YAHYA’S DILEMMA
The People’s Party leader, Mr. Zulfikar Ali Bhutto, is coming close to threatening President Yahya Khan with a popular uprising in West Pakistan unless he is made Prime Minister of the whole country.
It is, however, unlikely that Mr. Bhutto, whose intrigues contributed largely to the break, between President Yahya and the imprisoned Awami League leader Sheikh Mujibur Rahman, would be accepted by the people of East Pakistan.
At the same time, General Yahya faces a deadline of his own making. On June 28, he told his nation that a new constitution would be promulgated and an elected National Assembly would be convened within four months. More than half of that period has now elapsed and the President’s aids are still dickering with Mr. Bhutto over procedural matters.
The mood in West Pakistan and inside the Army is not one of conciliation. Can President Yahya entirely ignore the strength of feeling in East Pakistan so eloquently demonstrated by the large-scale desertions of East Bengalis from the diplomatic and other forces?
Reference : South China Morning Post, 17.09.1971