Yahya Khan To Visit E. Pakistan
Karachi, Pakistan, May 12 (AP)
PRESIDENT Yahya Khan will visit East Pakistan in about three weeks for the First time since the Army cracked down March 25 on Sheikh Mujibur Rahman and the Awami League, Nurul Amin, President of Pakistan’s Democratic Party, said Wednesday.
Amin, the only one of 169 East Pakistani National Assembly members not committed to hacking Sheikh Mujib now in jail. said he discussed the visit in talks with the President Tuesday.
He told the President it would take at least six months for the economy in the East to return to normal and it was unlikely there could be any politics in the region before then.
U.N. Aid
Pakistan President Mohammed Yahya Khan has informed Secretary-General U Thant there is no present need for outside relief in East Pakistan, But that the possiblity of future requirement is under review.
This was disclosed Wednesday at the United Nations in the release of letters between Yahya Khan and U. Thant.
Thant said consultations with Pakistan on offering relief through U.N. agencies is continuing in a letter dated April 22, Thant added that on purely humanitarion grounds he was offering on behalf of the U.N. family of organiations “All need relief for the plight of the population of East Pakistan in the present emergency.”
Yahya Khan replied on May 3 that he was deeply touched by the offer and it was welcomed by his government.
“The present situation obtaining in East Pakistan, however, is that adequate supplies of medicines, foodstuffs and other daily necessities of life are available, he added.” No cause for concern has so far been expressed by local authorities.
“The fact of the matter is that Indian and Western press reports of heavy casualties and widespread misery are highly exaggerated, if not altogether tendentious. The forces of Pakistan, having restored the situation are now engaged in assisting the provincial administration in relief and rehabilitiation operations.”
U.N. Aid
Pakistan’s chief economic adsisor M.M. Ahmad conferred with U.S. Secretary of State Willam P. Rogers Wednesday and urged a resumption of full U.S. economic assistance to his country.
The United States suspended its economic aid last March 25 after the insurrection in East Bengal plunged the country Into civil war.
The U.S. has taken the position that its aid programs are for the entire country and with the East wing of Pakistan in a state of turmoil, it is not possible to continue programs designed for both East Pakistan.
Swiss Good Offices
A Foreign Office spokesman Wednesday said the Pakistan goverment had proposed to India that a representative of the Swiss government be present in meetings between the Pakistani deputy high commissioner in Calcutta and his stafff to ascertain their wishes about a return to Pakistan.
The Swiss has offered to use its good offices to settle deadlock between the two countries over the repatriation of officials of the deputy high commission of the two countries in-Calcutta and Dacca.
Yahya rejects Thant’s offer
Pakistani President Yahya Khan rejected an offer of U.N. aid for people in East Pakistan made by Secretary Geneal U Thant, the U.N revealed Wednesday as it released telegrams exchanged between the two men.
U Thant said the offer was made in the fervent hope that a favorable reply would be given.
In his refusal President Yahya Khan said that East Pakistan had sufficient medicine, food supplies and other necessities, and that local authorities had expressed no uneasiness over supplies.
Amin- Yahya talks
Reuter reported from Rawalpindi Nurul Amin, president of the rightwing Pakistan Democratic Party, had talks with President Yahya Khan soon after his arrival from Dacca Tuesday.
He was the first East Pakistani politician to meet President Yahya following the millitary action in East Pakistan.
Later Amin told reporters that he had discussions with President Yahya on “the situation in East Pakisan” which he said was “fast returning to normality”.
Reference : The Djakarta Times, 14.05.1971