Some time after the trial had commenced, Tom Williams QC MP, a British barrister engaged by Bengalis in London, arrived in Dhaka to join the team of defense counsel. Since there was already a full team of trial lawyers led by Salam Khan it was arranged that tom Williams should conduct the cross examination in the trial for one or two days and that thereafter he would serve a writ petition in the High Court. I was associated with Williams in the preparation of the writ petition and drafted the petition. The petition was moved by Williams and a rule was issued by the High Court. The High Court, however, declined to make any interim order. In the meantime Williams complained of being continuously Shadowed by Ayub's police and intelligence men. His car was being followed and worse was to come later when his room was broken into and his luggage and papers ransacked. He was also served with a demand for payment of income tax having spent about a week and suffered much harassment, it was agreed that tom Williams shoals return to England. His visit and participation in the case had served the purpose of drawing international attention to the case. Peter Hazlehurst the new correspondent of the Times (London) helped in this by sending a series of reports on the case and in particular the harassments to which tom Williams had been subjected.
The progress of the case and the daily publication of the verbatim proceedings of the trial sustained a high degree of popular interest in the case. If the Ayub Government had thought that this case would discredit Sheikh Mujib, it had cxactly the opposite effect. It generated sympathy as Sheikh Mujib presented the image of a leader who was being victimized for championing the cause of the Bengali people. The grievances of the Bengalis also received extensive publicity and contributed towards heightening their sense of injustices.
Ayub had been seriously ill in the early part of 1968, and this had served to weaken his grip on the administration. Speculation about a possible successor had begun. The Army Commander in Chief and ambitious men in the wings like Bhutto. Saw in Ayub's debility an opportunity for themselves.
Towards the end of 1968, with grievances accumulating in both wings objective conditions were ripe for poplar movement of against Ayub. In November 1968 police action against students in Peshawar triggered off demonstrations in which some students were injured. Bhutto, then present in Rawalpindi, capitalized on this incident and a popular agitation began to develop.
Towards the end of 1968, at the end of a public meeting, Maulana Bhashani gave a call for a hartal (strike) on the following day. The herbal was widely observed and had a tremendous affect in galvanizing popular forces in the eastern wing. Political leaders met to decide further steps they should take and decided to call a province wise herbal on December 13. Maulanas attempt to call for herbal on December 8 did not prove to be a success. At a time when the proclamation of emergency was in force in the country with the full vigor of the military to back it and with the entire resources of the government deployed to frustrate the herbal its total success demonstrated the extent of popular opposition to the government. The people obviously were ready for a movement. The students who had always been the militant and activist elements responded rapidly to this situation and organized themselves to lead a popular movement.
