Dawn
14th March 1969
Text of Mujib’s address to RTC
RAWALPINDI, March 13: Following is the text of statement made by the leader of the Pakistan Awami League, Sheikh Mujibur Rahman. The statement was made by him in the second session of the Government-Opposition Round Table conference on March 10 and the text was released here today.
Mr. President and Gentlemen.
The nation today is experiencing a crisis which has shaken its very foundations. For all of us who love the nation and recall the sacrifices which were made to create Pakistan, this is a time of grave anxiety. In order to resolve the crisis, it is imperative that its nature should be understood and its causes identified. Nothing would be more catastrophic than the failure to come to grips with the basic issues which underlie the upheaval which has taken place in the country. These issues have been evaded for twenty-one years. The moment has arrived for us to face them squarely. I am convinced that a comprehensive solution must be found for our problems for clearly the situation is too grave, for palliatives and half measures. What is at stake is our survival.
BASIC ISSUES
It is this conviction that obliges me to expound a comprehensive solution to on basic problems. If the demands that have been expressed by different sections of the people are carefully examined, it will be seen that there are three basic issues which underlie them.
The first is that of deprivation of political rights and civil liberties.
The second is the economic injustice suffered by vast majority of the people, comprising workers, peasant, low and middle income groups, who have had to bear the burden of the costs of development in the form of increasing inflation while the benefits of such development are increasingly concentrated in the hands of a few families, who in their turn were concentrated in one region.
The third is the sense of injustice felt by the people of East Pakistan, who find that under the existing constitutional arrangements their basic interests have consistently suffered in the absence of effective political power being conferred upon them. The former minority provinces, of West Pakistan feel similarly aggrieved by the present constitutional arrangement.
POLITICAL RIGHTS
The issue of deprivation of political rights finds expression in the 11-points programme of the students of East Pakistan, as also in the 6-Points programme of the Awami League, as a demand for the establishment of a parliamentary democracy, based on the principle of the supremacy of the Legislature, in which there is representation of all units on the basis of population, and to which representatives are directly elected by the people on the basis of universal adult franchise.
The issue of economic injustice is reflected in the 11-Points Programme in the form of clearly formulated demands for re- organisation of the economic and education system of the country. The 6-Points Programme of my party clearly recognises the need for radical economic re-organisation and the demand for regional autonomy, as outlined in it is insisted upon as an essential pre-condition for economic re-organisation and the implementation of effective economic programmes.
REGIONAL AUTONOMY
The issue of justice for the different regions and units of Pakistan is the basis of the demand for the establishment of a Federation providing for full regional autonomy, as embodied in the 6-Points Programme as also in the 11-Points Programme, this is also the basis of the demand for dismemberment of One Unit and the establishment of a sub-federation in West Pakistan.
The Democratic Action Committee has held detailed deliberations regarding these grave and challenging national issues. There has always been complete unanimity in the Democratic Action Committee on the imperative necessity of effecting the following constitutional changes.
(A) The establishment of a federal parliamentary democracy. (B) The introduction of a system of direct elections based on universal adult franchise.
A consensus has also been apparent among the members of the Committee on the following matters.
(A) The dismemberment of One Unit and the establishment of a sub-federation in West Pakistan.
(B) Full regional autonomy being granted to the region.
ESSENTIALS
The Committee further agreed that its members should be at liberty to present further proposals, which in their view were essential for achieving an effective and lasting solution of the problems that are at the root of the present crisis.
Since we are here for the very purpose of seeking to find such an effective and lasting solution, I have felt it my bounden duty to press before this conference with all earnestness that everyone sitting at this table should realise that constitutional changes to provide for representation on the basis of population in the Federal Legislature as well as for the granting of full regional autonomy, as outlined in the 6-Points programme, are essential for achieving a strong united and vigorous Pakistan.
ONE MAN ONE VOTE
I would like to state that the Awami League is a party of the freedom-fighters for Pakistan. Its founder, Huseyn Shaheed Suhrawardy is indeed one of the founders of Pakistan. I recall with some pride that under his leadership my colleagues and I were in the vanguard of the struggle for Pakistan. Such proposals as I am presenting before the conference are based on the conviction that they are absolutely essential, in order to preserve and indeed to strengthen Pakistan.
The demand for representation in the Federal Legislature to be on basis of population stems from the first principle of democracy viz one man, one vote. In the national forum, as envisaged in the six-point scheme, only national issues would arise for consideration. The representatives would, therefore, be called upon to deal with matters from a national point of view, and hence the voting would not be on a regional basis. Further national political parties would be representated in the Federal Legislature, which would ensure that voting would be on a party, and not on regional basis. Indeed the experience of the last twenty one years bears out the fact that voting in the national assembly has invariably been on Party basis.
