Morning news
18th September 1958
NAP SATISFIED WITH ASSURANCES
GIVEN BY ATA, MUJIB
Suhrawardy Alone is not AL-Bhashani
From Our Lahore Correspondent
Sept. 17: The NAP chief, Maulana Abdul Hamid Khan Bhashani, told Morning News that his party is committed to support the Awami League Government in East Pakistan as Chief Minister Ataur Rahman Khan and Sheikh Mujibur Rahman have given solemn assurance to support and implement the NAP’s five-point programme.
He claimed that the Awami League in East Pakistan is committed to an independent foreign policy and disintegration of One-Unit after the general elections in case the former minority provinces demand this disintegration. He said that Mr. Suhrawardy alone does not constitute the Awami League and NAP is satisfied with the assurances given by key Awami League leaders of East Pakistan. The NAP leaders in East Pakistan also genuinely feel that in case the Awami League Ministry is thrown out of power by more reactionary elements no general elections will be held in the country for an indefinite period and we as a party attach utmost importance to holding of general elections according to schedule. This is the reason that despite ideological differences we are supporting the Noon Ministry in the Centre. The Maulana confirmed that Mr. Ataur Rahman has extended an invitation to the NAP to nominate its representatives to the Provincial Cabinet but the NAP is in no hurry to join the Provincial Cabinet and will consider the matter and decide in October when the Central Organizing Committee will meet.
WILL WIN BACK GHAFFAR
The NAP chief who was accompanied by the party’s Secretary General Mr. Mamoodul Huq Usmani was very hopeful of bringing round Khan Abdul Ghaffar Khan to his point of view and expressed confidence that the Pathan leader will not quit the party. He said he was taking the Punjabi leaders, Mr. Mahmood Ali Qasuri and Mr. C. R. Aslam along with him to Peshawar to iron out the differences and remove misunderstandings. He fully appreciates the feelings of the former minority provinces on the One Unit issue and understands their difficulties but feels that disintegration should be deferred till the general elections as elections in the country are our foremost problem.
APP adds: Talking to the APP, the NAP chief favoured the idea of dissolving the Provincial and General Ministries to secure free and fair elections.
Maulana Bhashani said that the economic committee of the AfroAsian conference will meet at Cairo in the first week of December. The NAP, he said, would send an economic expert to Cairo to participate in the deliberations of the committee.
AFRO-ASIAN CONFCE
He said the executive committee of the Afro-Asian conference could meet in Karachi provided the Central Government granted permission in that respect. He, however, said that the NAP had not yet approached the Government for seeking the requisite permission. He said that the Central Organising Committee of the National Awami Party will discuss the question of election alliances during its next meeting. According to the party’s constitution the next meeting will be held in East Pakistan since one meeting has already been held in West Pakistan.
SUHRAWARDY SLATED
Maulana Bhashani said that the agreement on the five-point programme between the two Secretaries of the NAP and the Awami League was reached with the knowledge and approval of Mr. H. S. Suhrawardy. He regretted that political leaders now deem it fit to go back on their commitments creating an air of uncertainty and political confusion. Mr. Suhrawardy, he alleged, had two different languages to speak in the two wings of Pakistan. The NAP chief pointed out that Mr. Suhrawardy was loudest in his demand for regional autonomy for East Pakistan. When in power he retracted from his professions only to return to the original demand of fullest regional autonomy on being forced into the opposition ranks. Similarly, he said the Muslim League branded all the advocates of regional autonomy for East Pakistan as traitors and foreign agents. It is an irony of fate that the same leaders were now proclaiming themselves to be the sincerest advocates for regional autonomy. Maulana Bhashani said:
“It is beyond my comprehension how a demand described as unpatriotic can all of a sudden become he warcry of the same leadership. The trouble is that most of the political parties are late in guaging the public opinion and responding to the Maulana Bhashani said that after his tour of East and West Pakistan he had gained the impression that the failure of the Government to hold the general elections in February next would evoke loud protest in the country. He said, he agreed with the East Pakistan Chief Minister statement of Mr. Ataur Rahman Khan the Central Government was not according a fair treatment to East Pakistan. The Maulana wondered why the Central Government had not contradicted the allegations leveled by the East Pakistan Chief Minister against it.
Maulana Bhashani will leave on a fortnight tour of Indonesia. Ceylon and China on Sept. 30 after the conclusion of the kisan conference in East Pakistan which will also be attended by Khan Abdul Ghaffar Khan and the other NAP leaders from the West wing. The NAP leader left tonight for Peshawar on a mission of keeping the party’s solidarity, threatened by Khan Abdul Ghaffar’s ultimatum.