বঙ্গবন্ধুর ভাষণসমগ্র | ২৫ আগস্ট ১৯৫৫ করাচী
পশ্চিম পাকিস্তানের চারটি প্রদেশ একীভূতকরণের প্রস্তাব নিয়ে প্রশ্ন তুললেন বঙ্গবন্ধু
২৫ আগস্ট ১৯৫৫
করাচী
The constituent assembly of Pakistan:
Sheikh Mujibur Rahman (East Bengal: Muslim):Mr. Speaker, Sir, I respectfully accept the ruling given by the Chair and, will, therefore, move the first part of my motion, move:”That the Bill be circulated for purposes of eliciting public opinion thereon by the 30th November. 1955.”
Mr. Speaker, sir, it has been declared by the Honourable Sardar Amir Azam Khan that public opinion has already enlisted its support to the one-Unit Bill.I do not know how Sardar Amir Azam Khan has got the public opinion as certained with regard to this Bill.Has he consulted the District Magistrates, or has he got the support of the Muslim League Ruling clique in favour of this one Unit Bill before it has been moved in this House? I fail to understand how he can claim to have the support of the people of Pakistan in favour of this One Unit Bill. In fact, this issue was never put before the public at any time. Even, Sir, at the time of the last general elections in the provinces of Punjab, Sind, Frontier and other places, this issue was not involved. But the issue has come before the Constituent Assembly and it is proposed to integrate all the provinces into one unit without consulting public opinion. How can Sardar Amir Azam say that the people are in favour of One-Unit? Sir, you have seen what happened in the province of Sind. Before Mr. Khuro, there was the Pirzada Ministry and when it was felt that the Pirzada Ministry was not in favour of One-Unit, they dismissed that Ministry and installed Khuro Ministry instead. And, Sir, Mr. Khuro was not even a Member of the Assembly at that time. These things happen here. Ministries are dismissed and new Ministries are appointed and even transfered as it was the case in East Bengal. Mr. Abu Hussain Sarkar was appointed Chief Minister of East Bengal by the Central Government, while he was a Minister in the Centre. There was, again, an ordinance issued by His Excellency the Governor-General appointing Dr. Khan Sahib Chief Minister designate of West Pakistan. Sir, only such things are possible in Pakistan. You will notice that it is in Pakistan that such acts are committed and nowhere else in the world. You might have seen that in Sind, even Honourable Members who are against this One-Unit are being harassed and interned and externed by the Khuro Ministry.
The Honourable Mr. M. A. Khuro (Sind: Muslim): On a point of explanation. Sir ……
Sheikh Mujibur Rahman: It is only the ruling clique in Sind that is in favour of this One-Unit move ……
The Honourable M. A. Khuro: The Honourable Member is making insinuating remarks …..
Sheikh Mujibur Rahman: Mr. Speaker, will you allow this man to interrupt my speech?
Mr. Speaker: I cannot allow any personal explanation at this stage. Let the Honourable Member speak without interruptions.
Sheikh Mujibur Rahman: We have seen such things happening in Sind. If they are sure that the people in general are in favour of One-Unit, let there be a referendum on this question and then and then only you can know the true public opinion. So far as we are concerned, we know that people in Sind are against this One-Unit. It is only Mr. Khuro and his party of a few members who are in favour of this One-Unit move and they are just trying to satisfy the whims of the ruling ‘clique at the Centre. This is the state of affairs in Sind.
Now, take the case of Punjab I definitely know Malik Firoz Khan Noon had some difference of opinion over the question of One-Unit. There was some difference between the Central ruling Clique and Mr. Firoz Khan Noon and all of a sudden Mr. Firoz khan Noon who was till the previous day a firishta! and was called the best man in Pakistan, was thrown out from his Chief Ministership the next morning. He was dismissed and he is now dubbed as anti-Pakistani or anti-state because the ruling clique at the Centre do not see eye to eye with him. Then what have we seen in the Frontier? Sardar Abdur Rashid who was similarly a firishta like Firoz khan Noon, and who was the man who had moved the One-Unit Bill in the Frontier Assembly and who was also considered as the best man in Pakistan by the ruling clique and who was asked to mobilise public opinion in favour of One-Unit in N. W.F.P. When he, later on demanded the verdict of the people on this plan, and found it against One-Unit and he agreed with that, he was dismissed all of a sudden and a man, not even a member of the Frontier Assembly, was made the Chief Minister of that province. Now, Sir, who will judge it and who will decide the future of this country? It is the ruling clique which will decide the future of Pakistan or the people will decide it? Sir, let us accept the opinion of my friend Sardar Amir Azam Khan. He told us that we are Musalmans. Yes, I admit, we are Musalmans. But on the same ground why not ask the four crores of Indian Muslims to come to Pakistan because they are Musalmans; similarly, we can ask the Iranian people and the Arabs to come to Pakistan. But it is not that because we are Musalmans, there must be One-Unit. Then, Sir, why are there differences of languages if we are all Musalmans? Sindhis speak Sindi language, in Baluchistan and Frontier Pushto is spoken, and in the Punjab, Punjabi is spoken. So, there are differences between the people of the Punjab and the people of Frontier. People of Punjab cannot speak Pushto and similarly the people of Frontier cannot speak Punjabi. In view of these differences, I want that on this Bill, the verdict of the people must be taken whether they are in favour of it or not, whether they want your imposition upon them or not. I tell you that without the support of the people, you have got no power worth the name. You may usurp any power that you want. But people will not tolerate it any longer. Is it not an insult to the Members of the Constituent Assembly who are the representatives of the people that all power vests with the Governor General these days? He can do everything; he is all powerful in Pakistan. Why have you given him so much power without determining whether the people will like it or not? He enjoys such a vast power that he can dismiss any one he likes, he can appoint anyone, he can extend the dates of meetings of the Assembly, he can dissolve the House. What about Karachi? Have you taken the opinion of the people? They are all against it. But what have we seen? The other day, the Governor General by promulgating an order has demarcated the boundary of the Federal Capital. Sir, the Governor-General has been appointed by Her Majesty the Queen of England and he is not the representative of the people of Pakistan. We are the true representatives of the people and we should decide whether Karachi should be included in one-Unit or not; he cannot demarcate the boundary of the Federal Capital so far as Karachi is concerned; It is the Karachi of everybody; it is the property of Sind; it is the property of the Punjab; it is the property of Frontier province. My Friend Mr. Khuro will remember that when he opposed the exclusion of Karachi from Sind, the Quaid-e-Azam had said, that it would be the Federal Capital of everybody. Now what we find is that our ruling clique is declaring before the whole world that they are the lovers of Pakistan and they are the lovers of Quaid-e-Azam; they are the friends of Quaid-e-Azam; they are the disciples of Quaid-e-Azam. But my friends, we have never seen you struggling for Pakistan the persons who are occupying the “Treachery” Benches today.
