BANGLADESH “ROVING ENVOY” LEAVES, PRESS MEETING CANCELLED
Police guards at former diplomat’s residence
DJAKARTA, DECEMBER 21 (10)
POLICE stood guard at the locked homes of pro-Bangla Desh Pakistanis Tuesday the same day Djakarta newspapers reported the defection of 12 former Pakistani diplomats and staffers to the rebel movement.
A former Ambassador of Pakistan to the Phillippines, K.K. Panni, who claimed to be the “roving ambassador” for South East Asia of the Bangla Desh rebel government, departed from Djakarta by air Tuesday evening. Panni reportedly failed to meet any high-ranking Indonesian Government Officials to discuss the Bangla Desh issue. He arrived here Monday from Singapore.
A press conference schedued to be beld at 13.00 at the residence of former First Secretary (Commercial) Shamsuzzaman failed to materialize. The gate at his house at Djalan Sumbawa here was locked while inside were posted a number of police guards from the Djakarta Metropolitan Command. Newsmen were invited by phone to attend the press conference in which Panni would have been the main speaker.
It was not known how long the authorities intend to keep away visitors from the former Pakistani diplomats’ homes.
On Monday, 12 former diplomats and staff members of the Pakistani Embassy here announced their allegiance to the Bangla Desh movement. Among them were Shamsuzzaman, former Counsellor Mostafa Mohammed and former Press Attache Zaen-Ul Abedin. Two of the defectors were attached to the Indonesian-Pakistan Economic Cultural Secretariat (IPECC). The others were family member making the total number of defectors to 53 persons.
These former diplomats could not be contacted by telephone Tuesday afternoon.
Meanwhile, the Foreign Office Tuesday summoned diplomats from the embassies of New Zealand, Australia, the United States, the Philippines, Japan, Thailand and the Soviet Union to explain details of President Soeharto’s proposal to the governments of India and Pakistan. This proposal had been delivered through the ambassadors of both countries here.
The President’s proposal contained 5-points namely, 1) a cease-fire, 2) withdrawal of troops, 3) repatriation of refugees, 4) the formation of a civilian government and 5) the implementation of the rights of self-determination on the basis accepted by both sides.
Reference : Indonesian Observer, 22.12.1971