JHANG: The United Democratic Front demands, as a pre-condition to returning to Assemblies, what Afghanistan was voicing. “Thus it (UDF) supports Afghan interference in the internal affairs of Pakistan.” This was stated by Prime Minister Zulfikar Ali Bhutto while addressing a huge public meeting … this morning [March 20]. He said the UDF had boycotted the Assemblies sessions to press the same demands as were put up by Afghanistan. Mr Bhutto said Afghanistan had demanded that she would enter negotiations with Pakistan only when the ban on National Awami Party was lifted and NAP leaders were released. How Afghanistan could make such a demand[?]. ... He recalled that when the Communist Party was banned in Egypt during President Nasser’s days … the lifting of the restriction was never demanded by the Soviet Union or the People’s Republic of China.

[Meanwhile, as reported by news agencies from Islamabad,] President Fazal Elahi Chaudhry and [PM Bhutto] have felicitated Iran on the occasion of Nauroz, which falls tomorrow [March 21]. In a message to the Shahanshah, the President wished him health and happiness and to the Iranian people continued well-being and prosperity.

Published in Dawn, March 21st, 2025