Fourth Pakistan National Jamboree (January 29, 1967)

A Sepia background is overprinted with mauve colour. The words “4th Pakistan National Jamboree” at the head of the stamp together with the Scout emblem at centre right are reversed from both plates and appear in white. The word “Postage” appears at the left of the stamp printed in an upright position; the value “15 Paisa” appears at right; whilst the word “Pakistan” in Urdu, Bengali and English appears at the bottom right. This wording together with a symbolic hand showing the Scout Salute, which appears between the word postage and the Scout emblem, are reversed from the mauve plate and appear in sepia.
The Commemorative Postage Stamp will be available for sale on and from the 29th January, 1967 at all important Post Offices, Philatelic Bureaux and Philatelic Counters in Pakistan and also at some of the Pakistan Diplo-matic Missions abroad.
The Fourth Pakistan National Jamboree will be held at Karachi and will be inaugurated by Field Marshal Mohammad Ayub Khan, President of Pakistan on 29th January, 1967. The Pakistan Post Office is issuing a postage stamp of 15 Paisa deno-mination on the 29th January 1967 to commemorate the occasion. Lord Baden-Powell, Founder of the Boy Scouts Movement realised in the famous siege of Mafeking (Africa) that boys could render very effective service, if properly trained. When the War was over and he returned to England, as a hero, he held an Experimental Camp on Brownsea Island, in the English Chan-nel, to see how far the boys from different homes could get on with each other in camping. He was fully satisfied with the result and he started contributing to the press his scheme of Scouting for Boys. Before the scheme was published in book form, as “Scouting for Boys”, lot of Boy Scout Troops had been formed on their own and there was much enthusiasm. The Movement spread like wild fire, not only in England but in other countries of the world and Baden-Powell had to leave the Army to devote to the expansion and growth of Scouting, as a whole-time worker.
The main object of Scouting is to mould the boys into useful citizens. For this purpose, they are trained through the Badge and Patrol Systems. They pass a good number of tests and acquire proficiency in hobbies, riding, painting, etc., thereby enabling them to render effective service as in Ambu-lance Badge, Public Healthman Badge, etc.
In Pakistan, Scouting started from scratch in December, 1947 with the blessings of the Quaid-i-Azam who agreed to become the First Chief Scout of Pakistan. The Pakistan Boy Scouts Association established its permanent National Headquarters at Karachi. The new headquarters building known as “Amin House” was formally inaugurated by the Chief Scout of Pakistan, Field Marshal Mohammad Ayub Khan on 15th January, 1960. There are seven Branches affiliated to the Pakistan Boy Scouts Association, with a total membership of 1,40,000. The Pakistan Boy Scouts Association, as a national body, is affiliated to the Boy Scouts World Bureau located in Canada. There are 86 countries of the world at present affiliated to the Boys Scouts World Bureau and the total membership is ten million.
Since the Boy Scout Movement had become world-wide, it was thought advisable to bring the boys together, every four years, so as to make them realise the importance of the Scout Law, particularly the 4th Scout Law, which runs as follows.
“A Scout is a friend of all and brother to every other Scout, no matter to what country, class or creed the other belongs.”
The first international gathering of Scouts to which the name of Jamboree was given by the Founder was held in England in 1920. The 6th World Jamboree was held in France in August 1947, which the pre-Independence Indian contingent was also attending. At the time of Independence i. e. 14th August 1947 the scouts from Pakistan separated themselves from the Indian contingent and formed an independent Pakistan contingent. They found the particulars of the Pakistan flag from a newspaper and hurriedly improvised the national flag and hoisted it at the Jamboree on 14th August 1947 as the symbol of a new and in-dependent nation. The Boy Scouts were, therefore, the first to have flown their national flag overseas on Independence Day. The PAK-SCOUT Magazine which is the official organ of the Pakistan Boy Scouts Association was started in September, 1948. It has a wide circulation both in and outside Pakistan. The “Jamboree Chronicle” as a daily publication will be published during the Jamboree, in English, Urdu and Bengali.
The First Pakistan National Jamboree was held in Karachi in December, 1952, the second in Chittagong in 1958, the third at Walton in December, 1960, and the fourth would now be held in January, 1967 at Karachi. A large number of Scouts from other countries will be participating in this Jamboree. The theme of the Jamboree is “GET TOGETHER”.
A Scout who passes the preliminary test is known as a Tenderfoot and at his Investiture takes the following solemn Promise:
-“On my honour, I promise to do my best, to do my duty to God and my country, to help other people at all times, to obey the Scout Law.”
He is then entitled to wear the colourful Scout uniform, with a distinctive scarf on a Scout shirt, green garter tabs and the Brotherhood Badge sewn on the left breast pocket. Thus a Scout salutes with three fingers to remind him of his three-fold promise every now and then. The Boy Scouts have also a distinctive sign of their own to shake hand with the left hand, based on the old story of the African Chief who threw his shield down and preferred his open left hand to the other man to show that he had no fear of him and trusted him, as a friend and well-wisher. The Scouts are, therefore, known as “Boys in brown”, “United Nations in short pants” and “Little friends of all the world”.