বাংলাদেশের স্বাধীনতা যুদ্ধ দলিলপত্র (প্রথম খণ্ড)/৯৭
| শিরোনাম | সূত্র | তারিখ |
| ১৯৫৬ শাসনতন্ত্র বিল সংক্রান্ত বিতর্ক | পাকিস্তান গণপরিষদ | জানুয়ারী-ফেব্রুয়ারী ১৯৫৬ |
Mr. Abul Mansur Ahmad (16th January, 1956):................ In framing a constitution, generally speaking, two patterns are kept in view-one is federal and the other unitary type. If we have a federal type we shall have quite a different structure even to the minute's details from what we shall have if we have a unitary form of government. If we think there is one people and one country then we must have one language and one capital, and as a matter of course the capital goes to that wing where the majority of the nation lives. There cannot be any question of the capital being at Karachi and Dacca. There cannot be any question of parity between the two wings. You cannot think in those terms. The entire Pakistan is one country and its peoples are one nationality, then there cannot be any discrimination between the people of the two wings. That is the only logical conclusion. But, Sir, that will entail several natural consequences. If you proceed with one-people theory, if you proceed on the unitary-form of government basis you must have one franchise, one economy, one calendar, one language, one standard time and one capital. The capital then automatically goes to Dacca. Sir, do you want to raise and re- open this question again -Does anybody: let us have a unitary form of government and the Capital of -Pakistan shifted from Karachi to Dacca by the people's vote? Now, Sir, which will be creating new problems and more problems. In that case instead of solving problems we shall be creating problems. In fact, we have had the taste of a unitary form of government for the last eight years and you already know what consequences have followed. I repeat that this will be the natural consequence if you proceed with one-state theory, with an unitary form of government. In that case we must proceed on the basis that the only State language must be the language spoken by the majority of the people, i.e. Bengali, and Bengali alone is entitled to be the State language of Pakistan. Then why do you talk of two wings? Why do you think of parity? Why two languages? Why do you talk of the capital being here for six months and there for six months? Let us go by the vote of the people. If we go that way geography will be ignored. The people of West Wing instead of the East will be sufferers. Therefore, Sir, in consideration of these things we should not be theoreticians. The Lahore Resolution was drafted by a Divine hand-the hand that drove the pen which drafted that Resolution was really that of God. It set the fate of Pakistan. Even if Pakistan were created after the entire demands of the All-India Muslim League were conceded by the Congress and the British Government, still Pakistan would have remained divided into two widely separated parts. That was visualized in that Resolution. The leaders of Pakistan and framers of a Constitution for it were confronted with this extraordinary geographical position. For eight years the framers of the Constitution tried their utmost-and in all sincerity-to frame a Constitution. I am not one of those who will abuse our old Muslim League friends who were in charge of framing the Constitution; I shall not challenge their bona fides. I am not one of those who move about with self-satisfaction that anybody other than themselves is worthless and useless. I concede that they exhausted their genius in an effort to give the country a constitution. But why did they fail? Did they not try this method and that method-adding something here and subtracting something there? They did. Even then they failed. They took long eight years and failed in the end. They failed to give the country a constitution. They failed not because they lacked a sincere desire. No, Sir. They had sincere desire to frame a constitution. They were actuated by good motive and possessed all the anxiety that was, needed and yet they failed. They failed because they lacked imagination.
we found that our leaders were failing to give the country a constitution whereas our twin brother, the elder brother, rather the younger brother-India-had given a constitution to the country (with so great a territory in their possession and with so many people inhabiting that country-India is practically a multi-nation country), even though we were not members of that Constituent Assembly, we the lovers of Pakistan, the patriots who fought for Pakistan, who were soldiers of Pakistan and who were lieutenants' of the Quaid-i-Azam, we put our heads together and tried our very best to help the leaders give a 'constitution to the country. And what was that? We reminded them to revert to the Lahore Resolution: the sheet-anchor of Pakistan Movement. We asked them to follow the heritage of Quaid-i-Azam and not to ignore his last testament. We said: “Do not depart from those principles. If you do, you will go on failing to give the country a Constitution. And this did happen. Now, that we have come here in a new Constituent Assembly we are saying the same thing: take the geographical position into consideration because that is the principal factor. The basis of Pakistan will have to be looked into far more in the economics of the country than in the political questions that confront it. The difficulties that are faced by the framers of the Constitution are more economic than political.
Sir, the principle of modern democracy is based more upon the economics of a country than its politics. The well-established axiom of economics is: “Income of one is the expenditure of another." Extending this theory to political economics you will find that the expenditure of the Government is the income of the people; and the income of the Government is the expenditure of the people. That is the principle on which Democracies—whether republican or monarchical, federal or unitary-are functioning.
Sir, by that standard what do we find in Pakistan? Due to this geographical anomaly money does not circulate in its two wings. The money that is brought from East Pakistan never goes back to East Pakistan. This is natural economics. You cannot help it; I cannot help it. Even if I was the Prime Minister of this country I could not help this situation and make the money circulate. If I were the Finance Minister even then I could not have solved the issue ignoring the geography of the country. It does stand in the way. Money will never circulate. Money is collected through Government agencies but it is not spentthe whole of it-through Government agencies. Sir, at a glance you will find that the money that is coming from East Pakistan is being spent either in your salary or on the salary of the Speaker, including your chaprassi and the Honourable Ministers, including. Mr. Chundrigar and of High Court Judges, Federal Court Judges including their chaprassi Our Bengali Ministers including Mr. Hamidul Huq Choudhury and my reverend friend, Mr. K.K. Dutta, are getting salaries. But all this money is being spent in Western Pakistan and you should not forget that East Pakistan is contributing in equal proportion to the federal structure and its economics. This is geography! I shall show, Sir, from statistics published by our Government that the share of East Pakistan to the Federal revenues from 1947–48 to 1954-55 has been 168 crores and 14 lakhs. During this period West Pakistan contributed 553 crores and 53 lakhs to the Federal Revenues. These figures may make our West Pakistani brothers, like Mr. Gurmani, boast and say: “Look! East Pakistan is contributing only 18 percent. West Pakistan contributes more than treble." That will make them very glad. But. Sir, look at the expenditure side. This is the expenditure. The Central Government has spent during these nine years 42 crores and 66 lakhs in East Pakistan as compared to 790 crore and 67 lakhs spent in West Pakistan. Therefore, Sir, we have got back much less than what we have contributed. Sir, we have got a shortfall of expenditure to the extent of 125 crores 50 lakhs and this money has been spent in West Pakistan and even then there was a deficit of 237 crores 14 lakhs in the Central Budget during these eight years. This has been paid from loans for which East Bengal is paying interest. Thus we are being doubly penalized. Sir, this is how the economic position of East Pakistan versus the West stands. Now, this shortfall has reduced the national income and per capita income of the people of East Pakistan and has led to their impoverishment to that extent. There is another pamphlet given by Government and I am quoting from that pamphlet published by Central Government. I am referring to page 34, and anybody can look into that book. Honorable Deputy Speaker: Where is that book?
Mr. Abu! Mansur Ahmad: This is the book called “Pakistan 1954-55:"
Honorable Deputy Speaker: I have not got it.
Mr. Abul Mansur Ahmad: You have not gota copy?
Honorable Deputy Speaker: Did you give a copy?
Mr. Abul Mansur Ahmad: This shortfall to the extent of 125 crores, 50 lakhs is an unrequited drain upon East Pakistan. The drain is a one-way traffic as it only comes and never goes back. As I have enunciated Government expenditure is the income of the people, in this case the expenditure of the Central Government of Pakistan is not, the income of the people of East Pakistan. It is one-way traffic. It comes from East Pakistan but does not go back to East Pakistan but is absorbed in West Pakistan. Therefore, gradually East Pakistan is going to be impoverished very rapidly. I will quote another figure from this book.
Honorable Deputy Speaker: What book is this?
Mr. Abul Mansur Ahmad: It is a book published by the Pakistan Information, Advertisement and Film Department. Honorable Deputy Speaker: Put it on the table.
Mr. Abul Mansur Ahmad: Sir, I am putting it on the table; I will place it on the table and I will quote from my notes.
Honorable Deputy Speaker: Quote from the book but later on put it on the table of the House. Mr. Abul Mansur Ahmad: I am quoting from it. In 1947-48 East Pakistan's contribution to the Central revenue was 28 per cent, in 1948-49 it came down to 26 per cent; in 1949-50, to 25 per cent; in 1950-51, to 24.57 per cent; in 1951-52 to 24.7 per cent; in 1952-53 to 20.8 per cent; in 1953-54 to 19.4 percent; in 1954-55 to 14.7per cent; in 1955-56 to 12.47 per cent.
