ISLAMABAD: The National Assembly tonight [July 14] gave its approval to the Simla Agreement between Pakistan and India, by an overwhelming majority, after a three hour forty minute speech by President Zulfikar Ali Bhutto... . The President ... said that the decisions arrived at Simla were pre-eminently justified. At Simla, he said, he had not compromised on any principle, and he had not recognised Bangladesh on the soil of India. President Bhutto made a spirited ... defence of the accord ... He said if Kashmir had been an insurmountable problem, it was because of Ayub Khan’s betrayal at Tashkent. He accused the former President in very bitter terms for having left the legacy of the Tashkent declaration. At Simla, President Bhutto said, he had at least been able to get equal terms for Pakistan even in the difficult state, when he did not have a single [trump] in his hand. — Special representative

[Meanwhile, the special representative adds from Islamabad,] President Bhutto ... appealed to the people to give him a formula on the language controversy acceptable to both sides... .

Published in Dawn, July 15th, 2022