Mr. Mahmuid Husain (East Bengal: Muslim): ... To me, Sir, there are two things which are objectionable in the method by which the Budget has been balanced. One is very fundamental. And it is this that I find in it an encroachment upon the financial autonomy of the Provinces. It is a very fundamental question and a very large question and it requires very careful thought. I cannot possibly express fully on this subject within the short time available to me. But, Sir, the kind of Pakistan that I envisage consists of autonomous units. For reasons of geography, because of linguistic difference, because of racial differences, because we are many miles apart-1,500 miles divide Eastern Pakistan from Western Pakistan-and because even within Western Pakistan there are differences which cannot be ignored and which should not be ignored, I think, Sir, our future development should be on the lines of autonomous development of provinces, complete autonomy for Provinces. That is the only manner in which we can run Pakistan. That is fundamental. I think, Sir, in the Budget this principle has not merely not been observed but there are signs of encroachment upon the financial resources of the Provinces. It really does not help us, because all you do is that you take away some money from the provinces and spend it for the Centre. It does not really solve our economic problem. Our economic problem can be solved only when we can increase our national wealth. We can raise our standard of living not by just some sort of reshuffling of the sources of income, not by taking away some money from here and giving it there. It does not solve our economic problem. My complaint is. Sir that our economic problem has not been squarely faced by the Honorable the Finance Minister. He ought to have faced these difficulties and he ought to have produced a solution. He ought to have at lease made a beginning could have been made; at least he could have given us some idea that in future this was the kind of thing he was thinking of and this was the plan by which he was trying to solve our problem........................
The Honorable Khwaja Nazimuddin (East Bengal; Muslim) [2nd March, 1948]:... Sir, I would point out that in the State where there are provinces, it is very necessary that the people of the provinces should develop and progress equally just as in the case of a carriage drawn by a pair of horses, it is no use if we have got one strong and powerful horse and the other lean and thin, the team never works. Similarly, provinces must develop and prosper together and if we are going to have one province which is economically and financially unsound, whose people are not wealthy, it is bound to affect the position of the whole state and purely from that point of view, I would like to place certain demands, if I may say so, suggestions before the Central Government. First and foremost among these is that as far as Eastern Pakistan is concerned, we must have a fair and proper share in the Armed Forces of Pakistan. This I consider very essential and it must be remembered that so long for various reasons the people of Eastern Pakistan have been almost kept out of the Armed Forces and if you are now going to place us in a position that we have got to get only a share of the new recruits, you can realize how long it will take for us to get anything like adequate representation. The Heads of the Armed Forces who have visited Eastern Pakistan have been impressed with the material that they have seen recruited in one or two battalions of the East Bengal Regiment...