Honourable Deputy Speaker: Where have you taken all these figures from?
Mr. Abul Mansur Ahmad: From this book.
Honourable Deputy Speaker: From this book?
Mr. Abul Mansur Ahmad: Yes Sir. I leave the book with you and in the meantime let me proceed according to the calculations. You will find that for coming down from 28 per cent to 12 per cent,' we have taken only nine years. In the course of nine years our contribution from East Pakistan to Central Revenues has been reduced from 28 to 12 per cent. By this process how long do you think East Pakistan will take to come down to zero-only another eight years, Sir. If this process goes on in the year of our Lord 1965 East Pakistan shall come to zero. East Pakistan will then contribute a zero to the Central Revenues. This is arithmetic; this is the result of geography. How does it happen Sir? Because, as I have said it must happen due to the geography. Our geography cannot be altered. This geography is the hardest fact to be taken into consideration in framing our Constitution; geography is the basis on which a country is located, a “language is described, a state is demarcated and a people is defined Sir, it is an extraordinary situation that we are confronted with
Now, Sir, according to the figure that I have given you, if calculated, it comes to this that people of East Pakistan in eight years got from Central Revenues 2 crores, or equivalent of 10 rupees per head which comes to Re. 1-2 per head per year.
Honourable Deputy Speaker: How did you arrive at that figure?
Mr. Abul Mansur Ahmad: 42 crores rupees divided by 4 crores 21 lakhs people, etc., pure mathematics, Sir. People of West Pakistan during the same period have got 235 crore rupees in eight years which is equal to Rs. 32 per head per year.
Honourable Deputy Speaker: What?
Mr. Abul Mansur Ahmad: Rs. 32 per head per year. Sir, this is the result of geography; rather this is the punishment of geography. Geography must assert and must have its own way. Sir, you have heard so much of Bengal, which was known in history as “Golden Bengal" and which was said to be full of honey and milk. Where has it gone after the achievement of Pakistan? Has it been so poor a country that it has contributed to the Central Revenues only this meagre sum of 12 per cent.
Honourable Deputy Speaker: Are you putting this question to me?
Mr. Abul Mansur Ahmad: No Sir. People may ask me this question. Had the learned Speaker been present they would certainly have put this question to him also. We should not run with the idea that East Pakistan is contributing only this figure to the Central Revenues. There is, Sir, what is known in Bengali as: Shubhankarer fanki. It means “mathematical deception". Money collected in West Pakistan and in the Capital of the Federation which is in West Pakistan, is deemed to be the money contributed by West Pakistan. In political economy there are two clear terms “contributed by" and “collected in". “Collected in", does not necessarily mean “contributed by". Money that is collected in Karachi does not necessarily mean that it is contributed by the people of Karachi or the people of West Pakistan. There lies the whole mathematical deception. Sir, this deception has brought us to this that the taxes collected from' industry, business, customs which means export and import taxes and income-tax and central excise-these are the four biggest items which constitute 90 per cent of the revenues of the Central Government-are collected in Karachi. Now, what is industry and what is business unless it is contributed by the people? Industries grow in a country by surplus earnings of the Nation. That means that the producers here consume less and save money for the purchase of machinery from outside. It is they who are really the founders of industry in a country. What is their contribution, Sir?
The Honorable Mr. I.I. Chundrigar (West Pakistan: Muslim); May I raise on a point of order as to whether this relates to the general discussion of the Bill. At the first reading only the general principles of the Bill may be discussed and the Honorable Member is going into the details and is repeating the facts which he has already mentioned.
Honorable Deputy Speaker: Your point of order is perfectly correct. I have been trying to deal with the Honorable Member myself
Mr. Abul Mansur Ahmad: I beg your pardon.
Honorable Deputy Speaker: The point of order raised by the Honorable Mr. Chundrigar is perfectly relevant and in order.
Mr. Abul Mansur Ahmad: What I am putting to the House is quite relevant.
Honorable Deputy Speaker: I say that the point of order is quite relevant.
Mr. Abul Mansur Ahmad: You have held that what I am saying is quite relevant.
Honorable Deputy Speaker: Well, carryon, but only keep those in mind that you are going into details which are quite unnecessary....
Mr. Abul Mansur Ahmad: Now, Sir, I was submitting that 90 per cent of the Central Revenues is contributed by industry, trade, income-tax and central excise and, Sir, industry and business are nothing but a surplus of our earnings which are left over after consumption. Now sir, what is industry? We send articles to foreign countries and for that to get foreign exchange and with that we bring in some commodities for consumers or industrial. If it is consumers' good, it is consumed; industrial, it becomes the basis of further production. Now, Sir, that the excesses of East Pakistan and West Pakistan separately, you come to this figure; exports and imports, you find that the more that East Pakistan gets out of exports, is not expended there; it is expended in and it helps the growth of industry and it helps the building up trade and business.
Honorable Deputy Speaker: You can discuss them when we are to the Schedule.
Mr. Abul Mansur Ahmad: I am discussing the entirety of the and it matters little if I speak on schedule first or on clause I first.
This Bill is against the pledges that we have given to the people.
Sheikh Mujibur Rahman (21st January, 1956): My friends say, why you want regional autonomy. It is not in the 21-Point Programme. It is a vague thing. I wish my friend Mr. Farid Ahmad could say this thing to the people who have elected him. You know, Sir, when elections come people give you a manifesto and this 21-Point Programme was given by the people. They voted for us on the basis of this 21-Point Programme. They never voted for Mr. Suhrawardy or for Mr. Fazlul Huq or for Maulana Bhashani. The people voted for these 21-points, otherwise these people who have been elected and come here would not have come to this Constituent Assembly in the whole of their life time. This thing is categorically said in clause 1 and if you will permit me to read it as you have permitted others, I shall show it to you
Honorable Deputy Speaker: This has been read before.
Sheikh Mujibur Rahman: Sir, with Defense, Foreign Affairs and Currency, the Central Government can be a strong Central Government.
Honorable Deputy Speaker: We have heard this argument from Mr. Abul Mansur. We want some new arguments.
Sheikh Mujibur Rahman: Sir, I am not going into details. I am only referring to it. Our friends say that with the three subjects, it will be a weak Centre, but Sir, we can prove that it will be a strong Centre. Sir, why are the people of East Bengal for the last eight years fighting for regional autonomy. Sir, unfortunately there is no more time at my disposal but if you permit time I can show you what injustice they have done to the people of East Bengal. Sir, according to Mr. Gurmani, East Bangal used to pay 25 per cent of revenues to the Central Government. They say that it later decreased to 20 per cent and now it is only 14 per cent. This is what they say. So, it is decreasing day by day. According to this decrease, Sir, in 1960 it will be nil. East Bengal is so ruined.
Honorable Deputy Speaker: So, Mr. Abul Mansur also informed us (Laughter).
Sheikh Mujibur Rahman: Sir, I am only pointing it out to you. Sir, it is like this: there are two hands to the body of Pakistan. One is West Pakistan and the other is East Pakistan. They are making one hand strong and the other hand weak. Sir, this policy is wrong and will ruin the country. In the Central Government Services, those who form 56 per cent population are not getting 5 per cent share. The East Bengal people are educated, but they are not getting their share. Sir we do not blame the West Pakistan people. In fact we want autonomy for them also. If East Pakistan gets autonomy, the West Pakistan people will also get autonomy. We blame the ruling junta. These jagirdars zaminders, these big landlords and ruling junta of West Pakistan has suppressed the peoples opinion of West Pakistan. They are so much suppressed, they cannot cry, they cannot demand, but the people of East Pakistan are politically conscious. They challenge anybody and everybody. They challenge Mr. Fazlul Haq, Mr. Suhrawardy, Moulana Bhashani; they challenge their leaders. They tell their leaders “You have done this wrong and we will not vote for you, but they have been suppressed, persecuted and they have been economically ruined. They have no land; no shelter. But, Sir, we have nothing against the people of West Pakistan, but against the ruling junta, who have entered the Constituent Assembly through the backdoor, one who were not even in the District Board and have become Foreign Minister of Pakistan and such people want to speak on behalf of the people of East Pakistan and say that the people of East Bengal support this draft Constitution. Sir, I have just come from East Pakistan and know the mind of the people there. I know that they have rejected this un-Islamic, undemocratic and dictatorial Constitution, and it cannot be accepted by the people of Pakistan, particularly the people of East Pakistan. These people are thinking that they will sit in Karachi like Mr. Pathanhe will never go back to East Pakistan; he is domiciled here. So these people are also thinking that they will earn some money and make a house here. They cannot go back because they are going against the demand of full regional autonomy which is the demand of the people. You can kill us, you can jail us. Sometimes we hear that our lives are in danger, but we are not afraid. We have been elected by the people on the basis of 21-Point Programme, on the basis of regional autonomy. They can betray but we cannot.
