Pakistan To-day

MR. JOYCE: It is our privilege to hear an address today by the High Commissioner for Pakistan to Canada, His Excellency Mirza Osman Ali Baig.

Born at Bombay, India in 1904, His Excellency was educated in England at Clifton College and Royal Military College, Sandhurst. Commissioned in the Indian Land Forces in 1924, he served in the Indian Cavalry until 1930. He then transferred to the Indian Political Service and held various appointments in India until 1942, He was appointed Consul in Portugese India in 1943 and First Secretary, British Embassy at Washington in 1946, Later he was appointed Counsellor of the Pakistan Embassy at Washington, From May to July, 1949, His Excellency was Acting High Commissioner for Pakistan in Canada. He was then in 1950 appointed Minister in Washington, He returned to Karachi in 1951 as non-political head of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Commonwealth Relations. His Excellency was appointed High Commissioner to Canada in September 1953,

He will now speak to us on "Pakistan Today".

HIS EXCELLENCY MIRZA OSMAN ALI BRIG: It is indeed a great pleasure for me to have this opportunity of addressing such a distinguished gathering and I thank you for this privilege, and for the hospitality and courtesy which you have extended to me, The subject on which I am to speak is my country of Pakistan, a country at the opposite end of the earth and, of necessity, somewhat unfamiliar to the majority of my listeners.

The Indo-Pakistan subcontinent is about two thirds the size of Canada, shaped like the head of an elephant, The forehead and the trunk are formed by India, while Pakistan forms the two ears: West Pakistan is four times the size of East Pakistan, but has rather less than three quarters of the population, The two portions of Pakistan are divided by some eight hundred miles of Indian territory. The country has an area of about 360,000 square miles, a little smaller than British Columbia, and a population of a little over seventy-six million, almost all Moslem by religion.

The policy and .the destiny of any country are governed mainly by its geographical situation. We are situated in South Asia, with a very large foreign country (India) in between the two parts of Pakistan. Our grass roots lie in Central Asia and the Middle East and our origin colours our outlook, The Moslems invaded India in successive waves, the first of which came in from the sea in the eighth century, and the last of which came in from Central Asia in the sixteenth century. Pakistan consists of the descendants of these invaders, Intermarriage took place, but not to a great extent, Conversions were also not on the scale that is sometimes alleged. In fact, Delhi itself, which we occupied as long ago as the twelfth century as our capital, and the area all around, has always had a population of which the majority is Hindu and has always been Hindu, In consequence, that whole territory was awarded to India on a population basis when India was partitioned in 1947. That could hardly have been the case if the Moslems who ruled from Delhi as their headquarters for several centuries had been intolerant and fanatical.

We have always considered ourselves to be a separate nation from the Indians and, at the time of the partition of the subcontinent in 1947, we insisted on having a separate and independent country in which to live and follow our own way of life. It so happened that we were heavily concentrated in two widely separated portions of the subcontinent, but that was a fact of geography and of history which had to be faced. In spite of the distance, the thirty-two million Moslems in the West and their forty-four million co-religionists in the East decided to unite under a common Government and to form the new country of Pakistan.

Since the partition of the former India, the world has unfortunately heard a great deal about differences between Pakistan and India. But we need not be pessimistic about the outlook. History has almost always shown that, when an empire breaks up into different fragments, each fragment regards its neighbour with a certain amount of suspicion and even hostility, In the course of time the hostility and bickering soften and subside. There is ample reason to hope that Pakistan and India will solve their present differences and live as good neighbours, and moreover that this happy state of affairs will come to pass within the next few years, We may take encouragement from the example of the former British North American colonies, Though there were one or two periods of some tension and even of open hostilities between Canada and the United States, neither country now finds it necessary to protect the common frontier against the other, and the bonds of friendship far exceed any differences that may exist,

In fact, the history of Canada since the Confederation furnishes many analogies and comparisons with the issues which confront Pakistan at the present moment, and Canadians are perhaps in an exceptionally good position to understand some of our present difficulties, You will remember the anxiety of a previous generation of Canadians over the possibility that the Paciflc Coast, or the Northwest Territories, might be taken over by Canada's great neighbour to the South, and how this outflanking movement would have affected the whole of Canada's future and potentialities, Pakistanis have much the same anxieties over the fate of Kashmir, which is in the melting pot.

