THE STATESMAN, SEPTEMBER 10, 1971
WAR COUNCIL TO HELP BANGLA GOVT. FORMED
From N. C. Metion, Hindustan Times Correspondent
Mujibnagar, Sept. 9-An eight-member War Council to assist the Bangladesh Government has been formed here at a two-day meeting of the representatives of the Awami League and four other parties.
The advice and services of the council will be available to the Government of Bangladesh for consultation on matters relating to the liberation struggle.
The members of the council are: Maulana Abdul Hamid Khan Bhasani (National Awami Party-Bhasani group). Mr. Moni Singh (Communist Party of Bangladesh) Mr. Monoranjan Dhar (Bangladesh National Congress) Mr. Muzaffar Ahmed ( National Awami Party, Muzaffar group). Mr. Tajuddin Ahmed, Prime Minister of Bangladesh. Mr. Khandaker Moshtaq Ahmed, Foreign Minister, and two other members of the Awami League to be named later.
According to a spokesman of the Bangladesh Government the formation of the council is intended to ensure a sense of participation in the liberation struggle of all shades of people and opinion who are actively fighting against the colonial and imperialist exploiters in Bangladesh.
The formation of the council, the spokesman added was an expression of the total unity of the rank and file of the freedom loving people of Bangladesh having faith in the leadership of Sheikh Mujibur Rahman, the Awami League and the Government of Bangladesh which alone constitute legitimacy in Bangladesh.
About six weeks ago a nine-party Coordinating Committee for the liberation struggle was formed reportedly under the sponsorship of Maulana Bhasani. Most of the parties which were mentioned as participating in this Committee were more leftist than the members of the War Council. Maulana Bhasani later denied that he had anything to do with it or that it had been formed under his sponsorship.
Some of the members of the so-called Coordinating Committee were ultra left whose allegiance to Sheikh Mujib was doubtful. None of the parties mentioned as members of the Coordinating Committee have been included in the War Council.
The five-party meeting which concluded yesterday adopted many resolutions. These included one expressing indignation and anguish at the illegal detention of Sheikh Mujib by the West Pakistani Army junta and condemning the “shameful attempt” to stage a “farcical and outrageous” trial of Sheikh Mujib.
The meeting called upon all world powers and the UN to take immediate steps to halt the “atrocious trial” and to secure Sheikh Mujib’s release.
The meeting called upon India and other countries to accord immediate recognition to the Government of Bangladesh and thereby accept the reality of a liberation struggle involving 75 million peace-loving democratic People of Bangladesh.
The leaders expressed their “profound gratitude” to the people and the Government of India for the “generous help” they had extended to the evacuees of Bangladesh and for the support the Government of India had extended to the struggling people of Bangladesh.
The leaders called upon the people of West Pakistan to extend “full support” to the liberation struggle of their brethren in Bangladesh while at the same time expressing their solidarity with the people of West Pakistan who were struggling to free themselves from the shackles of exploitation.
The leaders resolved that short of full independence no other political proposition in respect of Bangladesh will ever be acceptable to them. The people of Bangladesh has made supreme sacrifices to achieve freedom and if blood is the price of freedom the unarmed people of Bangladesh are paying it every hour.