Himalayan Times (1957)

Six

May 26, 1967

KASHMIR : PAKISTAN'S LACK OF DEMOCRATIC FAITH

NRIPENDRA NATH GHOSH

During the recent
controversy on Kashmir
in the British Press, Pa-
kistan's spokesmen have
never a tired of using ex-
pressions like "plebiscite",
''demooraoy" and "self-
determination". This is
just double talk. Having
failed to secure the annexa-
tion of Kashmir—first
through the imposition of
an eoonimio blockade and
then by regular invasion—
Pakistan now pins its hope
on a plebiscite, an inno-
cuous sounding democra-
tic prooedurn, to deter-
mine the future of the
State. But how strong is
Pakistan's own faith in
demooraoy ?

Pakistan was estab-
lished in August 1947.
Nearly a decade hat gone
by, but there is no sign
yet of a general election.
Pakistanis have complai-
ned; but they have not
had a single opportunity
to constitute a government
of their choice. The pro-
vincial Assembly of East
Bengal, though eleoted on
a limited franchise, was
dissolved, its Chief Minis-
ter dismissed from office
and kept under house-
arrest for months on the
orders of a Governor-
General who had himself
not been elected. The

Legislative Assemblies of
the North West Frontier
Province, Sind and Punjab
were also arbitrarily dis-
solved by nominated Pro-
vincial Governors. Even
District Board and muni-
cipal elections, such few
\as Pakistan has known,
were manipulated with
the assistance of arrest
and detention of many
candidates who had dared
to oppose the nominees
of the party; in power

The present Prime
Minister of Pakistan, Mr.
Suhrawardy, made the
following statement about
provincial elections in the
Punjab and the NWFP
at a press conference in
Karaohi on September 28,
1951-.—

...What with the man-
ner in which the Press is
regulated and controlled
or intimidated and sup-
pressed or obstructed or
cajoled or subsidised there
is hardly any freedom of
expression or of opinion...
It was this spirit of Fas-
cism that do s not tole-
rate any opposition or
oriticism that actuated
the Government in mobi-
lising its entire machinery
to ensure the suooess of
the Muslim League or the
Government Party in the
elections in the Punjab...

...Uufortunately pub.
lie conscience has been
bludgeoned into numbness.
And the same tragedy in
an acuter form, the tra-
gedy oi intimidation by
Government servants, of
manipulation of ballot
boxes, of breaking open
seals and transferring bal-
lot papers from one box
to another, of false per-
sonation and want of
identification, or open
defiance of electoral rules,
of misoounting of ' votes,
etc. etc , will be enacted
in NWFP in a far acu-
tsr form. And we shall
be presented again with
another triumph of Fas-
cism parading as demo-
cracy in NWFP...

This was before Mr.
Suhrawardy was nomi-
nated to power. Mian
Mutntaz Daultana, a for-
mer Chief Mirister of the
Punjab, speaking in the
Pakistan National Assem-
bly ou February 13, 1957,
deolared that democracy
was being snuffed out in
Pakistan and demanded a
quick general election in
the country. There a>as
very little hope, he said,
for the restoration of de-
mocratic processes in Pa-
kistan. There was a lack
of faith in demooraoy
in Pakistan today. Even