The Honorable Mr. Mohammad Ali: That is to say, there will be an adequate number of officers from East Pakistan and from West Pakistan in all the Services and, therefore, any uneasiness or heart-burning that might arise from this disparity which was infinitely more marked the time of partition, will disappear. It is the earnest desire of all of us that it should go. It is only when East Pakistan feels that it is adequately represented in the Administration that it will feel that it is receiving fair treatment. Otherwise, even if there is fair treatment, there is always the suspicion that it is not so. In this matter I recognize that the situation of the Capital in West Pakistan does make a difference and it does lead to difficulties for the people of East Pakistan. We must therefore take steps, by decentralizing administration, to remove or reduce those difficulties as much as possible (Interruptions).
The Honorable Pir All Mohammad Rashidi: The running commentary has become a great nuisance.
Honourable Deputy Speaker: Order, please.
His Excellency Mr. Mustaq Ahmad Gurmani: Pakistan Radio should take advantage of it. This is a useful source.
The Honorable Pir Ali Mohammad Rashidi: No doubt, we shall take advantage of it (Interruptions).
The Honorable Mr. Mohammad Ali: One inevitable consequence is that because of the distance, the feeling of isolation and neglect grows sharp. Exactly the same conditions may prevail in West Pakistan as in East Pakistan and yet the feeling will be greater neglect there. As I have said before, both East Pakistan and West Pakistan are poor. You go inside the country here. Do not look at Karachi. You go inside the country into the villages and you will find that people are living in as great poverty, misery and squalor as anywhere in Pakistan. Karachi gives a misleading picture and those people who merely look at the buildings and mills here are likely to be lead away by the impression that West Pakistan is prospering mightily. But we have, as I said, to develop and to raise the standard of living not merely in the big cities, but in the remotest villages both in East Pakistan and West Pakistan. Our people have to learn Sciences and new techniques and methods of production. They have to receive education. 90 per cent of our people are illiterate. Health services have to be improved. A thousand and one things have to be done. And that is one reason amongst others, why I am very impatient that we should pass the Constitution as early as possible. Let the country concentrate on the real social and economic problems that confront us. Undoubtedly we must provide the basic constitutional framework for the country, but the real problems are those concerned with the welfare of the masses, whether in East Pakistan or in West Pakistan and it is to these problems that all of us have to apply our minds.
If I might, Sir, now turn to some aspects of the Constitution. The dictates of geography make it inevitable that we should have a federal constitution. There is the disability in the situation of the capital. A unitary form of Government would multiply the disabilities a thousand-fold. Therefore, a federal constitution, where the spheres of
