Thus spoke Bhutto.

KARACHI: Zulfikar Ali Bhutto had resigned from President Ayub Khan's cabinet in June 1966 after developing sharp differences with the first military dictator who had discovered him from Larkana, Sindh and brought him in limelight as the youngesat Foreign Minister of Pakistan.

After resignation, Bhutto travelled across the country addressing big gatherings and arrived in Lahore to a biog reception at Lahore Railway Station on June 21,1967. He had visited East Pakistan after Awami League chief Sh Mujibur Rahman was arrested and addressed a press conference on his return from there in Hotel Pearl Continental Lahore on the date, possibly in October 1967, which was covered by this scribe as a reporter of PPI news agency and was sitting on the left of Mr Bhutto, prior to the launching of his own political party, Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP) in Lahore on November 30, 1967.

He talked on the basis of fourtyped pages which at the end he gave this scribe on a request and being told as to which news agency I was representing.

Accordingly ,what Mr Bhutto said in his press conference is being reproduced here as this may still be of some interest to many aroud and may help clearing some questions in many minds even after some decades.

"I had been to East Pakistan recently. In Dacca, I held a number of meetings with Maulana (Abdul Hameed) Bhashani, Manek Mian and Attaur Rehman. Also met trade union leaders and other people. It is my impression that political situation is deteriorating in the province rapidly. There is frustration, general apathy, gowing misunderstanding, sense of suffocation and feeling despair among the people. These are not good signs. This is for all of us to take into account this basic reality and the causes of discontent.

If one takes the situation into account he will find out that the right to express to articulate public opinion, to go to the people to explain the problems affecting them and the solution of these problems is getting difficult. Political platform is shrinking . There is Section 144 everywhere. There are restrictions on the press which is deliberately indulging in distortion, unnecessarily confusing public opinion.

There is no outlet for political problems and growing political difficulty. Add to this the situation the growing deterioration in general administration. If everything operates behind curtain, maladministration will grow and get wider and only byproduct will be corruption.

Corruption is honeymooning in...

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