ISLAMABAD: The Minister of State for Defence and Foreign Affairs, Mr Aziz Ahmed, said yesterday [Sept 13] Pakistan remained opposed to the admission of Bangladesh to the United Nations until the so-called war crime trials were dropped and all Pakistani prisoners of war repatriated. Mr Aziz Ahmed … said the People’s Republic of China had once again reaffirmed its position of principles that the relevant resolutions of the United Nations must be fully implemented before Bangladesh could be admitted to the world body. Mr Aziz Ahmed returned from Peking on Sept 2 after a three-day visit during which he had talks with Chinese Prime Minister Chou En-lai and Foreign Minister Chi Peng Fei.

[Meanwhile, as reported by our staff reporter,] Syed Sajjad Zaheer, 68, founder of the Progressive Writers’ Association in the sub-continent and a prominent Communist, died of heart failure at Tashkent on Sept 13. He had gone to Alma Ata … to attend the third Afro-Asian Writers’ Conference. He leaves behind his wife, Razia Sajjad Zaheer, a well-known Urdu short-story writer and novelist, and four daughters.

Published in Dawn, September 15th, 2023