Word: agha
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Dates: during 1970-1979
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...While East Pakistan continues to suffer from the bloody civil war and the growing threat of food shortages, the other half of the divided country is bearing burdens of another sort. The army-backed federal government of President Agha Mohammed Yahya Khan remains totally committed to keeping the Eastern wing from breaking away to establish Bangla Desh, an independent Bengal state. But the strain of the undertaking is overtaxing West Pakistan's resources and nerves. "This regime has East Pakistan stuck in its throat," says one American diplomat in the federal capital of Islamabad. "The army must either swallow...
...white flags hang limply in the steamy stillness. "We all know that Pakistan is finished," said one Bengali, "but we hope the flags will keep the soldiers away." As another form of insurance, portraits of Pakistan's late founder Mohammed Ali Jinnah, and even the current President Agha Mohammed Yahya Khan, were displayed prominently. But there was no mistaking the fact that the East Pakistanis viewed the army's occupation of Dacca as a setback and not a surrender. "We will neither forgive nor forget," said one Bengali. On learning that I was a sangbadik (journalist), various townspeople...
...message to President Agha Mohammed Yahya Khan of Pakistan, Chinese Premier Chou En-lai said, "Should the Indian expansionists dare to launch aggression against Pakistan, the Chinese government and people will as always offer support to safeguard the state's integrity and national independence...
Completing the Rupture. The civil war erupted as a result of a victory that was too sweeping, a mandate that was too strong. Four months ago, Pakistan's President, Agha Mohammed Yahya Khan, held elections for a constituent assembly to end twelve years of martial law. Though he is a Pathan from the West, Yahya was determined to be fair to the Bengalis. He assigned a majority of the assembly seats to Pakistan's more populous eastern wing, which has been separated from the West by 1,000 miles of India since the partitioning of the subcontinent...
...mobs of rioting civilians. Casualties mounted into the thousands. Though the full toll remained uncertain because of censorship and disorganization in the world's most densely populated corner (1,400 people per sq. mi.), at week's end some estimates had 2,000 dead. Even if President Agha Mohammed Yahya Khan is prepared to accept casualties of a geometrically greater magnitude, the outcome is likely to be the final breakup of East and West Pakistan and the painful birth of a new nation named Bangla Desh (Bengal State...