পাতা:বাংলাদেশের স্বাধীনতা যুদ্ধ দলিলপত্র (চতুর্দশ খণ্ড).pdf/৬৩১

599 বাংলাদেশের স্বাধীনতা যুদ্ধ দলিলপত্রঃ চতুর্দশ খন্ড শিরোনাম সূত্র তারিখ ২১৪। কায়হান পত্রিকার কয়েকটি কায়হান ২৭ জুলাই- ১ আগষ্ট, ১৯৭১ প্রতিবেদন KAYHAN(INTERNATIONAL), JULY27, 1971 THE RELUCTANT PRESIDENT By Amir Taheri Kayhan International's Amir Taheri has just completed a week-long tour of Pakistan during which be visited both wings of the country. He also met a number of Pakistani leaders, including President Agha Muhammed Yahya Khan. Here he gives an account of the interview with Yahya. This is the first in a series of articles on the recent events which brought Pakistan to the brink of civil war. The Presidential palace at Rawalpindi, Pakistan, looks like any other residence of head of state in this part of the world. Vigilant guards at the gates maintain a constant Sentry. A lieutenant-general paces the waiting room in measured, unhurried steps. A couple of brigadiers stroll on the deep-green lawn Tall, turbaned waiters serve visitors deep black coffee. There are huge corridors and vast offices where faintly smiling officials rustle their way through the papers. Then there is the Presidential office itself with the scarlet velvet furnishing that is somehow associated with authority. On the wall, there is a huge portrait of Muhammad Ali Jinnah, the founder of the Islamic Republic of Pakistan. Soldier At Heart The man who works in this room is four-star general Agha Muhammad Yahya Khan, officially the President of the Islamic Republic of Pakistan, but at heart still a pure soldier who, one immediately gets the impression, would be happiest in his uniform as the Commander-in-Chief of the Armed forces. This in fact, is the first point he emphasizes. His close associates remind friendly visitors that the President still prefers to sign himself in as the army C-in-C whenever he visits a club, an exhibition or any other "non-political establishment." We met Yahya Khan the other day when he just returned from a few day's working holiday in Abbottahad, the centre of his few native part of the mountainous Northwest Frontier Province that has given Pakistan some of its bravest soldiers. In Abbottabad he presided over a meeting of the military chiefs and took time off to think about the turbulent events of the past civil war. The 56 year old silver-haired Pathan soldier, who speaks in a deep untrained voice, was at pains to remind us that he did not seek the presidency and that he was put in the