605 বাংলাদেশের স্বাধীনতা যুদ্ধ দলিলপত্রঃ চতুর্দশ খন্ড Awami League partisans of Sheikh Mujibur Rahman. He smiles broadly, has a slight nervous tick and speaks at top speed. He received us in his mansion in the centre of Dacca. His three and a half year old son was present at the meeting, lashing out at imaginary flies with his toy whip. This is what Tikka Khan had to say in response to a series of questions I put to him: I was sent here shortly before the rupture came. I was asked to do two things: first, to keep the army united and secondly to keep the door open for further negotiations with Mujibur Rahman. The President had made it clear to me that under no circumstances was I to cause a breakdown of all chances of further talks. It did not take me long to realize that Mujib was hell-bent on secession. His party and his friends were working in that direction. Yet, I did not take any action against them until the eleventh hour. We all wanted a settlement. During the election campaign, Mujib had made it clear both publicly and in. private that six-point Programme was negotiable. The Programme would lead to a virtual division of Pakistan, but we took no action against Mujib. Later, two dramatic events took place. First Mujib swore in public not to make any compromise on his Six-Points. By doing so he destroyed all chances of agreement. Then, he set up a parallel government while we were here. He closed the National Bank in Dacca and gave its duties to another bank. He stamped on the Pakistani bank notes The Independent State of Bangladesh and made it clear that he would never agree to join a National Assembly that would include representatives from West .Pakistan. He wanted two Assemblies. Furthermore, he preached hatred against the armed forces -and said he would put us all trial. Through his agents, he told the East Pakistani soldiers and officers to desert the armed forces and the police, while he set up a paramilitary organisation of his own. All along, however we hoped that he would realize that the army would not allow him to divide Pakistan, he failed to see this underestimated our resolve. He had told the press radio and television in East Pakistan not to publish or broadcast any news of Pakistan and to ban whatever information we wished to publish. Then lie ordered the pulling down of Pakistani flags and insignia from all public buildings and banks. At a ceremony, his supporters burned the Pakistani flags and all the pictures of Jinnah (the founder of Pakistan) were destroyed in Dacca. As you can imagine, our patience knew no bounds. When Pakistan Day came. Mujib and his supporters called it "Bangladesh Day" and no mention was made of Pakistan. They told the TV not to show the Pakistani flag. I told the TV people I would close down their programme if they did so. They showed the flag a few seconds after midnight-that is, after the Pakistan Day had officially ended. Then they made fun of me on that score and said they had their Bangladesh Day. The Sheikh himself appeared all smiles and waved a Bangladesh Hag. That was not all. We had reports pouring into army headquarters about atrocities committed against the non Bengali soldiers, and officers of the regular army were involved in massacres of the Biharis and the West Pakistanis.
