completion of decade of progress under the armymen was now under heavy pressure from all corners to meet the demands of the people.
It was about this time that I into contact in connection with a court case with Manzoor Quader, who was in Dacca as the chief prosecutor in the Agartala Conspiracy case. Since he appeared to be disturbed by the mounting agitation. I took the opportunity to urge upon him that the Ayub Government should read the writing on the walls and concede to the popular demands rather than be guilty of offering the people too little too late He reacted by saying that he would press Ayub to concede to popular demands, but having said this fell back to a defence of the 1962, Constitution of which he was the architect. He went to the launching of the present agitation and thus seemed to claim credit for the popular awakening.
Ayub khan faced with this situation announced in his first-of-the month broadcast on February 1, 1969 that he would invite opposition political leaders for talks. These proposed talks soon came to be described as the ‘Round table conference’. Ayub addressed a letter to Nawabzada Nasrullah Khan as representing the Democratic Action committee to invite opposition leaders for talks in Rawalpindi on February 17, 1969.
This move was seen as demonstrating the strength of the popular movement and the growing weakness of Ayub. The Democratic action committee called for lifting of the martial law and release of all political prisoners as a condition precedent for coming to the negotiation table. In this context the withdrawal of the Agartala Conspiracy case and the release of Sheikh Mujib acquired particular urgency. The most important component of the Democratic Action Committee in the East, the Awami League made in clear that withdrawal of the case and release of Sheikh Mujib would be for them the minimum condition for joining the talks.
The Punjabi leaders of the Democratic Action committee and indeed some of the old guard Bengali leaders showed some ambivalence about pressing for withdrawal of the Agartala Conspiracy case and release of Sheikh Mujib. In discussion with Awami League, they hinted at legal difficulties and urged that the release of Sheikh Mujib and withdrawal of Agartala conspiracy case could be secured during the talks. It was clear that their opposition stemmed mainly from their realization that Sheikh Mujib's participation meant that the six-point programme would become central to any negotiated political settlement. It was however realised, particularly by the other Bengali leaders that any attempt on their part to arrive at a settlement by passing the six point demands of Sheikh Mujib, would be repudiated by the Bengali people and leave them completely compromised Awami league continued to be firm about Sheikh Mujib's release as a precondition for participation. Under such pressure, the Democratic Action committee raised this matter with Ayub. Ayub parried by saying that since Sheikh Mujib was under trial there were “legal difficulties” involved.
I was in close touch with the opposition leaders and in particular with Manik Mia, Editor of the daily ‘Ittefaq’. Having come close to him since June 1966 when he had been detained and the Ittefaq had been closed down and I had been engaged to take up these
