RAWALPINDI: President Ayub Khan today [Aug 13] made a clarion call to the people of Pakistan to work with faith in their destiny and close their ranks and march forward as a united people determined to reach the goal of a welfare State based on the principle of Islam. In his Indepen­dence Day message to the nation, the President identified unity, development and defence as the basic requirements of the country.

He said, “Today, our primary requirement is national unity and discipline. In order to survive as an independent country we have to work towards a national consensus on all fundamental issues. This does not mean conformity nor does it mean suppression of dissent. Indeed we must have constant communication and debate in which all points of view have full freedom of expression but we must be agreed on objectives and we must be aware of our basic requirements: unity, development and defence.”

The President said Pakistan has now reached a stage where the benefits of the age of science can flow to its people but declared: “We have to shed apathy, superstition and rigidity of outlook.”

Published in Dawn, August 14th, 2018