Planned Indiscretion

In Karachi's Frere Gardens, a group of prominent citizens gathered to do honor to Prime Minister Malik Firoz Khan Noon, a man given to unexpected remarks. They were not disappointed. Jovial Prime Minister Noon, 65, suddenly declared: "Afghanistan and Iran are our closest neighbors, and we all are Moslem brethren. If they desire to confederate with us, I, for my part, am prepared to do so."

This forthright statement on a subject that had been rumored for months shocked officials, set diplomats and newsmen scurrying to find out precisely what Noon meant. Opposition leaders and newspapers detected a plot. Behind Noon, they cried, "was the same hidden hand which forced us into the Baghdad Pact."

Pakistan's strongman President Iskander Mirza denied that he had ever discussed federation with other nations. In Teheran. Premier Manouchehr Eghbal was more careful: "Iran has no intention of participating in a federation with Pakistan and Afghanistan in the immediate future." Radio Kabul made its answer clear by beating the drum again for an independent "Pakhtoonistan," to include a large slice of West Pakistan.

Noon soon began to sound like a Madison Avenue adman who has made a suggestion that is unpopular with the sponsor. In effect, he said, federation was just an idea he had tossed on the table to see if it would get up and dance. He did not intend an immediate political union; all he wanted was close military cooperation and the removal of custom barriers and passport restrictions.

Last week, speaking to a closed-door caucus of his Republican Party in Lahore, Prime Minister Noon let it be known that there was something more to his remarks than that. By promising "active cooperation'' with other Moslem countries. Noon hoped to cut the ground from under the opposition leaders who charge that Pakistan has "sold out" to the "Anglo-American bloc." He was not turning against the West exactly, but was inching closer to Nasser's Arab nationalism. If Iraq wants to merge with Nasser's United Arab Republic, he asked, "what reason can we have to feel anything but happy? If any Moslem nation takes one step toward Pakistan, I assure you that Pakistan shall take five steps toward it. Believe me. my brethren, this is the foreign policy of Pakistan."

This file is automatically generated by a robot program, so reader's discretion is required.