Six-point quickened our independence
Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujibur Rahman placed his historic Six-point in Lahore in 1966 in order to make the then East Pakistan economically solvent. The points were :
1. The Constitution should provide for a Federal government in Pakistan based on the Lahore Resolution, in its true sense based on the Parliamentary form of government with supremacy of a Legislature directly elected on the basis of universal adult franchise.
2. The federal government should deal with only two subjects: Defence and Foreign Affairs, and all other residual subjects should be vested in the federating states.
3. Two separate, but freely convertible currencies for two wings should be introduced; or if this is not feasible, there should be one currency for the whole country, but effective constitutional provisions should be introduced to stop the flight of capital from East to West Pakistan. Furthermore, a separate Banking Reserve should be established and separate fiscal and monetary policy be adopted for East Pakistan.
4. The power of taxation and revenue collection should be vested in the federating units and the federal centre would have no such power. The federation would be entitled to a share in the taxes raised by the units to meet its expenditures.
5. There should be two separate accounts for the foreign exchange earnings of the two wings; the foreign exchange requirements of the federal government should be met by the two wings equally or in a ratio to be fixed; indigenous products should move free of duty between the two wings, and the Constitution should empower the units to establish trade links with foreign countries.
6.East Pakistan should have a separate military or paramilitary force, and Naval head quarter should be in East Pakistan.
Sadly, most of the people, even the educated class have little idea about the Six-point. Those who are members of the Awami League have slim knowledge. In this regard, I remind all that the nation who does not know its history, its birth, cannot prosper.
Abdullah Akber
Dhaka
