Into the future via the past

Javed JabbarUpdated 14 Aug 2020

The Queen of England and Ayub Khan are driven through Karachi’s Saddar area during the
Queen’s first visit to Pakistan in 1961. — Dawn archives
PERHAPS the ideal way to go forward is to turn around and go back. Not as a retreat, but
as a rediscovery in order to re-energise and to create a better tomorrow. The prevalence of
the pandemic today should neither befog our vision for the future nor our remembrance of
the past. There is a need to step away from the present — which is too much with us.

The 24-hour news cycle of electronic media and the anarchy of social media justify a brief
drone-borne-like overview of certain yesterdays. Generations born in the 1930s, 1940s and early
1950s who lived through those days are receding. Successive generations of Pakistanis,
especially the young, deserve to be informed about the times when Pakistan was also truly
young.

See:  Pakistan — a history through posters, papers and assorted paraphernalia

The tragic disintegration of the original Pakistan in 1971 has obscured our recall of the first 24
years of the country’s life. That phase is generally seen as though the newborn state was simply
tip-toeing toward a disaster foretold at its birth by ill-wishers in India, such as Sardar Patel who
had given only about six months for our survival.

The political instability reflected in seven prime ministerial changes in 11 years from 1947 to
1958, while India continued with the single same person as PM, the brewing tensions in East
Pakistan due to West Pakistan’s insensitive disregard for the majority, the imposition of One
Unit, and the shift from civil democracy to military dictatorship in 1958 have diverted attention
from a virtual miracle — the early years of Pakistan.

A virtual miracle
Of about that initial quarter-century, the 18 years between 1947 and 1965, in particular, deserve
reexamination. Though the September 1965 war with India was fought only on the West
Pakistan front, that conflict deepened the inter-wing distrust, accelerated the pace toward the
break-up and, in the context of this brief essay, distorted the human-made miracle born on
August 14, 1947. For in those years, there were two parallel tracks travelled by the Pakistani
train of time.

Also read:  A look at some of the historic moments that have shaped Pakistan

The visible, far more remembered track featured the tumult and turbulence cited above. Though
occasionally referred to, the other track has tended to fade from vivid public memory. On this
track, often quietly, sometimes audibly there were those elements which fuelled the engine of
Pakistani resilience. This quality, despite being sledge-hammered in 1971, enabled the residual
part of the original state to rapidly revive the momentum set in the early phase. Almost half-a-
century later, Pakistan is acknowledged as a country of regional and global geopolitical
significance; notwithstanding our several flaws and failures that receive incessant, if not
excessive, attention every day and night.

Let us always remember the conditions of our commencement. Incomparable disadvantages in

physical infrastructure and resources because the areas that were rightly — but in other areas,
also unjustly, arbitrarily — allotted to India possessed most of the well-developed infrastructure
from pre-1947 years. Only 10 weeks’ advance notice was given for the establishment of a whole
new State in which about 70 million people would be citizens.

The Plan was announced on June 3, 1947. Independence came August 14, 1947. Two wings with
approximately equal populations were separated by 1,000 miles of hostile territory. Over-flights
to connect the two wings by the shortest route were subject to approval by the hostile neighbour.
As a perverse bonus, there was a second hostile neighbour in Afghanistan which became the sole
UN member to briefly oppose our application for membership. The new state was swamped by
about 8-10 million refugees within the first 12 months. This shift represented the largest-ever
migration in contemporary eras in so short a period.

While the original residents of Punjab and Sindh in particular opened their lands, hearts and
homes to accommodate the bulk of refugees until new housing became available, in East
Pakistan too, thousands of refugees from Assam, West Bengal and Bihar were welcomed and
settled. Within 10 weeks, we were obliged to protect Kashmir from being completely and
illegally usurped by India. Direly needed equipment and funds from a pre-agreed share were
deliberately withheld by India which also, temporarily but menacingly, stopped water flows into
Punjab. Those are some reasons why Pakistan is the single most uniquely-created nation-state in
world history. And why it was compelled to become a security-oriented state from the outset.

A new chemistry
On the parallel track, more than one engine powered the infant state onward. Those engines were
the qualities of tenacity, ingenuity, the will to work, generous compassion, and blind faith in the
capacity to survive against all odds. Overnight, millions of strangers became neighbours and
friends. Overcoming all the problems, a new chemistry of co-existence fizzed and bubbled. A
new sociology fused ancient soil with new souls. A functioning structure for an awkwardly-
placed state was swiftly assembled like a Meccano set. The system began to work quickly and
well.

The forefathers of a now much-maligned bureaucracy worked with frugal means, but with
fevered determination. Many without desks, chairs, papers and cars nevertheless ensured
efficient administration and competent management. Policy-makers defied British and Indian
pressure to devalue the rupee in 1949 following devaluations by those countries. India retaliated
by suspending trade. But soon, the Korean war, which began in 1950, opened new opportunities
for the export of commodities.

