OSAMA Mustafa's letter, 'Ayub setting the record straight' (Jan 8), seems to support president Ayub's shifting the Capital from Karachi. Coming from Islamabad such a response is expected.
Mr Mustafa cites the 'language issue' and the dismissal of three Bengali prime ministers that created rifts n East and West Pakistan, before the Capital was shifted.
Multiple national languages are not an insurmountable problem for nations. Canada has two, Switzerland has three.
Language is a very important ingredient to nationhood but it takes decades to adopt. The Quaid-i-Azam had very little time.
When he visited Dhaka in 1948, he was aware that it was probably his last visit. He tried hastily, perhaps indiscreetly, to clinch “the one language dream” for his newborn country.
India, always ready to fish in troubled waters, exploited the situation. Language riots erupted. Four students were killed. A 'minar' was erected on the spot.
It became a rallying point for 'gheraos' and 'jalaaos' for the Awami League in the coming years.
In Mr Mustafa's somewhat dramatic narration “Large numbers of Bengalis laid down their lives and human blood was shed in massive language riots”. Who can possibly condone that!
But the question is How did moving the Capital from Karachi to Islamabad help?
Mr Mustafa says “During the time Karachi was the Capital three Bengali patriots Khwaja Nazimuddin, H.S. Suhrawardy and Mohammad Ali Bogra were dismissed from the post of prime minister by West Pakistan elites by palace intrigues.”
The same intrigues, in fact, continued even from Islamabad. Prime minister Zulfikar Ali Bhutto was hanged and Benazir Bhutto killed. If we count Liaquat Ali Khan, we could have a mass grave for prime ministers in the vicinity.
Mohammad Khan Junejo was dismissed. Nawaz Sharif and Benazir were both dismissed twice each as prime ministers and there is always one ready in the pipeline. Does that make a case for shifting the Capital from Islamabad?
The Quaid-i-Azam chose Karachi as the Capital because it was suitable for keeping the two far-flung wings together. It was already a cosmopolitan city easily accessible by ship from East Pakistan. Located on the sea lane and plumb in the middle of trunk air routes connecting Europe and the Far East, it was a boon for an industry-starved new nation.
The Bengalis quite gracefully accepted Karachi as the Capital. Cheap access by sea allowed them to build a large colony here. Part of it still survives.
Two of the three Bengali prime ministers that Mr Mustafa mentions, namely Mr Suhrawardy and Khwaja Nazimuddin, made homes in Karachi. Many of their kin still live here.
President Ziaur Rahman went to school here. Karachi with its diverse and large Bengali population glued the two wings together. It was home to them. They had settled here.
When on a mere whim, the Capital was shifted a thousand miles north, they felt betrayed. Even the subsidised air fare from Dhaka to Islamabad was well beyond their means. They felt completely cut off. They never really accepted the new Capital.
India exploited the discontent that had already been sowed. Economic disparity was exaggerated out of proportion. Conspiracies like 'Agartala' were hatched, the 'Mukti Bahini' was nourished and East Pakistan burned while Gen Yahya played the fiddle in the Margala hills, far, far away.
Mr Mustafa takes offence to my calling it the first nail in the coffin of a united Pakistan, call it the second or third if you please, but shifting the Capital did nothing to heal the worsening relationship between East and West Pakistan even after conceding that misgivings took root before that.
There was wisdom in the Quaid-i-Azam's choice of Capital. Most people firmly believe that the country would probably have remained united if we had let the Capital remain where the Quaid left it.
CAPT S. AFAQ RIZVI
Karachi
