May 05, 2007	Saturday	Rabi-us-Sani 17, 1428

ISLAMABAD, May 4: The Diaries of Field Marshal Muhammad Ayub Khan 1966-1972, launched here on Friday, reveal a lot about the tumultuous events of the period when the country’s first military ruler was made to resign under a conspiracy of some generals led by Gen Yahya Khan.

The diaries’ entries reveal that many in the West Pakistan leadership had by 1960 lost faith in a united Pakistan.

Senator S.M. Zafar said in a paper at the launching of the book that former prime minister Zulfikar Ali Bhutto’s statement as foreign minister in a National Assembly meeting in Dhaka that East Pakistan had been defended through diplomatic efforts, particularly by China, during the 1965 war did not auger well with the Eastern wing’s leaders. They felt that if China had not come to the region’s help, East Pakistan would have been at the mercy of the Indian army, he said.

He said delay in bringing amendments promised to the opposition for transforming the presidential form of government into parliamentary and holding elections on the basis of adult franchise on the advice of Khwaja Shahabuddin and others, created chaos which culminated in the resignation of Ayub Khan.

Senator Zafar, who was law minister in Ayub’s cabinet, said the aides of the field marshal were so rigid about the right to adult franchise that he failed to convince the president on expansion of the electoral college of 80,000 basic democracy members to even 300,000. A provincial minister resisted the suggestion saying: “It is difficult to tackle 80,000 and now the minister for law wants to add to our miseries by expanding the electoral college.”

Sharifuddin Pirzada said Iskander Mirza had admitted before Justice Munir that the decision of abrogating the 1956 Constitution was his own, the main reason being that he had no more then five per cent chances of being re-elected as president. Justice Munir had advised Gen Mirza in October 1958 to allow elections to take place and the inevitable chaos to develop, thereby getting a chance to declare an emergency.

Mr Pirzada said his appointment as foreign minister had come as a result of what the field marshal deemed collusion between his predecessor and the foreign secretary during the ‘operation Gibraltar’ in 1965.

He said the then foreign secretary had briefed president Ayub against his frequent foreign tours, otherwise they had very cordial relations. He cited a number of occasions when his services were eulogised by Ayub Khan.

Pakistan Muslim League president Chaudhry Shujaat Hussain narrated the episode of President Pervez Musharraf’s takeover in 1999, saying that had he accepted the advice of some people in the Prime Minister’s House, he too would have been in trouble.

He announced a reward of Rs100,000 to anyone who proposed a suitable name for his proposed book.

He praised Ayub Khan’s era for industrialisation and construction of big dams.

Former foreign minister Gohar Ayub Khan also spoke.