There was no issue of the newspaper on Feb 27, 1972, on account of Ashura. The following excerpt has been taken from the previous day’s issue.

KARACHI: Indonesia and Malaysia yesterday [Feb 24] announced official recognition of Bangla Desh. A written statement by Indonesian Foreign Minister Adam Malik … said the decision has been cabled to the Indonesian Ambas­sador in New Delhi to be conveyed to the Gove­rnment of Bangla Desh. Earlier, the Indonesian Ambassador in Islamabad was instructed to convey a message from President Suharto on the recognition to President Bhutto… . …[T]he state­­ment said: “Indonesia has tried its best to reconcile the parties in the dispute but the prospect of rapprochement is not seen in the near future.” — News agencies

[Meanwhile, as reported by news agencies in Rawalpindi,] Seventeen wounded and sick Indian prisoners of war … left here this evening [Feb 25] in an aircraft provided by the International Committee of the Red Cross. The aircraft had earlier landed at Chaklala airport this afternoon with one Swiss doctor on board. … It was assured by Delhi that the second aircraft scheduled to bring Pakistani POWs from India today was unable to take off due to technical failure.

Published in Dawn, February 27th, 2022