FALSE PREMISES
It is the principle of parity in representation of each Wing which is based on the false premise that representatives in the Federal Legislature are likely to vote on a regional basis. It is thus the parity principle that places an unjustified emphasis on regionalism as a factor in national politics. The entire historical experience of the last 21 years fully bears out the fact that East Pakistan has always subordinated it regional interest to the overriding national interest, notwithstanding the fact, that it had the majority of the population.
It should not be necessary to recall that in the first Constituent Assembly East Pakistan had 44 representatives as against 28 from West Pakistan, yet this majority was never used to promote any regional interest. Indeed, six West Pakistanis were elected to the Constituent Assembly from East Pakistan.
SACRIFICES
Despite being a majority East Pakistan accepted the principle of parity not only in representation in the Legislature but also in other organs of the State. It is painful to record that parity so far as representation in the legislature was concerned, this was promptly implemented`, but the benefit of parity in representation in the other organs of the State, including the Civil Foreign and Defence Services was never extend to East Pakistan.
East Pakistan had even acquiesced in the Federal capital as well as all the Defence headquarters being located in West Pakistan. This meant that the bulk of the expenditure on defence and Civil Administration, amounting to about Rs 270 crores, or over 70 percent of the Central Budget is made in West Pakistan. Should our West Pakistani brethren persist in refusing us representation on a population basis in the Federal Legislature, East Pakistani well feel constrained to insist on the shifting of the Federal capital and the Defence Headquarters to East Pakistan.
POSITIVE STEP
It would be a positive step toward cementing the relations between the two Wings of Pakistan if our West Pakistani brethren were to affirm their confidence in their East Pakistani brethren by not opposing the demand for representation in the Federal Legislature on the basis of population. Such a step would pay rich dividend by way of building up mutual confidence and trust between the people of East and West Pakistan.
The adoption of the Federal scheme presented In the 6-Points Programme is an essential prerequisite for the achievements of a political solution for the problems of the country. I would reiterate that the spirit underlying the 6-Point Programme is that Pakistan should present itself to the community of the nations as one single united nation of on hundred and twenty million people. This object is served by the federal Government being entrusted with the three subjects of defence, foreign affairs and currency. It is the same objective of having a strong and vigorous Pakistan that requires that due regard be paid to the facts of geography by granting full regional autonomy to the regions in order to enable them to have complete control in all matters relating to economic management.
I cannot too strongly emphasise the imperative necessity of removing economic injustices, if we are to put our society back on an even keel. The 11-Points Programme of the students for which I have expressed support contains proposals regarding the re- ordering of the economic and education system. There demands stem from the basic urge for the attainment of economic justice.
I would, however, like at this time to confine myself to outlining the constitutional changes, which are necessary for the attainment of economic justice, between man and man and between region and region.
ECONOMIC MANAGEMENT
The centralization of economic management has steadily aggravated the existing economic injustices to the point of crisis. I need hardly dilate on the subject of the 22 families, who have already achieved considerable notoriety both at home and abroad on account of the concentration of wealth in their hands resulting from their ready access in the corridors of power. Monopolies and cartels have been created and a capitalist system has been promoted, in which the gulf between the privileged few and the suffering multitude of workers and peasants has been greatly widened. Gross injustices have also been inflicted on East Pakistan and the minority provinces of West Pakistan.
The existence of per capital income disparity between East and West Pakistan is known to all. As early as 1960, the Chief Economist of the Planning Commission estimated that the real per capita income disparity between East and West Pakistan was 60.
GROSS INJUSTICE
The mid-plan review made by the Planning Commission and other recent documents show that the disparity in real per capita income has been steadily increasing and therefore, would be much higher than 60 percent, today. Underlying such disparity, is the disparity in general economic structure and infrastructure of the two regions, in the rates of employment in facilities for education, in medical and welfare services. To give just a few examples, power generating capacity in West Pakistan is 5 to 6 times higher than in East Pakistan, the number of hospital beds in 1966 in West Pakistan was estimated to be 26,200 while that in East Pakistan was estimated to be 6,900 between 1961-1966 only 18 polytechnic institutes were established in East Pakistan as against 48 in West Pakistan. Further, the disparity in the total availability of resources has been even higher. More than 80 percent of all foreign aid has been utilized in West Pakistan in addition to the transfer of East Pakistan’s foreign exchange earnings to West Pakistan. This made it possible for West Pakistan over 20 years to import Rs 3100 crores worth of goods against the total export earnings of Rs 1337 crores, while during the same period. East Pakistan imported Rs 1210 crore worth of goods as against its total export earnings of Rs 1650 crores.
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