627 বাংলাদেশের স্বাধীনতা যুদ্ধ দলিলপত্রঃ চতুর্দশ খন্ড uncomfortable time. But though he conceded the six points of the Awami League, he received fresh demands, including the one changing Pakistan from a federation to a confederation of sovereign slates. The atrocities against Urdu-speaking civilians in East Pakistan before March 25 and after turned West Pakistani public opinion against the Bengalis. These were not reported in the Western press, probably because they took place in the interior while the western correspondents were covering the YahyaMujib talks in Dacca. The Pakistani government also suppressed the news initially to prevent retaliation against the Bengalis in West Pakistan. If there was a conspiracy, the Awami League played right into the hands of the conspirators. A little flexibility and statesmanship would have brought them power and the chance to implement their programme and it would have prevented the butchering of hundreds of thousands of Bengalis and non-Bengalis. Whether Pakistan can ever be the same again now nobody knows.
