Name: Hamza Dar Course: Pak.

St 101

Roll no: 221-436361 Instructor: Dr. Farzand Masih

Assignment 2
Pakistan, April 21—Martial law was lift ed in Pakistan today and Zulfi kar All Bhutto was
sworn in as President under an interim Constitution approved four days ago by the
National Assembly.
Mr. Bhutto, who assumed the title of President last Dec. 20, took the presidential oath
be fore a crowd of about 300,000 on the grounds of the Rawal pindi race course.

He told the milling, often dis ruptive throngs that he would abide by the Constitution
and by the wishes of the people and cooperate with opposition par ties, which had urged
a return to civilian government.

Would Release Prisoners

He also said that if Prime Minister Indira Gandhi of India asked him, in talks being
planned, to release Indian pris oners of war, he would release them whether or not India
agreed to release Pakistani prisoners.

An Indian delegation, led by Durga Parsad Dhar, chairman of the policy planning
commit tee of the Indian Foreign Min istry, is scheduled to arrive in Islamabad Tuesday
for talks with the Pakistani representa tive, Aziz Ahmed, secretary general of the
Ministry of Ex ternal Affairs. They are expect ed to discuss preparations for talks
between Mrs. Gandhi and Mr. Bhutto, which officials say may be held early next month.

Mr. Bhutto said in his speech that the most important issue between the two countries
was the 93,000 Pakistani soldiers and Government officials held in Indian prisoner
camps. He said that India was violating international law in holding the prisoners.

‘We Will Not Bargain’

“We will not bargain on this point,” he said. “We will re spect the law.”

Then he added that if India did not respect the law, he would release all Indian pris
oners. Pakistan holds only about 600 Indian soldiers captured in the December war.

He said he had received the consent of the National Assem bly to release the prisoners
un conditionally and then he asked the crowd for its consent. There were cheers but a
few shouts of “Nol”

Martial law, lifted at mid night after Mr. Bhutto signed his approval of the interim Con
stitution last night, was first imposed in October, 1958, by Field Marshal Ayub Khan. It
was lifted in 1962 and reim posed on March 25, 1969, by President Agha Mohammad
Yahya Khan.