RAWALPINDI, Pakistan, Dec. 30 (AP)—Highly placed Government officials said today that President Zulfikar Ali Bhutto had proposed to Sheik Mujibur Rahman that Bangladesh and West Pakistan reunite in a loose federation similar to the one in which Egypt, Syria and Libya have joined.

The formula would mean virtual independence for both regions, with separate economies, political institutions and foreign relations, the sources said. They added that President Bhutto believed the Bengalis in East Pakistan wanted to find an alternative to complete dependence on India.

But diplomatic sources said they believed it unlikely that Sheik Mujib would reach an agreement with Mr. Bhutto or that any agreement would be binding on the government of Bangladesh, the nation proclaimed by the Bengali secessionists.

These sources speculated that Mr. Bhutto would also try to reach an agreement with India to exchange Sheik Mujib for the more than 100,000 West Pakistani soldiers and civilians in the East, They said India was insisting on Sheik Mujib's quick return to the East to insure a firm foundation for government in Bangladesh that would be dominated by his Awami League and friendly to India.

The Pakistani radio said that the Government had asked the United Nations to intercede with India on behalf of the West Pakistanis in the East. A spokesman for the National Awami party, which has no connection with the Awami League, reported today that President Bhutto had told the party's leader Khan Abdul Wali Khan, that he would lift martial law and allow representative government in Pakistan's four western provinces after the third week in January.

Mr. Bhutto has been trying to get the National Awami party to join his Cabinet be cause it is the largest party in the Northwest Frontier and Baluchistan, the smallest of the four provinces. The party spokesman said that until Mr. Bhutto made good on his promises, the party would stay out of the Government.

In Bangladesh today, Tajuddin Ahmed, the Prime Minister, replaced his anti‐Communist foreign minister with a politician expected to strengthen relations with the Soviet bloc.

Khandkar Mustaque Ahmed, regarded as one of the more pro‐Western members of the cabinet, lost the foreign ministry job to Abdus Samad, leader of a Bangladesh mission to Hungary during the eight months before the Indian‐Pakistani war.

Mr. Samad, 49 years old, is a long‐time member of the Awami League and has spent most of the last 15 years in jail for working for Bengali nationalism.