8.100
EXPRESSION OF POLITICAL DESIRE FOR EAST WING AUTONOMY
Public Record Office
REF: DO 196/319
BRITISH HIGH COMMISSION,
DACCA.
25 November, 1965.
E.L. Sykes, Esq., KARACHI.
Dear Easin,
This is a follow-up my letter of 4 November and an
extension of the paragraphs in the Fortnightly Report which describe the
beginning of a re-emergence of political comment in this Wing.
2. By way of preface I might briefly describe a talk
I had a week or so ago with an individual who (to protect his confidence) I will
not identify in this letter, save to say that he is a businessman of
considerable local stature, well known to the High Commissioner. He is not
typical of local opinion, being much too well informed and too sophisticated
for that. Moreover he was born in India and still has marked feelings of
goodwill for India. Also, though he is very much in touch with local opinion,
he has a tendency to talk in broad generalization. I therefore did not report
what he said at the time, but waited until I could take some cross bearings.
3. What he said was that there was great local
discontent about the situation resulting from the war and its effect on
(a) Resentment at the loss of contact with West
Bengal, both business and private.
(b) A realisation that the economic shoe was really
beginning to pinch. Specifically he mentioned the feeling that it is all very
well for West Pakistan which has had quite a lot of its development; East
Pakistan was just a bout to get its share under the Third Five Year Plan, and
what is going to happen to this now.
(c) A general tendency to look more clearly at
4. All this, according to my informant, has produced
disillusion among the business, academic and student communities. He thought
that these views would begin to be heard as soon as the emergency was lifted
and would canalize themselves into a bid for provincial autonomy. The gambit
would be to try to extract a price for continued co-operation with the Centre.
The price would be a far greater degree of autonomy.
5. The developments of the last fortnight begin to
offer some supporting evidence of this. As we see it, the spring was pressed by
the President's address in the National Assembly about defence production on 15
November. when he spoke of a special organisation to deal with defence
production and emphasised the need to strengthen further the defence of East
Pakistan. It looks as though the opposition press decided that this left them
free to add comments of their own.
6. The following is a very brief summary of their
comments on succeeding days.
17 November
Nurul Amin demands that
18 November
"Ittefaq", echoing the President on the
difficulties of communication in war and Nurul Amin on self-sufficiency,
extended the field in which East Pakistan should be self-sufficient to include
"economic, political and administrative" matters as « ell as defence.
18 November
"Observer" calls for government help to
set up industries to make
18 November
Demand for the establishment of an ordnance factory
in
19 November
"Observer" publishes an article on the
need for a "self-subsisting defence complex" in this Wing.
20 November
“Observer" calls for a long-term plan for
recruitment, training and defence preparation -whatever the communication
difficulties between the two wings or rather because of :hem".
22 November
“Observer" calls for further reappraisal of
development strategy and in particular the protection from cuts of the Works
Programme.
7. On 20 November these demands were developed in
three columns on the leaderpage of "Ittefaq", into a call for
regional autonomy. The writer was Toffazel Hussain (see paragraph 3(b) of my
letter under reference). The article began as a discussion o: the Province's
economic problems for which the writer blamed the capitalistic profit sharks of
the West (Pakistan) encouraged by the Central Government and said that: due to
geographical reasons both Wings of the country should be made self-sufficient
as far as possible in "defence and economy". The article continued:
"The
same reasons apply to the question of granting regional autonomy ... The unity
and integration of the people during the war has shown how wrong are those who
say that autonomy would really mean separation ... There is no question of
making the two Wings of the country in to independent sovereign states, the
question is regional autonomy. Some matters would be retained in the hands of
the Central Government and others placed in the hands of the Government of the
two Wings. This will help administration and expedite development work. We
believe that the time for misunderstandings over discussion of autonomy in the
two wings is now past, and we hope that with negotiationsand discussions we
can amend the constitution and incorporate the necessary arrangements for
regional autonomy. If the unity and integration of the people are to continue
on a firm basis the Government must take the people fully into their
confidence. Direct elections must be introduced in place of indirect elections.
Anyone who doubts, the honesty and political sagacity of the people should
change his view in the light of their recent behaviour ... If a direct election
system is introduced the people will have greater representation and the people
and government will come closer together".
Later after a divertissement on the subject of power
as a corrupting influence, related somehow to the smuggling of bidi, Hussain
concludes:
"Now
with the improvement of the situation, and when there can be no two opinions
about the need for making whole-hearted efforts towards the defence of the
country, we hope that the state of emergency will be ended as soon as
possible".
8. 1 am still not prepared to draw rash conclusions.
The evidence, though it sounds a lot when set out like this, is really pretty
thin. And the government's power to clamp down upon thinking of this kind if it
wants to, is probably still complete. But I do suggest that in looking for the
post-emergency pattern of the relationship between East and West Pakistan, we
shall need to be alert for evidence of thinking which leads in the direction of
greater autonomy.
9. Because of your peripatetic habits I have marked
a copy of this direct to
Yours ever
(K.R. Crook)
Source: The British Papers – Secret and
Confidential India.Pakistan.Bangladesh Documents 1958-1969,