| শিরোনাম | সূত্র | তারিখ |
|---|---|---|
| কলিকাতাস্থ পাকিস্তানী ডেপুটি হাই কমিশনারের বাংলাদেশের পক্ষাবলম্বন | এশিয়ান রেকর্ডার- জুন, ১১-১৭, ১৯৭১ | ১৮ এপ্রিল, ১৯৭১ |
A Pakistani Diplomat Transfers Allegiance To Bangladesh: The Deputy High Commissioner of Pakistan in Calcutta, Mr. M. Hossain Ali, on April 18 transferred his allegiance to the Government of the Democratic Republic of Bangladesh.
All 70 Bengali members of his staff, including five officers, were also believed to have expressed their desire to serve the Bangladesh Government.
Mr. Hossain Ali dismissed 30 other employees, mostly superintendents, clerks and junior members of staff, who were West Pakistanis. His was thus the first mission abroad of the Bangladesh Government.
Assured of co-operation of the Bengali members of his staff, Mr. Ali hoisted the Bangladesh IIag on top of his mission, replacing the Pakistani flag. Some senior members of his staff were present at the ceremony.
In an interview later, he said the decision to change his allegiance from the Pakistan Government to the Bangladesh Government was “my own”; He was happy that some other Bengali members of his staff supported him.
He said: “It is impossible to continue to represent the Pakistani Government which is engaged by all evidences in a deliberate an systematic genocide of Bengalis in Bangladesh.”
He issued a 1,600-word statement, recounting how the Pakistani Government had flouted the clear verdict of a democratic election in Bangladesh and engaged itself in “a planned attempt to subdue and crush the entire Bengali nation”.
Before he took the decision, he said, he had contacts with the Prime Minister and other Ministers of Bangladesh, who were slated to have “most cordially” welcomed him’ and his Bengali staff to work ‘as the Government’s first foreign mission.
He had several secret meetings with some trusted officers of the mission during the last few days. “I had to be cautious", he said, “least our decision was leaked before it was formally announced”.
According to a bank sourcc in Calcutta, the entire money in the credit of the Pakistan Deputy High Commission in a city bank was withdrawn on April 17. The measure had the approval of all senior members of the mission.
According to one source, the decision to change allegiance followed a few telegrams from Islamabad during the previous few days to the Deputy High Commission informing it of the Pakistan Government’s decision to abolish the Information Department of the mission, to recall the Department's employees to Rawalpindi “with immediate effect”, and asking several other Bengali members of staff to be ready for immediate transfer.
