Interview with members of the Iranian Press Delegation on December 4, 1972

President: Welcome to Pakistan. I hope your stay in Pakistan will be comfortable. I will be leaving for Karachi today. I think the best thing is to ask you to put any question you want me to answer.

Question: First of all, we are extremely grateful to you for sparing your time for us despite your heavy engagements. We will always remember this meeting with you. The personal relations between you and the Shahinsha of Iran are known to all. Pakistan and Iran are brothers – we are friends. That is why the Government of Iran has sent a very important delegation which consists of four journalists, three of whom are Members of Parliament. We have come with a message of brotherhood and goodwill from Iran as also from 55 editors, who are also members of the ruling party, as well as Members of the Parliament. Mr. Muhandis Riyazi, who is the chairman of the Iranian Parliament, has extended warmest thanks and congratulations to you. He has also sent friendly ‘salam’ to you and to the people of Pakistan on behalf of the Iranian nation. He himself would be visiting Pakistan soon. Sir, I will ask only one question.

President: Of course, yes.

Question: I have great respect for Ir5an Pakistan relations, and I have written a number of books on Pakistan. I am so much impressed by the relations of the two countries that I am going to start an Urdu section in my magazine. What other contributions can be made to strengthen the cultural bonds between our two brotherly countries?

President: Good. That’s very good. I am very happy to hear that. In the first place, as far as we are concerned, I am not the first Head of Government or Head of State known to His Majesty. When Pakistan came into being, His Majesty paid a visit to our country. At that time, Mr. Liaquat Ali Khan was the Prime Minister. So, His Majesty had dealings with Prime Minister Liaquat Ali Khan. After that, with Khawaja Nazimuddin. Then with Mr. Ghulam Mohammad. After that with President Iskander Mirza, then with Mr. Hussain Shaheed S uharwardy, then with Feroz Khan Noon. After that Ayub Khan, they Yahya Khan, and now with me. On the other hand, all of us have had closest contact with His Majesty. This shows that whoever is in power in Pakistan, His Majesty has made efforts to maintain and enhance relations with Pakistan, and every Government in Pakistan has, likewise, sought to maintain the friendliest relations with Iran. Or course, there is always the distinctive contribution of each Government because of the personal factor. Some Governments can make more contribution, other can make less, but the basic fact lies in geography, history and culture and not in personalities. It is true that personalities can sometimes spoil matters. But even if some personality tried to spoil relations between Iran and Pakistan, the effort would not succeed because it would be reversed by history, geography and culture and by religion. Our relations are immutable, and only such persons as are not aware of these strong forces will try to spoil them. So we give genuine credit to His Majesty for recognizing these forces and no matter whether former Governments in Pakistan were democratic or dictatorial, His Majesty has kept in mind these higher forces.

I have had the pleasure of knowing His Majesty since 1958. I was then Commerce Minister in the Government. After that, when His Majesty came to Pakistan with the Queen for a long visit, I was the Minister-in-waiting. At that time, I was Minister for Fuel and Power, meetings. I, therefore, have first-hand knowledge of His Majesty’s statesmanship, and I can assure you that my Government will make every effort to further consolidate our friendly relations.

As to the question of what new contribution we can make in the cultural field, your culture and our culture have venerable traditions. We cannot improve on Firdausi and the other great poets like Rumi. But what we can do is to strive for the expansion of our cultures and for enhancing their appeal. The obvious means for this is contacts in the right field and among the right people. We can improve our communications. There can be a great flow of people coming and going between the two countries. We can have exchanges of scholars and of Parliamentarians. At present whatever contacts we have are restricted to the winter months. During the long summer months, the Iranians go to the Caspian and our people spend their time in their rooms under the fans. But with better communications, with better roads, small hotels for the common tourists. I think even in summer, there can be greater contacts.

Question: Sir, by your speech in the People’s Party Convention (we were present that night), we were very much impressed, because for the first time we saw a President talking to his people in that way.

President: Thank you.

Question: We want to know your opinion about the White Revolution in Iran and especially about land reforms in Iran. Is it possible that such revolutions can be brought about in other countries also?

