পাতা:বাংলাদেশের স্বাধীনতা যুদ্ধ দলিলপত্র (সপ্তম খণ্ড).pdf/৩৯২

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বাংলাদেশের স্বাধীনতা যুদ্ধ দলিলপত্র : সপ্তম খণ্ড
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 Q. 17: The Awami Leaguers said that it was not indicated to them that a meeting of the National Assembly was essential to transfer power. Is this the factual position? It is claimed that this had not been communicated to the Awami League, and that they “would not have broken the talks on such a minor legal technicality".

 Answer: They were fully aware of the position but they were not willing to go to the National Assembly until their conditions were fulfilled. Fulfilling the demands would have created a vacuum and this was not acceptable either to the President or to the other party leaders.

 Q. 18: Sheikh Mujibur Rahman had categorically refuted the charge that he was seeking secession. “How could a majority seek secession"? he had asked. The President himself had been calling him to assume Prime Ministership of the country as the leader of the majority party in the Assembly. How could, then, he be dubbed as a secessionist and a traitor all of a sudden?

 Answer: The majority can not seek secession: in fact it does not. But a coterie can and it did try. The Awami League leadership won the elections on the mandate of autonomy within a united Pakistan and as a logical corollary he was described as the future Prime Minister of Pakistan. But Sheikh Mujibur Rahman refused to play an all Pakistan role, he refused even to visit West Pakistan. Further, he declined to form a Government in the Centre during the interim period, and suggested that President should run the Central Government through advisers. He preferred, instead, to become the satellite of a foreign country. Pakistan's enemy No.1, to return the compliment. Anyone seeking armed assistance from such a neighbour, anyone instigating mutiny within his own country's armed forces, anyone setting up a parallel Government, cannot but be dubbed as a secessionist.

 (On 24th March his chief spokesman Tajuddin went so far as to issue an ultimatum that the situation would worsen if there was any delay in the announcement of the decision. Sheikh Mujibur Rahman called for a strike on 27th and called upon the people to remain prepared for the supreme sacrifice if we have to did again for our rights, this will be the last time.")

 Q. 19: Why was immediate action not taken against Sheikh Mujibur Rahman's mischievous act of defying the authority for over three weeks? Didn't his unchallenged defacto rule over the Province erode people's faith in lawful authority?

 Answer: The Government could have taken action against Sheikh Mujibur Rahman and his collaborators straight away but the utmost care was taken to handle the situation in such a manner as not to jeopardize plans for the transfer of power. It was because of this that the Government kept on tolerating one illegal act after another while every possible avenue for arriving at some reasonable solution was being explored.

 Q. 20: If the Government were so keen to transfer power that even defiance of authority was tolerated, what, then, caused the final break between the Government and the Awami League?