I had set myself the task of writing a transcript of this 28 minute interview of Pakhani President Suhrawardy in the US channel CBS's "Face the nation" around 1957 or so. The video is linked below and the transcript below that. See how the RAPE slimeball accuses india of spreading communism into Pakistan, among other things
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RNiFZ856fk0
Background announcer: Prime minister Suhrawardy - "Face the Nation"
Background announcer:"You're about to see Hussein Shaheed Suhrawardy (HSS) Prime Minister of Pakistan face the nation and the questions from veteran correspondents representing the nation's press.Chalmers Roberts (CR) diplomatic correspondent for the Wahington Post and Times Herald, Bill Downs (PB) of CBS news and John Madigan (JM) of the Washington bureau of Newsweek. And now substituting for Stewart Melbourne from CBS news and public affairs, the moderator of "Face the Nation" George Herman (GH).
GH: Insofar as western policy is concerned one nation forms the land bridge between the troubled middle east and the potentially troublesome far east, that nation is Pakistan a Moslem republic which faces Iran and the Arab world on one frontier and Burma and the Asian world on the other. At the ehad of the pro-western government of Pakistan is Prime minister Hussein Shaheed Suhrawardy a lawyer with a background of working for labor organizations and a foreground of a fondness for the broadest possible kind of democracy.He has a reputation for frank and unabashed speech. We'll see about that now as we get our first question from Mr Madigan.
John Madigan (JM): Mr Prime Minister what have you and President Eisenhower accomplished in your conferences that could not have been effected at the ambassadorial level or through meetings of our state department with your foreign office
Suhrawardy: Well I think personal contacts have their value and uh we understand something more about American doctrine and American politics by personal contacts and I think that President Eisenhower and Secretary Dulles understands more of my mind and what I propose to do.
Phil Downs(PB): Mr Suhrawardy the uh communique makes no specific mention of military aid. Your nation is a bridge between SEATO and the Baghdad pact. Did you get additional military aid?
Suhrawardy: Well I don't know, but it is obvious that all the time we are reviewing the..our military requirements Mr Downs. The position really is that we are not seeking military aid in such quantities as it will make it difficult for us to digest all the aid that we get <inaudible> want just enough military aid to save us from aggression
Chalmers Roberts (CR): You did ask sir while speaking to the President and the secretary for some additional military equipment is that correct?
Suhrawardy: We have assessed - all that I can say is that we are continuously assessing our requirements. At the present moment my view is that we have not received sufficient military aid.
CR: The communique that you have issued with the president jointly speaks of serious financial pressures on your governement due to maintaining your military forces which are allied of course with American forces in two specific pacts out there is your part of the world. What do you mean by that? What are those financial pressures and what are you asking us to help you do to relieve them?
Suhrawardy: Well Mr Roberts the position is that our revenue and our income is not sufficient to maintain our equipment at a proper standard. When I mean a proper standard it is not sufficient to save us from aggression - and all that we want is that America should come to our assistance to that extent that we shall be able without fear (sic) of being attacked by any quarter to carry on with our cooperative effort and our constructive efforts.
BD: Mr Prime minister speaking of aggression the Indian say that they fear an attack from Pakistan in the area of Kashmir. Do you intend to use military force to enforce what you consider your rights in that area.
Suhrawardy: Obviously not. We are not fools. The Indians are tremendously very much stronger than we are. It was the Indians that moved their forces on the borders of Pakistan twice, once in 1950 and another in 1955. We never moved our forces at their borders against them.
CR: Mr Prime minister you've just said in this communique with the president that you have "pledged to try to solve this Kashmir question with your Indian neighbors peacefully" yet in a speech that you made in your own parliament not long before you came here you said that you had reached in your approach to the United nations "our very last throw of the dice - we cannot continue to live under these conditions" You have been unable to solve this directly with the Indians, what do you mean by that. How are you going to solve it
Suhrawardy: I am afraid Mr Roberts you misunderstood me. I've said that so far as our relationship with India is concerned and the Kashmir question we have tried to resolve the question by mutual conversation and contacts but we have not reached any conclusion. Consequently we have approached the United Nations now and we expect that the United nations would do justice.
