(EDITORIAL) In his speech at the public meeting on Sunday [March 21] and again in his address to the convocation of the Dacca University on Wednesday the Quaid-i-Azam referred to the language controversy which is still alive in East Bengal. He gave to the province’s people a firm and clear lead, and to those who were fomenting unrest over this issue he sounded a warning which they cannot but heed if they love Pakistan. The demands of the “agitators” have now narrowed down to a single issue, namely, that Bengali should be “one of the State languages” for the whole of Pakistan.

… [W]e have every hope that except for a few fifth columnists in the pay of Pakistan’s enemies and a few well known opportunists like Mr Fazlul Huq whose hairs have grown hoary in disservice to his community, the great majority of those who have been carrying on the agitation will give it up after the Quaid-i-Azam’s visit. Let them look at India where Hindi, the language of only about 20 per cent of the total population, has been made the State language and all the non-Hindi speaking provinces have willingly acquiesced in it. Has this no meaning for them?

Published in Dawn, March 26th, 2023