পাতা:বাংলাদেশের স্বাধীনতা যুদ্ধ দলিলপত্র (দ্বিতীয় খণ্ড).pdf/৭০৭

এই পাতাটির মুদ্রণ সংশোধন করা প্রয়োজন।

680 বাংলাদেশের স্বাধীনতা যুদ্ধ দলিলপত্রঃ দ্বিতীয় খন্ড "There is only one parallel to the manner in which Mr. Bhutto has slighted the National Assembly and frustrated what might have been Pakistan's last chance to acquire a democratic constitution-Hitler's putsch at the time of Weimar Republic and burning of the Reichstag" if remarked. Aware of the extreme urgency and delicacy of the present crucial juncture in Pakistan's history the committee felt that the struggle for a democratic constitution in fact and in effect represented the struggle for the survival of Pakistan. It was inconceivable that a country which had nothing except an army to hold it together should endure indefinitely in the modern world. Keeping this in view, it said, to argue, as the leader of the People's Party has been doing, that a constitutional programme, which has the implicit as well as explicit support of by far the most populous province of the country, violates the integrity of the nation is to give away the game in advance and write off the very idea of national integrity. After all, who is the nation if the majority of the people composing it are already arrayed on the other side of its integrity." The committee was of the opinion that the postponement decision had destroyed all avenues of democratic initiative and placed a veto on the national aspirations in the hands of one man who was obviously bugged by a pathological lust for power to the exclusion of all other considerations. This initiative must be wrested back for the people, the committee felt. The committee, under these circumstances, said Sheikh Mujibur Rahman's demand for the immediate withdrawal of the Martial Law and transfer of power to popular representatives has become unexceptionable and deserves the support and backing of all lovers of democracy and of Pakistan." (Karachi-March 4, 1971.) TRANSFER OF POWER TO AWAMI LEAGUE NOW ONLY SOLUTION OF CRISIS Report of the Press Conference at Karachi Press Club on March 4,1971 by Air Marshal (Retd.) Asghar Khan. Air Marshal (Rctd.) Asghar Khan yesterday advocated "immediate transfer of power to the majority party in the country in order to retrieve the present "close-todisaster" situation. Addressing a hurriedly called Press Conference at the Karachi Press Club he said President Yahya Khan should invite Sheikh Mujibur Rahman and hand over power"real