A Gift of a Silver Box from President Ayub Khan of Pakistan, to Lieutenant FBG Lausanne, CD, No. 9 Transport Company, Royal Canadian Army Service Corps in 1962 - Box in silver, marked "PAK 96 SILVER" along the lip of the back edge of the silver frame on the bottom, the exterior engraved with an ornate design incorporating an intricate floral pattern interlaced with leafing on the lid and all four sides, the lid with a disk in the centre and bearing an insignia with a five-piece construction in silver gilt affixed to the lid, the insignia consisting of a star and crescent moon, framed by branches on both sides, with the text for Pakistan in Urdu below the moon, the bottom in a pebbled dark green, the colour of which represents Pakistan, a tab on the front edge of the lid and when lifted up, exposes the wooden lining on both the five sides of the base and the underside of the lid, with a card inside the box inscribed "With the compliments of The President of Pakistan" placed within, measuring 117 mm (w) x 84.5 mm (h) x 31.5 mm (d), extremely fine.
The box is accompanied by (i) an original letter to Lieutenant FBG Lausanne, CD with the Department of External Affairs Canada letterhead, typewritten, dated at "Ottawa, September 28, 1962", addressed "Dear Lt. Lausanne, " and inscribed "I have pleasure in enclosing a present from the President of Pakistan. You will no doubt wish to write a note of thanks, and I suggest that you write to His Excellency the High Commissioner for Pakistan, 505 Wilbrod Street, Ottawa.", signed in blue ink by the Deputy Chief of Protocol, with fold marks; (ii) a copy of the original response letter from Lieutenant FBG Lausanne, CD with the Department of External Affairs Canada letterhead, typewritten, from "Lt FDG Lausanne, CD / No 9 Transport Company RCASC / Ottawa, Ontario", dated "October 15, 1962", addressed "Excellency:" and inscribed "Please convey my thanks to His Excellency The President of Pakistan for the beautiful gift I received on the occasion of his recent visit to Ottawa. It was an honour to have been chosen to serve His Excellency as Transport Officer during his memorable visit.", signed by FBG Lausanne, with fold marks; (iii) along with research papers on President Khan.
Footnotes:
1. This box was a gift from the President of Pakistan, Ayub Khan, to Lieutenant FBG Lausanne, CD (Canadian Forces' Decoration), No. 9 Transport Company, Royal Canadian Army Service Corps, having served as Transport Officer during the President's visit to Ottawa in September 1962. Canadian Prime Minister John Diefenbaker PC CH QC FRSC FRSA (September 18, 1895 - August 16, 1979) had returned from the British Commonwealth Prime Ministers' Conference in London on September 20th, accompanied by President Mohammed Ayub Khan of Pakistan, who was there for a three day state visit. They were met by Governor-General Georges-Philias Vanier PC DSO MC CD (April 23, April 1888 - March 5, 1967), the first Quebecer and second Canadian-born person to hold the position.
2. Field Marshal Muhammad Ayub Khan, HPk, NPk, HJ, MBE (May 14, 1907 - April 19, 1974), was the second president of Pakistan. He was an army general who seized the presidency from Iskander Mirza in a coup in 1958, the first successful coup d'état in the country. Popular demonstrations and labour strikes supported by the protests in East Pakistan ultimately led to his forced resignation in 1969. Trained at the British Royal Military College, Ayub Khan fought in the Second World War as a colonel in the British Indian Army before deciding to transfer to the Pakistan Army in the aftermath of the partition of India in 1947. His assignments included command of the 14th Division in East-Bengal. He was elevated to become the first native Commander-in-Chief of the Pakistan Army in 1951 by Prime Minister Liaquat Ali Khan, succeeding General Douglas Gracey. From 1953 to 1958, he served in the civilian government as Defence and Home Minister and supported President Iskander Mirza's decision to impose martial law against Prime Minister Feroze Khan's administration in 1958. Two weeks later, he took over the presidency from Mirza after the meltdown of civil-military relations between the military and the civilian president. Upon taking power, he appointed General Musa Khan as Commander-in-Chief in 1958. the policy inclination towards the alliance with the United States was pursued that saw the allowance of American access to facilities inside Pakistan, most notably the airbase outside of Peshawar, from which spy missions over the Soviet Union were launched.
Relations with neighboring China were strengthened but deteriorated with the Soviet Union in 1962, and with India in 1965. However, when the Soviet Union facilitated the meetings between Pakistan and India that led to the Tashkent Declaration in 1966, relations among the three nations improved. At the home front, the policy of privatization and industrialization was introduced that made the country's economy Asia's fastest-growing economy. His tenure was distinguished by the completion of hydroelectric stations, dams and reservoirs, by prioritizing the space program and by reducing the nuclear deterrent. In 1965, Ayub Khan entered the presidential race as the Pakistan Muslim League (PML) candidate to counter the popular and famed non-partisan Fatima Jinnah and was controversially reelected for a second term. He was faced with allegations of widespread intentional vote riggings, authorized political murders in Karachi, and the politics over the unpopular peace treaty with India which closed the Indo-Pakistani War of 1965 and which many Pakistanis considered an embarrassing compromise. In 1967, wide disapproval of price hikes of food prompted demonstrations across the country led by Zulfikar Ali Bhutto. Ayub Khan dramatically fell from power in 1969 amid the popular uprising in East Pakistan led by Mujibur Rahman. It forced him to resign to avoid further protests while inviting army chief Yahya Khan to impose martial law for the second time, he fought a brief illness and died in 1974. His legacy remains mixed; he is credited with an ostensible economic prosperity and what supporters dub the "decade of development" by bringing an industrial and agricultural revolution to the country, but is criticized for beginning the first of the intelligence agencies' incursions into the national politics, for concentrating wealth in a corrupt few hands, and segregated policies that later led to the breaking-up of nation's unity that resulted in the creation of Bangladesh.