RAWALPINDI, Pakistan, Dec. 14—War is a part of the Islamic faith throughout the Moslem world, but nowhere more so than in Pakistan, a nation that needs no draft to maintain an army.

Once again the Pakistani soldier is in battle against heavy odds. His country has fought three wars with India in the brief span of 24 years of independence, and this is the hardest of them all.

Win or lose, the Pakistani is above all things a soldier of God embarked on jihad (holy war). His leaders have told him repeatedly that in a jihad there are never any losses since the martyr is ordained by God to live forever.

If paradise awaits the brave Pakistani soldier, his life on earth is something less than ideal.

Pakistan is one of the poorest nations and its soldiers are representative of the people. Foreign experts estimate that the literacy rate in Pakistan is probably only about 8 per cent. The majority of the soldiers cannot read; the 8 per cent is reflected in the officer corps, which is usually well-educated.

The Pakistani jawan, as the ordinary soldier is known, is paid only a few dollars a month and lacks most of the conveniences taken for granted in Western armies. On the other hand, he eats regularly, which is more than he might do as a civilian.

The career Pakistani soldier often tries to recruit and sons into his own unit and many Pakistani families are tied by tradition to military organizations. In normal times there are more would‐be recruits than the army can accept, and preference often goes to those whose fathers are serving.

The very texture of life is intertwined with military traditions and war. Urdu, the national language of West Pakistan, took form originally as a fusion of several languages adopted by soldiers into a new tongue. The heart of nearly all the towns in both East and West Pakistan is the army cantonment.

The regional ties of Pakistan's units cost her dearly last March. The national army in East Pakistan consisted of the famous old East Bengal Regiment, made up almost exclusively of Bengali officers and men.

When the moment of decision came the regiment, virtually to a man, opted to fight for the Bengali insurrection and against its former comrades in arms.

The jawans who have been fighting since then in the Pakistani cause in East Pakistan have been an isolated lot. Mostly Urdu‐speaking Punjabis and Pathans, they have been cut off linguistically and socially from a hostile population, elements of which have vowed to kill them all.

Now the jawans still fighting in East Pakistan have been ordered by their commanders in Islamabad to fight to the death. Most of them probably will.