পাতা:বাংলাদেশের স্বাধীনতা যুদ্ধ দলিলপত্র (তৃতীয় খণ্ড).pdf/৫৩

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বাংলাদেশের স্বাধীনতা যুদ্ধ দলিলপত্রঃ তৃতীয় পত্র
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শিরোনাম সূত্র তারিখ
বাংলাদেশ সরকার গঠনের পর প্রধানমন্ত্রী তাজউদ্দীন আহমদ-এর ভাষণ বাংলাদেশ সরকার, প্রচার দপ্তর ১৭ এপ্রিল, ১৯৭১

PRESS STATEMENT

Issued By

MR. TAJUDDIN AHMED

Prime Minister of Bangladesh

On 17th April, 1971

TO THE PEOPLE OF THE WORLD

 Bangladesh is at war. It has been given no choice but to secure it right of selfdetermination through a national liberation struggle against the colonial oppression of West Pakistan.

 In the face of positive attempts by the Government of Pakistan to distort the facts in a desperate attempt to cover up their war of genocide in Bangladesh, the world must be told the circumstances under which the peace-loving people of Bangladesh were driven to substitute armed struggle for parliamentary politics to realize the just aspirations of the people of Bangladesh.

 The Six Point Programme for autonomy for Bangladesh within Pakistan had been put forward in all sincerity by the Awami League as the last possible solution to preserve the integrity of Pakistan. Fighting the elections to the National Assembly on the issue of Six Points, the Awami League won 167 out of 169 seats from Bangladesh in a House of 313. Its electoral victory was so decisive that it won 80 % of the popular votes cast. The decisive nature of its victory placed it in a clear majority within the National Assembly.

 The post election period was a time of hope, for never had a people spoken so decisively in the history of parliamentary democracy. It was widely believed in both Wings that a viable constitution based on Six Points could be worked out. The Pakistan People’s Party which emerged as the leading party in Sind and Punjab had avoided raising the issue of Six Points in their election campaign and had no obligation whatsoever to its electorate to resist it. In Baluchistan, the dominant party, National Awami Party, was fully committed to Six Points. In NWFP, the NAP, dominant in the Provincial Assembly, was also a believer in maximum autonomy. The course of the elections, which marked the defeat of the reactionary partics, therefore, gave every reason to be optimistic about the future of democracy in Pakistan.