EDITORIAL: The Government of Pakistan have acted wisely in appointing a … committee to enquire into the causes of the paucity of suitable candidates from East Pakistan for the defence forces. In doing so they have recognised the fact that it is in the national interest to adopt a recruitment policy which will make the country’s armed forces fully representative. The Government’s announcement … however, is not clear in certain respects. For instance, it is not known whether it is the Government’s information that a sufficient number of suitable candidates are not at present available in East Pakistan for other than the officer ranks also. … It is true that, for certain reasons, suitable East Pakistan candidates have not so far been found in sufficient numbers for the commissioned ranks, but to the best of our knowledge this is not true of the non-commissioned ranks.

… Among the educated young men of East Pakistan there is at present a lack of enthusiasm for military careers and steps will have to be taken to create such enthusiasm. Besides, the present system of education and specially the lack of emphasis on physical training in the schools are responsible for not well equipping young East Pakistanis for such careers.

Published in Dawn, July 6th, 2026