Dacca
The Pakistan Government has announced that 53 of the seats in the National Assembly taken away from members of the outlawed Awami League in East Pakistan will be filled without contest.

Tire announcement is regarded in Dacca us a severe blow to Bengali hopes of representative government in East Pakistan. It means that only 25 vacated seats will be contested in by-elections next month. All candidates for these seats have been carefully screened by the Government.

The National Assembly, which has 313 members, was elected on December 7 and charged with the task of working out a constitution to return Pakistan to civilian rule.

When the military Government of President Yahya Khan postponed the Assembly's first session in March, protest strikes were begun by the Awami League, which had won 167 of the 313 seats on a platform of regional autonomy. The Pakistan Army's military action in East Pakistan began at the end of March, and the League was outlawed.

When President Yahya Khan announced later that the National Assembly would eventually be convened, 78 of the 167 Awami League members who had been elected were deprived of their seats on the ground that they had committed crimes against the state.

A seat won by Shaikh Mujibur Rahman, the leader of the Awami League, was to be held in escrow pending the result of his trial on treason charges. The 88 remaining elected members were told that they would be permitted to take their seats as independents or as members of parties other than the banned Awami League.

President Yahya Khan announced on October 12 that the Assembly would meet on December 27 and that he would hand over power to a new central government soon afterwards. Within 80 days of such a transfer of power the Assembly could propose amendments to a constitution that was being prepared under the President's direction.

Members of the Bengali groups opposing the Pakistan military Government have denounced the forthcoming by-elections. Dr A. M. Malik, a civilian appointed by the Army is interim Governor of East Pakistan, said in a recent interview that “the by-elections have many imperfections, but they are certainly better than nothing”.

All politicians subscribing to the views of the Awami League have been barred from the by-elections. Other possible Opposition candidates have been prohibited access to the Government-controlled press.

The Government has supported candidates from minor right-wing groups with strongly religious and pro-Government tendencies. These groups generally chose to pool their candidates.

The party to be given the biggest number of seats from the 53 being filled without contest is the right-wing Jamaati-lslami, also known as the Muslim Orthodox Party. It has been reported as getting 14 seats. It has no appreciable political following in East Pakistan and won no seats in the December election.

The Government has asked the 88 members-elect from East Pakistan who were not barred to prepare to take their seats. However, most of them have fled to India or have joined the Bengali guerrilla underground.—New York Times News Service.