Mr. Abdul Aleem: We have never betrayed.
Sheikh Mujibur Rahman: Sir, the people of East Bengal will never accept the draft Constitution. You can arrest us. You have already arrested our friends and you will arrest more. I would appeal to my friends, Hon'ble Mr. Chundrigar, who fought in the Federal Court about the dissolved Constituent Assembly and who has fortunately become the Law Minister now, to frame the Constitution on the basis of 21-Point Programme. If you want to push through the Constitution you could do so, but if you press this Constitution, then you are playing with fire. I have just now come from East Bengal, and I know the sentiments of the people there, of the agriculturists, the poor business men and other people of East Bengal. If you push through this Constitution, God alone knows what will happen. We want that Pakistan should be saved with the ruling junta for the poor masses, who have achieved Pakistan after great sacrifices. These people who are now ruling were not 2-anna members in the struggle for Pakistan. They want to destroy Pakistan in the name of Islam. If you frame the Constitution on the basis of 21-Point Programme, we will cooperate with you, we will join you, but if you go against the wishes of the people, we will mobilize opinion not only in East Pakistan but also in West Pakistan against this dictatorial and undemocratic Constitution. If you agree to pass a democratic Constitution we will help you to pass it within seven days, even within three days but that Constitution should be on the democratic basis, on the basis of 21-Point Programme, otherwise wewill oppose it tooth and nail.
Mr. Ataur Rahman Khan (27th Jan., 1956): Sir............If the people of East Bengal feel that they are a different people, it is these people here who have forced them to do so and nobody else. It is they who have created this situation. For the last 8 years they have crippled the people in such a way that they cannot but think like this. For instance, the statement of Maulana Bhashani has created a fuss here, it has created a row here. So has the statement of Mr. Abul Mansur Ahmad. He has been recommended for being tried for high treason.
Honourable Deputy Speaker: But we are not discussing this.
Mr. Ataur Rahman Khan: No, Sir, I am just saying about the reaction of the people. Mr. Abul Mansur Ahmed has made a statement. What was his statement?
Honorable Deputy Speaker: I do not know what his statement was, but I know what the business of the House is for today.
Mr. Ataur Rahman Khan: Sir, he said it in the House.
Mr. Yosuf A. Haroon: What did he say?
Mr. Ataur Rahman Khan: He said all that in the House, and if you do not know what he said....
Mr. Yosuf A. Haroon: Come out With it.
Mr. Ataur Rahman Khan: Sir, he said we are two geographical and Economic units; we are two people; we have got two cultures; we have got two ideas; we have got two languages. All this has astounded these people. It has shocked them. I wonder if the injustice of the last eight years has shocked their conscience or not. Sir, they do not possess any conscience. Their exhibition of love for the country is nothing; they just raise a slogan to cover up the faults that they have committed. It is only to cloud the real issue. Sir, has any paper of West Pakistan till now discussed or written a word about the injustices that have been done to East Bengal; has any paper written exposing the ruling coterie; has any paper here expressed regret, expressed sorrow and said that they are ashamed to find this disparity?
, Mr. Abul Mansur Ahmad has already given a list showing this disparity. Out of 151 crores that they have raised as revenue for the Centre, they have spent only 46 crores on East Bengal. Similarly out of about 600 crores of export, only 293 crores have been spent on East Pakistan in import and so mach more has been given away to West Pakistan. Sir, they have done this in all the matters. Out of 12 crores that they have spent on Central services, they have spent only 60 lakhs for East Bengal people. Sir, is there any comparison. Sir, out of the 42, thousand employees of the Central Government, only 2,900 are of East Bengal and that too in the lowest categories and very few, almost nil, in the top grades. Out of 12 crores on the Central Services, only 60 lakhs have been spent on East Bengal. That is the position, Sir, that is five per cent in money as well as service, and 95 per cent for them; and with this, Sir, they are calling us brothers. They have sucked the blood of our body, leaving us dry skeleton and crippled and still they say they are brothers. If we say anything against it, they say, you are traitors, you are not worthy to live, you deserve to be shot". Sir that is their attitude.
Sir, now that we are welded into one nation-and we must live as one nation till eternity-there are methods of going that. Sir, it is the fault of geography. Even one people may separate on account of geography. The history of America, the history of Australia, the history of New Zealand is there. The same blood has been running in the vains of these people, but they are separated on the account of geography. Sir, we have been two countries. There is no denying the fact. It is sacrilege to you, to us it is not. We have been two countries; as a matter of fact we have been welded into one nation and there are necessary things to be done. The union must be a happy one. The union mast be a cordial one. There are certain methods of doing it; let us try for it. A single Act, Government of India Act, or the Independence Act, cannot unite two hearts. Only the hearts themselves meet. Have you done anything for this?
...I will tell you, Sir, one small thing, a very insignificant thing though. Sir, about three months ago in this House I had narrated that at the Dacca Aerodrome on the arrival of aircraft for and to various distances announcements are not made in Bengali, although they are made in English and Urdu. It does not cost a farthing; it does not cost a penny to anybody-there are Bengali boys sitting there who could very easily make an announcement in Bengali that such and such a plane is leaving for Karachi and those who are to go there will please, come to the lounge etc. Now, Sir, in spite of my request three months ago nobody took any notice of it. Now what is this? Is this the way you regard our sentiments? It could have made a tremendous effect on the people. It would have made a tremendous effect on the minds of the people if this announcement could have been made in Bengali also, because the country which has boon pleading for the last eight years for the Bengali language would have found one line of solace, that after all they have had some regard for our sentiments. That would have carried much further our cordial regard for each and wiped out much of the frustration from the minds of the people of East Bengal. It does not cost a farthing, one pie, as you make an announcement in English and Urdu already and you could very well also make an announcement in Bengali also, but, Sir, this could not be done...
So, Sir, that is the attitude of our brothers on this side. Then, Sir, we must have our economic freedom, economic liberty, because the two Units are altogether different. Our economic structure is also altogether different. We must have separate things. If you do not attach any importance to what I say then you have only to beat me; you don't love me. It is just like a child, who is always beaten by his mother who loves him also, but in this case you may beat me but you do not show any love towards me! I made the small suggestion three months ago and I do not understand what has debarred you from implementing this. This, Sir, shows the attitude. So, how can we expect them, to do bigger things when they cannot agree to do such a small thing? This gives an idea of the attitude of these people. Those people who have been in the coterie ruling this country for the last eight years will God willing, or God forbid, continue for some time more, Sir, and God alone knows what will happen to 'East Bengal thereafter. The injustice, the disparity, the misdeeds that have been committed on East Bengal are going to be legally and constitutionally perpetuated by this Constitution, Sir. No-where there is any provision in this Constitution for amending those things or making amends for those things and so it will continue under the authority of the Constitution after the Constitution is passed.
... Sir, in this present context I will tell you that so far as the people of East Bengal are concerned, I mean the people of Pakistan as a whole. I divide them into two groupsautonomists and the Centralists.
Honourable Deputy Speaker: What are they?
Mr. Ataur Rahman Khan: They are the Centralists and the autonomists, and about 6% crores of people are autonomists who believe in the autonomy of the respective regions, and against this background, as I understand, there are four divisions of people also. These four divisions are enumerated as follows:
Firstly, Common Pakistanis are generally autonomists, and they are always dubbed as provincialists.
Secondly, Indo-Pakistani capitalists. They are Centralists in view of the fact that their intention is truly to exploit the resources unhampered and uncontrolled of the producer of the raw materials.
Thirdly, Pakistani feudal lords-their interest is not against Defense and Foreign Affairs. They want to have some job and also for defense purposes.
Fourthly, the common Indo-Pakistan. -This group is generally known as Muhajirs, who are in a miserable plight. They are generally utilized for certain political purposes and when their purpose does not suit them, they are sometimes dubbed as Indian agents unfortunately. If I am in power I want to utilize some of them and if he does not line up with me or my ideas, I call him an Indian agent, saying that he has one leg there and the other leg here, and as such what can be expected of him. So, there are four classes of people. You will find from this division that autonomists are about 90 per cent of people, because common Pakistanis are autonomists. They want to live and let others live. It is the right, of self-determination of the people to be autonomous. By autonomy understand not in the context in which Pir Mohammad Ali Rashdi or Mr. Hamidul Huq Choudhury has said....
