KARACHI, Pakistan, April 6 — President Agha Mohammad Yahya Khan has told the Soviet Union that he intends to start talks “with rational representative elements in East Pakistan at the earliest opportunity.”

In a message to President Nikolai V. Podgorny made public here today, President Yahya defended the use of force against the independence movement in East Pakistan as the only step that could be taken to safeguard the nation's integrity against “subversive elements.” But he also said that his objective was still to restore democratic processes.

His statement was in reply to a message from the Soviet President received last Friday urging him “to take most immediate measures so as to put an end to bloodshed and repression against the population of East Pakistan and take measures of a peaceful settlement.”

Jolt to Pakistan

This appeal, the only formal protest thus far from one of the great powers against the Pakistani Army's crackdown in the East, was clearly a jolt to the central military Government.

Before the protest arrived, the officially controlled Pakistani press had been expressing satisfaction over what had appeared to be a hands off attitude by the Soviet Union. In addition, it was noted, the Soviet press had printed no critical reports about events in East Pakistan.

The Podgorny message was Withheld from the press here until President Yahya's reply could be published with it this morning.

Watching Peking Reaction

Since both the Soviet Union and Communist China give sizable economic aid and the Chinese provide military equipment, Pakistani officials are now watching closely for any reaction from Peking. What there has been so far has been restrained.

Yesterday, Pakistani newspapers reproduced a dispatch by the Chinese press agency that was the first report to come from Peking on developments in East Pakistan. It neither approved nor disapproved of the central Government's actions.

Voicing confidence in Chinese support, one Pakistani official said that Peking's reticence was welcome on the ground that any decided partisanship would have introduced big‐power tensions into the situation.

As the Podgorny and Yahya messages were published here, five senior officials of the military Government left for Dacca, the East Pakistani capital, to help the military commander and martial‐law administrator there, Lieut. Gen. Tikka Khan, with his duties.

Eleven East Pakistani political figures, all minor except Nurul Amin, a former provincial chief ‐minister, were said to have been cooperating in Dacca with the martial‐law authorities.

They were reported to have made radio broadcasts urging amity against what was described as Indian interference. All but the former chief minister were said to have called for support for the representatives of the central Government. Mr. Amin had previously pledged his backing for Sheik Mujibur Rahman, leader of the Awami League, East Pakistan's dominant party.

Sheik Mujib and a number of officials close to him were arrested during the initial period of the military crackdown in Dacca 10 days ago, and some were reportedly shot. There are reports that Sheik Mujib and some of his associates are being detained in West Pakistan.

[Some of his supporters who head resistance forces in East Pakistan have vowed to fight the Pakistani army to the end. According to The Associated Press, the army appears in control of the major cities. But reports by refugees and by newsmen who have slipped into East Pakistan indicate that the resistance forces hold much of the countryside.]

Yahya Trip a Possibility

It is assumed here that the East Pakistani leaders who have been publicly identified with the martial‐law authorities will provide the nucleus of an East Pakistani faction that will work with the central Government. President Yahya's statement about talks with “rational” elements, it is thought, may foreshadow a trip by him to Dacca soon.

With his statement, the Pakistani leader also sought to deflect Soviet protests against actions in East Pakistan by proposing that Moscow make a protest to India.

He charged that statements by Indian leaders constituted “clear interference in our internal affairs” and said India had posted six divisions not far from East Pakistan's borders, thereby raising “a direct threat to our security.”

“In the circumstances,” the President said, “I would request Your Excellency to use your undeniable influence with the Indian Government” to end such interference.

The President also replied to that part of the Soviet message that cited the “convincing support” Sheik Mujib had received in the recent election's for a National Assembly, which was to have drafted a constitution to return Pakistan to civilian rifle.

President Yahya, who postponed the Assembly, in which Sheik Mujib's Awami League had won a majority with a campaign for regional autonomy, declared that the league had not obtained a mandate from the people of East Pakistan “to dismember the country.”