Then again, we have boundary water disputes which, since our economy is at present almost wholly agricultural, is a matter of the most vital importance to us, The fathers of the farmers of Saskatchewan and Alberta, who had their troubles over the division of the waters of the St. Mary and Milk Rivers with their neighbours in Montana, would not have found it difficult to understand just how we feel.

Now, a fresh issue has arisen, and that is whether the strengthening of the armed forces of Pakistan with help from a friendly Western power would detrimentally affect the so-called "neutral area" in South Asia which India's great statesman and Prime Minister. Mr. Nehru, thinks essential for the safety of India and, indeed, of Asia as a whole. We do not agree with the reasoning behind such theories. Weakness does not 'buttress neutrality, but invites agression. Any area is neutral just so long as it suits some belligerent to let it remain neutral and no longer. History has furnished clear, and recent, examples of this fact. The U.S.A. tried to be a neutral area in both the great world wars. It failed entirely. Russia hoped to remain neutral in World War II, Hitler decided otherwise. When two mighty powers whom it was obviously most dangerous to provoke, let alone attack, failed to maintain their policy of neutrality, how can anyone reasonably expect a group of fledgling nations, weak and undeveloped, to maintain their neutrality at will, and especially in a state of weakness? Pakistan has no wish to emulate either the ostrich or King Canute, and will act accordingly in its policies and its friendships. The possession of a serviceable gun may not save a man from attack, but it may well enable him to survive.

Turning from India, which is at the moment our main problem but with whom we look forward confidently to close friendship in the not very distant future, let me touch upon Pakistan's attitude towards the rest of the world, As a people we originated in the area of the Caspian Sea and form part of what are known as the Caucasian races. You yourselves are also a branch of that same race. But for the past few centuries, the peoples inhabiting the East and the West have been in conflict and collision fairly consistently. In the Middle Ages, the Christians on their Crusades attacked and ravaged the eastern Mediteranean lands, Later the Turks (who are of the same tribal stock as the Moguls who conquered India in the sixteenth century and ruled from Delhi until 1858) invaded the West and ranged up to the walls of Vienna, Within more recent times, the English, the French and the Dutch have invaded and dominated hundreds of millions of people in the East, The hold of the West upon the East grew progressively weaker until political adjustments following the second world war resulted in several countries in Asia regaining their independence and forming new units and forces in the international sphere. Human nature being what it is, it is no matter for surprise that the newly liberated peoples of the East still regard western nations as a group with some suspicion and caution. Time will soften memories of things that had best be forgotten, There are many happy memories of inspiring association and friendship on the other side of the balance.

In the light of our background it is not surprising that Pakistan supports all peoples who are still struggling to break the bonds of colonialism in other parts of the world. This policy is based not merely on emotion but also on what we believe to be justice. Time and changing public opinion are progressively on the side of freedom and justice though there still remain large areas of the world, on both sides of what we call the "iron curtain", where these terms have a meaning different to that held, for instance, in Canada, But, by and large, the world is developing along lines which have already made colonialism an anachronism, Backward or undeveloped territories certainly need help, but the United Nations Organization now provides the proper ways and means for such help. A shining example is also provided by the Colombo Plan, which might be termed the brain-child of the Commonwealth, in which both Pakistan and Canada are sister nations.

Pakistan's progress is basically and primarily dependent on her own effort and determination, but in the Colombo Plan she has been extended the hand of friendship and assistance by Canada, the United Kingdom, Australia and New Zealand. In helping us to strengthen and stabilize our economy, Canada has already placed some thirty-five million dollars at our disposal in services and goods. Canadians are busy on our behalf planning or developing important irrigation projects, a cement plant, hydro electric power, improving our livestock, and carrying out aerial surveys which will provide us with a complete inventory of what types of land and resources are at our disposal over the greater part of our country, This inventory alone is of incalculable value, Without it, proper planning for the development of the country's mineral and agricultural resources would be quite impractical and unreal. Moreover, Canada has placed wheat to the value of ten million dollars at our disposal to avert an imminent famine.

