THE purchase of Gwadar from Oman was an act of great wisdom by the then government of Pakistan. In fact this visionary decision was a master stroke of strategy that can compare to the United States’ purchase of Alaska from Russia.

The government of Prime Minister Feroze Khan Noon negotiated the purchase of Gwadar in 1958 from the then Sultan of Oman for Rs5.5 billion which was an astronomical two billion dollars!

The Pakistan government then ordered the Pakistan Navy to send a ship to its new possession. The navy’s light cruiser, Babur, sailed under Commodore M. Asif Alavi’s command to take over this territory on Dec 8, 1958. The then Aga Khan provided a sizeable amount of the funding for this purchase.

All Pakistanis, particularly youth, must remember and observe this day every year to pay tribute to our heroes.

Hasan Ansari

Karachi

Published in Dawn, December 18th, 2018