Yahya’s advisors speak of proclamation

March 17, 1971 was Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujibur Rahman's fifty-first birthday. Rather surprisingly, newspapers in West Pakistan, such as Dawn, carried special articles on him praising his qualities as a political leader. It was quite ironic, considering that the media in West Pakistan had always been critical of the policies of the Bengali leader and had spared no effort, by and large, to denigrate him as an individual.

On the day, Mujib called on General Yahya Khan at the President's House and reiterated his demand for power to be transferred to the National Assembly and for martial law to be withdrawn. Yahya Khan went back to his earlier assertion that a fulfillment of such demands would lead to a legal and constitutional vacuum in the country. He also made it known to the Awami League that he had summoned his constitutional adviser, Justice A.R. Cornelius, for consultations on the issue. In the evening, an Awami League team comprising Syed Nazrul Islam, Tajuddin Ahmed and Kamal Hossain met the president's advisers, among whom were General Peerzada, Justice Cornelius and Col. Hasan, judge advocate general of the army.

Yahya's advisers, according to Kamal Hossain, informed the AL team that in light of the earlier Mujib-Yahya meeting, a proclamation would be issued by the president. They noted that Sheikh Mujibur Rahman had proposed that initially the elected representatives from the two wings of Pakistan sit separately to formulate their draft constitutions, after which there would be a combined session of all National Assembly members to frame a constitution for the entire country. For their part, the members of the Awami League team suggested that a proclamation that could serve as a link between a withdrawal of martial law and a framing of a constitution be issued by the president.