To the Editor:

In his Nov. 11 letter Mahmud Ali, chairman of the Pakistan Delegation to the U.N. General Assembly, says that the National Assembly has been summoned to meet on Dec. 27 and that he will attend it and work for the adoption of a new constitution and the formation of a “representative civilian government by the new year.”

It is ironic that the so‐called National Assembly will meet almost a year after the only general elections that Pakistan ever had. The Awami League, which won 167 out of 169 seats in East Pakistan and an absolute majority in the National Assembly, has been outlawed.

The Yahya regime decided recently to designate 79 constituencies as va cant in an effort to pack it with quislings. In most of these constituencies no balloting will take place. Instead, a slate of agreed candidates prepared with the blessing of the Yahya regime, has been declared to be elected with out contest. The Yahya regime has failed to induce, bribe or intimidate other Awami League members whose seats have not been declared vacant into joining this National Assembly as collaborators. This so‐called National Assembly will consist of people like Mahmud Ali. He stood for election last December. He ran a poor fourth and received only 15,628 votes, while the Awami League candidate was elected with 53,749 votes.

General Yahya Khan has already announced that the task of framing a constitution will be undertaken by a commission to be appointed by him. The job of this rubber‐stamp National Assembly, of which Mahmud Ali has become a member, then, will be nothing more than to ratify the constitution prepared by General Yahya's men.

As regards the formation of a representative civilian government by the next year, it is pertinent to mention that General Yahya Khan has given no indication that the martial law, or rather martial lawlessness, will end by then. How a civilian government will function under the umbrella of a military junta can well be imagined.

A foretaste of things to come has probably been provided by the appointment of a civilian governor in East Pakistan, Dr. A. M. Malik. Since he became governor, military repression has increased, not lessened.
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People like Dr. Malik or Mahmud Ali, who hold offices under the Yahya regime, can certainly claim to represent that regime, but not the people Of Bangla Desh

Sayyid A. Karim
New York, Nov 23, 1971

The writer was Deputy Permanent Representative of Pakistan to the United Nations until Aug 4, when he transferred his allegiance to Bangla Desh.