12th Anniversary of R.C.D. (July 21, 1976)

Colour portraits of Quaid-i-Azam, Raza Shah the great and Kemal Ataturk are depicted separately on 20 Paisa, 65 Paisa and 90 Paisa Stamps respectively. The portraits appear within decorated golden frames diagonally placed in the square format of the stamps. The letters R.C D. in a stylized form appear in the top corner with “Anniversary underneath in grey colour Pakistan in Urdu in a stylized form appears in the bottom corner and in English just below the frames also in grey. The R.C.D. insignia appears in the right corner and the denomination figures in the left corner with the word “Postage” underneath in blue colour. All denominations appear together as a set in a sheet of 60 stamps.
R.C.D has made rapid progress during the past twelve years, and is now considered as the embodiment of supranational unity and inter-regional integration. In order to make the cooperation more fruitful the three heads of states decided in the Izmir Summit Conference held in April’ 1976, that R.C.D. would be codified and would be converted into a free trade area within a period of ten years; the experts committee on trade and tariff has already set to work out the details whereby the objective of free trade area may be achieved within this stipulated period of time.
In the field of Postal Communication there is extensive collaboration within the three Postal Administrations. Lately it has further been decided to hold R.C.D. Philatelic Exhibitions in the three member countries by rotation. The 1st R.C.D. exhibition is being held in Karachi (Pakistan ) on 21-7-76.
In order to mark the 12th Anniversary of R C.D. Pakistan Post Office is issuing a set of three stamps on the occasion.
The subjects for this year are:
1. QUAID-I-AZAM MUHAMMAD ALI JINNAH
Quaid-i-Azam Muhammad Au Jinnah, the founder of Pakistan, was born on 25 December 1876 in a prominent mercantile family of Karachi. He joined the Lincoln’s Inn in 1892 and was called to the Bar three years later. Mr. Jinnah entered Politics in 1906 from the platform of the Indian National Congress: four years later he was elected to the newly constituted legislative coun-cil All through his parliamentary Career which spanned some three decades, his was probably the most powerful voice for Indian rights. For about two decades he was a confirmed nationalist, and it was largely due to him that the Congress League Pact of 1916 was signed which brought the two major communities of the subcontinent closer but the Nehru report of 1928 which negated the minimum Muslim demands embodied in the Delhi Muslim Proposal of 1927 meant “the parting of the ways” for him.
Mr. Jinnah took up the leadership of the Muslims in 1936 and organised them on one platform and from a mere rabble he made them into a nation-united, strong, and self conscious, in discovering the fact of Muslim Nationhood, .Jinnah formulated the intellectual justification for launching the demand for a Muslim homeland in the Muslim majority areas of the subcontinent. This demand he formally launched in 1940 and a new country named Pakistan appeared on the map of the word on 14th August, 1947 under his great leadership. Jinnah devoted the last years of his life in consolidating Pakistan and in securing her survival in uneasy, treacherous circumstances. In accomplishing this task, tremendous as it was, he worked himself to death. How true was Pethick Lawrence. the last Secretary of State for India, when he said, “Gandhi died by the hands of an assassin. Jinnah died by his devotion to Pakistan.”
2 KEMAL ATATURK
Kemal Ataturk, the founder of modern Turkey and the first president of the Turkish republic was born in 1881 in Salonika. After graduating from the Military Academy and General Staff College, he was appointed to a cavalry regiment in Damascus where, together with some of his friends, he founded a secret society called ‘‘Fatherland and Freedom.
When World War 1 broke out he was appointed to the command of the 19th Division at Canakkale. At the end of Word War I in Istanbul there were two main ideas about Turkey’s future; the Sultan and his supporters were thinking of placing the country under English protection, while some intellectuals were spreading propaganda for placing Turkey under and American mandate. Mustafa Kemal. however, persisted in the idea of an independent Turkish nation living within its national boundaries and believed that this could be achieved if the nation was prepared for a new struggle.
On December 27, 1919 Mustafa Kemal transferred the seat of the national struggle to Ankara. and opened on April 23, 1919, the First Grand National Assembly of Turkey and elected its president As president of the Assembly Mustafa Kemal took upon himself the offices of the Prime Minister and of the President of the state. Thus ended the religious form of government that had existed in Turkey since the Middle Ages.
Mustafa Kemal now busied himself with the work of gaining control of such parts of the country as were then under occupation. First, in the east, the Armenians were defeated. After extensive guerilla warfare, the Fre-nch in the south evacuated Turkish territories and withdrew, to Syria and recognized the legitimacy of the National Government in Ankara. At this time of great anxiety the National Assembly appointed Mustafa Kemal the Commander in Chief, On August 26, 1922 after an all -out offensive planned and directed personally by the Greek army was defeated and forced within two weeks to leave Anatolia completely. After that he launched on a pro-gramme of reforms. On October 29, 1923 Mustafa Kemal proclaimed the Republic and was elected its first president and went on carrying out his programme of reforms. He closed down all institutions based on religious canon law, monasteries and religious orders. “Science is the most reliable guide in life,” he remarked and abolishing the traditional system of education which was mainly religious, he established secular schools of the modern tupe. The whole Ottoman legal system was modernized and a new civil and penal code was adopted. He established comp-lete equality between the sexes, including the right of electing and being elected. In 1928 he adopted Roman letters. In 933 the National Assembly gave Mustafa Kemal the name ATATUR1( (Father of Turks)
He died on November 10, 1938 in Istanbul as the first President of the Republic. 3. REZA SHAH, THE GREAT.
Raza Shah Pahlavi, the founder of modern Iran, was born at Savad Kuh in Mazandaran in 1878. He rose in the ranks of the Persian Cossack Brigade through sheer force of personality and natural ability. When the Anglo-Persian Treaty was about to be ratified by Parliament, on a cold day in February 1921, he marched on Tehran, with a few thousand men and overthrew the Government. Raza Khan was made Commander-in-Chief of the Army, becoming shortly afterwords Minister of War. He then became the Prime Minister.
In 1925, he was crowned Shah of Iran by the decision of the Constituent Assembly and thereafter Iran never looked back. He first put an end to internal disor-der, created a single, unified army, defeated rebel chiefs, disarmed the tribes and established the authority of the Central Government throughout the country.
He was untiring in his capacity for work, and no detail was too small for him to look into. He established a National Bank which was later given the monopoly of issuing bank notes; weights and measures were standardized and the first systematic budget introduced. New state schools were set up all over the country replacing the old religious establishments and education was made compulsory. The power of the nobility was reduced and class distinction began to disappear. Civil and criminal codes were introduced.
Then came the Second World War Iran declared her-self neutral, but the country’s geographical position once again affected the trend of her affairs When Germany attacked Russia, the strategic importance of Iran became all too apparent. The need of the Allies for a safe supply route for the Russian armies through rail link from the Persian Gulf to the north, led the British and the Russians to attack Iran simultaneously. As a result of this violation of Iran’s neutrality, Raza Shah the Great decided to abdicate in favour of his son the Crown Prince, who was then 22.
Raza Shah envisioned a new Iran, worthy of her past and capable of competing with advanced nations in every field of peaceful achievement. To realize this dream, he employed to advantage the unshakable force of his will.