THIS is apropos of Capt S. Afaq Rizvi's letter “'Ayub's decision to shift capital” (Jan 17) in response to my letter (Jan 8) on the issue of shifting of the Federal Capital of Pakistan to Islamabad from Karachi by Field Marshal Ayub Khan.

I am quite surprised at the conclusions he has drawn from my missive that I justify the shifting of the capital to Islamabad on the grounds that misgivings between East and West Pakistan like the language controversy and dismissal of Bengali prime ministers like Nazimudin, Bogra and Suharwardy had already taken place and that because I am from Islamabad I support the decision to shift the capital.

My letter was not politically-motivated. I was just presenting facts that showed that gulf between East and West Pakistan originated long before the Federal Capital was shifted and did not originate from that event.

The writer has written extensively on the decision by our first military dictator to shift the Federal Capital to Islamabad from Karachi.

He has asserted time and time again that it was the Quaid-i-Azam Mohammad Ali Jinnah himself who selected Karachi to be the permanent Federal Capital for newly-independent Pakistan. This is a very controversial issue and, therefore, I had avoided touching on this.

Chaudhry Mohammad Ali, who served as Pakistan's representative in the partition council headed by Lord Mountbatten and was the Quaid-i-Azam's closest colleague in those fateful days apart from Nawabzada Liaquat Ali Khan, had this to say in his biography on how Karachi became Pakistan's capital in 1947

“One of the first decisions taken during partition days was the selection of Karachi as the capital of Pakistan. For strategic and other reasons, the capital could only be located in West Pakistan...... .

“In West Pakistan the only province which had a Muslim League ministry was Sindh; the Punjab was under governor's rule and the North-West Frontier Province had a Congress Ministry.

“The Sindh government came forward with the proposal to make Karachi the capital of Pakistan and offered to place the Governor's House, the Assembly building, and other necessary accommodation at the disposal of the central government.'' (Page 198 -- The Emergence of Pakistan)

Chaudhry Mohammad Ali's account makes it clear that it was not the Founder of the Nation who selected Karachi to be the Federal Capital of Pakistan.

It was the Sindh government of that time that came forward on its own out of sheer patriotism to offer its own seat Karachi to the yet-unborn-state of Pakistan for the establishment of a Federal Capital.

Finally, there is the Quaid-i-Azam's word itself on this issue. Speaking at a civic reception hosted by the Karachi Municipal Corporation on Aug 25, 1947 in Karachi, Governor-General Quaid-i-Azam Mohammad Ali Jinnah said ''Pakistan is grateful to the Sindh government and the Corporation and people of Karachi for welcoming its central Government to have its headquarters here and for providing all facilities.''

OSAMA MUSTAFA
Islamabad