Incompetence Intensifies Crisis Address to the Khairpur Bar Association, March 8, 1968

The country is going through a serious economic and political crisis and this crisis is mounting. It is getting bigger and bigger. It is getting most serious for a number of reasons. I think the main reason is that the Government has lost its sense of direction, that is, if it had any sense of direction at all. When you lose your sense of direction and you lose your sense of purpose and rely on brute force, then it is not really possible to bring satisfaction to the people. What the people want is security, justice and satisfaction.

Security they can get from an incorruptible and disciplined social system only. When the system is corrupt and it encourages class exploitation then security cannot be had for the common man. So security will remain an illusion.

Satisfaction comes by sharing power, by knowing that you are taking the decisions which determine your destiny. If you are not made a party to the decisions which affect you and your future, then naturally you will not be satisfied. But if you are a participant in the affairs of state, then even if things go wrong, you blame yourself first, because you are a party to that decision. If you are excluded from taking part in the decisions which affect you, then even the right decisions do not provide satisfaction. But when those decisions are wrong, then you are not only dissatisfied but you are disillusioned; you get frustrated and your sense of despair increases. This Government which is moving without a sense of direction and without a sense of purpose, can give neither satisfaction to the people, nor a sense of security.

If the people do not have real economic benefits, if they do not have political freedom, then naturally, there will be discontent. And when there is discontent, then the authorities become fearful of the truth. They impose a curtain of ignorance between the realities and their own actions. It is then that they start suppressing the freedom of expression, freedom of thought, and banning public meetings, so that the truth is not known. When you have something to conceal, and this Government has a great deal to conceal and a great deal to hide, it will naturally be sensitive to public meetings and to free expression. That is why the Government is so sensitive. Even when you do not touch on those subjects on which they are sensitive, their conscience makes them feel that you might touch on those subjects, that you might expose the truth, that you might say, something which will embarrass them, and when that does not happen, they feel relieved but then that relief is also short-lived, because they believe that the exposure may come the next time. Consequently, tyranny increases. You have a situation of tyranny in Pakistan which confirms what I have just said. There is no sense of security, no economic or political satisfaction and, as a result of that, tyranny.

Increase in tyranny leads to greater contradictions. That is why here again we have a situation where contradictions are multiplied. When contradictions multiply, you reach the end of the road, not only internally but also externally, because internal and external factors are inter-linked, especially in the world of today which has become very small. Your external policies are in reality the expression of your internal conditions. Temporarily there may be some deviations from that, caused on account of other factors. But sooner or later the pendulum must swing towards the basic internal conditions. Consequently, when you have reached the zenith of internal contradictions, there will inevitably be external contradictions. External contradictions are in some respects more serious than internal contradictions.

I say in some respects, because there is nothing more difficult and nothing more dangerous than internal contradictions, but that is over a period of time. However, external contradictions do not even permit you much time, because external forces do not respect your internal situation, are not bound by your conditions. They are subject to their own conditions, so they take full advantage of your internal weaknesses.

I will now give a few examples regarding the difficulties the Government is facing due to the grave internal situation where it has forfeited the confidence of the people. It is suspended in mid-air and its fate is hanging in the balance. Therefore, all external forces will take advantage of this situation. Recently, the Government allowed the controlled press to write something about the arms aid to India. That was also done in a subdued fashion because they are not in a position really to courageously protest against any action of an external power. Because the action was serious, they made some sort of protest. A Foreign Office official spoke on the subject and a few people also gave statements to the press. The Foreign Office statement said that they were surprised at the Soviet decision to supply arms to India. Well, I would say that there might be room for disappointment and anxiety but certainly not surprise, because surprise comes from ignorance. When the Government says it was surprised, that means it was proceeding on certain false assumptions. If it had made a correct appraisal of the situation, there would have been no occasion for surprise. It should have expected this to happen.

Why did the Soviet Union suspend arms aid to India and why did it restore it? If you analyze the reasons, there is no cause to feel surprised at all. The Soviet Union suspended arms aid to India when Pakistan’s foreign policy was correct and when the initiative was in Pakistan’s hands. At that time, the Soviet Union changed its policy in the subcontinent slightly but not fundamentally. The real reason was that the growing Pakistan-China relations were naturally causing anxiety to the United States and also a different kind of anxiety to the Soviet Union. They also wanted to come in to see if they would be able to have an influence in the country to match the growing Chinese influence. Hence, the Tashkent initiative, hence, some modifications. But when the Government got caught in its contradictions and froze its China policy, there was no need for the Soviet Union then not to resume its traditional arms deliveries to India. In fact, they could do that with impunity, because the factor which had prompted them to change their policy had got frozen. Once they realized this they resumed arms deliveries to India. The fault is not of the Soviet Union but of our Government’s policy. If we had maintained our active China policy, then, obviously, the Soviet Union would not have readily restored arms deliveries to India.

We remain members of CENTO and SEATO, although military assistance has been stopped by America. Pakistan gave all kinds of facilities to the United States. Why should the Soviet Union not have given arms to India? India, no matter how immoral its philosophy and policies, is technically non-aligned. Technically, it is not a member of any pact. Now you say in the great books that you write that these pacts are useless, yet you remain in them. Your military assistance is stopped, yet you do not have the courage, cause you are caught in contradictions, to leave these pacts, because then the pressure will increase on you.

Take the case of the immigrants. Anyone in England, whether he is an Indian or an African of Asian origin, if caught for contravention of immigration laws, is dubbed a Pakistani by the British press. Why? Because they feel that they can take this risk with Pakistan but not with India. And our High Commissioner protests that they are not Pakistanis, they are Indians, they are Sikhs. Why are they being called Pakistanis? Well, because the British press can take liberties with Pakistan but not with India. Take the Kenyan Asians. They call these Kenyans Asians though their majority is Indian, because it can be said that Indians are not coming from Kenya, only Kenyan Asians. And when Indians are caught they call them Pakistanis, and when the Indians come in larger number, they are called Asians. And it is again India that protests to them and threatens to take counter measures. We have remained silent all these days.

