| শিরোনাম | সূত্র | তারিখ |
|---|---|---|
| ফজলুল হক কর্তৃক প্রকাশিত বিবৃতির প্রতিবাদ | পাকিস্তান অবজারভার | ২৬শে মে, ১৯৫৪ |
“Deliberate Falsehood and Perversion of Facts”
Fazlul Huq Contradicts ‘New York Times’ Report: Provincial Autonomy for East Pak. pleaded.
Karachi, May 24: “The notes taken by the Karachi correspondent of the New York Times, of my conversation with him contains nothing but deliberate falsehood and perversion of facts,” said Mr. A.K. Fazlul Huq, Chief Minister of East Bengal while contradicting a statement published under his name by the New York Times.
He said, “what I actually stated at the interview to the correspondents was, East Pakistan should be an autonomous unit of Pakistan. This is our ideal and we will fight for it.”
The following is the full text of Mr. Fazlul Huq’s statement, issued to the Press late tonight:
“Today at about 4 p.m. I have had the advantage of having read some of the notes taken by the Karachi correspondent of the New York Times, of my conversation with him on Monday. I regret to have to say that the statement as taken down by him containing nothing but deliberate falsehood and perversion of facts which it is impossible to believe, has been made deliberately. Every word of the statement is baseless, falsehood and every sentence is perversion of truth. It is impossible to contradict such a statement peacemeal, so, I am making the following statement as a whole to give the public an idea of what I said and how much my statement has been mutilated.
What I actually stated at the interview to the correspondents are as follows:
“East Pakistan should be an autonomous unit of Pakistan. This is our ideal; and we will fight for it.” I never said for a moment that our ideal is “independence.”
I extremely regret that I am so much misunderstood and misreported. Perhaps people come to me with preconceived notions about me. I am not a coward. If I said something I will own it up.
There were two correspondents, the Reuters and the New York Times, at the interview.
They asked me about the defense of East Pakistan. I told them that in the case of aggression, we would expect help from West Pakistan but if no help was forthcoming from West Pakistan we will help ourselves.
I did say that East Pakistan has a fine manpower for a first class Navy.
