Muslim majority are both in the North-East and North-West i.e. both East Pakistan and West Pakistan were far more under-developed than the rest of India. There had been very little industrialization in these areas, very little economic development. And if I may be permitted a comparison as between East and West Pakistan, East Pakistan was still more under-developed. Compared with the advanced countries, we might say that both East Pakistan and West Pakistan are somewhere in the Kindergarten class, but as being in Kindergarten class II, West Pakistan stands a bit higher than East Pakistan. That was the position at the time of partition. In East Pakistan all the means of communication converged on Calcutta. Centers of culture, commerce, and industry everything was concentrated in Calcutta. East Pakistan was nothing but the producer of raw materials, of jute in the main for which it had no baling presses; it simply passed the jute on to Calcutta, There had been 200 years of neglect. For one hundred years a trading company exploited the resources of East Bengal for commercial profit. Later, I need not go into details, but anyone who has read Hunter's Book “The Mussalmans of India", knows well that the plight of the Muslims of East Bengal. Culturally, economically and in every way they were very very under-developed. With partition, Calcutta going to India, this situation came to the fore and the first task that confronted the Pakistan Government was to win economic independence for East Bengal whose economy was totally dependent upon Calcutta. The port of Chittagong had to be developed; communications had to be re- organized; inland river transport had to be planned and developed: jute baling presses had to be set up and hundreds of things, big and small, had to be done just to win economic independence. There were no banking facilities, no commerce and industry, all had been concentrated in Calcutta, All had to be built anew. A new Capital had to be built in Dacca. In the matter of administration, the Muslims of East Bengal has been very poorly represented in the service. I have always regarded it as one of the great misfortunes of Pakistan that at the time of partition, there were not a large number of trained administrators from the Muslims of East Pakistan.
Malik Mohammad Flroz Khan (West Pakistan, Muslim): One I. C. S. Officer only.
The Honorable Mr, Mohammad Ali: Just one I.C.S. Officer-I am talking only of the Muslims of East Pakistan because most of the Hindus had opted for India. Had they remained in East Pakistan, the position would have different. That was the condition. The food economy was in a very precarious condition and, as I said, there was no industry and very little of commerce. It was these deficiencies that had to be made up. They were of the first importance because without basic services relating to communications, port, banking, commerce, administration, it is impossible to develop. They are the essential preliminary conditions, the sub-structure on which you can raise an economy. West Pakistan, as it happened, was more developed In these respects. True, it had the impact of those large disturbances which led to the migration of millions and for some months, the economy of West Pakistan was disrupted, but the gap that was left by the migration of Hindus was very soon filled by the refugees coming from various parts of India bringing with them knowledge, skill, trade connections and capital. West Pakistan did not suffer the loss of any capital city. The canal water dispute with India did create problems for West Pakistan and very large expenditure has had to be incurred-not for development as is mistakenly said but merely to preserve the status quo as it was at the time of partition.