John Madigan (JM): Do you feel Mr Prime Minister that president Eisenhower is going to give you, through the United States in the United Nations, strong backing to try and get the demands?
Suhrawardy: Well I am certain about it. If he doesn't do so I will be deeply disappointed because I expect from him a sense of justice that he will try and seek that the matters between us are adjusted.
JM: He has so said and you have in the communique that you hoped that it would be solved on a just basis under United Nations "principles" I think was the term that you used.
Suhrawardy: Yes
JM: What action expressly will be taken by the Unietd States in the United Nations in relation to the Kashmir issue.
Suhrawardy: Oh I think Mr Madigan that the United States ought, in the security council, and later on in the general assembly which is necessary for us to go to the general assembly to use its weight and its influence and its persuasion to see that the other countries of the world also realise the justice of our case.
JM: You say that the United States ought" to do that. The president said that we will do that?
Suhrawardy: Well I expect that he will.
JM He has said so?
Suhrawardy: Well if he has said so then I am sure that he will.
BD Mr Prime minister we in this country are familiar with the fights over water. In Kashmir and the Indus valley which your country comprises um th Indians have been threatening to build dams which would cut off ah a large part of your irrigation water. Now we have had range wars over this question in the west in the past and even in the present I think - California and the rest of the..would you go to war if India did build these dams and cut off your uh livelihood that way?
Suhrawardy: Oh let us not talk about these hypothetical matters I ... I don't..I cannot conceive that India would ever be so . uhhh.. I would like a word ..so barbarous to stop the water flowing down our rivers.
BD: So what is the solution?
Suhrawardy: There are as you know six rivers. Most of them arise in Kashmir. One of the reasons why therefore Kashmir is so important for us is this water, these waters which irrigate our lands. They do not irrigate Indian lands. Now what India has done is not threatening it is actually.. it is building a dam - today and it is threatening to cut off the waters of the three rivers for the purpose of irrigating its land. Now if it does so, without replacement it is obvious that we shall be starved out and <inaudible> of people will die of thirst. Under those circumstances I hope that contingency will never arise you can well realise that rather than dying in that manner people will die fighting. Because that will be the very worst form of aggression. But I think that before any such situation can arise those countries of the world that undertake and have undertaken to ensure that peace exists and that matters betwen countries of our type are adjusted will step in to see that Indian does not perform any such barbarous <inaudible>
CR: Mr. Prime Minister that's at least a future contingency you're discussing. I'd like to ask you this about the Kashmir dispute with India. The Indians claim that the United Nations resolution on this question said that first of all you should pull you troops out of Kashmir and that all the other steps in the UN resolution were contingent on that including the idea of plebiscite and that you have never done that. What is Pakistan's answer to that charge?
Suhrawardy: Pakistan's answer to that charge is the United Nations resolution and the reaffirmation of that resolution not so long ago was January the twenty fourth or twenty third 1957. After all this matter is raised <cough> by India before the security council ad this contention has been rejected. That is not the correct reading of the resolutions of the United Nations. These are nothing else but plausible uh excuses that are put forard by Mr. Nehru for the purpose of giving a semblance aah um ..some..some. adequate specious reason for his intransigence.
JM: On this very show last Sunday Mr. Prime Minister, Mr Nehru disagreed with your 100 percent.
Suhrawardy: Well I disagree with Mr. Nehru more than 100% if that is possible
BD: Mr. Prime Minister Can there be real peace between Pakistan and India until you settle or..the religious question. When India was partitioned there was probably one of the greatest bloodbaths in civilization's history took place.several million people were slaughtered for religious reasons. Is theer an answer to the dispute between the Hindu and the Moslem?
