Bangladesh not to accept liabilities

FEBRUARY 13, 1972

POPOV MEETS BANGABANDHU

Soviet Chargé D'affaires V. Popov calls on Bangabandhu at his official residence. Popov tells newsmen that matters connected with Bangabandhu's forthcoming visit came up for discussion.

PM VISITS OLD DHAKA

In the morning, Bangabandhu visits some of the mahallahs of Old Dhaka and enquires from the local people about their welfare and difficulties. During the visit, local people talk to Bangabandhu and describes to him the suffering they had undergone during the nine months of Pakistan Army's occupation.

BID TO SHIFT PAK LOAN BURDEN ON BANGLADESH

Western countries that have large and practical unrecoverable outstanding loans with Pakistan are reported to attempting to persuade Bangladesh to accept some of these liabilities in return for aid. The Aid Consortium countries and the World Bank are suggesting talks between Dhaka and Rawalpindi with a view to a division of Pakistan's assets and liabilities.

CALL TO MUSLIM WORLD

Foreign Minister Abdus Samad Azad declares in Dhaka that the 9 months of darkness which befell the Muslim world following the reign of repression on the democratic people of Bangladesh only be over when the Muslim countries recognise Bangladesh.

The foreign minister expresses profound sorrow that none of the Muslim countries had been able to show even the least amount of sympathy not to speak of fellow feeling. He also deplores that Saudi Arabia with which Bangladesh has no enmity is showing an attitude of non-cooperation with regards to the pilgrimage for Hajj. He shares that his letters written to King Saud remain unanswered.

REFLECT SHORTCOMINGS OF GOVT.

The Minister for Law and Parliamentary Affairs Dr. Kamal Hossain asks newsmen to reflect the mistakes and the shortcomings of the government through the press so that the government can ratify their wrongs and misdeeds.

The minister, deploring the pattern of news, says that in a democratic independent country the journalists can render no help to the government by only appreciating it. It is mainly the journalists who can truly and impartially point out the wrongs of the government.

4,000 COLLABORATORS APPREHENDED IN DHAKA

About 4,000 Pakistan Army's collaborators including al-Badrs, al-Shams and razakars have been apprehended in Dhaka in a combing operation during the past eight weeks. Most of them have been put in Dhaka Central Jail. The number of such arrests throughout Bangladesh has already exceeded 10,000. According to a spokesman, the government will shortly set up a committee for their screening before they are charge-sheeted. The charge-sheeted will be tried under the Bangladesh Collaborators Special Tribunal Order.

SOURCES: February 14, 1972 issues of Dainik Bangla, The Daily Ittefaq, Azad, Morning News, The Bangladesh Observer and Purbodesh.