UNITED NATIONS, N. Y., Dec. 14—The Security Council, brustrated in its attempts to ring about a cease‐fire on the Indian subcontinent, shifted its attention tonight to an effort to promote a political settlement in East Pakistan.

It was a sharp change in approach for the Council, which under the terms of the United Nations Charter ordinarily regards its tasks as stopping any fighting and ending a threat to international peace.

Afar a short debate on procedure today, the Council adjourned to give the delegates time for private consultations on a British‐French draft resolution calling for a political settlement between the Government of Pakistan and the insurgents in East Pakistan. The next meeting is scheduled for tomorrow morning.

Ambassador Agha Shahi of Pakistan called the Council's action “a shocking spectacle.” He conferred with his aides outside the chamber and said: “The Council has utterly failed. Its duty under the Charter is to stop the fighting, to end aggression. It has refused to do so, and is getting into internal Pakistani matters instead.”

Resignations Cited

Although none of the delegates would say so publicly, it was clear that the change in the Council's focus arose from military developments in East Pakistan. Diplomats cited the resignation of the civilian regional government in Dacca today as evidence that political control had passed into the insurgents' hands.
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The British‐French draft resolution was the first text submitted to the Council that had a chance of escaping a Soviet veto, especially since those two delegations said they would consider reasonable amendments, The possibility loomed of a veto by China, which has been giving Pakistan full diplomatic support.

The salient new feature of the British‐French draft‐resolution was a call for the immediate opening of negotiations between the Pakistani Government of President Agha Mohammad Yahya Kahn and the elected members of the Awami League, which has sought East Bengali independence.

Members of the Awami League—East Pakistan's dominant political party—had won 167 of 169 East Pakistani seats in last December's election for a new National Assembly that was to write a new constitution and return the country to civilian rule. But the Assembly was never convened and the party was outlawed as part of the Pakistani Army's attempt to crush the Bengali separatists movement, begun last March.

The British‐French initiative clearly implied that power had to be handed over to local representatives in East Bengal, informed diplomats said. They added however, that the text had made no mention of Bangla Desh (Bengal Nation), the new state proclaimed by the insurgents.

Withdrawal Not Mentioned

The draft resolution also called for an immediate ceasefire on the Indian‐West Pakistani border and in Kashmir, as well as in East Pakistan. It did not call for withdrawal of Indian and Pakistan forces, however. This omission was considered a major concession to the Soviet Union and India, which had strenuously objected to the withdrawal clauses in the previous resolutions—three of them had been blocked by a Soviet veto.

The British‐French text invited Secretary General Thant to appoint a special envoy to lend his good offices during negotiations between Pakistan and the local representatives in the East. The envoy would have a role similar to that of Dr. Gunnar V. Jarring in the Middle East.

The text of the British-French draft resolution was not submitted to the Council but was privately circulated among the members by the two chief delegates, Sir Cohn Crowe and Jacques Kosciusko‐Morizet.

Britain and France took an active role today for the first time since the Council began its emergency meetings on the Indian‐Pakistani war Dec. 4. The two delegations had abstained on three successive American resolutions calling for cease‐fire and withdrawal, questioning the wisdom of resolutions, which they said were certain to provoke Soviet vetoes.

Later, the Polish Delegate, Eugeniusz Kulaga, made public a draft resolution that called on the Council to “decide” that political power in East Pakistan should be transferred to “representative of the people headed by Sheik Mujibur Rahman, who would immediately be released.” Sheik Mujib, leader, of the Awami League, has been imprisoned since March and has been on trial for “waging war against Pakistan.”

The Polish draft was clearly unacceptable to most Council members, who saw it as a device to give the Soviet Union and Poland more bargaining leverage to amend the British-French draft in favor of Bangla Desh. Chinese sources indicated that China would veto the Polish draft, but withheld comment on the British‐French draft.