President: Every country has its own historical experience and is influenced by a variety of internal factors. Of course external influences also play a part. But the decisive contribution is made by the internal situation. While comparisons can be made, they are not entirely accurate. Iran has undoubtedly made very great strides under the leadership of His Majesty, especially in the last decade and we have observed the reforms that have been made, taking into account your population, your resources and other connected factors. Now, we cannot have identical reforms in the agrarian field because here the pressure of population is much too great on the land. It is not a question of our reforms being more radical than yours, or vice versa. Each country has to examine the net results according to its own internal conditions. The criterion for judgment is the equity of distribution, increase in production and the per capita income and an improvement in the social order. From that point of view Iran’s reforms have undoubtedly made a great contribution to her social advance. Our reforms will show results in the future. Regarding other countries adjoining Pakistan and Iran it is difficult for me to say anything. You can see yourself.

Question: I am very proud of being in your audience today. Besides being a Parliamentarian, I am a journalist. I am also an artist. You are very familiar to the people of Iran, and that is why we have been encouraged to ask you questions very freely. You have just said about contacts in summer and winter between Pakistan and Iran. I am the editor of the humorous and satirist magazine. I prefer Pakistanis should go to Iran in summer and Iranians should come here in winter. We have already close links with Pakistan and whatever is happening in Pakistan, we always look at it very carefully. As I know, there are 146 Members in the National Assembly of Pakistan and afterwards, according to the new Constitution, another 60 Members will be added. To add these 60 members, would you dissolve the National Assembly or adopt some other methods?

President: This is a very good question, so I would like to answer it fully. We have not had a Constitution approved by the people since the inception of Pakistan. This is one of the reasons why we faced so many difficulties. That our Constitution should be drawn by the people is our major and prime objective. On the 20th of October, we arrived at an all party unanimous agreement on the basic principles of future Constitution. Now the National Assembly of Pakistan has to fill in the details. And this being a truly representative Assembly of the people, the task of drawing a Constitution of the people is well within our grasp. We cannot be unmindful of past experience. We recall that in the fifties, the Constituent Assembly failed to draw up a Constitution because the Members were told that they would cease to be Members as soon as the Constitution was framed. I am not certain, therefore, that the framing of the Constitution by the Assembly should lead to the Assembly’s immediate dissolution. That is a practical problem for a political party to consider.

There is no question of our being afraid of elections. We have won every bye-election with a thumping majority. Early this month in Sialkot, we won by about 35,000 votes. But the more important question is that if we are going to have general elections again, so soon after the last once, all the emotional questions, all the hatred, all the wild allegations will be let loose, and this cannot but hamper our reconstruction and impede our effort to repair the material and psychological damage that was sustained last year. How will this serve the interests of the common man? In 1970, we had the first general elections in 22 years of Pakistan’s existence. What happened-East Pakistanis started blaming West Pakistanis, West Pakistanis started blaming East Pakistanis. The result was the division of the country. So, if we again go for fresh general elections, before resolving the basic problems and removing the ground of all recrimination between one province and another, I know what will happen. Punjabis will start blaming Baluchs. Baluch will start blaming Pathans will start blaming Sindhis, and there will again be bad blood. Now that we have had general elections recently, our duty is first to mend the national fabric and then hold the next elections in normal course. The present Government has a legal span of five years, during which period we can consolidate the national framework, and the democratic set-up will take root. Then there will be plenty of room for a democratic competition. But none for mischief-makers and secessionists and people who uphold parochialism and are heedless of the interest of the common man.

Question: The Iranian nationals from the north to the south and east and west have great love for Pakistan, and they have watched with close attention the affairs of Pakistan. They will always be happy over the happiness of Pakistan and sorry at her sorrows. They have very close links with the people of Pakistan and they equally share their destiny. They will feel happy if we carry good news from Pakistan. Would you please tell us what plans do you have in future for our dear Pakistan?

President: Well, we have actually spelled them out in our convention very clearly. We have also taken some steps in the past 11 months according to the manifesto to our party. My party’s main objective is that we clearly spell out these things so that the people can see them like a picture and not remain unaware of our social and economic goals and efforts. Through the system of mixed economy, we are making efforts to improve the lot of the common man. We are prepared to offer incentives and encouragement to the private sector, but we are not going to permit these incentives to result in the exploitation of the common man. As I said, every people must act according to their own conditions. Our population is too big and our resources are too limited. We must avoid any wastage. This means a lot of planning which in turn means centralized direction. We are striving for a socialist pattern, but this should not frighten anyone because we have made it very clear that this does not mean Communism. We believe this is one way to combat Communism in Pakistan.

Iranian Press Delegation: Thank you very much. Khuda Hafiz.