Delhi, July 11
The Pakistan Times, the Government-controlled newspaper which is used normally to float official policy, has been philosophizing on President Yahya Khan’s proposed constitution. If the newspaper is reflecting official thinking, Pakistan is likely to get a constitution of the Punjabis, by the Punjabis and for the Punjabis.

According to The Pakistan Times, the constitution should deprive the Hindu minority of the vote, foist Arabic script on to the Bengalis, divide Bengal into two or four provinces, negate the Bengalis’ overriding representation in the Assembly, and leave the Punjab as the dominant province in the country.

Mr Z. A. Suleri, the editor, who is a confidant of the military regime writing under the heeding: “What kind of a constitution?”, outlines what he considers to be the rationale for the basic framework of the document.

Pursuing his bitter campaign against the minority community. Mr Suleri suggests that Pakistan was founded on Islamic principles and that its political troubles can be traced back to the fact that Hindus had been included in the electorate.

“When the Muslims and the Hindus were treated as one nation in East Pakistan, the historic background of the Muslims in India was completely distorted and reversed.

Pursuing his theory, Mr Suleri claims that the Muslims in East Pakistan had been isolated from the Muslims in West Pakistan because they had allowed the small Hindu minority to take part in the elections and, as a result, Pakistan was plunged into chaos.

The Pakistan Times also makes it clear that the constitution will be written around the Punjab’s concept of nationhood and many of the East Bengalis’ demands for autonomy will be ignored.

He then suggests that the constitution should incorporate another of the Punjab’s demands: a two-chamber system under which the upper house would negate the Bengalis’ bigger representation in the lower house.

“A federation should comprise two houses, an upper and lower, the former reflecting the equality of the constituent units (the five provinces), the latter the strength of their respective populations ”, he says.” The powers of the two houses must be distributed on the basis of parity.”

In other words, according to Mr Suleri’s thesis, the Bengalis would have a bigger representation in the lower house on the basis of their bigger population, but any legislation could be overruled by the four provinces of West Pakistan in the upper house.

Mr Suleri goes on to advocate the division of East Bengal into three or more provinces, leaving the Punjab as the dominant unit in the proposed federation.