THATTA: The Prime Minister, Mr. Zulfikar Ali Bhutto, said today [Jan 2] that he was making sincere efforts to solve the Baluchistan issue but made it clear that this did not necessarily mean ousting the Government now in power there. “That is not my method of ditching or dislodging one government and installing another”, he told correspondents at an unscheduled Press conference … at his open kutchery here. “The present Government is there and it will exist”, he said but added that if at all a change was felt necessary it would be brought about with the consent … of the leaders ruling the province now. … Asked whether the Government intended trying Wali Khan for his “prejudicial activities”, Mr. Bhutto said the NAP chief had “violated every law of the land.”

[Meanwhile, as reported by Our Staff Reporter,] Saudi Arabia, which has not yet recognised Bangladesh, treated the 4,000 and odd pilgrims from Bangladesh as East Pakistanis, the Minister for Religious Affairs, Maulana Kausar Niazi, said.

Published in Dawn, January 3rd, 2025