REFERENCE Pervez Mushharaf’s accusation (Aug 4) that Z.A. Bhutto was responsible for the 1971 crisis. Please note, Bhutto never said ‘Udhar tum idhar hum’ ; this was a headline concocted by Abbas At’har of the Azad, Lahore, Feb 15, 1971. The second and third headlines said that Bhutto wanted one Pakistan.

Here is the Dawn report of Feb 15, 1971: “Mr Zulfikar Ali Bhutto said if power is to be transferred to the people before any constitutional settlement as demanded by Sheikh Mujibur Rahman, it should be transferred to the majority party in East Pakistan and the majority party in West Pakistan. Mr Bhutto strongly advocated One Pakistan.”

If the criticism is that Bhutto opposed the six-point proposal, then time is not lost. It should be given to Balochistan as demanded by the then governor Zulfiqar Magsi.

As for the Polish resolution, Mr Bhutto had it rejected in a three paragraph rejoinder before the UN Council session, on the ground that it called for the withdrawal of Pakistan armed forces from its own territory before the withdrawal of the occupying Indian forces had begun.

Article 3 of the Polish resolution said: “Re-grouping of Pakistan armed forces to preset locations for evacuation from there.”

Article 4 said: “All West Pakistani civilian personnel and other persons willing to return to West Pakistan be given the opportunity to do so under the supervision of the United Nations”, meaning that civilians would be permitted to go back home while Pakistan armed forces would be taken to an undisclosed location.

All this from a general who apparently did not know that Kargil was on the side of Pakistan till 1971.

Dr Muhammad Reza Kazimi

Karachi

Published in Dawn, August 13th, 2017