Canada is also training many of our boys in agriculture, in the arts of civil administration, and in technology. When these trainees return home they in turn impart their knowledge to their colleagues and compatriots and thus help to increase the number of technicians and trained personnel at our disposal, This number is at present very small-far too small for a country of nearly eighty millions.

It is through such practical and generous friendship that mutual trust, confidence, and appreciation are developed between nations. Pakistan is grateful for all that Canada is doing for her under the Colombo Plan, and equally so for the ready understanding which she has shown on many occasions of stress and strain, through which a newly-formed country usually must pass.

Pakistan's economic progress so far has been uneven, but the general outlook is now far more promising than it has been during the past two years, In the beginning, when the newly-created country had to import heavily though its export trade was not yet functioning smoothly, the balance of trade was unfavourable. Then, during the Korean war the balance was more than adjusted. But in 1952 our economy took a sudden and steep dive, Our food crops were poor, and our jute earnings (our main source of foreign exchange) were almost halved, We had not yet built up sufficient financial reserves or industrial strength to take the shock in our stride, Purchase of foodstuffs from abroad depleted our holdings of foreign exchange to an alarming degree. In fact, we would have been unable to avert a serious famine, with no one knows what consequences, except for the generosity of the U, S.A. (who gave us nearly a million tons of wheat) and of some of the Colombo Plan countries including Canada who placed many millions of dollars worth of food-grains at our disposal, We shall never forget this help at a moment of dire need. We are now beginning to recover. There is expectation of better crops this year, and we are planning our overall economy afresh in the light of our past experiences. We are learning from trial and error, and still have a long way to go and much to learn, but we are wiser than we were. For a long time to come, we shall have to rely on our usual main exports, jute and cotton, to earn for us sufficient foreign exchange to buy machinery for our industrialization and agriculture. When we can meet a large part of our needs of manufactured goods from our own production instead of buying from abroad, more foreign exchange will be saved which can be used for more and more development and modernization.

To promote our industries, the Government has established two bodies, the Industrial Finance Corporation and the Industrial Development Corporation, The Industrial Finance Corporation is to grant loans and credits to new or developing industries. The Industrial Development Corporation is to ensure the development wherever necessary of industries considered vital to the country. These are jute, fertilizer, paper, iron and steel, ship-building, heavy chemicals, sugar, cement and textiles, The plan is that when private capital comes forward to take over any of these enterprises, it may take it over from the Government-run Industrial Development Corporation, If private capital comes forward that is only partly sufficient to take over. Government will allow it to do so on a proportionate partnership basis. In other words, though the jute and cotton industries have proved attractive to private capital, Government has thought it advisable to launch, in the first instance, certain industrial projects that should normally be reserved for private enterprise, but it is only doing so on a basis that it hopes will be temporary, and only because sufficient private capital or know-how is not at present forthcoming to establish and to nourish some of the industries that are very important to our economy. When such industries have been set on their feet, private capital may be expected to take over. The necessity for the Government's help in the initial stages arises from the circumstances that, in a society whose economy has always been almost entirely agricultural, little is understood as yet about industrial theory or practice, and the instinctive conservatism of the people has to be overcome. But the industrial revolution can no longer be delayed, In these days of ft moving events we have to move fast also, and the Government is blazing the trail wherever it finds it necessary to do so. Much progress has been made already. In 1947, at the time of partition, we did not have a single jute mill to process raw jute into burlap. At present we have six such mills, enough to provide for our own domestic consumption. In 1947, we could only process 10% of our domestic needs from the cotton we produced, In two to three years we shall be able to meet all our domestic needs of cotton textiles from our own manufactures. These developments and a host of others, both industrial and agricultural, that I have no time to describe just now, will automatically lead to a very considerable saving of foreign exchange and to the general strengthening of our economy.

