| শিরোনাম | সূত্র | তারিখ |
| আসন্ন নির্বাচন হবে স্বায়ত্তশাসনের প্রশ্নে গণভোট: শেখ মুজিবুর রহমান |
দ্যা ডন ইত্তেফাক | ৮ জুলাই, ১৯৭০ |
PAKISTAN CANNOT BE DESTROYED
BY ANY POWER, SAYS MUJIB
‘Islam in Danger’ Cry a Political Stunt
Awami League Election Campaign Launched
Dacca, June 7: The Awami League Chief. Sheikh Mujibur Rahman, declared today amidst cheers that Pakistan had come to stay and that there was no force which could destroy it.
Addressing a massive public meeting at Ramna Race Course this afternoon in torrential rains, the Sheikh repeatedly held out the assurance that Islam was in no danger on the sacred soil of Pakistan, and lashed out at those who raised cries of “Islam in danger” on flimsy grounds, to promote their own political ends. He said in the past also similar bogeys were raised by a section of the people during the 1954 elections in East Pakistan and on the question of joint electorate, but it had been proved conclusively that “Islam in danger” cry was a mere political stunt.
Today's public meeting was organized by the Awami League to commemorate the movement of June 7, 1966, when a number of people fell to the bullets of the police of Ayub regime. Despite inclement weather and pouring rains, hundreds of thousands of enthusiastic people sat through the meeting to hear the Sheikh who was the only speaker. Defying rains, the people came from far and near in processions on foot and in buses and trucks and trains and launches. They shouted six-point slogans and rented the air with cries of “joy Bangla”. West Pakistani Awami League leaders who came to attend the Council meeting of the All-Pakistan Awami League which concluded yesterday were also present on the dais.
Sheikh Mujib regretted that the Fourth Five-Year Plan had been announced by the present Government despite his party's demand that it should be left for the future Government to draw up the Plan. He declared the Fourth Plan would be scrapped and recast when a representative Government was inducted into office after the elections.
The Awami League chief, who was frequently greeted with slogans of “Banga Bandhu” (Friend of Bengal), told the meeting that the coming elections should be treated as a referendum on the autonomy issue-whether the people wanted autonomy on the basis of his party's six-point programme.
The Sheikh, who formally announced the launching of his party's election campaign as from today, asked' the people to “finish” the “Mir Jafars” of Bengal through elections and to see to it that their boxes went empty during the polls.