In 1952-53, our GDP growth achieved the brief, yet spectacular rate of 10.22pc while the
average rate up to 1958 was 3-4pc, a very steady, healthy rate in those conditions. Between 1958
and 1965, GDP growth moved up to 5pc and even 9.3pc per annum. So impressive was
Pakistan’s economic performance that India’s comparatively sluggish pace was labelled “the
Hindu rate of growth” by some of India’s own analysts envious of the Muslim neighbour’s
progress.

On a visit by this writer to South Korea a few years ago, one’s pride was renewed when an
eminent social scientist recalled how Pakistan’s first two Five-Year Plans between 1955 and
1965 became model concepts for their own country’s subsequent rapid progress. He confided
that his family, like most others in those times, could barely manage one full meal a day.

In both wings, simultaneous expansion of physical and service infrastructure took place through
roads, bridges, electrification, opening of bank branches, augmentation of Karachi and
Chittagong ports, initiation of an entirely new port at Monga in East Pakistan, telephone lines,
educational institutions, airports, housing construction, spread of cultivated areas, establishment
of factories.

Though 80pc of the world’s jute was grown in the erstwhile East Pakistan, all the jute factories
were located in Indian West Bengal. Post-1947, business families, such as the Adamjees and the
Ispahanis, set up the first-ever manufacturing plants in East Pakistan, for jute, paper and other
products. They created thousands of jobs for local residents and imparted technical skills.
Professional training proceeded quickly in civil and military spheres in both wings. In the
military, starting with the Faujdarhat Cadet College in Chittagong in 1958, followed soon by
similar cadet colleges in Jhenaidah, Rajshahi and Tangail, by 1971 there were four such colleges
in the eastern wing with only one, at Hassan Abdal, in the western wing.
Deft diplomacy
Pakistan made an immediate impact at the international level by deploying diplomats of
exceptional ability. Chaudhry Zafarullah Khan, the first foreign minister, was an accomplished
exponent of the Quaid-i-Azam’s visionary principles for relations with other nations. Ahmed
Shah Bokhari made waves at the UN as its premier under secretary-general. Several ambassadors
persuasively articulated the new state’s foreign policy in major capitals — while the Foreign
Office still operated in austere working conditions at Mohatta Palace in Karachi.

We showed a rare ability to walk a thin tightrope. Crafting a close relationship with a
Communist China demonised by the West, we also joined two US-led anti-Communist alliances
such as CENTO and SEATO. Showing deftness in multilateral as well as bilateral negotiations,
the country’s technocrats worked purposefully with the World Bank and India to conclude the
Indus Waters’ Treaty in 1960 which has survived wars, border conflicts and prolonged crises.

In other spheres, a Pakistani who received his early education in a village school proved that he
could set new standards in global scientific and intellectual excellence. Dr Abdus Salam won
several top medals in physics at Cambridge University in the 1950s, two decades before entering
his country’s name for the first time in the Nobel pantheon in 1979. He also helped co-found the
Pakistan Atomic Energy Commission (PAEC), while principal institutions to stimulate multi-
sectoral development were established.

Laurels in sports and arts

Creating their own distinctive place in toughly competitive international sports, our cricketers
achieved several landmarks, starting in 1954. Led by A.H. Kardar, Pakistan became the first
team to win a Test match against England on a first tour of cricket’s cradle country. Neither
Australia, nor New Zealand, nor South Africa, nor the West Indies, nor India had managed this
feat. Four years later, the diminutive Hanif Mohammad grew ten feet tall and even taller. He
faced the ferocious speed of West Indian fast bowlers and the scorching heat of the Caribbean
sun to play the longest-ever innings in the history of Test cricket — for more than 16 hours
spread over three days for the then-highest score of 337 runs.

Read:  The exciting truth-tellers of sport

Also in 1958, Brojan Das of East Pakistan beat competitors from 23 other countries to swim
across the Channel from France to England and win the international championship. He repeated
the feat another seven times. Two years later, Naseer Bunda and our hockey team won the Gold
Medal at the Rome Olympics in 1960. Earlier, at the 1954 Asian Games, Abdul Khaliq’s record-
breaking speed in the 100-metre race made Pakistan the home of the continent’s fastest runner.

Squash players, like Roshan Khan and Hashim Khan, reigned over the world’s squash courts, as
harbingers of the super-world champion Jahangir Khan who emerged 20 years later.

Spanning a wide spectrum of creative and performing arts, Pakistani talent in classical and
contemporary music, in dance, in folk arts, in painting, in the multiple dimensions of cinema, in
Urdu, in Bangla, in regional languages witnessed a robust flowering of colour and form that
sought to express a new, evolving identity. The excellence of our early cinema became evident
when the 1952 film Dopatta became a box office hit in India. One notable indicator of the cross-
cultural, inter-wing communication within the country in that period was the production of
dozens of Urdu films in Dacca. Some of the most gifted and popular celluloid stars in West
Pakistan emerged from East Pakistan.

