a temporary settlement is agreed without the presence of the two party leaders in the government.
Army warns
Last Saturday night, the Army issued a martial law regulation ordering workers in ucience establishments to return to work Monday, disobeyed, they would be liable to ten years’ imprisonment. The Army took this action in a bid to break the non-cooperation campaign launched by Seikh Mujibur following the imposition of general martial law on March 1.
The Awami League has persisted with the campaign to force the lifting of martial law and the transfer of power to the National Constituent Assembly, in which the League won an overall majority in last December’s elections- AFP.
Ref. Djakarta Times, 17.3.1971