Mr. Speaker: The Honourable Member should withdraw that word. That is an unparliamentary expression and is an insult to the House Itself.
Sheikh Mujibur Rahman: It is what the people say.
Mr. Speaker: You should withdraw it.
Sheikh Mujibur Rahman: You are the speaker and whatever you say, I have to obey it.
Mr. Speaker: you do it.
Sheikh Mujibur Rahman: I have already done it. Now, Sir, they say that they are the lovers of Pakistan but is not a fact. The Quaid-e-Azam declared that Karachi would be the Federal Capital. Is it not a fact? Mr. Khuhro might say that it is not a fact. Not only the Quaid-e-Azam but Mr. Liaquat Ali Khan had also declared that Karachi would be the capital of all places of Pakistan. Now what right have these people, in including Karachi in One-Unit? Have they forgotten the declarations of Quaid-e-Azam and Mr. Liaquat Ali khan? Some of these persons were then occupying beneficial posts as Government servants and some of them even worked against the creation of Pakistan. Now they are occupying Treasury Benches, and our wishes are being completely ignored. We are the true representatives of Pakistan; we fought for the independence of the country.
Sheikh Mujibur Rahman: Sir, you will see that they want to place the word “East Pakistan” instead of “East Bengal”. We have demanded so many times that you should make Bengal (Pakistan). The word “Bengal” has a history, has a tradition of its own. You can change it only after the people have been consulted. If you want to change it then we will have to go back to Bengal and ask them whether they accept it. So far as the question of One-Unit is concerned it can come in the constitution. Why do you want it to be taken up just now? What about the state language, Bengali? What about joint electorate? What about autonomy? The people of East Bengal will be prepared to consider One-Unit with all these things. So, I appeal to my friends on that side to allow the people to give their verdict in any way, in the form of referendum or in the form of plebiscite. Let the people of Frontier say that they want one unit. At the moment, they say that they are against it. But Dr. Khan Sahib said the other day that people were in favour of One-Unit, but his brother Khan Abdul Ghaffar Khan and Pir Sahib of Manki Sharif said that they were against it. Now who will judge it? Who should be the judge? If the people of Frontier say that they are in favour of One-Unit, we have no objection to that. Similarly in Sind, Mr. Khuro says that they are in favour of it, while Mr. G. M. Syed and others say that people are against One-Unit. All right, if they are in favour, let a referendum be held and let the people decide themselves and we will accept it. As far as Karachi is concerned there should be no referendum on Karachi because it is the Federal Capital made by Quaid-e-Azam and we will not allow people to insult Quaid-e-Azam and the late Mr. Liaquat Ali Khan. We have no right to take Karachi from the people of Karachi and from the people of East Pakistan. It belongs to us also, as it belongs to other parts of Pakistan. We have spent so much money for its development. Why do you want to make another Capital and spend hundreds and thousands of rupees and for which you will require at least 50years. For these reasons I appeal to my friends: “Zulum mat karo bhai”. If you will force it upon us, then we have to adopt unconstitutional means. You must proceed constitutionally. If you do not allow the people to follow constitutional means, they will perforce adopt unconstitutional means. This is what has happened all over the world and it can be seen from the history of the world. So I appeal to them: if you love Pakistan, though unfortunately after the achievement of Pakistan, you are at the helm of affairs and those people who fought for its establishment are no more with us. So I will appeal to you, although you have got force at your disposal, that for the sake of Pakistan, for the sake democracy, for the sake of humanity, for the sake of Quaid-e-Azam, go to the people, let the people give their verdict and we will accept it. If the people of Frontier, Sind Bahawalpur, Khairpur Beluchistan, want one-Unit we will have no objection to that. People of East Pakistan will have no objection to that. People of East Bengal at once will tell them, “take it”. We have no objection to that. So, Sir, I appeal to my friends who are in the fortunate position to consider our views and consider people’s opinion and consider about Pakistan: Do not wrong and ruin Pakistan for God’s sake. Thank you, Sir.
Reference:
Iqbal, S. (1997) Sheikh Mujib in Parliament (1955-58), p. 1-13, Dhaka, Agami Prakashani