And whereas in the composition of the House of Units East Bengal has not been given the status of zone but East Bengal with a population of four and a half crore has been put on equal footing with Baluchistan and Karachi and other very small Units, the population of which will not exceed even forty lakhs;
And whereas the creation of an undemocratic and retrograde Upper House is silent about other reactionary recommendations of the Basic Principles Committee Report such as suspension of the constitution by the Head of the State according to his sweet will and behest and giving autocratic powers to the Head of the State to appoint or dismiss the Unit Cabinets without referring to wishes of legislature and the impediments placed by Basic Principles Committee on the independence of judiciary and the inviolability of the fundamental rights of the citizens;
And whereas the Basic Principles Committee Report fails to equalize the advantages of administration and justice and arranging alternative sittings of the government and federal court in Karachi and Dacca:
And whereas East Bengal during the last six years of consideration of constitutional problems has declared unequivocally in favor of a unicameral Federal Legislature directly elected by the people having two specified reserve subjects, namely Defense and Foreign Affairs, which means powers to raise Army, Navy and Air Force and maintain them in time of war and peace and deal with political relations with foreign countries and formulate the foreign policy:
And whereas a country's constitution cannot be considered and accepted piecemeal. but has to be placed before the people as a composite whole for their considerations;
It is hereby resolved that this meeting of the citizens of Dacca convened under the joint auspices of all political and cultural parties except the Muslim League to do hereby reject the constitutional formula announced by the Prime Minister and warns the Central Authority not to hazard imposition of any constitution unacceptable to the people.
It is further resolved that the people of the country have no confidence in the authors and supporters of the constitutional schemes and solutions announced by the Prime Minister on behalf of Muslim League Parliamentary Party and demands immediate dissolution of the consumable for fresh election of a constitutional Assembly directly by the people on the basis of universal adult franchise and on joint electoral system.
This meeting calls upon the people of the country to express their views! On this issue through press and platform from all districts, sub divisional and rural centres.
Now, Sir, as I have said, after this several meetings were held. What then, Sir is the position? Sir, I have got great respect and regard for all my friends who come from East Bengal-who are Members of this House-but let me remind them how we have been elected. The elections of 1946 were something like a miracle in disguise. In 1946, Pakistan had not been announced, nor had the British left, but it was known that the British would go and that Pakistan was in the offing. The Muslim League at that time was at the height of its glory and as a matter of fact it was the most disciplined party at that
