page 10-Wednesday, August 1, 1979-The Michigan Daily
Condened Bakhtiar blasts Khomeini's rule
PARIS (AP) - Shahpour Bakhtiar, but might eventually return to Iran if
the Iranian prime minister who drvpoed conditions change. Long a political foe
from sight in the dying moments of the of Shah Mohammad Reza Pahlavi,
old regime, surfaced yesterday for the Bakhtiar was named prime minister by
first time in almost six months and the shah last Dec. 29, just before the
sharply attacked the "republic of the monarch, under pressure from
mullahs" that he said has destroyed Bakhtiar and a mass uprising, left on
Iran. what at the time was called a
"My worst fears were realized," "vacation." The shah is still in exile.
Bakhtiar, a condemned man in his Bakhtiar disappeared Feb. 11 when
homeland, told a news conference. the revolutionary forces of Moslem
Iranians under the rule of Ayatollah religious leader Khomeini swept the
Ruhollah Khomeini's mullahs - government out of power in three days
Moslem priests - have "neither in- of violent protests that climaxed a year
dependence nor liberty," he said. of demonstrations and riots. It was
HE SAID HE has no plans to lead an believed at the time that the French-
opposition movement against Khomeini educated Bakhtiar, 65, probably fled to
France or Switzerland.
Looking tanned and fit; he refused to
say yesterday where he has been for the
past five and one-half months or where
he is staying in France. But he was
voluble on events in Iran.
"THERE IS NO planning in the
government, there is no security in the
cities," he told reporters.
"The unfortunate thing is that the
present Iranian government doesn't
know what to do. What is sad, insuppor-
table for all Iranians, is the disin-
tegration of the country. Central
authority is non-existent. . . No
religious personality can put the coun-
try back on its feet. We have neither in-
dependence nor liberty."
Secular groups in Iran complain in-
creasingly of the religious discipline
Khomeini is imposing on the country,
and of the government's lack of
authority when faced with the power of
local revolutionary committees and
militias and Khomeini's Revolutionary
Council.
"IRAN EXISTED before Islam,"
Bakhtiar said. "Mullahs, back to the
mosques. Religion must not interfere
with the state."
A Bakhtiar spokesperson had said
Monday that the exiled politician, an-
swering appeals from non-religious
parties in Iran, would head a secular
movement that would run candidates in
the Aug. 3 elections for a 73-member
assembly in Iran. The assembly is to
adopt a constitution making Iran an
Islamic republic.
But Bakhtiar denied this, telling
reporters, "I don't believe in the
Islamic republic, so why should I
present candidates?"
He said he had no plans to return to
Iran now, nor to set up a government in
exile, nor to form an opposition political
party outside the country. He said he
hoped to return "as soon as possible,
but only when there is a minimum of
security and a minimum of freedom."
Khomeini has said he would seek the
extradition of the "criminal Bakhtiar"
to stand trial for alleged collaboration
with the shah and crimes against the
state. The president of the Islamic
court in Tehran says Bakhtiar has been
condemned to death.
Schlesinger: Oil import
cuts difficult to achieve
WASHINGTON (AP) - Energy
Secretary James Schlesinger said
yesterday that President Carter will
require a lot of help and a great deal of
luck to keep his promise of freezing oil
imports at 1977 levels.
"It will be a tough go at best," the
departing Schlesinger told the Senate
Finance Committee. "It is an ambitious
target that has been set - a very op-
timistic goal."
SCHLESINGER also said U.S.
gasoline supplies have increased to the
point that there probably will be no
more long lines at service stations this
year. But he said he suspects the lines
will re-appear next summer.
Meanwhile, the Senate speedily con-
firmed Charles Duncan as President
Carter's choice to become Secretary of
Energy. .
The Senate voted 95 to 1 to approve
the former president of Coca-Cola Co.
Rhodesia conf
Commonweal
LUSAKA, Zambia (AP)-Delegates
to the Commonwealth summit
maneuvered behind the scenes yester-
day to head off a split in the British-led,
39-nation group over the fast-changing
situation in Zimbabwe Rhodesia.
Queen Elizabeth II, visiting here in
conjunction with the Commonwealth
conference, unexpectedly found herself
in the middle of the region's racial
disputes when Lusaka's mayor, Simon
Mwewa, delivered a scathing attack on
South African whites as she stood by his
side. The Zambians later apologized for
the unscheduled speech.
AUSTRALIAN PRIME Minister
Malcolm Fraser, emerging as a key
figure in the conciliatory moves on
Zimbabwe Rhodesia, declared that the
war-torn country's new black majority
government "cannot be ignored."
But he said the "new situation" there
was still not enough to warrant inter-
national recognition of Bishop Abel
Muzorewa's government.
The principals in the dispute are
British Prime Minister Margaret That-
cher, who is leaning toward
recognizing- - the Muzorewa -,regime,
as Schlesinger's successor.
DUNCAN, NOW deputy secretary of
defense, could assume management of
the nation's energy policies by Labor
Day.
Schlesinger told the Senate-panel
production of domestic oil and an all-
out commitment to produce alternative
fuels is needed to meet the goal of
limiting oil imports to no more than 8.5
million barrels a day.
He conceded that holding to Carter's
target in the absence of other energy
sources would impose tremendous
pressure on the economy, likely sen-
ding it downward into a series of
recessions.
Schlesinger went before the commit-
tee to plead for passage of the tax on oil
producers and for earmarking the
proceeds for development of alternate
fuels, improving mass transit and
helping the poor pay their energy bills.
lict may split
th summit
and the black African Commonwealth
member states, who support the black
nationalist guerrillas fighting to topple
Muzorewa.
THE GUERRILLAS say the new bi-
racial government in Zimbabwe
Rhodesia is a front for perpetuating
white-minority control.
Thatcher met yesterday with Fraser
and later, accompanied by British
Foreign Secretary Lord Carrington,
with Zambian President Kenneth
Kaunda, whose country is one of the key
"front-line" states supporting the
guerrillas.
The biennial heads-of-government
conference of the Commonwealath, an
organization of Britain and its former
colonies, begins today and lasts a week.
British sources said the meeting would
produce a debate on the Zimbabwe
Rhodesia issue but no specific set of
proposals.
Fraser has discussed the Zimbabwe
Rhodesian issue with the Nigerians,
Australian officials said. Nigeria, a
major oil producer, is the most
populous and powerful nation in black
Africa.- "" -"'