I have already told that it is going to be a charter of perpetual slavery. It contains provisions which are anti-Islamic and anti-democratic and I will analyze these. (Interruption) Who else can do it better than one who feels for autonomy? One who has skipped 1,500 miles to become a Minister by fluke, he cannot think of autonomy. So I will have to give an analysis of autonomy.
Sir, political terms have their own connotations against certain backgrounds. In this House ten persons can give ten definitions of democracy and all of them will be accepted by certain number of persons. We should not be bothered about connotations. The most vital question is the geography of the country and the last eight years of the sufferings of the people of East Bengal. Had the two zones been contiguous I would have preferred a unitary form of Government-one country, one Government, one vote, one economy.....
So, Sir, but for the geography of the country, unitary form of government would have been an ideal arrangement. Situated as we are, we must have a federation and federation postulates strong regional autonomous wings in the country. Unfortunately, our friends starting with the idea of federation incorporated all the provisions that will be found in a unitary form of Government, or even in a dictatorial form of government. They have not considered, it wise to incorporate any provision on the lines of autonomous federated units. When we are a federation, the provinces must be federated and provinces must be autonomous. You have not given any autonomy to the provinces and you have not given any safeguards.............
I was telling you about the case of Autonomists-demands of autonomists - and why they demand it. As I told you earlier the geographical position of the country is so peculiar and on that account the economic division of the country is so perfect that East Bengal must have its own economy apart from the economy of West Pakistan or it cannot live. The last 8 years of our existence have shown that unless and until we have separate and distinct economy in East Bengal within the next eight years we will be completely impoverished and it will bring our annihilation. So it is a determination to live and live as an integral part of Pakistan and also contribute to the pros parity of Pakistan. There is a feeling in the minds of the Centralists, who are mostly in the ruling coterie that if the Provinces become stronger the Centre will also become weak. My theory is altogether different. I hold altogether different opinion and I feel that unless and until you make the two wings of Pakistan stronger than before you cannot have a strong Pakistan. You cannot have a prosperous Pakistan. Pakistan will have no future. So in the interests of the prosperity and solidarity and the strength of Pakistan it is necessary that the further Wing of Pakistan, namely East Bengal, must be as strong as the Central Government here. This has not been done for the last 8 years and there is no provision also in the Constitution which will make this part of Pakistan a bit stronger than before. My learned friend Mr. Hamidul Huq Choudhury yesterday told that a greater amount of autonomy has been given to East Bengal and that East Bengal should be satisfied with that. I strongly repudiate this view and hold that this is absolutely incorrect and that what prime facie has been shown as strength of the Provinces is not really the strength of the provinces. You have actually cut down from the autonomy by adding a few more subjects which are not power creating or money producing. You have actually swelled the provincial list and thereby you want to show that regional autonomy has been given to the country. I do not really understand the attitude of Mr. Choudhury so far as regional autonomy for East Bengal is concerned. The last eight years of Central Government have shown that although for these 8 years we were told that a sort of federal Government was existing for all practical purposes there was a unitary Government. There is unitary control over economy, over industry, over finance, over commerce and all these things are in the hands of the Centre, practically everything. Provinces, particularly East Bengal did not get any benefit out of that. Now, Sir, regarding defense I will tell you one thing that out of 40 crores that has been spent in the last few years in the country on account of defense, only 14 crores have been spent in East Bengal, which means about 2 crores of rupees or less than that per year. Why it has been done in this manner, why this stepmotherly treatment, why this wild arrangement. Is it just, is it brotherly, do they want to say that they are our brothers and we are their brothers. Is it really a brotherly feeling that they do not look to the interests of East Bengal? They do not equip East Bengal militarily for all and every eventualities thinking that there should not be any defence so far as East Bengal is concerned. They think that the defence of West Pakistan alone would mean the defence of whole of Pakistan. Sir, the Central coterie, the ruling coterie, has never understood the strategic position of East Bengal and once our Commander-in-Chief had told that East Bengal is indefensible. If it is indefensible. Sir, why bother about it at all leave it where it is. Do not bother about it at all. Throw it away if you do not want to have it. Do not say that it is indefensible and on that plea you will not spend a farthing for East Bengal...................
Now, I come to the financial aspect of the Constitution. 172 crores were raised from revenue in East Bengal and out of this 45 crores were spent in East Bengal during the last 8 years. The economic policy of any country in the world is to spend the entire amount in the same area from where the revenue has been raised.
Honorable Deputy Speaker: What provision of the Constitution are you referring?
Mr. Ataur Rahman Khan: I am referring to the clause relating to Finance Commission. It is Section 114 of this Draft Constitution Bill. Mr. Hamidul Huq Choudhury on behalf of the Government has told us that all the remedies have been provided for and all the amendments have been made up in such novel innovations that they have been able to set up a National Finance Commission and that is a remedy for all our difficulties and no more injustice will be done to East Bengal after that. In reply to that I say how the remedy cannot be measured by this National Finance Commission. I will presently show how this is another hoax. But he has said it as 'novel'. I say it is a drama and I will show how it is a hoax. I told you earlier that this refined policy has made out confusion and it must have been their plan. Good intention is as easily discovered at the first view as a fraud is detected, at the last. This is how it has been detected and that it is a fraud on the people and a fraud on the intelligence' of the people. It will be shown by me just now. Let me tell you about the financial position of East Bengal. I have already told you that out of 172 crores, only 45 crores have been spent in East Bengal and 124 crores have been taken away from East Bengal and the money went to the Central coffer and there has been practically a double-edged drain. If this amount of 124 crores would have been spent in East Bengal, that would have brought further income to the country but instead of doing it, they made that Province drier and this part prosperous. So the disparity was going to be more and more, because the money spent from there never came back to its source. It is just like the heart and the body, Sir. Heart transmits the blood to the body and after going through the body, the blood returns back to the heart. Unless it comes back, the heart becomes dry. So here also it is exactly the same position. Unless that income comes back, further incomes will dry up. Therefore, Sir, if this course of action that was taken by the Central coterie here continues for another 8 years, Bengal will become totally bankrupt and it will face complete financial annihilation. That is what should have been stopped. But it has not been stopped and the proposition, therefore, has been accepted that so far as finance is concerned, Bengal has suffered a lot. In connection with this finance, Sir, I may tell you about the State Bank. Now State Bank in the country controls the foreign exchange. Finance is collected by commerce and industry and in the matter of commerce you will find that goods that were exported from East Bengal and imports that were brought did not have any ratio of balance. Sir, the greater the export of the country, the greater chance there is of goods going away unless it is balanced by import. It has not been so, so far as East Bengal is concerned. The total trade balance for the last 8 years is 664 crore exports and 292 imports, leaving a balance of 372 crores. In West Pakistan 586 crores exports and 826 imports-leaving an unfavorable balance of 239 crores of rupees. These 372 crores which could have been brought to East Pakistan have not been brought and the goods of the country have gone away by way of export leaving the country poorer so far as the material goods are concerned. But in proportion to that, that amount of goods did not come by way of imports giving no incentive to the producer, the labor and all other classes of the people who are interested in this and the country has become poorer. It works in this way, Sir, that when the country becomes poorer in production of goods, the labor suffers because they have no incentive to produce more and the producer of raw material cannot produce raw material on account of the fact that income of the country has become less and in that way, it goes on diminishing every year and at the end of another 8 years, the economists have calculated it, the position of East Bengal will come to zero.
Honorable Deputy Speaker: I have heard that before.
Mr. Ataur Rahman Khan: All right, Sir. This is the position and a solution to this should have been found by the division of foreign exchange. There is no harm in it. It would not have made the Centre weak in any way. Nobody should be shocked at that. What is actually the position here? The entire amount of foreign exchange is controlled by the State Bank of Pakistan. The State Bank could have been divided also as it is done in other countries. As my friend Mr. Mansur has said that there are countries which merely on account of sheer distance have divided the State Bank in two parts. Even in the neighboring country India, in the month of January, 1955, I read a statement of Mr. Nehru that they are going to create five or six zones of the Reserve Bank with a federating Reserve Bank over all of them at the Centre.
Honorable Deputy Speaker: You want this provision in the Constitution.
Mr. Ataur Rahman Khan: Yes, Sir. There should be two State Banks for the two wings for State Bank controls foreign exchange. There should be one Federating unit situated at Karachi and two branches-one at Lahore and another at Dacca...
