Address at the Bahawalpur Bar Association on December 27, 1972

President Zulfikar Ali Bhutto said that the politics of agitation and violence must come to an end as the nation badly needed a breathing space to concentrate on the more pressing problems.

Addressing the Bahawalpur Bar Association at the Central Library President said that agitational methods were necessary only when there was no other course left to change a Government. The country now had a democratically elected Government and a democratic Constitution which ensured a tenure for a Government and a method to change it.

He said that democracy meant negation of violence. There was a qualitative difference between the objective conditions prevailing in 1969 and those existing today.

Everybody now had the freedom to exercise his constitutional rights to oppose the Government, but if there was any attempt to violate the constitutional methods, the Government would deem it as its duty to defend the Constitution, he added.

The President said: “We have to have a moratorium. If breathing space was needed, this country needed it more than any other in the world.”

He said: “We have to choose the weapon of democracy and not of violence as it would be the people who would ultimately suffer from politics of agitation and violence.”

The President said that the people of Pakistan had experienced abnormal conditions during the last few years, and underwent tremendous tensions.

This was too long a period for an under-developed nation, he said, “We must now have some measure of normality.”

The President referred to the student trouble, and said that this had been a world-wide phenomenon which was not confined to any particular country or continent.

The younger generation gets more emotional and has reacted to shattering of hopes and frustrating objective conditions of their time, he said.

He, however, observed that over the past few years the student trouble had receded in most of the countries, and it was no longer a world phenomenon.

“The conditions prevailing in our country at present also demand a change. We cannot afford to make the students’ agitation a permanent feature,” he added.

The President said that his Government was determined to tackle the problem of price hike against which there was a general outcry in the country.

He said that every effort would be made to make the country self-sufficient in wheat, sugar, fertilizer and other essential commodities.

“We are fully aware of the difficulties being faced by the people and would do everything possible to resolve them,” he said.

The President dwelt at length on the cause of rise in the prices, and added prices of essential commodities had risen all over the world.

“However, we don’t want to satisfy our people by merely analyzing the cause and terming it a world phenomenon. We are doing our best to check increase in the prices,” he said.

The President said that in war sacrifices had to be made not only be soldiers but also by the civilian population.

The present day wars were total wars in which the whole nation had to make sacrifices, he said.

Even the victorious European countries, he said, had to make tremendous sacrifices after the two world wars. For five years, people in Britain could not have bread, or meat or sugar, he said. This was in spite of the fact that they had all the resources of the Commonwealth and a massive aid from the United States.

The President said that although Pakistan had only 17-day war, the resources of a poor country like ours were limited to withstand its consequences. In relative terms, this 17-day war was as devastating to Pakistan as the World War to the European countries.

He said, besides the world-wide inflation and the war, another factor in price rise was separation of East Pakistan, which brought about a swift and sudden dislocation in the economy of Pakistan. That part of the country produced jute, which earned most of the foreign exchange till recently when the cotton exports matched that earning.

Besides, it was a market of 70 million people for commodities produced in this part. He said that our country had a closed market. Borders with our neighbor, India, remained sealed. The commodities which Pakistan could get cheaper from there had to be imported from other markets at a bigger cost. Similarly, exports were also affected. After the separation of East Pakistan, Burma, Malaysia and other such countries are no more our neighbours. Our internal market too is much smaller, he observed.

The President compared Pakistan’s position with that of India and said that India had a bigger internal and external market. It had favorable balance of trade with East European countries. It had markets in neighboring countries like Nepal, Burma, Bhutan, Ceylon, etc.

He, however, observed that according to information available it was evident that prices of various essential commodities in Pakistan were 100 to 200 percent cheaper than those prevalent in India.

The President also mentioned increase in population, heavy expenditure on defence and the curse of smuggling as other major factors in the rise of prices.

He said that his Government was taking every measure within the limited resources available to curtail smuggling.

“We have to make watertight arrangements to stop smuggling of cash commodities like fertilizer, wheat, sugar, etc. The people could also help in this effort in the larger interest of the nation.

The President said that his Government had to take the unpleasant decision of devaluation which should have been effected in 1966. This was a painful surgical operation for our economy. The consequences would have to be borne for some time, he added.

The President emphasized the urgent need for increasing production. He said industrial production in the country had dropped by 40 percent. There had been so many labor strikes, legal or illegal, which adversely affected the production. The ultimate sufferers were the laborers themselves as the economy had been badly hit by these strikes and prices had increased, he said.

His Government, the President said, had full faith in the labor class for whose cause it had waged a struggle. When a section of labor took to lawlessness we did not take very strong action. Their demands were met, but they put forward more demands. The Government gave them a long rope, but there had to be a limit to all that.

He said that giving a sense of security to the common man was the most important factor, as only then he could make effective contribution in the reconstruction of the country. He must have security against unemployment, crime and lawlessness.

The President said that the difficulties being faced by the nation at present were a passing phase. His Government, he said, was devoted to the concept of serving the people and rebuilding the country into a strong and prosperous Pakistan. The people should also see to it that their energies were not dissipated in agitational politics.

He said, they country needed total concentration on tackling the pressing problem being faced by it. These included price rise, law and order, development, increase in foreign exchange earnings, rise in agricultural and industrial production, etc. A massive national effort, he said, was needed for this task which would ultimately change the face of the country.

Referring to his invitation to the foreign envoys to spend some time in Bahawalpur, the President said that such gestures were necessary to promote understanding and cooperation. He said that personal factor had its own place in diplomacy. It was a world-wide practice to have informal gatherings of diplomats and to allow them opportunity to see the country and the people.

The first Prime Minister of Pakistan, Khan Liaquat Ali Khan, had also arranged for such a gathering at Moenjo Daro. The President said that he had chosen Bahawalpur for inviting the diplomats as the people of this region were very hospitable.