401 , "Deliberate Falsehood and Perversion of Facts" Fazlul Huq Contradicts 'New York Times' Report: Provincial Autonomy for East Pak. pleaded. Karachi, May 24: "The notes taken by the Karachi correspondent of the New York Times, of my conversation with him contains nothing but deliberate falsehood and perversion of facts," said Mr. A.K. Fazlul Huq, Chief Minister of East Bengal while contradicting a statement published under his name by the New York Times. He said, "what I actually stated at the interview to the correspondents was, East Pakistan should be an autonomous unit of Pakistan. This is our ideal and we will fight for it." The following is the full text of Mr. Fazlul Huq's statement, issued to the Press late tonight: "Today at about 4 p.m. I have had the advantage of having read some of the notes taken by the Karachi correspondent of the New York Times, of my conversation with him on Monday. I regret to have to say that the statement as taken down by him containing nothing but deliberate falsehood and perversion of facts which it is impossible to believe, has been made deliberately. Every word of the statement is baseless, falsehood and every sentence is perversion of truth. It is impossible to contradict such a statement peacemeal, so, I am making the following statement as a whole to give the public an idea of what I said and how much my statement has been mutilated. What I actually stated at the interview to the correspondents are as follows: "East Pakistan should be an autonomous unit of Pakistan. This is our ideal; and we will fight for it." I never said for a moment that our ideal is "independence." I extremely regret that I am so much misunderstood and misreported. Perhaps people come to me with preconceived notions about me. I am not a coward. If I said something I will own it up. There were two correspondents, the Reuters and the New York Times, at the interview. They asked me about the defense of East Pakistan. I told them that in the case of aggression, we would expect help from West Pakistan but if no help was forthcoming from West Pakistan we will help ourselves. I did say that East Pakistan has a fine manpower for a first class Navy. 402 There was a discussion about this interview at the Prime Minister's House where the correspondents were called in. The correspondent of the New York Times admitted that I did not talk of independence. He said that he had gathered it from my talks. The New York Times correspondent in Karachi is famous for his notoriety in reporting. Many a sensational stories sent by him from Karachi were ultimately proved baseless. The most ridiculous item published by the paper from its Karachi correspondent is the Language Firing of Dacca in February 1952, in which the double column headline said, "Indian police open fire on Dacca, students: 4 Killed and several injured," but the story following was more ridiculous still. It said that "there were two English Language daily newspapers in Dacca, the Pakistan Observer and the Morning News. The Government banned the Pakistan Observer in protest of which the students organized a strike and the press of the Morning News was gutted down. The Indian police had to open fire to bring the situation under control as a result of which 4 students died and several others were injured. - (Ed., P.O.) Ali, Huq and Times Reporter confer. It is understood that on reading the text of Mr. Fazlul Huq's interview with Mr. John D. Challahan of the New York Times, the Prime Minister got together both Mr. Huq and Challahan and put before them the published report of the interview, reports A.P.P. Mr. Fazlul Huq denied having made some of the statements ascribed to him Mr. Challahan of "New York Times" however struck to his version of the interview and did not retract any part of it.-(A.P.P.) ____________ 403 - , Section 92-A Promulgated in East Bengal: Maj-Gcneral Iskander Mirza Sworn in as new Governor: "A Grave Emergency Exists." Karachi, May 30: The Governor-General of Pakistan today promulgated Governor's rule in East Pakistan. His Excellency the Governor-General made the following proclamation on May 29, 1954 which has been published in a Gazette, Extraordinary, dated May 30, 1954 issued by the Ministry of Interior, Government of Pakistan. "Whereas the Governor-General is satisfied that a Grave Emergency exists and thereby the security of East Bengal is threatened and that a situation has arisen in which the Government of East Bengal can't be carried on in accordance with the provisions of Government of India Act of 1935. "Now, therefore, in exercise of the power conferred by section 92-A of the Act, the Governor-General is pleased to direct the Governor of East Bengal to assume on his behalf all powers vested in or exercisable by the Provincial Legislature." The proclamation also suspends the operation of certain sections of the? Act. Major-General Iskander Mirza was sworn in as Governor of East Pakistan at 6 p.m. today. The oath of office and allegiance was administered by the Chief Justice of Dacca High Court, Sir J. H. Ellis. 404 - , Action taken to preserve integrity of Pakistan: Prime Minister's Broadcast Karachi, May 30: Pakistan Prime Minister Mr. Mohammed Ali told the nation over the radio this evening, "Our sole aim in taking over the administration of the province is to save East Bengal and preserve the integrity of Pakistan." The Prime Minister in a 29-minute broadcast immediately after the imposition of section 92-A in East Bengal gave a graphic survey of the situation leading to this drastic step by the Central Government. He said, the administration of East Bengal had "virtually broken down" and the Fazlul Huq Ministry was not able to secure the lives and properties of the people of the province. Mr. Mohammed Ali -assured the nation that in coming to this decision we have not been influenced in the slightest degree by the fact that the provincial ministry was not a Muslim League Ministry but a United Front Ministry. He added the centre did not hesitate to dismiss the Muslim League Ministries in Sind and the Punjab when similar situation arose in the past Centre's Information Mr. Mohammed Ali said that in the light of information in possession of the Government two factors stood out clearly, Firstly, disruptive forces and enemy agents were actively at work in East Bengal to undermine the integrity of Pakistan by setting Muslim against Muslims, class against class and the province against the centre. The second factor was that Mr. Fazlul Huq and his colleagues were "not prepared to made the action necessary to cope with this situation". The Prime Minister detailed the tragic events resulting from the nefarious activities of subversive elements in East Bengal and referred to the troubles in the industrial centers of Chittagong, Narayanganj and Khulna immediately after the results of the United Front Victory which came to be gradually announced. He proceeded to mention the "Serious riot" at the Chandraghona Paper Mills where 13 persons were killed, the disturbance between the jail staff and the public at Dacca and Finally the "proudly tragic" riot at Adamjee Jute Mill in which over four hundred persons including innocent women and children were killed. The Prime Minister asserted that the modus operandi in all these disturbances was identical. He declared, "no government could afford to ignore a situation pregnant with such disastrous possibilities for the well being of the province and the future of Pakistan". He disclosed that on 17th May directives were issued to the Provincial Government requiring them to take certain actions to cope with the situation that had arisen. At the 405 same time the Provincial Government was assured that Centre would give them "every assistance in the restoration and maintenance of order in the province.” Centre's Directive Ignored Mr. Mohammed Ali pointed out that the action suggested by the Central Government, Mr. Fazlul Huq publicly repudiated the suggestion that communists or other subversive elements had any hand in the disturbances. He added the United Front leaders made the fantastic allegation that the centre and the Muslim League had instigated these riots to discredit the United Front. "This", he said, "was of course a deliberate falsehood and wicked attempt to mislead the people and make political capital out of a great tragedy." Mr. Mohammed Ali declared that Mr. Huq's recent statements viewed against the background of his Calcutta Utterances had convinced him and his colleagues that they had to deal with a political leader who was fundamentally opposed to Pakistan. It was clear that neither he nor his cabinet was Fit to administer the Province or could be trusted to restore peace and confidence and work for the prosperity of 42 million people. The centre had, therefore, no other alternative but the dismissal of the Huq Ministry. The Prime Minister gave no indication in his broadcast as to how long the Governor's rule would continue in the province but added that section 92-A would remain in force “until such time as normal conditions have been restored in the province and ministry representative of the people and worthy of the people's confidence can function successfully". Warning to people He warned the people against the internal enemies and dangers of provincialism and appealed to the youth not to be misled by the enemies.