MUJIBUR RAHMAN DEMANDS END OF PAK MARTIAL LAW BEFORE AGREEING TO ATTEND ASSEMBLY SESSION
New Delhi, March 7 (AP)
EAST PAKISTAN leader Sheikh Mujibur Rahman said Sunday Pakistan President Yahya Khan must lift martial law in the country before Rahman will agree to attend the inaugural session of the national assembly on March 15 Radio Pakistan reported.
The radio, in an Urdu language broadcast heard here, said Rahman outlined his conditions for resolving the nation’s political crisis in a public address in Dacca, the capital of East Pakistan.
The raido said Rahman also demanded of Yahya that: – Army troops be ordered back to the barracks.
– Power should be transfered to the elected representatives chosen in last December’s elections for the national assembly.
– An inquiry should be made into the recent killings in East Pakistan.
Rahman, according to the radio, also expressed regret that President Yahya had not consulted with him before announcing on saturday the new date for the convening of the national assembly, which is to draw up a new constitution for the country.
Rahman pointed out that he was the leader of the majority party-the Awami League in the national assembly and should therefore have been consulted.
Rahman had similarly complained earlier in the week that Yahya had not discussed with him the postponement of the national assembly, which was to have met originally on March 3.
The radio quoted Rahman as saying Yahya’s actions demonstrated that the president had no importance for him, despite the fact he was leader of the majority party.
Rahman said he was not seeking to be prime minister of the country and that what he wanted was only for the people’s verdict to be honored.
Rahman’s Awami League has demanded that the new constitution grant greater autonomy to East Pakistan and that the central government should be weaker than in the past.
Yahya imposed martial law in the country in March 1969, after former president Mohammad Ayub Khan stepped down from power.
Yahya has pledged that he wants to have a civilian government.
But he has insisted that the political leaders must first agree on a constitution acceptable to him.
Rahman’s demands for greater provincial autonomy have been opposed by West Pakistan political leader Zulfikar Ali Bhutto.
Ref. Indonesian Observer, 8.3.1971