Suhrawardy: That mater is closed. India was partitioned on that ground. Ther were these tragedies that took place particularly between the two wings of the Punjab as passions were high. After that we have settled down to work. There are ..one eighth of the population of India is Muslim and one eighth of the population of Pakistan is non Muslim. We are trying our level best to see that justice is done to the minorities. So far as we are concerned we haven't had a single riot since 1950 when Nehru and the late Mr. Liaqat Ali Khan came to certain agreements regarding the treatment of the minorities. In India I believe that theer have been as many as four hundred and two from that time till now.
JM: Mr. Prime Minister a few months ago when Mr Nehru was here in the United States one of our coleagues referred to him as the "mystical man in the middle" - he meant - he was referring to Mr. Nehru's stand on non alignment and neutralism. What is your description of Mr. Nehru's position in the cold war?
Suhrawardy: Well I think that Mr. Nehru himself does not understand his position.Mr. Nehru occasionally leans on one side occasionally on the other. The result is he gets the best of both worlds that is to his advantage and I think he continues to pursue that policy because up till now he has not been caught short and..
JM: But you too said up until a short time ago I followed a policy of non alignment
Suhrawardy: No I don't think so..
JM: You are interpreted as saying until nineteen fifty-three fifty-four not connecting yourself with either side and I beleive you have said recently that you have learned something since that time which had attached you solidly to the west. Is that correct?
Suhrawardy: Yes the position was if I can cast my mind back- it was some time in 1950, when I <mumble> to the question of these defensive pacts and alliances and so on <mumble> was some time in 1950 when I thought it desirable that we remain aloof from the world conflict ..er.. and still I would say this, that the policy that I have <inaudible> down to my country is goodwill towards all and malice towards none.There's no reason why we should uh start in a shining charger and uh start tilting against windmills. The uhh uh in 1953 or 1954 it was not uh I do not thing I ever stated that we should not ally ourselves with any countries..
CR: Mr Prime Minister..
Suhrawardy: ..but, just one minute er at that moment I had stated that I had not sufficient knowledge of the political situation and of our state of preparedness er and so on.. uh because the uh government did not take either the country or the opposition into confidence uh uhh therefore as I said as I had no sufficient knowledge I was not prepared to give a dictum as to what should be our policy. As I said that recently I have come to know more about the situation and I am perfectly satisfied that <mumble> the manner in which Pakistan can be safe from aggression and the security of the middle east can be assured is through these security pacts into which we have entered.
CR: Mr. Prime Minister some of the cynics say that the erason Pakistan has joined these pacts with western countries especially the United States has to do in part at least with reasons other than military ones, that is, they have to do with economic reasons that is in fact your budget is supported to some 40% by the United States. Is that correct?
Suhrawardy: Well our budget is supported to some extent but that is not the reason why we have joined the United States. We were uh um on the - uh in the same boat as you know - <mumble> we fought in the same manner. On account of the religious fundamental principles that we profess. Therefore this has nothing whatsoever to do with the economic situation. After all uhh the United Nations is assisting us as it is assisting forty other countries that's an entirely different matter. But uhh we are not selling our independence <mumble> our independence of thought or really even independence of action except for these economic reasons 16:14
BD: Mr. Prime minister..
Suhrawardy: But should the United States choose to cut it off, we shall still continue on the path .. <inaudible>
CR: Is 40 percent a correct figure of the amount of your budget which comes by one means or another in the form of American help?
Suhrawardy: Well I wouldn't .. no I don't think so. I think aah.. the great portion of the foreign exchange which is available to us for our development purposes. That comes from the United states because most of our foreign exchange is committed to meeting our own defence requirements.
BD: Uh Mr. Prime Minister you are our bridge between the middle east, the uh south east Asia and just north of you there is a big nation called China, communist China and you've been there recently I believe..
Suhrawardy: Yes
BD: What is Pakistan's relationship and how do you feel about uh this colossus north of you?
