Address at Kohat on November 21, 1972

Addressing a jirga of Orakzai and Adamkhel tribes President Zulfikar Ali Bhutto warned Bangladesh that if it did not stop the so-called trials of patriots, “we shall have to think about our next step.” He said:” We do not want to come to blows with our brothers because it would not lead to fraternization.”

Commenting on the sentence of exile for life passed against former East Pakistan governor, Dr. A. M. Malik by a special tribunal in Dacca yesterday, the president said it was extremely unfair that a man who had made sacrifices for the establishment of Pakistan was being exiled.”

He said: “Dr. Malik was a great patriot who had rendered great sacrifices for the establishment of Pakistan. His case was decided within three days and his advocate, Sir Dingle Foot, was not allowed to plead for him.”

He warned the people that if we continued to delay taking a decision regarding recognition or non-recognition of Bangladesh, we would go on seeing the consequences of delay. Had Pakistan any contact with the administration of Dacca, it could have exercised some restraining influence on them. Today it is Dr. Malik and tomorrow it will be the turn of other patriotic Pakistani now languishing in jails there.

He said that without a dialogue with Dacca such things would continue to happen. “We shall have to establish contacts with them, otherwise we should be prepared to face such happenings.”

The President said: delay in deciding the question of recognition would go in favour of India as its influence with the administration of Dacca would increase. He said the question would be decided by the people and their representatives in the National Assembly.

“We have left it to the people to take a decision on this matter and under the present procedure the National Assembly will decide whether or not Bangladesh should be recognized.”

The President said that the question of East Pakistan was not solely of nationality, religion, politics or economics. In fact, all these things were inter-related. He wanted that there should be open debate on this and people should go into all aspects of this matter. “I am not the one to say that we should recognize Bangladesh. All that I say is that no wrong decision should be taken because of Pakistani POWs now detained in Indian camps.” He said he did not want it to be written in history that Pakistanis made a wrong decision and bargained their principles.

The President said that there were quite independent reasons for taking this decision. He urged politicians, who lounge in their drawing rooms and issue long statements “not to mislead the people by telling them lies.” He said: the entire nation would be involved in the decision. Debates and discussions were welcome but it was the duty of the people to weigh all things well and not to be misled by false pictures.

The nation should take a balanced view of this matter by taking into consideration all its pros and cons.

The President said that democracy could not flourish amid threats or force. “It thrives on arguments.” He held out a warming to those who were thinking of adopting undemocratic means to achieve their objectives that he would retaliate in the same coin. Undemocratic means were not adopted in a democratic system but in a dictatorship.

The President said that it was a matter of gratification that such elements had become sober and now intended to address public meetings to prepare public opinion. It is a good step.

Turning to a statement issued by Maulana Maudoodi in which he had said that the question of repatriation of POWs and recognition of Bangladesh were not interconnected, the President said how could it be said that these issues were separate from each other. Both Mrs. Gandhi and Sheikh Mujib ur Rahman had taken the stand that the two matters were related to each other. It is the duty of a Muslim that he should speak the truth and present facts before the nation. “We do not want to bargain on principles but the keys to the jails of POWs are with India and not with us,” he said. “Had these keys been in our hands, we could have dictated.”

The President said: there were three methods to have the POWs repatriated. First, it could be done by going to war once again, but it was not possible. “If we want to get back our POWs, then there are conditions.” Secondly, there is the method of acting through the United Nations, but “we have seen what this body has done for solving the Kashmir problem during the past 25 years.” The U.N. had no power to get its resolutions implemented because it merely held discussions and passed resolutions.

In this connection the President referred to Israel which had been continuously disregarding United Nations resolutions with impunity.

The President said that now the third method was of offering prayers. But prayers could not soften the heart of Mrs. Gandhi or Sheikh Mujib. “If the POWs can be repatriated by following the method of prayers, we are ready to follow it.”

The President said that all things could be said sitting snugly in drawing-rooms. But those in government were aware of the magnitude of the problem. “If the repatriation of POWs was as easy as our opponents think, then we, too, could have done it.”

Referring to the argument that after recognition of Bangladesh, “we would have to recognize Sindhu Desh,” the President said “Sindhu Desh” could not be formed in a region from where the first resolution demanding the establishment of Pakistan had originated. Could “Sindhu Desh” come into being because a handful of university students talked of it? He asked and remarked that he failed to understand why such a reference was being made to Sindh. What have Sindhis done to deserve such accusations.

The President said that the people of Pakistan had voted a Sindhis as their Head of State. It was not because of votes polled by Sindhis alone that he had become President. The people of Punjab also had overwhelmingly voted for him.

The President argued that Sheikh Mujib regarded himself as leader of Bengalis alone and, therefore, he fought for them only, but his party got votes from all the provinces of West Pakistan.

He said: such talk was more harmful than recognition of Bangladesh. The River Indus passing through the N.W.F.P., the Punjab and Sindh tied them together. The people of Pakistan, he said, were geographically and religiously one entity.

President Bhutto said that if the people were happy the country would prosper. But if the people continued to be exploited they would not be happy.

Elaborating his assertion that Sindhis did not want “Sindhu Desh”, he said after Yahya Khan’s action against Mujib in1971, there was an upheaval in East Wing and the Mukti Bahini raised its head. But when the present Government sent the “Mujib of Sindh” behind bars, there was no stir at all, because Sindhis did not want separation. He emphasized the need for mutual trust and said if you did not respond with your trust in them, it would not enhance Pakistan’s prestige.

“If you go on hurling accusations against a person he would eventually be forced into becoming that way.”

President Bhutto traced the history of Sindh and dilated upon the exploitation of Sindhi Muslims by Hindus. He said after Pakistan came into being, the Sindhis welcomed the refugees. Had Sindhis wanted the establishment of “Sindhu Desh” why should they have willingly let lands left by Hindu landlords go into the hands of refugees, he asked.

The President referred to the allotment of lands in Kotri and Guddu Barrage areas to capitalists and bureaucrats at the cost of poor peasants and said justice should be done in the matter of economic well-being of all the people. He said that what led to the creation of Bangladesh was the crisis of rust. Referring to the Language Bill passed by the Sindh Assembly he said it had dealt a death blow to “Sindhu Desh”.

“Had we not done it, we would have made a wrong decision. And this could have led to bringing into being of Sindhu Desh.

This, however, did not mean that the Government was opposed to Urdu. Not at all, “Urdu is our national language.”

Without naming Jama’at-i-Islami founder, Maulana Moudoodi, the President said: in his writings, the Maulana had opposed the creation of Pakistan. Now he wanted to achieve what he had written in his books through the back door.

The President said that there were three lakh Bengalis in Pakistan. “If we were to harm them they would not take the message of good will from our side when they eventually go back to their home. Would they not generate hatred against us when they go back?” This was no way of serving Pakistan or Islam.

“You would have to take correct decisions, taking into consideration and weighing well all facts.” The President said that if he was wrong the people should get hold of him and put him on the right path. He was sure that the people could not be misled by the press-statement-issuing leaders. They had failed in the past and they would fail again.

However, the President warned that if such elements adopted wrong methods their consequences would not be good.

Earlier addressing a big crowd at Church Ground soon after his arrival by Helicopter, the President said all international and internal problems could be resolved by debates and discussions. He said that opposition to Government should be expressed through democratic means by making speeches in assemblies or at public meetings. The government, on its part, was ready to permit such people all facilities for expressing dissent through democratic means. “No one can cow us down into submission by force and threats. Force will be met by force.”