I have been telling this House about facts of economy that we want to order out things there. So far as Commerce, Industries, and other things are there, it is necessary for us to put up a strong case and show that it is on account of the defective policy of the Commerce Department of the Centre that we have suffered so much. Had it been with us, we would not have suffered. Sir, non-devaluation decision of the Government was a sort of course for East Bengal and this revaluation decision is serving as a nightmare. I will show you just how it is so. At the time of non-devaluation, large exports bring in large machinery, heavy plants and installations and other things and the country is benefited. Bui the machinery which came in lieu of those large exports at the time of non- devaluation did not benefit East Bengal a little. Exports at that time were very very heavy and Pakistan was in a very good position so far as the currency of the country was concerned. But West Pakistan was entirely benefited thereby. Now, Sir, West Pakistan has become completely industrialized, so much so that a stage has reached, as my friend Mr. Abul Mansur said, that industries are in a position to produce surplus which they can export. In East Bengal the industrial progress is at the low ebb and there is no possibility in future for East Bengal to industrialize itself. Now this revaluation has brought the industrialization of East Bengal to a stop and there will never be any chance unless there is an upheaval and upsurge of any kind in the whole world.
Honorable Deputy Speaker: What do you propose?
Mr. Ataur Rahman Khan: I have told that these subjects should have been with he Provinces-Commerce and Industry should be in the provinces.
The Honorable Mr. M.A. Khuhro (West Pakistan Muslim): What about foreign trade?
Mr. Ataur Rahman Khan: I told about foreign trade also. I have said that there should be three subjects with the Centre-Defense, Foreign, Affairs and Currency. Now if you like you can I bring everything under Defense. If you. go on amplifying the position, Defense has got a demand on everything in the country. For instance, the anvil on which a man is mending shoes may also be requisitioned for Defense in case of war and you can say that it is required for the man in the Army. So in this way everything and all the subjects can be brought under Defense. So also with Foreign Affairs you can bring anything you like within its scope. Foreign Affairs mean the relations that exist between Pakistan and other foreign countries but if Mr. Hamidul Huq Choudhury wants to cover up everything under it, he can do so. For instance, if I write a letter in London that also can be covered by Foreign Affairs. Similarly if I have got a friend in Australia and he sends me a parcel, Mr. Hamidul.,Huq. Choudhury opens it and sees what it contains because all these matters are connected with Foreign Affairs for the reason that it has come from a foreign country and everything that is connected with any foreign country comes under Foreign Affairs. Now that is not our intention. Mr. Hamidul Huq Choudhury has been one of the authors of the 21-point programme in the year 1950 when we held that Grand National Convention in Dacca over which I had the honor to preside against the Basic Principles Committee's Report brought out by the late-lamented Liaquat Ali Khan. He was one of the sponsors and there we decided that these three subjects should be given to them in the Centre. Now Mr. Hamidul Huq Choudhury must have clearly understood every word of it and every meaning and connotation of it. He cannot now say that Defense, Foreign Affairs and Currency include all these things. I will give instances and show how people have been bluffed and things from heaven to earth can be taken there in the name of a particular subject. Sir, if Mr. Hamidul Huq Choudhury remains the Foreign Affairs Minister, he can bring all these things there. He can gather up everything under Foreign Affairs. But, Sir, if I happen to become the Foreign Minister, I may hold that these things are not Foreign Affairs. They can be safely dealt with by the Provinces. The Foreign Trade and Foreign Exchange can be controlled by the State Bank of Pakistan, having two State Banks in two places-one in Dacca and Lahore and the Federal Bank having its headquarters in Karachi. This can be provided in the Constitution. There would be no difficulty about it.
Now, Sir, it is said that in the economic field something has been done to East Bengal, It is said that, the National Finance Commission has been established as a panacea, for all the injustices done to East Bengal in all the departments. Sir, the Ministries and other things have been there before also, but they would not rectify the injustice. I do not know what novel thing, what miracle this National Finance commission will do............
Sir, you will find that one very important thing which actually determines the character of autonomy for province is the election. The election of the Provincial Assemblies, which was in the Provincial Lists, has now been taken away in the new. scheme of things. That has actually crippled any amount of autonomy that East Bengal enjoyed before this. It is not saying that we have given you so many subjects, twenty or thirty subjects. All the subjects are there, but that does not make the country autonomous; in fact, the principle of democracy has been taken away-a very important thing, namely, the election-because judging from the things that are going on in the country, it is a party government which is running the country's administration. East Bengal may have a Government of one Party opposed to a party which is in power in the Central Government. Therefore, it is necessary that the election of the Provincial Legislature must be under the control of the Provincial Government and not under the control of the Central Government here, but it has been taken away, so that autonomy, even if it is given, or even if it were there, has been completely, in a way, taken away by that provision.
Under item 23 of the Government of India Act, the Provincial List contained oilfields, which could give some amount of revenue to a unit, that too has been taken away very carefully, because there is a chance of discovery. So the province has been made poorer. A number of subjects have been given, but what of that. For instance, Railways has been given in the Provincial List, which is a great hoax that has been committed. What do you find in the Constitution itself? In the body of the Constitution it is not in the Provincial List; it is given to the Central Authority and that Authority has to decide whether it should be given or not. It may not be under the control of the Provincial Government. Sir, this is the Provincial List, showing a number of subjects. I cannot understand the subjects. I cannot understand what the estate duty in respect of agricultural land is. I cannot understand Capitation taxes. Lotteries, betting and gambling, fisheries, treasure trove, electricity, gas and gas works, professions, inns and inn-keepers, liquor and a number of other subjects are there to show that autonomy has been granted by making these provisions in the Provincial List, but Provincial autonomy is not there. As I told you, the root of the Provincial Autonomy has been cut down however you may try to pour water over it. This will not give provincial autonomy.
Extracts from the Speech of Mr. H. S. Suhrawardy as Leader of the
Opposition on “The 1956 Constitution".
31st January, 1956
..Sir, I had recently been to East Bengal for the purpose of assessing for myself whether the opposition that we heard in the papers and voiced on the floor of this House was a mere paper opposition or was it really grounded in the will of the people. I have, Sir, no hesitation in stating that people of Bengal are greatly perturbed.
The people in East Bengal have no confidence in the Ministry here or in the Constitution prepared by them and they desire that adequate provision should be made in the Constitution for their welfare and development and this matter should not be left to the administration or maladministration of the Ministry. The feeling there is of such a nature that it is extremely doubtful if the Ministry of that place can withstand the pressure, as is borne out by the fact that it hesitates to call a meeting of the Legislature and put its confidence to the test.......... in approaching constitutional proposals, I do so with only and objective. It must ensure and promote the stability and integrity of Pakistan. To me and my party, all of us residing within Pakistan as its citizens and subjects are one nation, namely, Pakistani Nation, irrespective of the provinces or the regions from which we come, irrespective of the origin, of our race, and tribe, irrespective of the religion, caste or creed. We are one State and we are one people.... To my mind. Sir, as a Pakistani, I say that I cannot visualize any period of time when there will be secession between the two wings of Pakistan. I cannot conceive even the idea of secession. We have got to live together.... What keeps us together is this: the realization that neither part of Pakistan can live without the other. We are dependent upon each other in a hundred thousand ways and therefore it will be fartuous on the part of any one to say “Let us seek our own destiny elsewhere without the help and cooperation of the other".. . . . . . To me the development and the understanding is necessary on both sides. East Pakistan is as much concerned with the welfare of West Pakistan and Pakistan as I hope the West Pakistan is concerned with the welfare of East Pakistan and Pakistan as a whole, but then if you really have a genuine desire to reach a mutual settlement which is absolutely essential for the governments of East Pakistan and West Pakistan, we must get together as soon as possible, instead of fighting each other, even on the floor of this House There is no denying the fact that there has hardly been any development in East Bengal worth the name, compared to the development on this side of the country. We wish this country well. We are happy that it has been developed. After all whole Pakistan is being strengthened it is advisable if both the wings are developed equally and it would certainly be weakened if one side is developed only and the other remains undeveloped. But surely the people from East Bengal too have the right to come forward and claim some consideration from you. Surely, they have got the right to come and say that during all these years East Bengal has been impoverished in several ways. I do not want to juggle with figures. These things are facts which are before us. There has hardly been any development in that part of the country. By putting a jute mill or a paper mill in that wing you think that is sufficient development for 4 crores of the population that are living between wind and water, whose subsistence is so low that the slightest alteration in prices pushes them to starvation. Mind you the British Government did not take a pice out of India for the administration of India. They took nothing from here to England for that purpose and the money that went from here went as interest on the capital in business or trade. Has it been forgotten that the main brunt of our charge against the British was that our country was getting impoverished because money was being sent out of the country to England? 'And this is exactly what. unfortunately, is happening in East Pakistan. Money is going out from there and it is not being replenished; our people, there, are getting poorer and poorer.
....Sir, there resources of East Bengal have been utilized for the purpose of the development in this part of the country but the development of East Bengal could proceed side by side. East Bengal is riverine. Canals have been dug here but we have got natural rivers. What is the position of the rivers there? Could not attention be paid to cleaning the silted rivers and canals? Today the position in East Bengal is very distressing and I am very much alarmed.
