871 বাংলাদেশের স্বাধীনতা যুদ্ধ দলিলপত্রঃ চতুর্দশ খন্ড and ours very much worse. Anything they do to Mujib now will have grave and perilous consequences." Asked whether he had discussed the issue with the Soviet Foreign Minister. Mr. Singh told the Rajya Sabha today that Mr. Gromyko was strongly in favor persuading Pakistan not to go ahead with this "type of shame trial'. He also told the House that the Government was greatly concerned at the threat held out by the Pakistan President to Sheikh Mujibur Rahman. Asked by Mr. A. D. Mani whether the Government would take initiative in having a Commission of International Jurists appointed to investigate the war-crimes committed by the military rulers of Pakistan in Bangladesh the External Affairs Minister said it was a suggestion for action. However in his opinion, it would be more effective if the initiative was taken by the Indian member of the International Commission of Jurists. The Secretary-General. U Thant said yesterday that the fate of Sheikh Mujibur Rahman was bound to have repercussions outside Pakistan, Reuter adds from United Nations. But the Secretary-General said, Sheikh Mujibur's impending trial before a Military Court was "an extremely sensitive and delicate matter which falls within the competence of the judicial system of a member State". In a Press statement, U Thant said, he shared the feelings of many UN representatives "that any developments concerning the fate of Sheikh Mujibur Rahman will inevitable have repercussions outside the borders of Pakistan". He said the trial was "a matter of extraordinary interest and concern in many quarters from a humanitarian as well as from a political point of view". He said, he had received, and was still receiving almost daily expressions of serious concern from UN representatives about the situation in East Bengal. In Geneva, the international Commission of Jurists yesterday formally protest to President Yahya Khan against the scheduled trial of Sheikh Mujibur Rahman. A cable signed by commission's Secretary General Mr. Alan Niall Macdermott, said "the International Commission of Jurists protests against the secret military trial of Sheikh Mujibur Rahman. Justice has nothing to hide". A London report says The London lawyers of Sheikh Mujibur Rahman claimed today he was being denied all access to legal aid. Reports Reuter. Lawyers Bernard Sheridan and Company took the unusual step of writing a later to The Times about the case. They did so, the letter said, so that readers might know more precisely the efforts which had been made by lawyers to secure for him a fair trial. "Although Sheikh Mujibur was arrested at the end of March this year following up on his success at the polls he has been denied all access to legal advice." The letter added that they had seen the Pakistan High Commission in London in June and written a formal request to be allowed to see him but had not received a reply or acknowledgement.
