পাতা:বাংলাদেশের স্বাধীনতা যুদ্ধ দলিলপত্র (চতুর্দশ খণ্ড).pdf/২৫৩

বাংলাদেশের স্বাধীনতা যুদ্ধ দলিলপত্রঃ চতুর্দশ খন্ড Other people, obscure and prominent are also subject to arbitrary arrest although President Agha Mohammad Yahya Khan proclaimed a general amnesty for political prisoners last month and his action was warmly applauded by foreign diplomats seeking political accommodation in Hast Pakistan. The diplomats who now say that the amnesty was purely cosmetic, report that the Government not only has failed to release any important prisoners but also has continued arresting politicians, professors, lawyers and others by the hundreds. According to a number of reports, some from foreign observers, a number of persons under amnesty have been arrested and shot. The Most Prominent Prisoner The most prominent prisoner in Sheikh Mujibur Rahman universally acknowledged as the political and spiritual leader of East Bengal. Sheikh Mujib's Awami League party won a sweeping election victory last December for National Assembly seals allocated to Hast Pakistan and he had been scheduled to become Prime Minister of all of Pakistan. Most diplomats and other foreigners believe that a resolution of the East Pakistani crisis can be found only if Sheikh Mujib's permitted to exercise the role of leadership in East Pakistan to which he was elected. But he remains a Prisoner undergoing a secret military trial and facing a possible death sentence. Members of his family while not accused of any crime are held as virtual prisoners here. Such political repression was extended not only to Awami League but to any politician or group likely to embarrass the military regime. The effect was dramatically underscored last week by a former chief of the Air Force, who decided to try running for public office in view of the government's announced intention of moving toward democratic processes. The officer, Mohammad Asghar Khan, a retired Air Marshal, is known throughout Pakistan as a patriot and political moderate. He commanded the Air force in 1965 during Pakistan's brief but bloody war with India and has always insisted that Pakistan remain one country. Programme Was Censored Mr. Asghar Khan, a West Pakistani and a leader of the movement that brought about the collapse of President Mohammad Ayub Khan's government in 1968 offered a conciliatory programme calling for major developmental efforts in East Pakistan and genuine political freedom for its people, but it has been completely censored. On Friday he announced that no candidate could run unless he could reach the public through the press, so he has withdrawn. "Today is a black day for the democracy in Pakistan", he said, "when even I, with a mild programme breaking martial law regulations, am frozen out."