.... And, after all, can it be denied that we have received considerable foreign aid from various sources, and that we are receiving that foreign aid and can it be denied that hardly a small percentage of it has been spent on East Pakistan.
If it is a case of foreign aid, surely both the wings have a right to take the benefit of it. Then, Sir, there is another matter over which the people of East Bengal feel and that is the question of defence and of bases. Sir, I would not go into the question of strategy: that is a matter that the army should look after. But I will maintain that the people in East Bengal can be trained to be a fine military force as they were in the old days. It was the Bengal regiment that created a reputation for itself long before the other regiment. possibly about the same time as the Madras Regiment, created a name for itself. Now here something could be done; some attention could be paid to the military training and whether you produce soldiers or not, whether East Bengal can be defended or not against aggression in East Bengal, whether West Pakistan can be defended only in West Pakistan, these are matters into which I will not enter but this much I am certain that every patriotic citizen desires that he should be associated with the defense of his country.
... After all East Bengal is not such a backward area as to have justified all this under-development, that you say, that people are not coming forward and there is nothing there as if the people are primitive or something to that effect. There is absolutely so justification for this view.
... Now, let us come to the provisions of this Constitution. Is it really honestly and improvement on the 1935 Act? I can hardly see that it is so in any respect. The lists are there as they were before; powers are there, just as they were before. You have merely called if Federal Constitution, whereas it was not federal previously. But same lists existed; there had been some modification but the same List I. List II and List III are there. In the days when India was a unitary Government you still had the same Lists I, II and III and so what is the difference that you can show from the Government of India Act. You can say that the residuary powers have been given to the Provinces under this constitution. But what are residuary powers? Do they ever come in for exercise?. Where, Sir, You have differed from the 1935 Act, it has always been done to the detriment of democracy and against the interests of this country. May I just point out a few instances and then ask you whether you should not make some efforts to bring it into line with progressive thought?
Take the case of the powers of the President.......... You have given to the President the powers of the British sovereign as they stand of late. The British sovereign has supreme powers, but there is, in Britain a Convention, Convention which no sovereign may dare to break, it is an unwritten convention and the powers of the sovereign are unwritten. No sooner you put that down in your book, no sooner you put that down in the Constitution, no sooner that that becomes justiciable, that convention will be thrown overboard. You cannot rely upon them in law and in order to enforce conventions you cannot rely upon them in law; you have got to go through the process of chaos, disturbances and revolution and I would certainly not like to go through that process. Better far that you should not define the powers of the President in so far as that of the British sovereign, or if you define them, then also define them with those conventions by which those powers are circumscribed. I think, Sir, with regard to the dissolution, viz... the power of the President to dissolve an Assembly when he is of the opinion that the Ministry has lost the confidence of the country, I think Sir, that this thing is so obviously ridiculous that I am sure that the Government will either withdraw it, or place something else a bit more reasonable. To leave it to the President to judge about the possibilities that you have lost the confidence of the country is fantastic in a democratic Constitution. Yes, if he thinks that a present Ministry has lost the confidence of the legislature over which that Ministry presides, then, some powers might be invoked, but to go and dissolve the legislature 011 that ground because they have lost the confidence of the people is a vastly different matter. Then, Sir, a very very important power has been given to the President which will override the entire Constitution, viz., power to declare emergency. All the power to declare and emergency is vested in the President....
Then, Sir, let us take another provision in this Constitution, viz., that of fundamental rights. Why these fundamental rights have been absolutely put down in the Constitution if provisos were a necessary attachment of them. If these fundamental rights have got to be hedged round with all kinds of provisos, circumscribed by this under these circumstances that under those circumstances, and so on, what is the use of these fundamental rights? You have taken them from the Indian Constitution...
The Honorable Mr. I. I. Chundrigar: I have taken them from some other document.
Mr. H. S. Suhrawardy; Some other document, possibly, but, then the Indian Constitution must have borrowed them also from some other document, and therefore, they are of the same pattern and same origin, but I have very great doubts whether the Constitution from which the Honorable Member took these fundamental rights contains all those provisos and hindrances which have been enshrined here. I have compared it even with the Indian Constitution. The then Constitution has certain provisos, had certain restrictions but it is very very important word, viz., “reasonable. There were reasonable restrictions and as soon as that word is put in well, that word “reasonable” has been left out-nobody can do anything which the rights guarantee in so far as they can be invoked in a court of law, but, if in the Constitution you have reasonable restrictions and the work “reasonable” becomes justiciable, at once the courts will then be in a positions to say-if the legislature put down the reasonable restrictions in the fundamental rights-that these are unconstitutional because they are not reasonable. Therefore, Sir, please do no delude us by putting this word that you have been able to put in the fundamental rights. The fundamental rights are of no value at all...
...But then, Sir, there are also certain hiatuses in these Fundamental Rights and Directive Principles which I hope will be filled up. I do not find anything either in the Rights of Directive Principles to look after the interest of the agriculturists and labor, and to prevent them from exploitation. There is a general clause; an attempt. I believe. will be made to promote the social and economic well being and so on. of people. And to adjust relationship between landlords and tenants and between employers and labor Sir, that is not enough either as a Directive Principle or a Fundamental Right because we do maintain that the cultivator, the man who produces the food grains should be the owner of the land which he is tilling (Applouse). This should be provided for in our Constitution, At least this should be the aim of this Government....
...Now Sir, there were other problems that came up. There was nothing in the Constitution regarding them, not even in the Directive Principles-regarding the principle of giving military training and establishing military bases for purposes of giving to the people of East Bengal encouragement to come forward and to take part in the defense of their country. There is nothing regarding foreign exchange. There is no provision to say that there shall be development side by side and in equal measure. There is nothing regarding Services and so on. What is the use of this Constitution? This Constitution hits shelved all the problems and all that it has got a certain number of clauses taken from c Government of India Act, 1935 and wherever they have departed from it, woe to this country I
...Now, Sir, we come to the question of provincial autonomy. It is a matter on which you cannot come to finality here. At the same time you have to consider that if the two wings-East and West do not come to an agreement, what should be done. I feel, as I have pointed out, that the ruling party of West Pakistan want to have and eat the cake.
They have taken their parity in the constitution over and over again. They have pointed it out that this shall stand even if the number of members increases in the National parliament. I am sorry to state that all that goes with parity has been ignored by them. I maintain that the people of Bengal would not have accepted parity had it not been coupled with regional autonomy. This was the thing which was placed before them; One group in one part should not dominate over another group in another part: everything should be done by agreement and by a process of give and take and not by force. For that reason there should be equality obviously, West as a nation, as a group was piched against the East as a nation or as a group. I am using the word “nation” in the loose sense and not in the sense of Pakistani nation. Therefore, inasmuch as they were separated on account of distance they must have regional autonomy. That was the basis of parity and the further basis of parity was that if Bengal was to speak it should speak together and for that we must have joint electorate.....
[Excerpts from the speech delivered by Mr. Mohammad Ali, Prime Minister, on the Fourth Draft Constitution]
1st February, 1956,
Sir, Pakistan came into existence as the result of a struggle by the Muslims of the sub-continent to win a homeland for themselves in which they would be free to live their own way of life and develop their own culture.
Mr. H. S. Suhrawardy: Hear, hear. We agree.
The Honorable Mr. Mohammad Ali: That struggle culminated in an agreement between the main political parties of the sub-continent: to partition the sub-continent so that the majority Muslim-areas of the North-East and the North-West would form the State of Pakistan. This is how Pakistan came into existence-and on its establishment, the object of the Pakistan movement was not completely fulfilled. If I might quote the Quaid-i-Azam:
"The establishment of Pakistan for which we had been striving for the last ten years is by the grace of God an accomplished fact today.” (This was in October, 1947). “For the creation of a State of our own was a means to an end and not an end in itself. The idea was that we should have a State in which we could live and breathe as free men and which we could develop according to our own way of life and culture and wherein the principles of Islamic social justice could find free-play."
Mr. H. S. Suhrawardy: Quite right. I entirely agree.
The Honorable Mr. Mohammad Ali: That was the reason for the establishment of Pakistan. And the urge to develop our culture, to realize our potentialities to the utmost to find an atmosphere in which the spirit of Islam can flourish, that urge is there in the nation today. It has been the reason for its existence and it remains the driving force of the people of Pakistan. That freedom and that urge we must safeguard; we can ignore it only at our peril. No man of honor repudiates his parentage. Every tree springs from its seed; it grows an it flowers. It may stay as a small seed but, over a period of years, it shoots out branches, it bears fruit and people recognize its worth. We, Sir, shall be in that process for many years before the true spirit of Islamic culture finds fruition here. The freedom which the Muslims of Pakistan wanted for themselves, they do not want to deny to other communities living in Pakistan. It is an essential part of our faith that the nonMuslims living here should be equally free to develop their culture; to practice and propagate their religion; should be equal and honored citizens of Pakistan. It is on these basic concepts that the whole structure of Pakistan should be built.
