Dacca: Where political pressures failed floods have
succeeded. After personally inspecting the ravages
caused by massive floods in East Pakistan President
Yahya Khan postponed the country s first general
election from October 5 to December 7.

Evidently the president was dismayed by the havoc he
saw. When a reporter asked him in Dacca if in view of
the floods the election date would be shifted he was
visibly annoyed. Rubbish he retorted you are talking
about elections when you should be concerned al out
people dying.

The floods in East Pakistan are part of the floods in
Assam and Bihar in India. Whatever the causes, Indians
are fellow sufferers with Pakistanis in the tragedy.
They both now face a serious food situation as crops
have been extensively damaged.

Little wonder then that President Yahya decided to
concentrate on relief work without having to divert
attention and resources to elections at this time. All
political leaders have been in favour of the action with
the notable exception of Sheikh Mujibur Rahman of the
Awami League and Zulfikar Ali Bhutto of the Pakistan
People s Party.

Sheikh Mujibur charged last week that floods were being
taken advantage of to sabotage the election. His
opponents quickly retorted by saying that he wants to
salvage democracy by drowning the people . Slogans like
Food Before Vote have caught the imagination of the
rural poor.

The Sheikh's advisers seem to believe that a delay in
the election will be to the disadvantage of the Awami
League. It is difficult to know the basis )f this
assessment. The push for Awami League tickets in East
Pakistan has been unprecedented. The party's
parliamentary board has reportedly collected a million
rupees in the form of application fees from hopeful
candidates.

In the case of Bhutto also it is difficult to understand
why he is against a delayed election. He has been saying
that those who ask for a postponement are those who have
no faith in the judgment of the people. But press
reports from West Pakistan suggest that his party would
be a beneficiary from a postponement of the election
date.

Bhutto's popularity is significant among the rural
people in the Punjab. This has caused irritation among
the Punjabi leaders who resent the rise of a Sindhi in
their area. They have been saying that Bhutto is trying
to become a political baron through cheap slogans. But
this very attack may indicate that the "Bhutto Party" as
it is popularly called is expected to emerge as a force
to reckon with in West Pakistan.

Essentially the Awami League is an East Pakistan party
while the People's Party is rooted in the West These are
the only two parties contesting all the seats in both
the provinces, indicative of their ambitions for the
future.

One good thing that has emerged is that all parties are
engaged in something of a race in rushing aid to the
floodstricken people. Thanks to the political situation,
East Pakistanis will find relief aplenty this time.