পাতা:বাংলাদেশের স্বাধীনতা যুদ্ধ দলিলপত্র (চতুর্দশ খণ্ড).pdf/৬২৫

বাংলাদেশের স্বাধীনতা যুদ্ধ দলিলপত্রঃ চতুর্দশ খন্ড President Yahya certainly intended to hand over power but had hoped that the results would force East and West Pakistani leaders into an alliance which would preserve the integrity of the country. But the generals had not counted on two factors. At the last moment the Awami League's major political opponent, the left wing National Awami party, decided to boycott the elections leaving the field open to the Awami League. Almost every Bengali endorsed the Sheikh's six point programme which turned the election into a referendum. The Awami League swept the polls and claimed 167 of the 169 Bengali scats and with the support of the anti Punjabi regional parties in the western province Sheikh Mujibur Rahman was confident of obtaining the support of more then two thirds of the 313 members of the Constituent Assembly. In West Pakistan Mr. Bhutto and his People's Party won 82 of the 138 seats allocated to the western wing. The Punjab recoiled in honor for it became blatantly obvious that the Bengalis would be able to draw-up their own constitutions the moment the assembly րդՇt. On the night after the elections the flamboyant lawyer revealed part of his plan to me: "What do you think I will do. The Sheikh will push his constitution through with his brute majority and the responsibility will lie on the President's shoulders. I doubt whether he win sign a document which is unacceptable to West Pakistan." In other words Mr. Bhutto had a vested interest in keeping the L. F. O. in force but he had told me that he had heard disconcerting reports that the Sheikh was planning to declare that the Constituent Assembly was sovereign body the moment it met. In other words the L. F. O. and the Punjabs veto would disappear. But Mr. Bhutto had other ideas. At first he tried to oppose the early sitting of the Assembly but on February 13, President Yahya announced that Assembly would meet on March 3. The actual point of no return which precipitated the present crisis came two days later on February IS. Mr. Bhutto announced that this party would boycott the Constituent Assembly and at the same time he threatened any other. West Pakistani politicians who were planning to travel to Dacca. In short, Mr. Bhutto began to pile up pressure on President Yahya. At the same the, Mr. Bhutto had met several of President Yahya's generals who were considered hawks on the subject of East Bengal. They included the present governor of East Pakistan, General Tikka Khan. In the meantime several West Pakistanis had defied Mr. Bhutto's threat and had travelled to Dacca in the last week of February to participate in the framing of the constitution. In terms of arithmetic the representatives of to thirds of the country had congregated in Dacca. But on February 28, Mr. Bhutto flew to Rawalpindi to remind President Yahya of the consequences he would have to face if he ratified a constitution which was unacceptable to the Punjab and subsequently to a Punjabi army. The President made his first mistake. He succumbed to Punjabi pressures and without consulting Sheikh Mujib, as the leader of the largest party, he postponed the Constituent Assembly on March.