Maj Gen (Rtd) K M Shafiul-lah. MP. Chairman of the Parliamentary* Standing Committee on Defence, has sent a note regarding a report published in The Dally Star on April 2.

His note says. "I strongly differ with the report especially the way it has presented me. ft has not only misquoted me. but also failed to reflect the spirit of my position there. Contrarily, a tinge of Insolence was portrayed.

"As Chief of Anny Staff. I was directly under' Banga-bandhu Sheikh Mujibur Rahman who was Defence Minister as well as the President of the country. Above all. he is the Father of the Nation. How can one even think of disrespecting such personality?

"By virtue of my position as Chief of Army Staff, I had access to Bangabandliu to discuss various aspects of our defence. I put many suggestions to improve our defence force and ran the army under his able guidance.

*1 feel sorry to mention that my sentiments towards the Father of the Nation has not been reflected.*

Our Correspondent replies Maj Gen (Rtd) Shafiullah was one of the participants at a Roundtable on * Defence Forces and Defence Policy* held in the city on April 1. We have reproduced his utterances and those of others as faithfully as possible. There was no' deliberate distortion.

The former Army chief has not pointed out any specific error in the report or where he was misquoted. His vague remarks and failure to point out anything specific proves that our report was accurate.