QUETTA: The Pakistan People’s Party deman­ded today [Sept 24] that the National Assembly must be summoned soon after the conclusion of by-elections in East Pakistan. The demand was made by the Party’s Central Committee….

… Maulana Kausar Niazi, who briefed journalists later, said the PPP was of the … opinion that the year 1971 must usher her in a new era of dem­ocracy for the people of Pakistan. He said that if the summoning of the parliament and the transfer of power was delayed beyond 1971, it may make the situation uncontrollable. The People’s Party, he made it clear, was not interested in any interim arrangements for such a power transfer would be unacceptable to the people.

[Meanwhile, as reported by the newspaper’s staff correspondent in Dacca,] The PDP chief, Mr Nurul Amin, disclosed … that the President is expected to pay a visit to East Pakistan after he returns from Iran, where he scheduled to attend “Cyrus the Great” celebrations by the end of October.

Published in Dawn, September 25th, 2021