Khan was in fact at special pains to indicate the various directions in
which Mahomedans and Hindus might and ought to act in harmonious
co-operation. The functions of the Mahomedan representatives on the new
Councils would, the Aga Khan said, be threefold.

In the first place they must co-operate as representative
Indian citizens with other Indians in advancing the well-being
of the country by working wholeheartedly for the
spread of education, for the establishment of free and universal
primary education, for the promotion of commerce and
industry, for the improvement of agriculture by the establishment
of co-operative credit and distribution societies, and
for the development of the natural resources of India. Here,
indeed, is a wide field of work for Hindus and Mahomedans
acting together. In the second place our representatives
must be ready to co-operate with the Hindus and all other
sections of society in securing for them all those advantages
that serve their peculiar conditions and help their social
welfare, for although the two sister communities have developed
on different lines, each suffers from some peculiar
weakness in addition to the misfortunes common to
general economic and educational backwardness. And then
our representatives must watch and promote social measures
required exclusively for the benefit of their Moslem co-religionists,
with the co-operation, we hope, of the Hindu
members, for we too have needs that are not known to them
and which we alone can fully understand.

No language could be more generous or more statesmanlike. The Aga Khan
doubtless realizes that, whatever the more or less remote future may