First, through the pioneering role of Radio Pakistan, and then through PTV, numerous voices
and faces became part of public memory. Later, PTV serials and plays captivated millions across
the border.

Seeding institutions and development

With new seeds and agronomist support, the Green Revolution enhanced productivity while
farms and orchards produced an abundance of crops, fruits and vegetables. With Kaptai Dam in
the eastern wing, and construction launched for Mangla and Tarbela in the west, projects for
major increases in hydro-electric power generation and water for irrigation were initiated.

New organisations were formed in the public sector and in civil society. State entities helped
fund the industrial base. Chambers of agriculture, commerce and industry, professional
associations, trade and labour unions, students’ unions, women’s federations and associations to
campaign for rights and equity — there was sustained citizen activism, even after the imposition
of martial law in 1958.

A cosmopolitan milieu
In less than 15 years of independence, the country became a tourist-favourite for hotel occupants
and back-packers despite lack of extensive modern tourist infrastructure. Major global airlines
viewed Karachi as an important destination. Air France, KLM, British Airways built their own
hotels and structures for transit passengers and crew. Western women went shopping into Bori
Bazaar clad in shorts and gear that drew only the rare, odd stare. Night clubs of differing
standards featured dancers, even strippers, musicians and artists from Lebanon, Europe,
Australia, USA, and the local talent was also visible. Bars served liquor without any sign of
drunkenness on the streets. Race courses drew crowds as jockeys urged steeds to speed. Trams
ran cutely on some Karachi streets on which women and girls could walk long stretches after
sunset without a worry for safety. Most people minded their own business.

The new country’s name became part of quirky global fame. On a goodwill mission to Pakistan,
US Vice-President Lyndon Johnson stopped to spontaneously meet cheering citizens in Karachi.
His warm handshake with a camel cart driver named Bashir led to the latter becoming a quasi-
royal guest. He was flown to several cities across America and feted as a celebrity. Pakistan was
full of surprises, and, for the most part, pleasant.

We reached for the sky. And flew high. In just a few years, our pilots, air hostesses, crew, unseen
engineers and aviation management leaders moulded PIA into “Great people to fly with”. Other
countries invited us to help set up their own national airlines — among today’s top global
networks.

Not nipped in the bud

In those early years, not all was hunky-dory. As in all other parts of the world where people live,
there was also crime and violence, but not rampantly so.

Corruption, misgovernance, periodic shortages, nepotism and extremes also contributed their
share. In Lahore, religious bigotry focussed on hating minorities was allowed to spiral
disproportionately due to political and administrative mismanagement, requiring use of military
force. Contrary to the predominant ethos of respect for diversity practised by most Muslims,
bursts of extremism by small numbers of fanatics were unwisely permitted in the decades to
come until they ballooned into showy piety, religiosity and violent sectarianism.

The aberrations of those years were partly the fallout from what was happening on the other
track — on which individual ambition, lust for power, party divisions, increasing involvement of
the military — all were combusting into ultimate implosions, first in 1958 and then,
catastrophically in 1971.

Early gold, abiding value

The most interesting facet of the first 18 years was that, with fluent ease, speed and grace, people
of enormous diversity who had never before lived together as a single nation-state, interacted
emotively and began to share hopes for a common future. This broad, deep sense of fraternity
transcended the bitterness and alienation caused in East Pakistan because of the delay in
recognising Bengali as a state language and the persistent conviction that the west wing only
exploited the east wing. So strong was this affinity that the overwhelming majority of Bengali
East Pakistanis wanted to remain citizens of Pakistan, be it a federation or a confederation, right
up to March 1, 1971, when the first shock was imparted through the postponement of the
National Assembly session set for March 3, 1971.

Also read:  The Breakup of Pakistan 1969-1971

And even though the military operation launched on March 25, 1971, repelled many, the scope
for reconciliation and a political solution remained viable for several months thereafter. It died
only because the Yahya Khan regime and certain political allies refused to turn back from the
abyss that led to December 16, 1971.

Future challenges
The years between 1965 and 1971, the traumatic year 1971 itself, have received substantive
attention and are beyond this essay’s scope. Study needs to continue because, among other
features, history is like an onion that bears endless peeling. However, there have been far fewer
investigative works about the social and cultural dimensions of Pakistan in its first two decades.
The paucity is particularly notable in educational textbooks and in public discourse.

Without ignoring the other track — the harsh economic, political realities of those years — it is
vitally relevant to re-visit the 1947-1965 phase. Not for wistful nostalgia alone. But in order to
learn about the extraordinary warmth, verve, sincerity, talents, skills and splendid heights felt
and achieved by the people of both East and West Pakistan.
Objective conditions in 2020 are very distinct from conditions over half-a-century ago. While we
become fully cognizant of the new exponential speed of change and uncertainty, revival and re-
application of the elements which shaped our formative years will surely help address the
challenges of the future.

The writer is a former Senator and Federal Minister, author of, among other books, ‘What is
Pakistaniat?’