Yahya trying to hide his shame: Shehabuddin
July 20, 1971
BANGLADESH'S REPLY TO YAHYA'S THREAT
KM Shehabuddin, diplomatic representative of Bangladesh, described Pakistan President Agha Mohammad Yahya Khan's threat of declaring war against India as a "desperate and heinous attempt to hide his shame and hoodwink the world opinion by implicating India".
Had India intervened at any moment in favour of Bangladesh, Shehabuddin said, Yahya would have met his end long ago. He should have known that it was the exploited and suppressed people of Bangladesh who were fighting his barbarous army successfully.
Shehabuddin advised President Yahya Khan to find "an honourable way of getting out of the death trap laid by himself for him and his military junta".
Referring to the report of the military rulers' decision to try Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujibur Rahman in a military court, he said, "We will never forgive and forget anyone doing harm to our undisputed leader. Blood will be taken for blood, tooth for tooth."
INDIA READY TO MEET WAR THREAT, SAYS SINGH
The Indian External Affairs Minister Swaran Singh told the Lok Sabha today that if Pakistan used as pretext the success of the Bangladesh Mukti Fouj in liberating certain areas to declare war against India, "we are ready to defend ourselves". While welcoming US President Richard Nixon's forthcoming visit to China, Swaran Singh emphasised that the Sino-US detente should not be at the expense of other countries.
MCNAMARA APOLOGY TO YAHYA REPORTED
Yahya was reported today to have received a letter from Robert S McNamara, president of the World Bank, expressing regret over the unauthorised publication in the American press of a World Bank report on the situation in East Pakistan.
Receipt of the letter was reported by the Associated Press of Pakistan, the official press agency. The agency said the report, prepared by a World Bank team after a visit to Pakistan, was meant for private information of the 11‐nation consortium that coordinates aid for Pakistan. It said that McNamara had found the document "biased and provocative" and had placed restrictions on its circulation.
Excerpts from the report were printed in The New York Times of July 13, accompanied by a Washington dispatch disclosing its contents.
The agency said "vested interests behind the biased and tendentious report defied the ban and leaked out portions of the draft report they thought damaging to Pakistan and embarrassing to the United States Government".
A SLAP WILL SHOW IT REASON
Pakistan is like a mischievous child that "does not see reason unless it receives a slap", Pashtun leader Khan Abdul Ghaffar Khan said in a letter to Gujrat Governor Shriman Narayan. Condemning the cruelties on the people of Bangladesh, Khan says the pity of it all was that the nations of the world were looking at this "tamasha" in passive silence. "They do not have any real sympathies for these people. This world is indeed a world of sinners and self-seekers," he mentioned.
Shamsuddoza Sajen is a journalist and researcher. He can be contacted at [email protected]
Comments