Suhrawardy: Well I've told you that uh we our policy is uh not to have malice against anyone and so long as China does not interfere with us I see no reason why I should interfere with China. But China has <got?> a very important place in world politics and uh you have to wait it is trying to reconstruct itself
BD: Do you think the United States should recognise China?
Suhrawardy: Uh that is a matter of policy for the Unites States and I think that only recently your secretary of state Mr. Dulles has given what he considers to be very adequate reasons why uh China should not be recognised.17:54
BD: Do you agree with it?
Suhrawardy: To some extent I must say <drowned out by next question>
BD: Mr. Prime minister, diplomatic relations does your government have diplomatic reations with Peking or with the Formosa government?
Suhrawardy: No our government has diplomatic relations with Peking government
JM: The communique - yours and president Eisenhower's spoke of "exerting influence" in the middle east to solve the problem there (the) Israeli-Arab problem. What do you specifically mean? What type of influence and how would you exert it?
Suhrawardy: Well I think that Palestinian question or the Israeli problem has got to be solved if we are ever going to be certain about peace in the middle east. And I think that it is the duty of all persons of goodwill to do whatever they can in bringing about <inaudible>
JM: What specifically can Pakistan or the United states do?
Suhrawardy: Well I think that they could bring the two parties together. They could try and reason ..
JM: Outside the United Nations?
Suhrawardy: Yes outside the United nations
JM: In other words you are calling upon the United States to act as an individual mediator in this problem?
Suhrawardy: It could.
JM: How about Pakistan? Would you be willing to be a mediator in this problem?
Suhrawardy: Yes I would
BD: There has been some speculation Mr. Prime minister that you have ambitions to lead the Moslem world or at least a <unclear>. Mr Nasser also has similar ambitions aaah where do you stand on this uhh struggle for the Moslem world if there is one?
Suhrawardy: I think there is no struggle. Mr Nasser has got ambitions well let him pursue his ambitions. I have no such ambitions. All that I have been wanting to do is to bring the Muslim world together so that they can sit down at the same table and discuss matter amongst themselves. All these disputes which exist between the member nations may be resolved. International - with regard to international disputes we may be able to put forth suggestions which may be able to resolve them. And so far as leadership is concerned my view definitely is that if any country desires to get the leadership of the Muslim world then that combination - namely the Muslim world coming together is bound to fail. 20:10
CR: Mr. Prime minister, how is Pakistan in a position to exert any influence in the middle east conflict between the Arabs and teh israelis when you have recently said of Israel "We have never recognised it and we shall never recognise it" You are entirely on one side of that controversy are you not?
Suhrawardy: Well I'm afraid that is the position of Pakistan because I am of the opinion that the creation of Israel was wrong. But after all there is Israel and uh everyone reallises that there must be an adjustment and an agreement between the Arab world - between the Arab nations that resent the existence of Israel and Israel itself. An agreement of this nature connotes that they recognise the existence of Israel. That they recognise that uh if there is an agreement betwen these two parties, then one of the parties is not exterminated. 21:12
CR: You would advise all the Moslem nations to accept Israel as a fact of life?
Suhrawardy: I'm afraid there is no other alternative. But there's no reason why Pakistan should recognize its existence as uh some thing that uh its a fact its a very unpleasant fact..
JM: Mr Prime Minister doesn't your discussion here regarding China, Israel, Egypt, all these countries, United States, Russia - you say don't tilt with windmills, windmills don't start a war does this not place you a little bit in the position of similar to Nehru's, non alignment and like everybody? 21:53
Suhrawardy: Oh no. On the other hand we say this, that if there is aggession with respect of any of the countries with which we have agreed it will be the duty of Pakistan to enter into the fray
JM: You're saying then that all these pacts are only defensive pacts
Suhrawardy: They are defensive.
