Dacca, March 12. Sheikh Mujib said today that he was willing to held discussions with President Yahya to settle the question of East Pakistan once and for all. The president of the Awami League which is acting as virtual Government of East Bengal, told me: “I am ready to discuss and settle the matter. What I have said I have said clearly. My people want to live like free citizens, in a free country.” When asked about details, for example of the defence budget which might figure in discussions, he said: “There is no question of wavering any more. We cannot betray the blood of my people.” Parrying questions about whether he wanted a complete break with Pakistan, he said: “If they intend us to part, it is better that we should part as brothers.”

Mujib stressed the solidarity of Bengalis which has been demonstrated over the past week and claimed that their dedication and discipline would enable them to tackle their desperate long-term economic problems. He complained that East Bengal has been treated like a colonial market for years and that siphoned off. They had never seen the helicopters sent from Saudi Arabia and Czechoslovakia. He claimed that he could get millions of people “to work day and night even without food” on flood control measures prepared with international assistance and that even students would go to the fields if asked by him. “We are a disciplined people; have you not seen that?”

As in his speech on Sunday he emphasised that the people were prepare to resist the army if it moved against them. “Our people will die. Everyday they die by cyclone, by flood, by cholera, by starvation. Let us die once and for all.” He refused to answer questions about the implications on foreign policy of a change in the status of East Pakistan, but he is clearly conscious of the importance of world opinion in the present situation.

Large extracts from a leading article in the “Daily Telegraph” arguing against military force to preserve the integrity of Pakistan were featured prominently in a newspaper here this morning. The Awami League has relaxed considerably the restrictions on commercial transactions after the growing strain on the economy here. It has agreed to longer opening hours for banks, raised limits on transfers and clearances, and permitted transfers from West Pakistan. The payment of up to 10,000 rupees a week for any bona fide commercial purpose is now allowed. Port authorities have been ordered to function in all respects, industrial development corporation factories to open, and agricultural development work to go ahead.

Reuters adds: President Yahya was arriving in Karachi today on his way to Dacca and talks with Mujib. The President was keeping his moves secret. Meanwhile officials in Dacca said that two prisoners were shot dead and 22 others wounded when guards opened fire on rioting at a prison 172 miles west of the city. Thirty policemen were also injured by prisoners with iron bars and other weapons. The riot started when 200 prisoners attacked guards at Barisal Prison last night. Police said that the prisoners failed in an attempt to break open the prison’s main gate, but 22 of them escaped after climbing the high boundary wall. About 385 prisoners have escaped from prisons in East Pakistan during the present trouble.