“Don’t try to subvert nationalisation”

MARCH 29, 1972

MUJIB ADDRESSES MAMMOTH

CTG MEETING

Bangabandhu today urges the people to dedicate themselves to the task of national reconstruction of the country subordinating their personal interests. Addressing a mammoth public meeting at the Polo Ground in Chattogram he says that if all people don't engage themselves in the task of reconstruction it will not be possible to save the nation. The prime minister says that his government is doing everything possible for the amelioration of the poor condition of the people. "I have no magic lamp in my hand," he says.

Urging people to work hard, Bangabandhu says that since his release from prison in Pakistan he has been working very hard from 18 to 19 hours a day. "I have to work facing a lot of difficulties," he adds.

The prime minister says that the government sanctions 16 crore Taka for test relief work. He asks people to see that nobody can misuse this money, and to see that the money goes to the needy.

Bangabandhu further says that anybody trying to sabotage his government's nationalisation programme will be firmly dealt with.

POWS TRIAL SOON

Bangabandhu declares at a public meeting in Chattogram that Pakistan army officers will soon be brought to Bangladesh for facing trial before the Tribunal for the atrocities they had committed on the people of Bangladesh. Bhutto should disown these Pakistanis, he adds.

The prime minister further says that Bhutto will have to allow four lakhs of Bangalees living in Pakistan to return to Bangladesh. Bangalees in Pakistan are absolutely innocent and they have been living there without creating any problem, he adds. Bhutto has no right to try them, Bangabandhu says. 

BANGALEES STRANDED IN MIDDLE EAST AT PAKSITAN'S INSTANCE

A large number of Bangalees have been stranded and confined in various countries of the Middle East at the instance of the Pakistan government. The Bangalees who had gone to the Middle East countries before the liberation of Bangladesh on Pakistani passport have been put under confinement. Their passports have also been seized by the governments of Muslim countries of the Middle East who have not yet recognised Bangladesh. The government of Bangladesh immediately after liberation had sent a request to the governments concerned to allow the Bangalees in their respective countries to return to their homeland. But the respective governments are planning to send those Bangalees to Pakistan where Pakistani President Bhutto has threatened to hold the Bangalees as hostage for the Pakistani Prisoners of War in India.

SOURCES: March 30, 1972 issues of Ittefaq, The Bangladesh Observer, Azad, Morning News, Dainik Bangla and Purbodesh.