You would perhaps like me to touch upon Pakistan's proposed new Constitution. The Constituent Assembly has resolved that Pakistan shall be called the "Islamic Republic of Pakistan" and that she shall have a President as the Head of State, Parliament will consist of an Upper House and a Lower House. Election to the Lower House will be by direct vote, on a population basis, by adult franchise, Members of the Upper House will be elected by each of the five Provincial Legislatures of Pakistan from among their own members-an equal number from each Province. Any vital issue, such as the election of the Head of State, or a confidence or no confidence vote will be decided by both Houses in joint session, Procedural and organizational details for the two Houses are still under discussion and the picture has not yet been completed. It is believed that the whole Constitutional issue will be finalized during the current year,

In coming to the main decisions regarding her future Constitution. Pakistan is reacting to the historical background of the nation. We have a very high regard for Britain, for her Crown, and for her people, but we cannot ignore our own long history and achievements which, though the times have changed, form our national heritage. As late as 1858 (only nine years prior to your own Confederation) we had our own Mogul Emperor ruling in Delhi, and his dynasty had ruled for several centuries succeeding other Moslem dynasties right back to the twelfth century. The historical fact is that an essentially foreign rule was imposed on us comparatively recently. Though the British were in virtual control long before that, the first British accession to the Imperial Throne was proclaimed by Benjamin Disraeli in 1876 and thereafter the Crown was represented in Delhi by the Viceroy, who on the one hand as Viceroy was the personal representative of the Crown and on the other, in his capacity as Governor-General, was the servant of the India Office in Whitehall. This dual personality in its dual manifestation was a most confusing institution, and the British concept of the Crown as reigning but not ruling never had even a reasonable chance of taking root-let alone of growing to maturity-in the welter of politics surging round the Government of India with the Governor-General--otherwise the Personal Representative of the Crown--as the active Head of the Cabinet and of the Government, taking his orders from the Secretary of State for India in London -an anomaly which lasted right up to the partition of India and the birth of Pakistan in 1947.

Pakistan's evolution to independence within the Commonwealth has therefore passed through stages rather different from those of Canada. The tree which grows in a different political climate produces fruit of a different political flavour. It is the law of nature-and of the development of political institutions. By the same token, like factors tend to produce like results and the British influence, common to the history of both countries, has produced an ideology in Pakistan--as in Canada--on which the British hallmark is quite evident.

Most of the associations which have grown up between Pakistan and the different countries of the Commonwealth are of a nature that will endure. Among these associations are the lessons that we have learned from our British friends, whose occupation of our country was by no means an unmitigated disaster. In fact, the very concept of parliamentary government which we have adopted is a British concept and a British tradition. Our own Mogul Empire, after several centuries of administrative efficiency and of splendor unequalled since Roman times, in its final stages had fallen into decay and corruption and, failing to move with the times, was easily undermined and eventually destroyed. The British, after taking over, restored good government and established very high standards and ideals in public service and in administration, They have also inculcated a dislike of dictatorship, a form of rule to which the peoples of the East in the past have had a partiality, If that is being changed now, the credit belongs in no small measure to the British people and to the example which they have set us.

It is only in a few years that the people of Pakistan have become aware, through their own independent experience, of the peoples and the policies and the outlook of the countries of the Commonwealth other than Great Britain, It will still take us a little time to get to know you as well as we should and for you to know us, But much progress has been made. Through the steady friendship and the very practical assistance which we have been receiving from you, Canada's people have become known to us as our sincere friends, and are held in high regard and affection, This forms a sure basis for lasting association and co-operation in the years to come, Difficult times still seem to lie ahead of all of us, but they need cause us no dismay so long as we learn to understand the other man's point of view and the inescapable fact that it takes all kinds to make a world. The Commonwealth itself is living proof that people from distant lands can live and talk and work together harmoniously and with common purpose when they recognize that good-will is the essential factor in the successful conduct of human affairs, Both Canada and Pakistan have Prime Ministers who appreciate this to the full. Mr. St. Laurent is starting today, as we all know, on a world tour that will take him, among other lands, to Pakistan. This visit will forge a very major link in the progressively strengthening chain of understanding and friendship between Pakistan and Canada, The people of Pakistan will welcome your Prime Minister with the most sincere affection and appreciation, and we may be sure that no one will welcome him more warmly and more fraternally than my very distinguished predecessor in Canada, Mr. Mohammed Ali, now Pakistan's Prime Minister.

THANKS OF THE MEETING were expressed by Mr. J. Salem, United Kingdom Trade Commissioner.