DON`T be alarmed. This is not something said by any of the current lot of rulers on both sides of the Wagah border. It`s a headline attributed, half a century back, to one of Quaid-i-Azam Mohammad Ali Jinnah`s close associates and a known politician, Raja Sahib of Mahmoodabad. This goes to show that the history of bellicose speeches (delivered by both Indian and Pakistani leaders) is deepseated, so much so that politicians find no reason to mince words or act diplomatically. They shoot straight from the hip.

So what was the context of this statement? Well, on Oct 14, 1965 Raja Sahib presided over a meeting organised by the Students Welfare Organisation in the Khaliqdina Hall.

The event was held against the backdrop of September`sIndia-Pakistan war whose effects had not yet waned. In a resolution passed at the meeting India`s `cowardly` attack on Pakistan was condemned and strongly criticised.

Speaking on the occasion, and addressing the students, Raja Sahib stressed the need to increase science education because he was of the view that Pakistan needed scientists to make nuclear arms to meet the Indian challenge.

By the way, it was not only the locals who were making fiery speeches, urging their listeners to do, what in their estimation was, the needful; foreign dignitaries also were trying to teach a lesson or two to the Pakistani public. For example, the respected Edinburgh historian V. G.

Kiernan, known for translating Urdu poems by master poets, was in Karachi that week.

The day Raja Sahib made his point loud and clear, Mr Kiernan gave a talk at Haroon College. The title of his lecture was `Philosophy ofTime, History Repeating Itself`. None other than Faiz Ahmed Faiz, who was back then the principal of the college, welcomed the scholar.

Before the talk, Mr Kiernan interacted with students and during an exchange of dialogue said that contrary to the Muslims of the subcontinent in the past, the present generation of Pakistanis did not seem to be seriously interested in the study of history.

Didn`t he have a point? On Oct 12 it was reported that the governing body of the Karachi Development Authority had appointed a sub-committee to suggest names of the various KDA schemes and their major roads. The committee consisted of Prof A.B.A. Haleem (chairman), M.A.K. Soomro, Jamiluddin Aali, Pir Hissamuddin Rashdi, Shanul Haq Haqqi, Khwaja Hamiduddin Shahid, chairman of the KMC, chief engineer of the KMC and chief town planner.

According to the report, thecommittee had decided to use names of great personalities and heroes of Islam as well as the names of those connected with heroic deeds during the recent wars between Pakistan and India. So, all those who are researching on what the original titles of some of Karachi`s old roads were might find it helpful to dig out the papers which the subcommittee had to pore over.

It must have been the effects of the recent wars that compelled the decision-makers to take steps which would keep the countrymen prepared to face any situation.

Perhaps this is why, on Oct 13, vice chancellor of the University of Karachi Dr I. H. Quraishi announced that teachers and students of the university would be given military training. He said arrangements had been made with the military authorities to provide instructors to impart on-campus training. These days, the student community does not need such training.