KARACHI: Mr Zulfikar Ali Bhutto, Chairman of the Pakistan People’s Party, is flying to Dacca ... as the head of a 15-member PPP team on the invitation of President Gen. A.M. Yahya Khan.... According to the list of members of Mr Bhutto’s entourage released by the Party office yesterday [March 20] afternoon, eleven MNAs-elect and two MPAs-elect will accompany Mr Bhutto in what the political quarters believe would be the “most important and crucial mission” of the majority party of West Pakistan. Mr Z. A. Bhutto in reply to a question … said he was not yet sure how long he would stay in East Pakistan, “That all depends on the situation in East Pakistan”. Earlier, addressing a ... Press conference Mr Bhutto said the President has asked him to bring a team of advisers and added: “This is appropriate.” — Agencies

[Meanwhile, as reported by special representative in Dacca] The President’s aides and Sheikh Mujibur Rahman’s advisers are working on the details of the mechanism for withdrawal of Martial Law and transfer of power to the elected representatives. ...Sheikh Mujibur Rahman’s four meetings with the President ... are understood to have produced some definite results. ...

It is believed that some broad agreement has been reached to lift Martial Law and hand over power to the majority party. How this decision will be implemented is what the experts are now working on. The instrument for withdrawal of Martial Law, according to legal experts, has to be a Presidential decree embodying interim constitutional arrangements....

Published in Dawn, March 21st, 2021