The second and final phase of the non-cooperation movement was reaching its peak amid sheer enthusiasm and a great spirit of patriotism among the mass people.

On 14 March in 1971, they showed thumbs down to martial law and refused to attend their respective offices and perform government duties like the initial days of the movement.

In his much talked about 7 March speech, Sheikh Mujibur Rahman gave four conditions for joining the National Assembly session.

People organised rallies and brought out processions in Dhaka to create pressure on the West Pakistani establishment so that they accept the four conditions.

On that day, terming Sheikh Mujib’s demands logical, Council Muslim League chief Mian Mumtaz Muhammad Khan Daultana urged the Pakistan government to accept them in order to bring an end to the political crisis in the country.

While talking on the same issue, Jamiat-e-Ulema-e-Islam Parliamentary Party Leader Maulana Mufti Mahmud said, “In spite of the disastrous gravity of the situation in East Pakistan, of the tremendous heat and pressure generated there and the scope thus given to disruptive forces, Sheikh Mujibur Rahman has shown his stature and his firm commitment to the solidarity of Pakistan, by putting in the present crisis the four demands that are not in the least parochial or regional, but exclusively based on a national approach.”

On 14 March, National Awami Party (Wali) leader Khan Abdul Wali Khan and Sheikh Mujibur Rahman had a meeting at the latter’s residence in the presence of some senior Awami League office bearers.

Upon the conclusion of the meeting, Mujib said that the power-seeking attitude of the government and some politicians has created a volatile situation in Pakistan.

With a confident voice, he said it would be a fight for the independence of Bangladesh. On the other hand, Jamaat-e-Islami chief of parliamentary affairs Syed Siddiqul Hasan Gilani had made Pakistan People’s Party (PPP) Chief ZA Bhutto responsible for the ongoing crisis on the day.

He said Bhutto’s threat of boycotting the National Assembly session on 3 March deteriorated the whole situation.

PPP, on the day, organised a rally in Karachi’s Nishtar Park where Bhutto proposed that power be handed over to the major parties of Pakistan.

While addressing the rally, he said there were two wings of the country. The PPP got a majority in West Pakistan, while the Awami League was the most popular in East Pakistan.

If power was transferred to the majority parties of the two wings, it should be equally given to the Awami League in East Pakistan and PPP in West Pakistan. He then urged Sheikh Mujib to sit for a dialogue.

West Pakistani industrialists, on 14 March, submitted a memorandum to the president and urged him to accept the conditions of Sheikh Mujibur Rahman for the sake of Pakistan’s economy.

They said due to the ongoing non-cooperation movement all money of West Pakistani businessmen and industrialists were stuck in East Pakistan. According to them, if this stalemate situation continued, all factories and industries in West Pakistan would be closed and the economy would be crippled as East Pakistan was their biggest market.

Jatiya League chief Ataur Rahman Khan, on the day, addressed a public rally in Barishal where he called for the formation of a temporary government by Sheikh Mujibur Rahman.

On that night, Mujib called upon the freedom-loving people of East Pakistan to continue their agitation programmes. He also issued new instructions for the subsequent days. “Bangladeshi citizens’ fight cannot go in vain. We’re indomitable because we’re ready to die,” the leader said.