THE HERO OF 1965 WAR: Pakistan's President Mohammad Ayub Khan.

Remembering The Hero of 1965 War

Pres. Mohammad Ayub Khan:

The Man Who Put Pakistan

On The Road To Success &

Prosperity.

1960’s Was The Golden Era

Of Pakistan

(M. Javed Naseem)

(Ayub Khan with Quaid-i-Azam M.A.Jinnah and Fatima Jinnah)

That was the best time of our lives – the 1960s! Mohammad Ayub Khan was the best President Pakistan ever had – honest, simple, down-to-earth, patriotic Pakistani and a good Muslim. He was the son of the soil and felt deeply for Pakistan and the Pakistanis. But as they say that man is never satisfied, some people (especially Bhutto’s PPP) were not very happy with him. Those ungrateful ‘socialists’ easily forgot that Z.A.Bhutto was nobody until President Ayub Khan made him the Foreign Minister of Pakistan. Ayub Khan was the mentor of many aspiring politicians.

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Ayub Khan was the President who carved

Islamabad as Capital of Pakistan on the world-

map. The man who constructed many dams,

including Mangla Dam and Tarbela Dam;

Introduced agricultural reforms. During

his tenure, a US Dollar was worth Pak Rs.4.50

and sugar was Rs.1.50 per kilogram.

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I saw the 1965 war; participated in it by helping Pak army as a volunteer as they were short of manpower. I was doing my Bachelor (B.A.) in Lahore those days; lived in Lahore Cantt., near Pak Rangers’ Headquarters, not far from the famous canal where the Indian army was stopped.

After the 1965 war with India, when both countries signed the peace agreement, Bhutto started manipulating the anti-India sentiments of people. The wounds of 1965-war were still fresh. When Ayub Khan removed Bhutto from the cabinet, he started a vicious campaign against his government and the military. He used students’ unions and labor unions to promote unrest and violence; and formed Pakistan People’s Party to gain power. Then he came to power after the 1971 elections which Sh. Mujeebur Rahman (of East Pakistan) won with majority vote. The only way Bhutto could gain power was to divide Pakistan – East Pakistan becoming Bangladesh and West Pakistan the new Pakistan. “Udher toum, idher hum” (meaning: You there, Me here) agreement was reached and Pakistan was dismembered. You know the rest.

The so-called Leftists tried to distort the images of those leaders who were sincere with Pakistan but leaned towards Islam. This is still going on but today they don’t call themselves ‘Leftists’; they are known by the modern terms like secular, atheists, etc., though some still claim to be the socialists.

President Ayub Khan was the man who told America and Britain that Pakistan seeks ‘Friends’ not ‘Masters’. Here are some excerpts from his famous book ‘Friends, Not Masters’, published by the Oxford University Press.

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“People in developing countries seek

assistance, but on the basis of mutual

respect; they tempt to have friends

not masters.”

– Ayub Khan

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“At the invitation of President Kennedy, I had visited the United States in July 1961. President Kennedy said, in his welcome address, that Pakistan was a friend of ‘immediacy and constancy’. He also observed that ‘Americans in private and in their public life appreciate the value of friendship and the constancy of friends.’ I was heartened by this because the value of friendship rests on reciprocity.”

“I addressed a Joint Session of the Congress of the United States on 12^th July, 1961. I explained at some length the basis of the partition of the sub-continent. Our demand for a homeland of our own was based on the realization that we would have no place worth the name in a society which was governed by a rigid caste system. The demand was not based on bigotry or intolerance. It was, in fact, an escape from the bigotry and intolerance to which we had been subjected for decades in the Indian society. We were not wanting to create a priest-ridden society but a liberal and enlightened one in which we should be able to live according to our own ideology and faith. In our society there would be no place for color prejudice or race prejudice. We people are, shall we say, color-blind and race-blind. I reminded the Congress of their responsibilities and world obligations. There was applause when I said, ‘the only people who will stand by you are the people of Pakistan’ but, before the applause died down, I added, ‘provided — provided you are also prepared to stand by them. So, I would like you to remember that, whatever may be the dictates of your commitments, you will not take any steps that might aggravate our problems or in any fashion jeopardize our security'. And as long as you remember

that, I have no doubt in my mind that our friendship trill grow in strength.”

(Pres. Ayub Khan with US Pres. J.F.Kennedy & Jackie Kennedy)

“Throughout my visit, I emphasized the need for bringing about a just and honorable settlement of the Kashmir dispute, without which there could be no peace in the sub-continent. I urged the United States to use their growing influence in India to persuade the Indian leaders to realize the value of living at peace with Pakistan. I was asked by a Pressman: How far President Kennedy could go in persuading Mr. Nehru to resolve the Kashmir dispute? My answer was: ‘We will see how far he can go. He should be able to go a long way.’”

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“I have viewed problems as a Pakistani, a Muslim, and an Asian. Pakistan is my passion, my life. A look of happiness on the faces of people thrills and sustains me. Just as a shade of anxiety in their eyes causes me anguish. I have woken up from sleep to sec whether the sound on the window panes is of the long-awaited rain. I feel parched inside when I see a drought-stricken field. The soil of Pakistan fascinates me, for it is my soil. I belong to it.”

“Every moment of my life I have dedicated to the service of my people, never for a moment yielding to any pressure or disappointment. Pakistan has to establish a distinct national identity of her own in moral, social, intellectual, and political terms and all my endeavors have been devoted to this objective.”

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“Too often we mistake, the emotional for the ideal. For us, the ideal should be to develop a rational approach to life. We cannot allow our vision to be clouded by memories of past glory. I t is the present, with all its complexities, on which we must concentrate, and it is the future with all its promise, for which we must work.”

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“Internally, the major problem for us has been to establish political institutions and stable instruments of government. These institutions and instruments had to be fashioned according to our own thinking, temperament and needs. The process has not been easy. In the earlier years, the whole approach was on a personal basis and problems were rarely seen in the broad national perspective. This, inevitably, retarded the progress. The political system which we inherited had no relevance to our conditions. The result was that the system was misused and exploited to serve limited interests. It needed a revolution to replace the system by one which reflected the traditions of the people and

responded to their aspirations.”

(Pres. Ayub Khan with the Soviet Union President Kosygin)

“As a Muslim, my sole anxiety has been to unite the people of Pakistan in the light of their faith and ideology. This ideology I understand in terms of certain immutable principles: The unity of God; equality and brotherhood of man; progress to higher levels of existence; and adherence to the fundamentals of Islam.”

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“In dealing with world affairs, I have viewed problems as an Asian. It is within the Asian community that we have to establish for ourselves a permanent place of respect and strength. This is what our national interests demand. And this is why we continue to work for peace and stability in this part of the world. We have been able to establish normal relations with our neighbors (with the unfortunate exception of India) while maintaining our traditional contacts with Western powers, particularly with the United States of America. In this matter our thinking has been guided as much by our own interests as by the limitations of our political and economic resources. We are dedicated to peace because peace alone will give us the time which we need for our development. Our endeavor is to remain out of the orbit of major power conflicts. This we can achieve only through honest and straight-forward dealings with others.”

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