the Bengalis on the question of province-centre relationships, or in other words, on the question of regional autonomy which the Bengalis demanded.
Soon after Manik Mia’s return, Ayub came to Dacca at the end of January. Ile invited the Bengali opposition leaders to meet him. Among the leaders who were invited apart from Sheikh Mujib, then president of the Awami league, were a number of the ‘old guard’ leaders. Nurul Amin Yosuf Ali Chowdhury, Hamidul Huq Chowdhury and others. In informal consolations prior to a meeting Ayub, Sheikh Mujib decided to press the other Bengali leaders to agree to a common charter of demands to present to Ayub. He further pressed that in this carter there should be included a number of specific points defining the quantum of autonomy which the Bengalis considered to be essential for securing their interest. This was the occasion on which a number of specific points were put down on paper. Tajuddin Ahmed who was then the General Secretary of the Party, put these points down on paper. Sheikh Mujib pressed Nurul Amin to commit himself to them. Nurul Amin And the older leaders baulked at putting forward what they regarded as too radical a demand for a degree of autonomy which would be a ‘red rag’ to Ayub. This according to them, would reduce the chances of Ayub conceding to more ‘moderate’ demands such as ‘democratisation of the Constitution’, through introduction of direct elections on the basis of universal adult franchise, parliamentary form of Government and association of opposition elements in ‘national government’ Sheikh Mujib was firm and stated that if they were not going to commit themselves to those points-the precursor of the six points- he would present these himself. The meeting itself with Ayub ended in fiasco, since Hamidul Huq Chowdhury, who claimed to lead off as the spokesmen on behalf of the Bengali leaders was quickly disowned by Sheikh Mujib. Ayub left without any serious discussion taking place.
The Punjabi opposition leaders convened a national conference of opposition leaders in Lahore on 3 February Sheikh Mujib was among the Bengali leaders who were invited to attend Manik Mia pressed him to attend, for it was realised on all sides that his absence would mean that the most effective opposition force in the East was not represented at the conference. Manik Mia continued to urge moderation and attempted to persuade Sheikh Mujib not to press the specific point on autonomy. Sheikh however, remained determined to press these point.
At the Lahore conference when Sheikh attempted to present his ‘six point’ programme, Chowdhury Mohammed Ali, who was in the chair ruled it out of order. He would not even allow it to be included in the agenda. It was loudly whispered that the ‘six point’ programme was something which was being introduced with the ‘encouragement’ of the Government to divide the opposition leaders and to prevent opposition unity.
Sheikh Mujib upon being denied the opportunity to present his proposals to the conference, walked out and released the text of this statement to the press. The assembled opposition leaders were furious but realized that the Bengalis as represented by Sheikh, would not go along with them in the absence of a prior commitment on the quantum of autonomy. The Lahore meeting, therefore, broke up with a clear division