In the Rann of Kutch matter the Indians gave out an inspired story to the press that they might not accept the Award. Before waiting to see what the Award was, we said no matter what the Award is, we will accept it. Again we took the onus on ourselves. Why do we do that? The Indians had only planted a feeler? Can we not have the patience to wait? That did not happen because the administration is run by people who do not understand the ABC of these things. But every time they come to the people, they make themselves the objects of ridicule because of the way they address the people, the way they talk to the people.

There is no link between them and the people. They simply do not understand the people’s problems. Then they get angry when the people are not satisfied with the so-called economic development. Why can’t the people understand the great development that has taken place? Where is that great development? Ask the poor people of Pakistan. Ask the people of Pakistan who are starving; who have no sense of security; whose children cannot go to school; who have no means of livelihood; who can find no room in hospitals; who, if they go and buy drugs, get defective drugs; who get adulterated food; who are the victims of corruption and yet it is said that the per capita income has gone up and we have become a second Japan, and that we have got the World Bank’s certificate to prove it.

This is no way in which an economy should develop. Reading many law books does not make everyone a good lawyer. A good library does not automatically bestow wisdom on its owner. So also you can have some semblance of development, of some factories here and there, but unless it has all been done according to a certain pattern, according to the resources of the country, according to correct priorities, according to the way in which the poor man really benefits, there can be no popular satisfaction. Just erratic building of things is not economic development. Today, the Government says that it is not able to repay foreign loans and that the foreign loans have become a heavy burden. It says that it has invested these loans wisely. How has it invested these loans wisely? I will give you an example.

A sugar mill is to be constructed and you get a foreign loan for it. One of the conditions is that you must buy the machinery from the ‘country giving the loan which means that you immediately pay 40 percent more for that machinery compared to international prices. And because you buy without competition, arbitrary prices are quoted by the sellers. That is what tied loans are, tied up with the country which gives the loan. On top of that, there are the agents’ profits, not to speak of the commissions which are kept outside in Swiss banks. Then there is under-invoicing and over-invoicing. By the time the plant comes to Pakistan and if it is worth Rs. 6 million you have already agreed to pay Rs. 10 million and on this you have to pay compound interest. Who has to pay ten million and the interest? It has to be paid by the farmer because he is the one who earns foreign exchange. What does the farmer get for his foreign exchange? He gets the official rate and if you take into account his overheads, he gets less than the low official purchase rate. The industrialist gets much more because of bonus and other incentives.

Now, if that is to be the pattern of your economic development, then I am afraid it is not development. It is only disaster, and that is why people are not satisfied. They are not blind. Somebody recently in Hyderabad said that the people are blind, that they cannot see the development and the dams that have been built. Well, they have seen the dams and damned them all. This is not development. Mere building cannot be called development. Physical and social targets have both to be kept in mind. For several years they forgot agriculture. They concentrated on industrialization. Now all of a sudden they have realized that the country needs agriculture. We have a pact with America for Mexi-Pak and Irri rice. After a lapse of full seven years we have admitted that our priorities were wrong.

The situation in West Pakistan is getting more and more tense and it is getting out of hand in the East. The Government says that East Pakistanis want to go their own way. I cannot believe that. They are the majority. The seeds of Pakistan were sown in Bengal. The Muslim League was born in Bengal. Had there been no Bengal, there would have been no Pakistan. It is our majority province and it has made a very big contribution to Pakistan. How can a majority leave on its own? How can it surrender its rights? Why should they leave Pakistan and become a part of India? The people are not secessionists, but what they want are friends, not masters. If we treat them like friends then , of course, they will be friends. But if we treat them like servants and think that we have the legacy of the British to rule them, then they may want to go. The Government has become the heirs of the British. It believes in the maxim of ‘divide and rule’. The Bengalis are being denied their rights. If a minority can feel the denial of rights, imagine how a majority will feel. That is why I think the time has come when all of us should actively work for the future of this country.

Pakistan can become a great state. Pakistan has all that is needed to become one of the major states of Asia and Africa. Its people are hard-working, it has got the resources, it is a big country and it can make tremendous progress. What we need is the right framework, a sense of purpose, a sense of equality, an end to exploitation and tyranny, and for that we all have to struggle for a common cause.

We are not against individuals. We are for our country’s future. Nobody has the monopoly to determine what is good for Pakistan. We all have the right to say what is good for Pakistan. That is what we are doing now in an organized way, in a proper way. We have started with a clean slate. We do not have internal quarrels in our party. All of us are friends. We have got clear-cut principles in the highest interests of Pakistan. We have principles of socialism, because socialism ends exploitation. If you want to create a sense of equality throughout the country, then end the exploitation, because the more you exploit, the greater is the inequality; the less you exploit, the greater the equality and unity.

That is why we believe in equality. For us, there is no other way out but to have a socialist economy. A socialist economy does not mean a communist economy. We need no foreign inspiration or guidance. We are capable of evolving our own pattern of socialist principles according to the conditions and framework of our Islamic way of life.

In this struggle we appeal for the cooperation of all the people of Pakistan. I am certain that finally we will succeed. May be that individually one or two people here and there may not succeed but the cause must succeed. There is no doubt about this. We have got a great response from the youth of Pakistan which is the most important factor, because youth means tomorrow. It is the future. We must wait for the morning sunshine. That is why the youth is with us because we are the future of Pakistan. This is the generation of the future. It is a very great asset. I am convinced in my mind that we will succeed.