After Liaquat Ali Khan
Who is going to steer the Muslim world away from the chaos into which it threatens to fall ? The assassination of Mr. Liaquat All Khan, the Prime Minister of Pakistan, brutally removes yet another moderating influence from the vast area from Libya to India in which the threat of mass hysteria is always potent. Statesmen able and willing to restrain these blind and destructive forces have been so rare that the violent death, in the course of a mere seven months, of General Razniara, King Abdulla, and now Mr. Liaquat Ali Khan, comes near to leaving the whole Middle East devoid of constructive leadership. Such guides as remain—Dr. Moussadek, Nahas Pasha, and the ex-Mufti of Jerusalem, for example—represent either indifference to the danger of disorder or the positive pursuit of it. Pakistan, although the most powerful of Muslim states, was never a com- pletely reliable sheet-anchor, but Liaquat All Khan had shown great skill in keeping his own country out of trouble. Even in the potentially explosive Kashmir dispute he has consistently worked for a peaceful solution, showing both restraint and ingenuity in his attempts to circumvent the barrier of. Indian intransigence. But now that his death has drawn from Mr. Nehru a new and obviously heartfelt appeal for peace between India and Pakistan the task is even heavier. The successors of Liaquat All Khan will need to surpass themselves in skill and determina- tion if they are to prevent the blind passions his murder aroused from being misdirected by extremists for whom any excuse for violent action against India is good enough. Those successors will also need any outside support they can be given. Dr. Graham, the United Nations mediator in Kashmir, is asking the Security Council for permission to make another attempt to bring the parties together. He should be given it without hesita- tion or delay.
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