JM: .. and that no more economic pressure should be brought to bear on any of these parties in the communist sphere of the world
Suhrawardy: Well I'm sure that that must also be the policy of the United states..
JM: Is it your policy?
Suhrawardy: ..not to have aggression
JM: Is it your policy to bring other pressures to bear on these nations
Suhrawardy: Well I think.. I .. As I do not believe in their ideology. I think that we should try and see that they conform more to the things that we believe in and uh possibly there are internal pressures as you can see now visible in these countries from which one can um hope that there is going to be a change in the internal policy of ..
George Herman: Mr Prime minister you personally are pushing for wide general elections in your own country and yet one of your neigbours to the South under distinguished Moslem leader Mr. Sukarno has said that he thinks that the people of Asia are not yet ready for this broad kind of democracy. What is your answer to that? 23:17
Suhrawardy: Oh Mr Sukarno might speak for his country but not for ours. I think that we are. I think that the British have given us sufficient background to have..they have brought us up in that uh within that atmosphere of democracy.
GH: If I may follow your line of thought then you do not feel that the Dutch people gave the Indonesians enough of that kind of background
Suhrawardy: I wouldn't like to into the internal history of Indonesia.
BD: Do you fear in your own country an ideological invasion from the north? In other words do you have a political threat of communism in uh in Pakistan?
Suhrawardy: Well uh I must say that attempts have been made to infiltrate into our country and there has been some demand of spread of communism and unfortunately uhhh communist countries themselves have not to that extent directly interfered <mumble> or have infiltrated but have utilised neutral neutralist countries.
CR: You're saying that - are you saying sir that this communist spread of subversion is coming through the Indian communist party rather than <unclear> say the embassies of the Soviet Union and Chinese communists?
Suhrawardy: Well that's rather an embarrasing question but there is no question about it that uhh that uhh there are Indian agents in our country that are preaching communism amongst our people
BD: Prime minister recently our ally Britain uhh changed her mind or at least diverted from our policy to liberalise her trade with Red China. Are you also going to liberalise your trade with red China?
Suhrawardy: Well we have been trading with red China to some extent, we have been selling it uh cotton we have been taking from them coal. I do not think that uhhh our trade can be of such a nature as uh can be considered to be of strategic value to China. 25:39
CR: At the start of the program Mr. Prime minister you spoke of personal contacts with Presdent Eisenhower saying they were good because it dispelled certain doubts. What doubts did you have concerning teh United Sates or President Eisenhower?
Suhrawardy: Did I use the word ..
CR: You didn't use the word doubt, you said "Not clear in each others minds what you were thinking or what the United States was thinking"
Suhrawardy: No. On the other hand possibly we were more confirmed in our views as to our attitude and uh..
CR: Did you get everything you wanted while you were in Washington?
Suhrawardy: Nah I didn't come here for a "got everything" - there's something that's gone wrong with you all to think that anybody who comes here comes here with the idea of wanting something. Surely coming here and talking to your leaders means that I can also contribute something in the matter of <inaudible>
CR: That wsn't said in the term of derogation Mr. Prime minister. It meant the legitimate desires that you might have
Suhrawardy: umm well we all know the position and the ah relationship that exists between us and that's that. Surely we come here in order to um make friends and to know the people more and to have personal contacts and <inaudible> about the civilization and culture of your country.
CR: You want a "meeting of minds" that's what you're saying and not merely material..
Suhrawardy: Well I should put it like that Mr Roberts. That probably is correct. 27:05 I mean it's true I don't place myself on the par of the United States by any means. The United States is a very great country and it has given a certain moral philosophy which did not exist before - namely the country helping other smaller countries is something people did not realise <inaudible>
GH: I'm afraid that's all the time we have Mr. Prime Minister. hank you very much for coming here to face the nation. My thanks also to our panel of distinguished newsmen, Chalmers Roberts of The Washington Post and Times Herald, Bill Downs of CBS news, and John Madigan of Newsweek. This is George Herman.