Renewed Commitment Quotes
East Pakistan—now Bengladesh—revolted and declared independence. The military cracked down committing atrocities against the rebels who asked India’s help. India intervened and Pakistan declared war on India and then suffered a humiliating defeat. Pakistan was isolated and distraught when Bhutto tried to rally the nation. What was fascinating, that there was very little damage to the non-military infrastructure of Pakistan. Their military bases and many of their major weapons systems and warplanes were destroyed, but in terms of the economy Pakistan was not in any crisis at all. However, Pakistan was and still is a militarily controlled nation where the president and prime minister, when civilians, have little significant power. The Pakistani people have been brainwashed by successive military leaders to believing that they were a superior military power and many of the religious leaders preached that their Islamic faith had to be protected from the Hindu Indians by strength of arms. The crisis was one of confidence and the only reason there was any economic consequence was that Pakistan would use immense sums of public revenue to not only rearm but also develop a nuclear capacity. This was the crisis—Pakistan would be poor for years because of military spending, See {623844} . The loss of East Pakistan (Bangladesh) actually made Pakistan much richer, The per capita earnings of East Pakistan was much lower, and East Pakistan was the most expensive part of the country to support (not counting military expenditures.) Ironically, with a military government paranoid about India with more control and more money, Muslims living in India had more freedom and were economically better off than the Muslims of Pakistan.
At the age of 76, MacDonald was considered too old by many to win another election. He turned the age issue to his favor by wrapping himself in a Canadian Flag and appearing before the crowd.
Campaign Speech, 1891
