At A Standstill
By March 9, the Sheikh's non-co-operation call-issued in a speech during a massive rally two days earlier-had brought government and other public institutions to a standstill and thus deprived-West Pakistan for the first time in years of its power to govern the East.
Gradually, the Sheikh began to open those offices and institutions that the Awami League high command felt it could control, adequately.
The Awami League's control of many institutions was impressive, but there were those which it never felt sufficiently confident of to open. Schools and courts were among them.
Other basically civilian services-such as immigration and customs-never were seriously threatened, the Awami League never questioned the Army's gunpoint control of the checkpoints.
But Awami League access to closely relate services road and rail transport and Stevedores at Chittagong, for example-made the government's control of these customs and immigration checkpoints almost irrelevant:
After a week, the Awami League even started collecting many taxes, although it never got the income tax back into operation.
By the time President Yahya arrived in Dacca for negotiations with Sheikh Mujib- after first spending long hours with Mr. Bhutto in West Pakistan-the government's control was so, thoroughly dissolved that even the new military governor had not been able to find anyone to swear him into office.
The new governor, It. Gen. Tikka Khan, was regarded by Bengalis as a toughminded hawk. They called him “the butcher of Baluchistan,” a reference to his alleged role in suppressing a rebellion by Baluchi citizens of West Pakistan in the 1960's.
The Bengali clandestine radio is now gloating daily over reports, a mob somehow go to General Tikka's house and killed him, but there is no way to know if the report is true unless a replacement is named without further explanation.
Left without a Word
General Tikka's predecessor, a man known among Bengalis for his understanding of their movement, left Dacca and returned to West Pakistan with no public explanation. Bengalis who knew him say he resigned when he was ordered to make preparations for a military crackdown soon after the initial Assembly postponement was announced March 1. None of his assistants was replaced, as would have been done routinely in a normal transfer.
The president himself fared badly when he arrived in Dacca March 15. The normal delegation of top civil servants failed to go to the airport to greet him.
