Delhi, June 28. The crisis in South Asia deepened tonight when the Indian Government and the provisional Government of Bangladesh rejected President Yahya Khan's new ‘formula for the transfer of power' soon after the Pakistan leader made a marathon broadcast to the nation.

In short the President announced that a group of experts are to draw up a constitution for Pakistan, the Constituent Assembly will be converted into a national assembly, elected members from the banned Awami League party who were not involved in the acts of "secession" will be allowed to take their seats, and by-elections will be held for vacant seats.

Within minutes of the announcement, Mr. Swaran Singh, the Indian Foreign Minister, told Parliament that the Government of India would reject any makeshift plan for the transfer of power which did not take the elected leader of East Pakistan, Sheikh Mujibur Rahman, into account.

Mr. Singh said the political events in Pakistan were of vital interest to India's well being because the Government was certain that the six million refugees who have crossed the border recently would only return to their homes if they felt secure and safe.

"Those conditions can only be created if the elected representatives of the people, led by Sheikh Mujibur Rahman, are in power," Mr. Singh added.

At the same time a spokesman for the provisional government of Bangladesh in Calcutta said that the Awami League, which won 168 of the 169 seats of the National Assembly seats in Bengal, described the President's announcement as a farce.

He said that all members of the Awami League had been warned that they must not participate in the national assembly and the people of Bangladesh will be asked to boycott the by-elections.

The spokesman pointed out that many of the elected representatives of the Awami League had been killed by the Army while most of those who are still alive are in exile in India or have gone underground in East Pakistan.

"The whole procedure will be a farce. The Punjabis will force a preordained constitution on the people to preserve their interests and they hope to put their own Quislings in power in a so-called Parliament."

Angry MPs quickly demanded immediate action by the Indian Government, the most popular calls being for recognition of the Bangladesh government and for more military aid for the guerrillas.

The controversial figure of Mr. Krishna Menon, the former Minister of Defence, entered the fray today and said that the Government had refused to recognize the provisional government because Mrs. Gandhi, the Prime Minister, did not want to displease the world powers.

Mr. Menon said that many people believed that the recognition of Bangladesh would trigger off a war. "I don't believe that a war is necessary but the recognition of Bangladesh is the recognition of a freedom struggle. It will take away the cloak of illegality and in the context of guerrilla warfare this will become important.

"It may lead to war but I don't think this country should initiate a war against Pakistan or any other country. But if war is forced upon us we should meet the threat."

Mr. Menon went on to accuse his political opponents of attempting to play down the refugee problem. "This is not a domestic problem, but some people say that we have absorbed refugees in the past and it won't matter if six million people are absorbed. We will all just eat a little less. What they want is the equal distribution of poverty," Mr. Menon said.

Mr. Bhagat Jha Azad, a former Minister who initiated the debate, launched an angry attack on the United States Government for contravening its own embargo and supplying arms to Pakistan. He said that the Americans were supporting Pakistan, because they wanted to maintain a balance of power in the region to keep India weak.

Mr. Azad quoted American statistics to show that the per capita inflow of American military aid to Pakistan had mounted to 243 rupees per capita military (£14) since 1958, while in India the per capita military aid was as low as 104 rupees (£6).


Michael Hornsby writes from Dacca: President Yahya declared on television and radio that Pakistan will continue to be ruled by military law "for a period of time."

National and provincial governments would be formed in due course, but they would retain the "cover of martial law" to prevent a return of chaos and anarchy.

The Army was now in full control of the situation in East Pakistan, the President said, having "crushed the mischief-mongers, saboteurs and infiltrators." But it would "take some time before the law and order situation becomes completely normal."

The nation, he said, was "proud of the armed forces who deserved all its admiration and appreciation." It was only with their help and by the grace of Allah that the country had been "saved from disintegration."

The President said that his final objective still remained a "transfer of power" to civilian authorities. He hoped that this might be achieved within a matter of four months or so." The precise timing would depend upon "the internal and external situation at the time."

He said that members of the outlawed Awami League elected to the national and provincial assemblies last December retained their "status as such in their individual capacities." This did not apply, however, to those who had "committed criminal acts or indulged in anti-social activities." A list of persons thus disqualified would shortly be published and by-elections held in the vacancies created.



Our Geneva Correspondent writes: International aid reaching the East Pakistan refugees in India is no more than 20 per cent of what is needed, according to Mr. Peter Kuhn, former director of the Swiss office of Caritas, who has been visiting West Bengal.

He told journalists at Lucerne that coordination of the relief action was sadly deficient and that the mortality rate among children was terrifying.

Mr. Henrik Beer, secretary-general of the League of Red Cross Societies, who returned at the weekend from Delhi, noted serious transport difficulties in the distribution of relief. The league will charter an aircraft to speed up movement of supplies out from Calcutta.

Mr. Stanley Mitton, logistics officer of the World Council of Churches, also emphasized that distribution difficulties are a big obstacles. On his first visit to India, from April 9 to April 17, when the refugees total was put at 2,300,000, he found the situation "not too alarming." But on June 10, after his second visit, he reported a worsening situation. He found evident undernourishment with widespread intestinal illness. Pneumonia was also regarded as a grave threat.

----
The India-Pakistan Relief Fund has received £lm in donations from the public, the Disasters Emergency Committee announced yesterday.

But a spokesman for the committee said: "There is no magic in the figure of £lm and no efforts will be spared to continue the struggle on behalf of the victims of this appalling tragedy." With over six million refugees the fund works out at 16p each.

Leading article, page 15