‘Package Deal’ to Preserve Unity of Pakistan
Kenneth Clarke
Karachi. President Yahya Khan’s visit to Dacca, in Pakistan’s east wing, is seen in Karachi as the last chance of preserving the unity of the nation. After a weekend of comings and goings at his Karachi residence, he is believed to have finalized some kind of package deal with Sheikh Mujibur. Rahman, leader of the Awami League in East Pakistan and de facto ruler of the province.
The President is expected to ask the Sheikh to form an interim Government until the National Assembly can meet and frame a new constitution. This should meet the Sheikh’s demand for the transfer of power to elected representatives as a precondition of attending the national assembly in 10 days’ time.
Willingness welcomed
The Sheikh’s readiness to meet the President as “our guest” has been welcomed here as a sign of willingness to pull Pakistan from the edge of a bloody recessional conflict. A leading political figure in West Pakistan, Mr. Zulfikar Bhutto, is emerging as the man most likely to destroy Pakistan’s unity. The effect of his speech to a rally here on Sunday was a proposed division of the nation, with power going to the Awami League in the East, and his People’s Party in the West, Minor political leaders were angered pointing out that Mr. Bhutto does not speak for two of West Pakistan’s provinces. Baluchistan and the North-West Frontier.
Compromise rejected
Mr. Bhutto is being accused of talking about democracy while scheming for personal power and riding roughshod over minority parties in the West. “He wants to be Prime Minister of West Pakistan because he knows he could never obtain an overall majority in both wings,” said one observer. The president and Mr. Bhutto met in Karachi during the weekend, but Mr. Bhutto was unwilling to compromise on his demands for total authority over the West wing by playing an opposition role in the National Assembly. The President now apparently has no choice but to work something out with the Sheikh and hope that Mr. Bhutto fails to become a really divisive influence.
Reference: The Daily Telegraph, 17 March, 1971.