Pakistan: Structure of the state

and disparity

Presented By
Ataus Samad Raju
Senior Lecturer
Dept. of Natural Science
Port City International
University
Email: rajudu88@gmail.com
Pakistan: Structure of the state and disparity

1. Central and provincial structure.

2. Influence of Military and Civil bureaucracy.
3. Economic, social and cultural disparity.
 1. Central and provincial
structure.

• Since independence the

political power was
enjoyed by the western
elite of West Pakistan.
Jinnah ruled from
Karachi which was in
West Pakistan.
• The East Pakistan
resented the fact that
most of the prominent
position in government
and military were held
by West Pakistani.
• East Pakistan had the
largest population
among all the
provinces, it had much
less political power than
West Pakistan.
• The Controversy over constitution making
started as early as March 12, 1949 when the
Objective Resolution was adopted and a Basic
Principles Committee was constituted to
report on the main principles on which the
constitution of Pakistan was to be framed.
• The Bengali leaders raised objections to some
points of the Objective Resolution and the
interim report of the Basic Principles
Committee, which they thought would lead to
a unitary central government, which will make
East Pakistan a colony of West Pakistan.
• In constitution making,
the two main issues
hard of solution were
the ratio of
representation in the
Central legislature and
the distribution of
powers between the
center and the
provinces.
• Federalism did not fully operate in
development affairs. Development
planning relating to education, which
was included in the provincial subjects,
was often undertaken by both the central
and provincial government.
• The division of development projects
between the centre and the province did
not follow any definite principle.
• The central government • The Centre was
of the state of Pakistan dominated by the ruling
was set up in the elite Punjabi and
Western wing of the Muhajirs who
state primarily because controlled the
most of the Muhajirs, bureaucratic apparatus
upper class Muslim and the armed forces.
refugees from the
central Indian
provinces, migrated to
the western wing.
• East Pakistan was not
satisfied with the parity
principle. The demand for
more provincial
autonomy still persisted
and it finally culminated
into the Six-Point
program of Sheikh
Mujeebur Rehman.
• From 1947 to 1958, East
Pakistan got only 42
percent and West
Pakistan 58 percent
representation in the
Central Cabinets
 2. Influence of Military and Civil
bureaucracy.
• The period of 1947–54 witnessed several
unilateral political decisions made by the centre
which frequently intervened in provincial
matters. In the absence of any national plan
document, economic planning during the said
period remained almost entirely under the
control of the central government.
• Although the country was ruled by civilian
authorities, the incumbent government of the
Muslim League remained overwhelmingly pro-
Centre.
• The key instrument with which the
Centre wielded its economic hegemony
over East Pakistan throughout was the
control over provincial revenues.
• Early in 1948, the government of
Pakistan, by a special ordinance, took
away from the provinces the sales tax,
income tax and a bigger share of import
and export duties.
• Consequently, the
government of East
Pakistan was forced to
rely on land revenue
and agricultural income
tax, to finance
education and health
related projects and
various administrative
expenses.
• In contrast to the period 1947–54, economic
development during the ‘One Unit’ era was
guided by three comprehensive Five-Year
plans in the undivided Pakistan.
• The plan documents gave highest priorities to
industrial development which suited the
ruling class at the Centre, particularly the
Muhajirs, who also comprised the industrial
elites of the country. This process of
development increased inequality in regional
income.
• The Western wing, which
had a larger urban
population (33%), was
the primary beneficiary of
such industrialization. The
East Pakistani economy
was largely agrarian and
95% of the population
resided in the rural areas.
• Consequently, it was left
out of the development
process and experienced
little gain in per capita
income.
• Both the military and the civil bureaucracy were
affected by the disruptions. Pakistan cycled
through a number of politicians through their
beginning political and economic crises.
• The politicians were corrupt, interested in
maintaining their political power and securing the
interests of the elite, so to have them as the
representative authority did not provide much
hope of a democratic state that provided socio-
economic justice and fair administration to all
Pakistani citizens.
• The military oligarchy occupied a dominant
position and has been in effective command of
state power ever since the creation of the state.
 3. Economic, social and cultural
disparity.
Economic Disparity:
The most serious challenge
to Pakistani nationalism was
the economic disparity
between East and West
Pakistan. The Eastern wing
of the country was
ruthlessly exploited by the
western wing and that East
Pakistan was deprived of its
due share in the
developmental funds and
foreign aid.
• The per capita income in West Pakistan was 32
percent higher than East Pakistan in 1959-60 and
61 percent higher in 1969-70
• The bulk of the country’s revenue was spent in
West Pakistan because the federal capital was
there. Moreover, a high percentage of the
budget was spent on defense, which was all
concentrated in West Pakistan.
• East Pakistan earned most of the country’s
foreign exchange by the export of jute; yet most
of it was spent on the industrialization of West
Pakistan.
• What was earned in
East Pakistan was spent
in West Pakistan
because East Pakistan
provided 60 percent of
the total revenue,
compared to 40 percent
by West Pakistan, but it
received only 25 per
cent for its expenditure.
The rest, 75 per cent
was spent in West
Pakistan.
• The Bengalis were very poorly
represented in the civil service and in
the Army. Moreover, the civil and
military officials from West Pakistan
stationed in East Pakistan considered the
Bengali Muslims inferior converts from
lower caste Hindus.
• In 1970, about 85 percent of the armed
forces belonged to the Punjab whereas
the majority of population was in East
Pakistan.
• Bengalis resented the vast sums of foreign
exchange earned from the sale of jute from
East, which were being spent on defense.
• During 1947 to 1971 being part of Pakistan,
Bangladesh was exploited by West Pakistanis
almost in the same fashion, as had been by
the British.
• To aid the process of industrialization in the
Western wing, the central government
systematically transferred visible as well as
invisible resources away from the East to
the West. Three particular mechanisms
were adopted to facilitate such transfers.
• First, transfer occurred • Third, to support the
through inter-regional process of
trade: the West wing industrialisation in West
exported to the East Pakistan, agricultural
under a protective surplus (e.g. foreign
trade regime, at a exchange earned
higher than through agricultural
international price. exports by the East) was
• Second, the East wing transferred to industry
was allocated a smaller thereby masking the
fraction of the total transfer of economic
foreign aid received. resources from the East
to the West.
Social Disparity:
• The Controversy over constitution making started
as early as March 12, 1949 when the Objective
Resolution was adopted and a Basic Principles
Committee was constituted to report on the main
principles on which the constitution of Pakistan
was to be framed.
• The Bengali leaders raised objections to some
points of the Objective Resolution and the
interim report of the Basic Principles Committee,
which they thought would lead to a unitary
central government, which will make East
Pakistan a colony of West Pakistan.
• East Pakistan was not satisfied with the parity
principle. The demand for more provincial
autonomy still persisted and it finally culminated
into the Six-Point program of Sheikh Mujeebur
Rehman.
• Almost immediately, East Pakistan claimed that as
their population (55 percent as compared to 45
percent in the West) was greater, they were in a
majority. Democratically, the Federal Capital,
therefore, should have been in Dhaka and not in
Karachi.
• By 1971 there were many more East Pakistanis
who lived in poverty than in 1947. In terms of
improving the quality of life, the East Pakistan
experiment had been a disappointment to most
citizens.
• The location of the
Capital, it was said,
created great economic
imbalance, uneven
distribution of national
wealth and privileges, and
better jobs for the people
of West Pakistan
• Eastern wing was
disadvantaged at all
levels of education. Both
in primary and secondary
education, the extent of
disparity widened over
time.
• Cultural disparity:

