615 বাংলাদেশের স্বাধীনতা যুদ্ধ দলিলপত্রঃ চতুর্দশ খন্ড A group of lawyers and military' chiefs are preparing the case against him. He is expected to be put on trial within the next few weeks on a charge of high treason. The maximum penalty would be death by firing squad. Few people in West Pakistan believe Mujib will be executed. No political executions have taken place in the history of Pakistan so far and there are strong reasons to believe that this tradition will not be broken. Most West Pakistanis were convinced Mujib was a secessionist and involved in a conspiracy planned by the Indian government. In East Pakis tan it is still practically impossible to assess Mujib's present standing; Few people like to talk about him, and those who do. arc former members of his party who now accuse him of having led his people into a trap. Meanwhile, Mujib still has to give his version of Pakistan's bloody nightmare. When his trial opens in Islamabad he will be facing the judgment not only of a court martial but also of history. KAYHAN (INTERNATIONAL), AUGUST2, 1971 THE LOOMING SHADOW OF A HUNGRY GIANT By Amir Taheri. Noontime is kebab-time in Dacca's riverside district. There are about 20 kiosks made of tin and tree-trunks which specialize in making a mixture of flour and minced intestines of sheep that passes for "kebab". To the teeming crowds of the district this curious mixture represents a wholesome meal. There are thousands of Fishermen, vendors, fortunetellers, crap-shooters, lay-a bouts, boatmen, beggars, ruined peasants wandering in the town and sundry other semi naked walking skeletons who mob the "kebab-shops" at lunch-time. The whole meal costs one-quarter of a rupee (about 2.5 rials) and yet most of the crowd who gather to watch the grilling of the coveted meal cannot afford the treat. Out of every 10 by-standers at the kebab-shops only one or two can afford the meal. They eat with pleasure and look as if they have just secured a chunk of paradise. The rest of the crowd look on in envy mixed with wonder. "Too poor to be true", the head of the East Pakistani water and power board-a charming Bengali-described his land when briefing us on the region's problems. "We have the highest population density in the world and the lowest per capita income", he said with a hurt Smile. There are some 75 million people occupying an area of 55,000 square miles. The population of the region will be over 100 million before the current decade is over. East Pakistan is a flat land "like the centre of a saucer" that "attracts all the floodwater from the uplands of India and Nepal". Every year it is practically submerged by raging floods while the monsoon rains arc heaviest in this eternally green and seemingly eternally poor land. The water and power department chief told us that some $5 billion is needed' to create flood control and irrigation network if the present standard of living-already the
