A dreaded society is not a civilized society. The most progressive and powerful society in the civilized sense, is a society which has recognized its ethos, and come to terms with the past and the present, with religion and science. With modernism and mysticism, with materialism and spirituality; a society free of tension, a society rich in culture. Such a society cannot come with hocus-pocus formulas and with fraud. It has to flow from the depth of a divine search.

I've known him since 1954 and I've never taken Mujib Rahiman seriously - I understood from the very first moment that there was no depth to him, no preparation, that he was an agitator breathing a lot of fire and with an absolute lack of ideas.

We know who left the country. And many were Bengalis from West Bengal, sent from Calcutta. It was she who sent them - Mrs.[Indira] Gandhi.

If the people wanted my head I would bow without demur. If I had lost the confidence or respect of the people I would not want to live. The tragedy of the drama is that the very opposite is true.

I felt certain uneasiness, a strange sensation, which had comic to a head. Every evening I went to Yahya to report that Mujib [Rahiman] and I weren't making any progress, and Yahya [Khan] showed no interest. He looked away or complained about the television or grumbled because he couldn't listen to his favorite songs - his records hadn't arrived from Rawalpindi.

I tried to explain that there was a great difference between me and Mujib [Rahiman]: he was a secessionist and I wasn't.

For instance, in the name of unity. You can't build without destroying.