MARCH 7
Mujibur Rahman, president of the Awami League, while addressing a public meeting in Racecourse Maiden, Dacca, today announced that he would not attend the rescheduled March 25 session of the National Assembly, unless four conditions set by him were met beforehand:— (a) ending of martial law; (b) sending the army back to barracks; (c) inquiry into cases of killing in army shootings and (d) immediate transfer of power to the people's elected representatives. He also announced further measures for the continuance of his civil disobedience movement. In order to pressure the federal government to accept his demands, Mujibur Rahman asked the people of East Pakistan not to pay taxes to Government; administrative and judicial offices were ordered by the Awami League not to function. Educational institutions were asked to remain closed. Black protest flags were to be flown atop all Government and private buildings. Press reports showed that the civil disobedience movement and consequent shut-down of trade and industry had caused an economic loss running into millions of dollars.
MARCH 8
The civil disobedience movement of the Awami League continued. An announcement by the Martial Law Administration in Dacca said that 172 persons had died and 358 were injured in the six-day disturbances in the province. The announcement said that the casualties due to army action were 23 dead and 26 injured.
Foreign Press reports from East Pakistan said that widespread mob violence, arson, looting and murder had mushroomed in the wake of the Awami League's protest strike call of March 2.
Constitutional experts opined that the Awami League's demand for immediate withdrawal of Martial Law and transfer of power to the people's elected representatives without the framing of the constitution by the National Assembly was unreasonable because it militated against the provisions of the Legal Framework Order promulgated by President Yahya Khan in March 1970 on the basis of which the December polls were held.
MARCH 9
The Awami League-sponsored strike continued all over East Pakistan with Awami League cadres trying to run the parallel administration. Multiplying reports of violence and arson were received from many parts of East Pakistan. The economic situation was deteriorating rapidly. Trade and industry had been crippled. Non-Bengali-speaking persons, terrorized by extremist’s mobs, started leaving East Pakistan. All banking transactions between eastern and western Pakistan were suspended because of the Awami League's general strike.
MARCH 10–14
The Awami League's civil disobedience movement continued. The civil administration remained paralyzed; courts did not function; out of fear, persons owing federal taxes stopped paying them in East Pakistan in response to the Awami League's
