Department of State

TELEGRAM

LIMITED OFFICIAL USE 163

DACCA 02586 01 OF 02 110535Z 18

ACTION : NEA - 15

INFO : OCT-01 PM-05 NSC-10 SS-20 RSC-01 CIAE-00 DODE-00 INR-OS NSAE-00 P-03

USIA-12 PRS-01 AID-28 EUR-20 EA-15 RSR-01 /140W 048005

P 100845Z DEC 70

FM AMCONSUL DACCA

TO SECSTATE WASHDC PRIORITY 2434 AMCONSUL CALCUTTA

AMEMBASSY ISLAMABAD AMCONSUL KARACHI

AMCONSUL LAHORE AMEMBASSY NEW DELHI

LIMITED OFFICIAL USE SECTION 2 OF 2 DACCA 2586

SUBJECT : SHEIKH MUJIBUR RAHMAN

8. How the Sheikh will sheaf up as leader of Pakistan or whether Indeed a constitution acceptable to both wings and the MLA permitting him to become leader will emerge, is matter for much speculation and future reporting efforts. Certainly overcoming the first hurdle, i.e., constitution making, will be difficult. Mujib's entire campaign had basically one thrust: Anti-West Pakistan with his primary claim to fame as champion of Bengal, he has little to offer West Pakistan. Even if he were inclined to compromise Bengali demands, he would lose stature in Bengal and leave himself open to attack from the more militant (at times separatist) elements of his own party. One of Mujib's more oft quoted refrains to effect that East Pakistan is part of southeast Asia and not the Middle East raises question as to whether accommodation between the two wings, now with their duly elected leaders, is possible or from Mujib' standpoint, even desirable. In conclusion, Mujib will remain very much a prisoner of his Six Points and "Bangla Desh." Somehow it is hard to imagine Mujib ruling in Islamabad out of touch with and not fortified by his Bengali masses. If he finds himself frustrated in the role as Prime Minister of a united Pakistan, Mujib has a fall-Back position which must seem even more feasible to his after December 7, 1970, to seek to strike out on his own as leader of an independent East Pakistan. Exempt.

BLOOD

Source: The American Papers- Secret and Confidential India.Pakistan.Bangladesh Documents 1965-1973, The University Press Limited, p.436