From Page 1:
New formula for Pakistan accord

President Yahya Khan and Shaikh Mujibur Rahman, the leader of East Pakistan, have reached a compromise formula to end the country's political crisis, Dacca radio said tonight.
Assembly postponed, Page 9


President Yahya Khan again postpones session of national assembly
From Peter Hazelhurst

Karachi, March 22. The long awaited inaugural session of the Pakistan Constituent Assembly was suddenly postponed again today when it became obvious that President Yahya Khan and a roundtable conference of political leaders in Dacca have so far failed to evolve a formula which would avert a crisis in the Assembly and subsequently the break up of the country.

A Government spokesman announced the Assembly session’s postponement today shortly after President Yahya brought Sheikh Mujibur Rahman, the East Bengal leader, and Mr. Z. A. Bhutto, the leader of West Pakistan, together for the first time since the elections last year.

Soon after the leaders of the two wings emerged from the hour-long tripartite talks, a spokesman at the President’s residence announced that the President had postponed the session of the Assembly to an unspecified date “in consultation with the leaders of both wings of Pakistan and with the view to facilitating and enlarging the area of agreement among political parties”.

It is believed that the postponement is for an indefinite period, while tempers cool and the President and the, leaders of all the political parties will attempt to find a formula under which an interim coalition government of popularly elected leaders can function.

As Sheikh Mujibur drove to the President’s residence for another round of talks this morning, thousands of Bengalis cheered their leader. This was in sharp contrast to the crowds lining the street of Dacca this morning who shouted anti-Bhutto slogans and sported black badges as the West Pakistan leader was escorted to the President’s residence by heavily armed guards.

After leaving the meeting this morning, Sheikh Mujibur met journalists. He linked the President’s decision to postpone the assembly with East Pakistan’s demand for the lifting of martial law as a precondition for future constitutional negotiations.

“I have made it clear that I will not sit in the Assembly unless our four demands are fulfilled”. he said.

The Sheikh then introduced a note of optimism into his statement. “If there is no progress, why am I continuing with the discussions?” he asked. He is expected to meet the President for the seventh round of talks either tomorrow or on Wednesday.

As Pakistan prepares to celebrate the fifteenth anniversary of the founding of the republic tomorrow in an atmosphere of despondency and uncertainty, one can still detect the wide gulf that exists between the two wings.

In East Pakistan, the Bengalis are planning to celebrate the thirty-first anniversary of the Lahore resolution which called for the formation of Pakistan as a federation of independent Muslim states.

But West Pakistanis are celebrating the founding of a republic which binds the state under a strong central Government.

In a message to 70 million Bengalis on the eve of the celebrations, Sheikh Mujibur referred specifically to the Lahore resolution and told his supporters that the struggle for “emancipation” would continue.

“Ours is the right cause and hence victory is ours”, he said. “Our people can no longer be silenced by bullets, guns and bayonets. Every house in Bangla Desh should be turned into a strong fortress.”

At the same time, President Yahya made his annual broadcast to the nation.

“Have no doubt that we shall succeed in resolving the current political crisis, he said. “In the agonies of trying to return to democracy, there have been unhappy developments; but nothing is lost if we do not lose our faith in our destiny.”

The President has now summoned leaders from all the provinces to Dacca to work out a formula under which Sheikh Mujibur who leads the largest single party in both wings, will form an interim Government.

According to one of the Awami League’s constitution advisers, Mr. A. K. Brohi, an eminent lawyer who arrived in Karachi today, a three point formula for the transfer of power is being discussed in Dacca.

Dacca, March 22. For militant supporters of Sheikh Mujib, tomorrow -- the republic’s fifteenth -- anniversary will be a day of resistance. In Dacca they are demanding that their new Bangladesh flag be flown from every building.

Their animosity towards Mr. Bhutto was shown last night when he was stuck in a lift at his hotel and angry crowds surged forward with placards reading “Bhutto - political bastard.”

Troops with automatic weapons guard him everywhere he goes.