TEXT OF PAKISTAN'S PROTEST NOTE AGAINST U.N. SECRETARY­
GENERAL'S STATEMENT AT SHEIKH MUJIB'S TRIAL
August 10, 1971

 

The Government of Pakistan appreciates the widespread humanitarian con­cern evoked by the tragic developments in East Pakistan since March. It warmly responds to any expression of such concern which is not motivated by power politics and which appreciates Pakistan's difficulties. It is publicly known that Government of Pakistan has promptly accepted several suggestions made by the Secretary-General to help the return of people who have been uprooted from their homes in East Pakistan.

 

This understanding cannot, however, be extended to any attempt to inter­fere in Pakistan's internal affairs or to dictate to Pakistan the kind of political accommodation it should reach in its Eastern region. The Pakistan delegation regrets that in the statement made on August 10 by a U.N. spokesman on his behalf, the Secretary-General should have chosen to make a comment on the impending trial of Sheikh Mujibur Rahman which exceeds both the bounds of humanitarian concern and the competence of the U.N, as defined in the U.N. Charter.

 

Our regret is sharpened by the awareness that in numerous cases of trials, even imprisonment without trial and sentences after summary trials of political leaders in various countries, no expression of feelings about their repercussions was ever made on behalf of the U.N.

 

The Government of Pakistan cannot accept the proposition that any judicial decision on the individual case of Sheikh Mujibur Rahman will have any reper­cussions outside the borders of Pakistan.

 

No such repercussions are inevitable unless Pakistan's hostile neighbour, India, is encouraged to make them so.

 

 

 

 

(THE DAWN, Karachi-August 16, 1971)

 

 

 

 

 

Source: Bangladesh Documents, Vol – II, p. 22.