KARACHI: Mr Meraj Khalid, Chief Minister of the Punjab, last night [July 21] announced that a final agreement has been reached yesterday between both the sides involved in the language controversy in Sind, and that a lasting solution had been found. He said the language Ordinance promulgated by Mr Rasul Bux Talpur, Governor of Sind, provided a legal cover to Urdu as a National Language. In a radio interview, he expressed the hope that with the promulgation of the Ordinance, any doubts and misgivings, created about the Language Bill passed by the Sind Assembly would be removed.

He recalled President Bhutto’s assurance that his Government would never allow any sort of discrimination… . … He believed that it was on account of some misunderstanding that a law and order situation was created in the province. — News agencies

[Meanwhile, as reported by news agencies in Colombo,] Indian Army forces will prevent any Jan Sangh Party members from entering Pakis­tan territories captured by the Indian Army during the last war. The boundaries of the captured areas will be heavily guarded… . These decisions were taken by the Indian Army after the Jan Sangh Working Committee decided to send batches of volunteers to the Indo-Pakistan borders in Rajasthan and Punjab, where the transfer of territory to Pakistan will take place. Jan Sangh volunteers, who want to offer resistance to the transfer of territory, will be arrested.

Published in Dawn, July 22nd, 2022