And how did we, the people of North-West and the people of North-East come together even though separated by a distance of 1,500 miles, how did we overcome the handicaps of geography? It is partly a tribute to the spirit of Islam which rises above geography and partly recognition of the fact that we need each other: that it is only living and working together that we can survive. The remark which the Honorable Leader of the opposition made on that subject, I can endorse whole-heartedly. There can never be any question of secession. No such thought must ever be entertained. Mr. Suhrawardy excused the people who talked about it as indulging “in intellectual exercise". I do hope that these intellectual gymnasts will not go through their contortions in public but that they would devote their surplus intellectual energies to innocent pursuits such as solving cross-word puzzles, certainly not doing things which injure the very foundations of our State. And those of my friends who use phrases carelessly, who talk of “nationalities” in a loose way which can lead to misunderstandings, I would earnestly request them to desist. We are yet in a formative stage and even though the idea of Pakistan Nationalism, the idea of our common culture of one country and one people, shines bright, yet there are spots here and there, dark spots, where germs of disruption can thrive. Let no patriotic man do anything which would help these germs to survive. Let him not, by inadvertence, or in any other manner, lend support to any such, tendency in our body politic. Let us, once and for all, make up our mind and be absolutely clear that East and West Pakistan are one; they must be welded into an indivisible whole. That way lies our survival. The freedom for which our people struggled is our most precious possession. I maintained that our people have made tremendous sacrifices for winning freedom and that they are continuing to those sacrifices. (I shall turn to this matter later.) Any attempt to cause misunderstanding, between East Pakistan and West Pakistan, anything that creates a gulf between the two, endangers that freedom, because it endangers the integrity of the State. It would mean in other words that the freedom, to develop our culture, to have an environment in which the Islamic spirit could flourish would be dead and gone; we have therefore, continually to remind ourselves of this. We cannot live one without the other. It may be remembered by many that at the time of partition a large number of experts thought that even the combined resources of East Pakistan and West Pakistan would not be enough to make a stable state with a viable economy. These prophets of gloom claimed and prophesied that Pakistan would disintegrate and come to an end within a period of months. These prophesy included both East and West Pakistan. They thought Pakistan would not be able to provide for its defense and that if, at all, it made some half-hearted attempt towards that end it would have no resources left for development. That was the forecast by some eminent experts at that time. This forecast has been belied and Pakistan is here-strong and flourishing. But that is so because the resources of East Pakistan and West Pakistan together are available to it in every way. Alone neither East nor West Pakistan can hope to survive. We have, in safeguarding our freedom together, made extreme sacrifice. Let me give an illustration. The bulk of our revenue goes towards the maintenance of our defense forces because it is essential to maintain our freedom and to preserve our independence. The security of the State occupies the foremost place in our polity. Defense expenditure is unproductive expenditure; it takes away a lot from the resources of the country but it does not give anything back to it. And precious resources, which could have been used for the development of the country and for raising the standards of living, have been year after year allocated for defense, so that our independence and our freedom might be preserved. I remember the late Honorable Mr. Liaquate Ali Khan saying that he would rather see the people of this country go naked and hungry than jeopardize its security. That is the spirit of the people of the country and let us not tamper with that spirit. Let us not weaken it in any way. Let us not in any way undermine our will and survive and to grow strong and prosperous in unison together.............
At the time of partition Pakistan was a poor country, producing raw materials, having very little industry and not much control over commerce and not fully developed administratively or economically. It still is a poor, under-developed country with one of the lowest national incomes in the world. And this is true of both East Pakistan and West Pakistan. We have to go a very very long way, indeed, before we can raise the standard of living of our people to what may be regarded as an adequate level in the modern world. One of the impulses that led to the creation of Pakistan arose out of the feeling that the 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.
In the administrative services, among engineers, technicians and others there were a fairly large number of Muslims in West Pakistan and many of those who came from the minority Provinces of India were perhaps, if I may say so, more easily assimilated hen. Therefore the economy of West Pakistan-though in an undeveloped state and though disrupted by the conditions I have described-was in a stronger position, Also a number of schemes like Malakand Hydro-electric Project, the Lower Sind Barrage Project, the Rasool Hydro-electric Project had already reached a very advanced stage of planning and were even in the process of execution. Banking, commerce, industry also were at the time of partition in a more advance state in West Pakistan. Higher taxation in West Pakistan at the time of partition is also indicative, to some extent; of the difference in the level of the two economics-taxation both Central and Provincial was about three times as high in West Pakistan as it was in East Pakistan. The disparity is still large enough though not so great now as it was then.
These were the conditions in which the Central Government had to operate. It necessarily had to go by priorities and the first priority, as I have said, was to win economic independence for East Pakistan. The development of the Chittagong Port, the development of jute baling and manufacturing capacity, the organisation of the E.B.R. all uses tasks were taken in hand first of all. The re-organisation of the Armed Forces could only be accomplished where there were Cantonments, Ordnance and supplydepots, etc., and the re-organisation of the Armed Forces was a matter of the highest importance for the State. Let us remember that we got bits and pieces of Units, True, most of the preparation army was stationed in what is now known as West Pakistan. That had been happening over a whole century as a result of strategic requirements. There were no Cantonments and no facilities for the re-organisation of the Armed Forces in East Pakistan. One must view all these factors objectively. Objectivity is essential for only men can one get a true understanding of the actual state of affairs existing at the time. It is true that development in West Pakistan has been more rapid than in East Pakistan. But it is completely untrue to say that East Pakistan has been impoverished and that in it is a poorer state than it was at the time of partition.
Sheikh Mujibur Rahman (East Bengal: Muslim): The facts are there.
The Honorable Mr. Mohammad Ali: It has developed not at the same rate as West Pakistan but it has made, In my humble opinion, very considerable progress.
Sheikh Mujibur Rahman: No progress.
The Honorable Mr, Mohammad Ali: A great deal more needs to be done and we are determined to do it. We are determined to raise the rate of development in East Pakistan so as to bring it to parity with West Pakistan. It is essential that every part of the country be developed uniformly.
An Honorable Member: Have it in the Constitution,
Honorable Deputy Speaker: Please be quiet.
The Honorable Mr. Mohammad Ali: As I said the allegation that East Pakistan has been impoverished is completely wrong. Figures have been cited to show that the contribution of East Pakistan to the Central revenues has been progressively coming down in terms of percentage. Now that is not quite so. It started going up and why did it come down? Because during the Korean boom when jute prices went up, jute duty was increased and the revenue resources of the Central Government were thereby enhanced. When these prices came down, the jute duty was brought down very considerably. That has in the main accounted for this decrease. Another factor was that the duty on betelnuts which are grown in East Pakistan was removed. Looking at these statistics, one must carefully examine the underlying factors. A great many figures have been quoted in this House. I regret to say that most of them are incorrect not by a small margin but by a wide margin.
Sheikh Mujibur Rahman: We can prove that it is correct.
Honorable Deputy Speaker: You can prove it later on. But in the mean time you hear what the Prime Minister has to say.
Sheikh Mujibur Rahman: We are patiently hearing. We know the Prime Minister is speaking.
The Honorable Mr. Mohammad Ali: May I say one thing? I never interrupt any member of the House, however great the provocation might be. There have been the occasions when statements have been attributed to me which were completely false. Nevertheless, I never stood up to intervene. I request that the same courtesy be extended to me.
Sheikh Mujibur Rahman: Sir, we always extend that courtesy.
Mr. Fazlur Rahman: Sir, the word 'false' is un parliamentary.
