From The Hindu, May 7, 1975: Chavan, Wilson back Mujib's plea to Pakistan

The Hindu

06-05-2025

Kingston, May 6: At the Commonwealth summit meeting the External Affairs Minister, Mr. Y. B. Chavan, voiced strong support to Sheikh Mujibur Rahman's demand that Pakistan agree to an equitable division of the assets of undivided Pakistan with Bangladesh, and the repatriation of 63,000 Pakistani families whom Zulfikar Ali Bhutto has refused to take back even though they have opted for Pakistan.
Intervening in the final day's discussion on international affairs, Mr. Chavan told the heads of Government that both these issues had affected Bangladesh's efforts to cope with the problem of reconstructing its economy.
Even Prime Minister Wilson of Britain endorsed Bangladesh's stand with regard to the assets question by exclaiming, 'It is without precedent for a nation to be denied its assets. Therefore I support it (Bangladesh's demand)'.
In his statement Mr. Chavan also referred to the present situation in South-East Asia and said that what was necessary now was not a postmortem of what had happened there, but to see how best the Commonwealth and other countries could assist the war-ravaged countries of the region to recover and begin reconstruction. The Indo-China experience, he felt, should also enable the powers concerned to draw the proper lesson from it and not repeat the same mistake elsewhere of not recognising the forces of nationalism. One such area where the mistake could be repeated was the Indian Ocean, where the superpower rivalries and the construction of new and strengthening of old bases were going on.