please write a summary what did you understand I have described the holocaust of Partition. At that time I had made a rough guess that about a million Muslims would seek refuge in Pakistan, and even that prospect worried me because I was extremely doubtful of the administration's capacity to deal with a problem such dimensions. In actual fact about nine million refugees poured into Pakistan. The continuing animosity of Hindus and Sikhs economic and social boycott, the political persecution of and the harsh application of evacuee laws in independency India brought about one of history's most tragic and politically-motivated migrations. Every sixth man in Pakistan was a refugee from India. The previous political regimes were interested in keeping this problem alive and refugees became a pawn in the game of party politics. In 1954 the government decided to launch a scheme for the payment of compensation for properties left by displaced persons in India. From 1955 to 1958 no action was taken and the only tangible progress was the enactment of legislation for the registration and verification of claims and the setting up of a claims organization. In February 1958 an Act was passed by Parliament for the permanent settlement of claims on agricultural lands, but, as on previous occasions, no concrete steps were taken to put its provisions into effect. The baste mistake made by previous governments, and even by us in the beginning, was to have worked on the assumption that even though a major calamity had occurred and a massive shift of population had taken place under chaotic conditions, it should still be possible to determine how much property each man had left in India and what he should therefore receive in Pakistan as its equivalent. It was a fertile exercise. We soon realized that it would be impossible to determine what a man was entitled to in the absence of documents, especially from those areas in India which were not covered by the formal agreement on evacuee property between the two countries. The only solution to my mind was to give the refugees a new start in life and not talk loosely about compensation. After all, who can compensate when a major tragedy overcomes some nine million people who are forced to flee their homes? And look at the strain on the administrative machinery of the country that gave them refuge in trying to 'compensate' them. The West Pakistan administrative machinery almost ground to a halt and remained neutralized for a long time because of their approach to the problem. The politicians ended up by adopting a perfectly ridiculous formula: it meant that if a person could produce two witnesses who deposed that he had owned half of India, then the government of Pakistan would have to accept this! He could, in return, testify that the other half of India belonged to those who had testified in his favor. And the government must accept this also! It opened the floodgates to dishonesty and immorality. I am not blaming the poor refugees. But the net result of this formula was that it corrupted them and it corrupted the society in which they were seeking assimilation. On one occasion, with some difficulty, we managed to get records from India relating to those who had migrated to Pakistan. On a sample check, we found that the claims registered with us were true only to the extent of about 7 percent. The Rehabilitation Ministry was naturally alarmed. It was obvious that we must give the refugees a fresh start in life. Their resettlement had been hanging fire for several years owing to incompetence, corruption, and party politics. Here I was bringing in land reforms and reducing the number of Nawabs and landlords; yet if we had followed the refugee rehabilitation policy of the previous regimes we should have created a new class of Nawabs. I certainly did not want this to happen. Within three months of the proclamation of Martial Law we had set the stage by promulgating an Ordinance on 4 January 1959 and following it up with further Ordinances, the most important of which was Regulation 89, in September 1961, The entitlement in agricultural land determined under this Regulation followed a graduated system for the preparation of fresh entitlements relating to the claims already made. An entitlement not exceeding 1,500 produce index units would be met in full, whereas for example an entitlement exceeding 4,000 units would be met by 2,150 units plus 10 percent of the entitlement in excess of 4,000 units. This formula meant that a heavy cut was imposed on people with large claims. True, it was an arbitrary law, but it was merciful and more than just under the circumstances. I checked up with a large number of people affected. Many confessed, now that the they had got three times more than they were entitled to on the basis of what they had actually left behind in India, But the people in the top slab did suffer, and to give them relief we allowed them to buy up to 36,000 produce index units, which was the maximum holding allowed under the land reforms. The price charged was nominal, Rs. 10 per produce index unit, and payable in easy installments. This was how we dealt with the refugee problem as it existed at the time of our assumption of power. Compare this with what they would have got left with if they had stayed in India: 25 to 50 acres. Along with this compensation programme, we took immediate steps to accelerate the establishment of new 'refugee colonies' in the towns, to provide basic housing and sanitation for as many of the homeless refugees as possible. I laid the foundation stone of the Korangi Colony outside Karachi in December 1958; and 15,000 quarters were completed there in five months. Similar new townships were built in North Karachi and at Mohammadpur Colony in Dacca, All this, however, was by no means the end of the story. India continued a calculated policy of driving wave after wave of Muslims from their homes and pushing them into Pakistan, particularly in our eastern wing, and there was a lot of talk in India about exchange of population. I still winder what the Indians have in mind and what is really behind this irresponsible action. I wish and pray that Indian leadership would realize the barbarity of their action and put an end to this inhuman treatment of their own nationals.