Wali Khan escapes from Pakistan
NEW DELHI, AUG. 18 The eldest son of Khan Abdul Gahffar Khan, Mr. Abdul Wali Khan president of the National Awami Party in West Pakistan, has recently reached the Afghan capital via London.
In an interview with the correspondent of the progressive weekly. New Wave, here, Mr. Wali Khan said that Pakistan politics had now reached a “point of no return” and that the dismemberment of Pakistan was unavoidable.
He said in the interview that military occupation of Bangladesh by West Pakistani forces for any length of time was impossible.” When a mighty military power like the US cannot subjugate the heroic people of Vietnam, how can a tiny west Pakistan, whose economy and military budget was dependent on East Pakistan, perform this impossible Job?”,
To Mr. Wali Khan the significance of the resistance movement in Bangladesh lies in the fact that “it has exploded for ever the myth that religion can become a bond to sustain a country.” A Musalman has killed another Musalman. Where is the much-vaunted Muslim brotherhood”, asked the Pakistan leader in great anguish.
Mr. Wali Khan was in Dacca a couple of days before the military crackdown. He said that the elections had thrown up Sheikh Mujibur Rahman as the leader of the majority party having a mandate form the people. He alone had the right to form the new Government of Pakistan. But the generals found it a bitter pill to swallow and denied Mr. Rahman his legitimate rights and privileges. “This is the crux of the whole problem,” said Mr. Wali Khan.
Had the People’s verdict been accepted Mr. Rahman recognized as the Prime Minister of Pakistan, this “unprecedented bloodshed” would have been avoided. But now “a point of no return has been reached in Pakistani politics. Dismemberment of Pakistan geographical entity was unavoidable. Mr. wili Khan saw no future for Pakistan in the present political context.
He said that only two proposals could be thought of to avoid that final catastrophe.
Either “Pakistan gracefully accepts its being undone and becomes a part of the Indian sub-subcontinent by restoring the perpetration prepartition position,” or “West Pakistan gets reconciled to the loss of East Bengal and tries to become more and more a part of West Asian polity by enlarging the area of economic and political co-operation with the countries of the region”.
The first proposal Mr. Wali Khan himself discarded, because “mutual suspicion and hatred” and “psychological inhibitions” were too deeprooted to allow Pakistan and India to return to the past. he wondered when the military rules of Pakistan would realize the feasibility of the second proposal.
Mr. Wali Khan expressed his great sorrow at the present situation. “Pakistan future is in great danger and its territorial integrity in jeapardy.” He said “a great opportunity for an honorable compromise with East Bengal leaders has been missed.
Finally, Mr. Wali Khan summed up the present situation in Rawalpindi in these words: “The pitcher is broken and they are all sitting and weeping over the split milk.”
Reference: Hindustan Standard 19.8.1971