Immediately after independence, Pakistan’s two

wings were set apart by one thousand miles of
enemy territory. Both air and maritime contact
could be blockaded by India. With the exception
of religion and a common struggle for
independence, there was practically nothing
common between the two wings of the country.
• Cultural discrimination
also prevailed, causing
the eastern wing to
forge a distinct political
identity.
• There was a bias
against Bengali
culture in state media,
such as a ban on
broadcasts of the works
of Nobel
laureate Rabindranath
Tagore.
• Cultural and linguistic differences between the
two wings outweighed any religious unity. The
Bengalis were very proud of their culture and
language which with its Devnagari script and
Sanskrit vocabulary was unacceptable to the
West Pakistani elite who considered it to
smack of Hindu culture
• In 1948, Mohammad Ali Jinnah stated in
Dhaka that Urdu was the official language for
Pakistan. There was a big argument about this
because only the Muhajir in the West and the
Biharis in the East spoke Urdu.
• Most of the West Pakistanis spoke Punjabi
and Sindhi, while East Pakistanis spoke Bangla.
East Pakistan therefore disagreed; seven
students were killed in a fierce protest on
February 21, 1952.
• A devastating cyclone
hit East Pakistan in
1970. It was called the
Bhola Cyclone. It killed
about 500,000 people
and made many more
homeless. It brought
great shock and deep
depression among the
East Pakistani people.
But, the government
did not provide enough
relief to alleviate the
extremely miserable
conditions wrought by
the cyclone.
Any Question ?
 Sample Question
• Write a note on economic, social and cultural disparity
between the East and West Pakistan.
• Analyze the nature of discrimination between West
Pakistan and East Pakistan.
• Why did many people in East Bengal oppose the aims and
policies of Jinnah in the years after Pakistan became
independent in 1947?
• Give a description between East and West Pakistan in the
field of Economy.
• Discuss the economical discrimination in Pakistan.
• Put down the economic disparity of East Pakistan and
West Pakistan during the Pakistani rule.
• Analysis the various discriminatory policies followed by
the government of Pakistan towards the Bengalis of East
Pakistan.