OF the many administrative problems facing the Governments of the two newly constituted Dominions of India and Pakistan when they took office on August 15, not the least was the urgent necessity for the speedy transfer of the 7,000 personnel of the Pakistan Government, who were stranded in Delhi on account of the disruption of the normal rail services by the Punjab disturbances.

… The new Government of Pakistan decided to tackle this problem in the most modern manner, namely by air transport. This led to the largest organised movement of civilians in the history of civil aviation — “Operation Pakistan”. This great task was undertaken without delay or formality by the British Overseas Airways Corporation, assisted by Scottish Airways.

On receipt of instructions on Aug 26, every aircraft which could be spared without detriment to the international trunk routes was marshalled to meet the emergency. … By midnight of Sept 15, the operation was completed, the aircraft having flown more than 330,000 miles, carrying some 7,000 passengers from Delhi to Karachi and about 1,500 in the reverse direction, a distance equivalent to 13 times around the world, at a total consumption of a quarter million gallons of petrol.

Published in Dawn, September 19th, 2022