HYDERABAD, Aug 4: Federal Minister Mehmood Ali has said the East Pakistan tragedy was a conspiracy hatched by enemies of the country who did not want to see the emergence of a strong Muslim state.

He observed this in a lecture on "History of Pakistan" at the Petaro Cadet College on Wednesday. Mr Ali said countries could not be run on foreign loans and appealed to the youth to extricate the country from the burden of loans and work hard to improve the country's economy.

He gave awards to two students of the college, Syed Ansar Hussain Shah and Umer Majeed, who had secured first and second positions, respectively, in the Secondary School Certificate examinations of 2004.

He also congratulated the principal of the college, Commodore Mohammad Abid Saleem, on the outstanding performance of the students in curricular and co-curricular activities. In his welcome speech, the principal presented the minister an Ajrak and a traditional cap of Sindh.