In his book "1971 Fact and Fiction", Hashmi writes about the political events and circumstances surrounding the East Pakistan conflict of 1971. According to Hashmi, Sheikh Mujibur Rahman had never originally intended for Bangladesh to secede; instead, he had leveraged it as a means to "raise the threshold" with Islamabad and acquiesce president Yahya Khan to agree to his demands – however, the situation reached a "point of no return." He also writes that former president Ayub Khan and prime minister Zulfikar Ali Bhutto both knew as far back as 1966 that "it was not really possible for East Pakistan to remain part of Pakistan for long". After the war ended, Chinese premier Zhou Enlai reportedly said to Bhutto: "Do not worry... take a long-term view, who knows what is going to happen in the subcontinent 50 years from now, 70 years from now, 100 years from now!". After Pakistan recognised Bangladesh and Sheikh Mujibur Rahman visited Lahore in 1974 to attend the Second Islamic Summit, Bhutto and Mujib had an exchange wherein the former remarked "You are helpless! You cannot take any decision without the approval of Indira Gandhi!" and the latter said "Bhutto "sahib", do not insult me... you know too well, whatever happened was because of you!".