The Honorable Mr. Mohammad Ali: All right, I say incorrect. Now, Sir what is the policy that one has to follow? First of all economic independence for the country which is a matter of the highest importance. That means, in effect, that whatever we can produce from our own resources, for the basic necessities of life, food, cloth, shelter, etc., we must produce ourselves. And we must do so treating the economy of the country as a single economy wherever with the presence of raw materials or other advantages we can most advantageously and most economically develop it, we develop it there in the interest of the whole country. We must ensure that there is uniform development all over the country. There may be some raw materials available here, some raw materials available there but we must try so to develop them that we are able to make the fullest use of the potential which is available both in East Pakistan and in West Pakistan. This policy will be seen reflected in the plans that the Planning Board is preparing and which will be placed before the country very soon. It is not a matter in which I am holding out some personal assurance to be fulfilled or not to be fulfilled at some future indefinite date. For the last two years the Planning Board, with the assistance of eminent experts from outside as well as from inside the country, has been engaged in preparing a plan for the whole of the country. I have insisted that these plans should ensure uniform development all over the country, that they should be prepared in consultation with the Provincial Governments of East Pakistan and West Pakistan and to their satisfaction and should ensure that there is maximum utilization of the resources of the country in the shortest possible time. These plans will be placed before the National Economic Council. I maintain that in that body we have the means of bringing unity and harmony in this very important and vital field. In this Council will be associated Ministers of the Central Government and Ministers of the Provincial Governments and they will work together. It may be said they may disagree; possibly they might, but I have no doubt that reasonable men sitting round the table objectively examining the facts and figures before them and determined to do the best that is possible for the country, will reach an agreement. That has been my own experience, today we sit in the Cabinet Ministers from East Pakistan and Ministers from West Pakistan we examine each proposal on merits in the interest of the whole country, East Pakistan as well as West Pakistan. I have no doubt that if one works in that spirit; one can achieve most valuable results.
There are one or two figures of a general kind, which I would like to mention although I had no intention of entering into this area of controversy. It has been said that the wealth of East Pakistan is being drained away. This is not correct. What does the Centre get from East Pakistan-the contribution from East Pakistan to Central revenues plus the part of the Central loans which comes out of East Pakistan. What is put into East Bengal by the Central Government is through the disbursements of the Central Government on revenue account and capital account plus the loans advanced by the Central Government to the Provincial Government. The outgoings from the Centre are in excess of the Centre's receipts.
Mr. Abul Mansur Ahmad: Question.
The Honorable Mr. Mohammad Ali: By many crores. This is the first thing. Secondly about Foreign Exchange. In thinking of Foreign Exchange one has to look not merely at the balance of trade or the balance of merchandise with the rest of the world, but also with the rest of Pakistan. It makes no difference from that point of view whether the goods come from West Pakistan or from any outside sources. From 1949-50 to 195455, East Pakistan has had a trade surplus of 136 crores and West Pakistan had a deficit of 40 crores.
Mr. Abul Mansur Ahmad: Incorrect.
The Honourable Mr. Mohammad Ali: That is the trade deficit taking into account the trade with foreign countries as well as inter-zonal trade. But the balance of trade as everyone knows is a very different thing from what is known as balance of payments. The Balance of Payment takes into account many other items, shipping, insurance, movement of capital, movement of gold and so on. Within a country there are not exact statistics for these movements. It is because of this that no one is in a position to prepare the balance of payments for separate parts of the same country having the same currency system and belonging to a single economy. Remittances and transfers are continually being made and there is no statistical record of this. In the one field in which for some time statistics have been kept namely, gold, the movement has been continually from West Pakistan to East Pakistan. Further, one has to consider the payments made outside the country for stores, defense equipment; and they come to a very very considerable amount. Then there is the expenditure on Foreign Missions. Import of defense stores into West Pakistan confers no benefits on the economy of West Pakistan. The fact that guns, fire ammunition for training, or vehicles move on the roads of West Pakistan confers no benefit of any kind.
Mr. Abul Mansur Ahmad: Question.
The Honorable Mr. Mohammad Ali: Unproductive defense expenditure which takes away from the resources of the country is not an economic benefit.
The fact of the matter is this, taking a broad view; the bulk of the revenues of the Central Government is raised from West Pakistan and is spent on unproductive defense services. That is the real position. Why does one spend it in a particular place? Not to confer economic benefits. It is spent where forces are located on strategic considerations. There is another class of unproductive expenditure on the Civil Armed Forces in the Frontier. That again is considerable-and again is unproductive. Now it is maintained that salaries paid to armed forces confer a benefit on West Pakistan. For the last hundred years or so, salaries have been paid to the men drawn from certain districts in West. Pakistan and these districts remains the poorest district in West Pakistan, to this day. In fact, before partition, one used to hear complaints-very frequent complaints-that the British Government deliberately refrained from developing these districts economically, kept them poor, in order to be able to recruit men from there/Money which goes into productive activity is fruitful. The payment of salaries merely in certain poor districts without adding to the productive development in those places confers no benefit and, this can be seen by making a comparison between the districts from which most recruitment is made and the districts, like Lyallpur, Multan and others, where practically no recruitment takes place and which are the richest districts in West Pakistan. Now this is not to say that recruitment should continue to be confined to those areas. I agree wholly with those who maintain that citizens all over the country have a right to take part in the defense of the country. (Hear, hear).
His Excellency Mr. Mushtaq Ahmad Gurmani: Duty.
The Honorable Mr. Mohammad Ali: I agree wholly with that, efforts are being made, and I have intensified those efforts, to make up deficiencies in that respect. When some years ago, a Committee was appointed to go into the question of accelerating recruitment in East Pakistan, the most important recommendation it made was that a Military Academy should be set up in East Pakistan for the training of young men there. Unfortunately, no action had been taken on that, or rather a half-hearted attempt had been made at one time and thus not pursued. I have now sanctioned Rs. 40 lakhs for the construction of the Military Academy and work is being taken in hand immediately.
The Honorable Mr. Mohammad Ali: The Honorable Leader of the Opposition asked why a Naval Base was not set up in East Pakistan? He perhaps was not aware that I had already passed orders for the establishment of a Naval Base at Chittagong.
Mr. Zahiruddin: Abul Mansur's speech is bearing fruit.
Mr. Abu! Mansur Ahmad: After my speech?
Some Honorable Members: No, no (Laughter).
The Honorable Mr. Mohammad Ali: Much earlier.
Mr. Zahiruddin: It is after that speech that we have heard about this Rs.40 lakhs. His Excellency Mr. Mushtaq Ahmad Gurmani: This is unearned credit.
The Honorable Mr. Mohammad Ali: It was over a month ago or so that I had passed orders about Rs.40 lakhs.
Honourable Deputy Speaker: He was drafting his speech at the time; (Laughter).
The Honourable Mr. Mohammad Ali: Sir, I have given an indication of the firm determination of this Government to do everything possible to develop East Pakistan economically and to do everything that lies in our power, so that East Pakistan may play its due part in the Defense Services.
One incidental advantage I might mention of the unification of West Pakistan is that it has reduced five Provinces to two. Previously, East Pakistan was one of five Provinces and therefore, was competing in demands with the five Provincial Governments. Today. with only, two Provincial Governments, inevitably the demands of East Pakistan and West Pakistan must receive equal consideration. (Hear, hear).
Mr. Abul Mansur Ahmad: With Capital in one.
The Honorable Mr. Mohammad Ali: This aspect of the matter may not be present to the minds of the members of but it is an evitable consequences and I think it is a good consequence of the unification of West Pakistan.
Mr. Zahiruddin: Just put down parity in the Constitution-honestly.
The Honorable Mr. Mohammad Ali: Now about Services. I have referred already to the fact that at the time of partition, there were very few officers from Bengal. The policy followed since then has been to recruit on the basis of 20 per cent.-I am talking of the Central Services-20 per cent, on merit; 40 per cent from East Pakistan; 40 per cent from West Pakistan, and the results are that in most of the Superior services today where the ratio was same where near zero at the time of Partition, it ranges from 20 to 25 percent now.
In the Central Secretariat itself, taking Under Secretaries and Deputy Secretaries, East Pakistan officers from about 25 per cent of the total and I am taking special steps to increase the representation of East Pakistan officers in the Central Secretariat. I have no doubt in my mind that within, say, seven years or so, this problem will be forgotten.
Mr. Zahiruddin: We hope you will be there.
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 activity of the Provincial Government and the Central Government are earmarked, is essential. Even now with the clear ear-marking of these responsibilities in the Government of India Act, 1935, there is a good deal of confusion. The Honorable Leader of the Opposition referred yesterday to projects for improving inland waterways. and for the setting up of canning factories and charged the Central Government with neglect. In fact, they all fall within the provincial sphere. Unfortunately the federal system is not a very easy system of government for people to understand. A unitary government makes it much easier for people to place responsibility. However, our geographical situation is such that a federal constitution is inevitable for us, and in that federal constitution for reasons of geography there must be the maximum of provincial autonomy. But provincial autonomy has meaning and significance only within the framework of a country. Provinces are parts of a country and, therefore, provincial autonomy has to be consistent with the integrity and security and stability of the country. On that matter I am in full agreement with the Leader of the Opposition. I could not improve upon the remarks he made on this subject, and I think anybody looking at the problems of this country in a rational manner would come to the same conclusion.
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