N.Z. AND BANGLA DESH ‘No premature recognition’

Press, Volume CXII, Issue 32805, 4 January 1972, Page 2

N.Z. AND BANGLA DESH ‘No premature recognition’

(New Zealand Press Association)

WELLINGTON, January 3.

The Government had not so far considered recognising Bangla Desh as an independent State, said the Prime Minister (Sir Keith Holyoake) today.

“The question will be given attention in the near future in the light of the Government’s primary objective, which is to help promote a durable political settlement in the area,” he said. The Prime Minister was replying in a statement to inquiries about the visit to New Zealand by Mr Khurman Khan Panni, a representative of the Bangla Desh Government. Mr Panni is in Wellington to convey a formal request I for New Zealand to recognise Bangla Desh.

“We have been deeply concerned by the distress and misery caused as a result of the upheaval in East Pakistan last March,” said Sir Keith Holyoake. “An end to this can be found only through political arrangements which take fully into account the aspirations of the East Pakistani people. “These arrangements can be achieved in a durable way through negotiations between all the parties immediately concerned, especially the Pakistani people themselves. It is important that the prospects for such negotiations should not be prejudiced by premature action on our part,” said the Prime Minister.