RAWALPINDI: After his second meeting today [July 17] with the President Gen. A.M. Yahya Khan, the People’s Party Chairman, Mr Z.A. Bhutto, indicated to newsmen that still there was some gaps in the thinking of his party and the President’s plan for resolving the present crisis. Talking to newsmen at his hotel on return from the President’s House, Mr Bhutto said “for the time being” the two meetings that he had had with the President during the past two days were “sufficient”: but he hoped “we will continue these discussions and bring about reconciliation within the framework of the supreme interest of the people and in conformity with the gruelling realities” that existed in the country. He hoped “we will succeed” and added “if we do not succeed it will be a sad day the country”.

…He said “we have a certain point of view on some of the problems facing the nation and we have put our point of view to the President on these matters. He thought that the “President has appreciated the reasons that we have advanced in this connection”, whether he agrees with them or not.

The President also, he added, gave his reasons “in the same spirit” and “we have seen the reasons that have influenced the Government’s thinking”. …

Published in Dawn, July 18th, 2021