The Lexington advertiser. [volume] (Lexington, Miss.) 1904-1985, 1950-06-08
THROUGH
HAZEL
EYES
by Hazel Brannon Smith
Karachi, Pakistan
(Delayed)

(Delayed)
Almost three years have passed
since the establishment of Pakis-
tan as a new and Independent ma
ton. The sub-continent of India
was partitioned on August is,
l947 creating the Dominion Of
Pakistan and the Dominion of In
dia. Pakistan, one of the largest
counties in the world, comprises
two zones in the northeast and
northwest corners of the Indian
continent separated by thousands
of miles of Dominion of India ter
ritory. The estimated population
OF Pakistan at present is over 80
millions making this young ma
ton the fifth largest in the world.
The demand for the establish
ment of Paksitan was due to the
continual upsurge of the Moslems
in India to have q home land Of
their own in which to live and
worship as they wished. The un-
parelleled unity of the Moslems
has existed since the downfall of
the old Modul empire in the 18th
century. During the last quarter Of
a century, led by the late Moha-
mend Ali Jinnah, the Moslems of
India have struggled and finally
achieved their independence.
Physically, Pakistan is situated
in the center of the Moslem
world Incidentally, the Moslem
population of the world, stretch
ing from Morocco on the Atlantic
in the west to Indonesia in the
east has a computed population
of over Az millions. Thus this
Islamic world constitutes an i'm
portant block in world politics of
the future. That religion should
have anything to do with politics
is somewhat foreign to western
minds. We operate under the as
sumption that religion should
have a definite moral bearing up
on politics, but not be the con-
trolling factor. The concept of Is
lam, however, is fundamentally
different.
Islam not only dominates the life
Of the individual-it is a complete
moral code of life and therefore
guides and controls the whole
society.
With the birth Of this new ma
tion came many problems. The
principal and most dramatic of
all was the great migration. In
the history Of human culture and
civilization the upheaval of
August l947 will ever remain q
memorial event because never be-
fore have so many human be-
ings left their home at the same
time. Seven million Moslem re-
fugees, including men, women,
and children entered Pakistan
Immediately after its inception.
Over five and a half million nom
Moslems flom West Pakistan a
lone migrated to India, their new
land of choice. The government
of Pakistan had been in office +.
hardly a few days when this situ-
alton was created. The UMPIRE
cedented exchange of population
almost completely put the trans
portation system out of gear. Be-
sides, the Pakistan Railways de- !
pended on India for their supply
of coal. AT this time coal was not
forthcoming and the railway SER
vices had to be drastically cur
tailed. The non-Moslems con-
trolled the greater part of the
trade and industry in the area
now constituting Pakistan. Their
mass migration to India created
a void in the economy of the
country, which took some time to- Z
fill up. The banks of Pakistan
were mostly stated by nom
Moslems. Their departure result
ed in closing down of a number,
of offices which necessarily ham
pered trade. There were, in addi-
ton, local shortages which caused
great hardships. Pakistan,, how
ever, recovered from the shock
and her economy is rapidly be-
coming normal.
1t is difficult to form an idea
of the loss of life sustained by
this mass migration. A special tri-
butte is due the women of Pakis-
tan for their untiring efforts in
fields of nursing and social work. ]
The inception of independence !
the women of Pakistan {
thoroughly unprepared ana un- :
trained to meet such a situation,
but it is forever to their credit
that when faced with emergen-
cies, their spirit and response was
and splendid. The SER
vice and sacrifice they rendered !
the nation in its hour of tribula-
hon is proof of the latent strength
and ability which the women of {
Pakistan possess. I
Karachi, the capital, is a large {
seaport in the Sind province. Less /
than a hundred years ago it was {
a small town composed mostly 2
IF mud huts. Before the parti- \
hon it was a city of 100000 and +