পাতা:বাংলাদেশের স্বাধীনতা যুদ্ধ দলিলপত্র (চতুর্দশ খণ্ড).pdf/৫৬

24 বাংলাদেশের স্বাধীনতা যুদ্ধ দলিলপত্রঃ চতুর্দশ খন্ড Then they wanted him to use his dominant majority of 167 seats in the 313member National Assembly to claim the Prime Minister ship in a moderately strong Central Government. This has also been the attitude of trade union and reformist elements in the west fighting for civil liberties, press freedom and labor rights. For different reasons of his own. Gen. Yahya, too, wanted Mujibur to serve under him as Prime Minister of a strong Central Government still effectively dominated by the Army. But Mujibur, pulled by a strong separatist under town in Bangladesh, would have committed virtual political suicide by taking office in Rawalpindi. Seeking to placate the ultras in his ranks. Mujibur insisted that the National Assembly meet initially in two bodies, one for the East and one for the West, with the separate eastern grouping serving as a symbol of Bengali identity in nationalist eyes. The western minority provinces were as bitterly opposed to this as Gen. Yahya, fearing that Mr. Bhutto would outnumber them and use his majority to deny them separate provincial status. Linked to the issue of separate initial Assembly sessions in the two wings was the parallel issue of whether Gen. Yahya should accede to Maribor's bid for the transfer of power to provincial regimes forthwith, prior to the inauguration of Sessions of the Assembly or Assemblies. In his broadcast on Friday, Gen. Yahya contended that the proclamation ending martial Law sought by Mujibur" "would not have been worth the paper it was written on" if the Assembly had not been simultaneously called into session to serve as a new base of authority, Gen. Yahya stated that Mujibur indicated final refusal to alter his stand on the Assembly issue in talks Tuesday night. This is what made him see the Bengali leaders "obduracy and his absolute refusal to talk sense," Gen. Yahya declared, "leading me to conclude that the man and his party are enemies of Pakistan who want East Pakistan to break away completely from the country." But Mujibur's intimates said as late as Thursday night that the ground rules, established during the talks, provided for a final "summit" meeting between Gen. Yahya and the Sheikh on unresolved issues, including the mechanism for the transfer of power. West Pakistan sources confirmed the view that Gen. Yahya had entertained little hope of a settlement after his initial talks with Mujibur in Dacca but kept up the pretense of talks to allow time for military preparations. These sources said that Gen. Yahya was increasingly enraged by Mujibur's posture of serene confidence and his implicit attitude that it would be Gen. Yahya. in the end. Who would have to come to terms? Mujibur was reportedly ready to concede on the key issue of a transfer of power to the Assembly if Gen. Yahya committed himself publicly in advance to an Assembly resolution setting up immediate governments in the East and West. He was fearful that the Assembly would become a battleground of officially stimulated factionalism and would never get around to ratifying a formula for the transfer of power.