DACCA: India today [March 19] signed a wide-ranging treaty of peace, friendship and co-operation with Bangla Desh on the lines of the Indo-Soviet treaty of last year. An operative article in the treaty, apparently taken from the Indo-Soviet pact, calls for immediate consultations between the two countries in order to take “appropriate effective measures” in case of an attack or threat of an attack on either count. The treaty comes into effect immediately. — News agencies

[Meanwhile, as reported by a staff correspondent from Lahore,] President Zulfikar Ali Bhutto today [March 19] declared in unequivocal terms that Pakistan wanted to live in peace with India … but this country would never accept a dictated peace that would compromise its honour, he added. Addressing a mammoth gathering at Lahore Stadium … Mr Bhutto made it clear that Pakistan wanted friendly bilateral ties with three Super-Powers without letting these relations harm any third country. … He also noted with satisfaction that the US wanted to improve her relations with this country — an approach which was fully reciprocated by Pakistan. … Pakistan, he said, was not a big power and would always be willing to have friendship with any country in its own interest.

Published in Dawn, March 20th, 2022