DACCA: The Awami League chief, Sheikh Mujibur Rahman, declared today [June 7] amid cheers that Pakistan had come to stay and that there was no force which could destroy it.

Addressing a massive public meeting at Ramna Race Course this afternoon in torrential rains, the Sheikh repeatedly held out the assurance that Islam was in no danger on the sacred soil of Pakistan, and lashed out at those who raised cries of “Islam in danger” on flimsy grounds to promote their own political ends. He said similar bogeys were raised by a section of the people during the 1954 elections in East Pakistan and on the question of joint electorate, but it had been proved conclusively that it was a mere political stunt.

Today’s public meeting was organised by the Awami League to commemorate the movement of June 7, 1966, when a number of people fell to the bullets of police of Ayub regime.

[Meanwhile, as reported by a correspondent in Lahore,] The Jamaat-i-Islami chief, Maulana Syed Abdul Ala Maudoodi, warned the people against the three-pronged attack on Pakistan’s ideology, integrity and well-being by socialists, parochialists and parasites of dictatorship. Addressing a meeting at the Jamaat headquarters today [June 7], he underlined the need for ceaseless and concerted effort to save Pakistan for Islam.

Published in Dawn, June 8th, 2020