RAWALPINDI: Prime Minister Zulfikar Ali Bhutto presided over a meeting here today [Dec 23] to consider the supplementary report of the Hamoodur Rehman Commission on Inquiry on the 1971 war and directed that two Sub-committees begin examination of the full report. ... A Press note ... said the [PM] also directed that the Sub-committees, dealing respectively with the foreign affairs implications and those of national security and defence, make their recommendations by the middle of February next at the latest. ...

The Press note said: It may be recalled, that, in its report of 8 July, 1972, the Commission submitted that its findings on the cause of the debacle in East Pakistan were tentative and recommended that ...

when the Commander, Eastern Command, and other senior officers, now prisoners of war in India, are available, a further inquiry should be held. ... Although these facts were well known, certain political groups sought to exploit the report by asking for its premature release. Obviously, the Government could not contemplate the publication of tentative ... report, especially in view of the continued captivity of over 90,000 prisoners of war and the threat of Bangladesh to stage war crimes trials.