HYDERABAD: President Z.A. Bhutto today [July 28] said that the present Government was determined to give an Islamic Constitution to the country, fully in keeping with the hopes … of the people. He was addressing a citizens’ meeting at Tando Allahyar… .

He said those who are today demanding an Islamic Constitution at the top of their voice are the very persons who had, during the Yahya Khan regime, accepted a Constitution given by a non-Muslim. He said by the Grace of God the Constitution of Pakistan was now being framed by a committee consisting of Muslims who would not tolerate [the incorporation] in it [of] any provision repugnant to the spirit of Islam. — Staff correspondent

[Meanwhile, as reported by news agencies in Sydney,] Prime Minister Shaikh Mujibur Rah­m­­an said … that President Zulfikar Ali Bhutto … should recognise what he termed the reality of Bangladesh so the association between the two countries could continue. “And if we can talk, then the many problems of the Subcontinent can be solved,” he said on the Australian Broadcasting Commission pre-recorded … programme, the “Ge­­rald Stones Asian Circuit”. … Questioned on whe­­­ther a confederation … could exist, Shaikh Mujib said, “Bangladesh is an independent country.”

Published in Dawn, July 30th, 2022