From the past pages of dawn: 1965: Fifty years ago: ‘Alien influence’

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KARACHI: Mr A.K. Brohi, a former Central Law Minister, said in Karachi that in London he had found signs of “alien forces” at work on subverting the minds of Pakistani students. Mr Brohi said this in an interview on return from New York where he participated in the UN International Co-operation Year. Mr Brohi said that the number of Pakistani students affected by this alien influence was not large. These students, he said, suffered from “certain kind of frustration and mood of despondency which has been sedulously fostered by subtle propaganda”. Mr Brohi dwelt mainly on the problems of Pakistani students in the U.S. and England.

In U.S. he found Pakistani students generally in favour of staying on there because of what the students called “lack of proper employment opportunities in Pakistan”. Mr Brohi told them that even if their complaint was true, they had a moral responsibility to their country. The question was raised by students of the Columbia University. After Mr Brohi’s speech and answers to their questions most of them promised that they would return to Pakistan as soon as their studies were completed.

In London, Mr Brohi was the chief guest at a function organised by the Pakistan Youth Federation. Mr Brohi [said that] whatever our differences at home they should not be articulated abroad because it tended to give the impression of “a house divided” which was not good for the prestige of Pakistan. Those who criticised conditions in Pakistan were told that their being critical from such a distance does not help things. They should return home and try to present their point of view in a constitutional and democratic manner.

Published in Dawn, February 27th, 2015

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