Secretariat, High Court and other Courts. Some Government and autonomous corporations, like Post Offices, Railways and other communication services, transport (private and public), mills, factories, industrial and commercial establishments and markets. Exemptions were extended only to ambulance, press cars, hospitals, medical shops, electricity and water supply. The offices, the Courts, the industries, totally came to a halt.
Each evening the military declared a curfew which was systematically defied. The army opened fire on some of the defying crowds and a number of casualties took place. It appears, however, that General Yakub, the military commander, was pressing for reinforcements, as in his view, the forces available to him were not adequate to suppress with a popular movement which had acquired massive proportions. It is said that it was this military judgment which had had him not to take the Non-Cooperation Movement head on, but to await arrival of reinforcements. In any event, he was replaced in the first week of March by Gen. Tikka Khan, who had acquired a reputation for carrying on a ruthless operation against civilians in Baluchistan.
At a meeting organized by students on 3 March, Sheikh Mujib demanded that the military should be pulled back to the barracks and power should be handed to the elected representatives of the people. If the people were denied self rule and suppressed by force, the people would not hesitate to sacrifice their lives. He also called for launching a no tax campaign.
The same evening there was a radio announcement from Islamabad proposing a sort of round table conference of political leaders to be convened by Yahya in Dacca on March 10. The junta had begun to sense the magnitude of the movement which was underway. The call of a round table conference seemed only a further provocation, since this would have to sit at a round table conference with other leaders whose claims and credentials to be there at all would be highly questionable. In the meantime, curfews and firing upon unarmed civilians continued.
I remember the pressure for an immediate rejection by Sheikh Mujib to this radio announcement. There were one or two voices suggesting that this proposal may not be rejected immediately but that the situation may be observed before a response is given. Some others suggested that at least the response may be deferred till the following day. Sheikh Mujib, however, reflecting the prevailing mood decided that an outright rejection should be announced immediately. I was asked to prepare a statement for immediate issuance and within minutes the invitation to a Conference was termed as 'a cruel joke and rejected. Attention, both inside and outside the country, was now riveted to the meeting fixed for March 7. Foreign commentators had begun to predict that UDI would take place on March 7.
In the meantime, the Non-Cooperation Movement surged ahead. In view of the continued total compliance with the directive to continue the general strike, it soon became evident that in order to sustain a protracted movement, it would be necessary to ensure that essential services were maintained and certain essential economic activities
