L ESS CONSPICUOUSLY than Moise Tshombe, but absent nonetheless from the October i964 Cairo Conference of Non-Aligned States, were representatives of the Government of Pakistan. This was no surprise since they had not been represented at the initial i96i Conference in Belgrade. Pakistan had argued that a second Bandung or Afro-Asian Conference would be preferable and sufficient; but then she knew her non-aligned credentials would not pass inspection in Cairo.' To a country that had never really sought alignment, this seemed a pity. In the turbulent days before independence, her politicians had been ready to deal with anyone. If the Hindus give us Pakistan and freedom, then the Hindus are our best declared F. K. Noon, a future Prime Minister and Foreign Minister. If the British give it to us, then the British are our best friends. But if neither will give it to us, then Russia is our best friend.2 Each of these major powers, representing entirely different concepts of political power, failed to satisfy Pakistan's larger aspirations. The British had finally accepted the rationale for a Pakistan nation; according to the latter's first Foreign Minister, it was the greatest act of faith and courage in the history of mankind.3 However, the boundary awards in Bengal, the Punjab, and especially the Gurdaspur Award (India's corridor to Kashmir), were soon widely resented, and Lord Mountbatten's entourage in Delhi was marked as pro-India.4 The Muslim League left office before the Suez crisis and advocated leaving the Commonwealth during it; Prime Minister Suhrawardy replied with a heavy heart that the country needed more friends, not fewer. In I963, British military aid to India so rankled Pakistanis that President Ayub Khan publicly cancelled an official visit to Britain in October on the transparent excuse that the Assembly's Speaker had died in August. The nadir has now passed: President Ayub has described Britain's tactics in the Security Council Kashmir debate as useful,5 and his conduct towards Britain at the July i964 Commonwealth Conference was impeccable.