DACCA: Sheikh Mujibur Rahman, President of the Awami League, had an unscheduled 70-minute meeting with President Yahya Khan in Dacca yesterday [March 20] in which the former sought clarifications on some points on matters they had discussed in their previous meetings. Mr Z.A. Bhutto, chairman of the Pakistan People’s Party, also called on the President last night, shortly after his arrival in Dacca from Karachi. Later, he told newsmen with an optimistic note: “everything will turn out all right. This much I can tell you now.” — Correspondent

[Meanwhile, as reported by agencies in Dacca] Sheikh Mujibur Rahman … said ... that there must not be any relaxation in the movement until the demands of 75 million people of Bangla Desh were fulfilled. The Awami League chief was addressing a large crowd in front of his house. He said the movement should … be disciplined so that the new history which the people of Bangla Desh had created in the world should not be allowed to be stained.

He told the slogan-shouting men, women and children that the entire people had now risen as one man. He reiterated that this awakened nation could not be kept under subjugation. “We would also not allow [keeping] Bangla Desh as a colony and market anymore,” he added.

Published in Dawn, March 22nd, 2021