WHO ARE GENERAL YAHYA'S “REPRESENTATIVE ELEMENTS"?
After having banned the Awami League, which secured 167 out of 169 National. Assembly and 298 out of 310 Provincial Assembly seats in East Bengal, General Yahya has said that he plans to allow “democratic process” after talks with “rational” and “representative” elements in East Pakistan.
A great amount of search and coercion has produced only two Awami League MNAS who have declared their support for the army. But Yahya's statement was issued before that development and referred to the politicians who have formed a “Citizens Committee” and assured full support to the martial law government. Let us see who these representative elements are.
Nurul Amin: Mr. Amin was appointed (not elected) as the leader of. East Pakistan Muslim League by the central government against the provincial ML.. But soon after becoming the Chief Minister of East Bengal, he and his entire cabinet were defeated in the 1954 elections. Only 9 out of 309 seats went to his Muslim League Party. Because of his opposition to the Ayub regime. Mr. Amin regained some respect and was able to win a seat in Mymensingh during the last elections. But each of his 80 other party candidates for NA in East Pakistan was defeated. Mr. Amin. therefore, does not represent more than one constituency and is certainly not considered a leader by the Bengali people.
Fazlul Quader Cbowdury: Known for his rough dealings. Mr. Chowdhury gained special notreity as a henchman of Ayub Khan. In fact, hc, Mr. Sabur Khan, and Mr. Monem Khan were the chief instruments of Ayub regime's alienation from the people of East Pakistan. In the last elections, he opposed the demand for regional autonomy and was defeated by a plurality of 25,000 votes in Chittagong. Ile did not even have the grace to accept his defeat and called December 7 as a “tecn-agers' day East Pakistan”. (Dawn. Dec. 14, 1970)
Khan A Sabur: Like Mr. Chowdhury. Mr. Sabur collaborated with Ayub regime and became one of the three most hated men in East Bengal. In spite of his attempts to win elections by fraudulent methods, Mr. Sabur found the sailing rough during the last elections and “withdraw” from the contest. Actually he came last in Khulna-6 with 6.288 votes against a winning total of 84,054.
Maulvi Fareed Ahmed: Maulvi Farced, who was considerably popular in East Pakistan during the Ayub cra, lost the confidence of the people when he began to oppose regional autonomy. In the last elections, he was defeated in his home constituency of Chittagong, receiving only 30% of the vote.
Malimud Ali: Once a “darling” of the left, Mr. Ali lost the support of his constituency in Sylhet after his attack on Maulana Bhashani and his collaboration with West Pakistani landlords, such as Nawabzada Nasrullah, of PDP. In the last elections, he came a poor fourth with 15,628 votes against the winner's 53,749 votes.
Khawaja Khairuddin: The leader of Council Muslim League in East Pakistan, Mr. Khairuddin was defeated by Sheikh Mujibur Rahman in Dacca during the last NA elections, polling only 40,000 votes against Mujib's 164,000.
