1947-51 Formation of a state

First Cabinet (1947)

The newly created state of Pakistan formed its first constituent assembly in August
1947. Quaid-i-Azam Jinnah took oath on 15th August 1947 and became the first
Governor-General of Pakistan. He exercised a great amount of influence on the
provincial, as well as, central affairs. The first cabinet of Pakistan was also created by
Quaid-i-Azam Jinnah, after a continuous search for talented administrators.
The first cabinet of Pakistan took oath on 15th August 1947. It included the following
members:
Liaquat Ali Khan                    Prime Minister, Minister for Foreign Affairs and Defense
I.I. Chundrigar                        Minister for Commerce, Industries and Works
Sardar Abdur Rab Nishtar      Minister for Communications
Raja Ghazanfar Ali                 Minister for Food, Agriculture, and Health (In December he
was shifted to Evacuee and Refugee Rehabilitation).
Jogendra Nath Mandal            Minister for Labour and Law
Ghulam Muhammad               Minister for Finance
Fazlur Rahman                        Minister for Interior, Information and Education
In December Muhammad Zafrullah Khan was inducted as Minister for Foreign Affairs
and Commonwealth Relations and Abdus Sattar Pirzada   was given the portfolio of
Food, Agriculture, and Health. Raja Ghazanfar Ali’s ministry was changed and he was
made in charge of the Ministry of Evacuee and Refugee Rehabilitation.
Quaid-i-Azam also asked for many skilled British technocrats to stay and serve in the
Pakistani government; 3 out of the 4 provincial governors were British. Sir Frederick
Bourne was the Governor of East Benga, Sir Francis Mudie the Governor of West
Punjab, and Sir George Cunningham the Governor of N.W.F.P. Sir Ghulam Hussain
Hidayatullah, the Governor of Sindh) was the only local governor, while Balochistan did
not have a governor as it was  Governor-General’s province. All chiefs of the armed
forces were British as well – General Sir Frank Messervey chief of the Royal Pakistan
Army, Air Vice-Marshal Perry-Keane chief of the Royal Pakistan Air Force, and Admiral
Jefford the chief of Royal Pakistan Navy. The financial advisor to the Governor-General,
Sir Archibald Rowland, was also British.
During the early days after its creation, Pakistan faced a myriad of crises and difficulties
and the ministers often found themselves helpless to tackle them; so they looked
towards Jinnah to help them with these problems. The first cabinet of Pakistan passed
a special resolution to allow Jinnah to deal with the problems faced by provincial
ministers. Jinnah also helped ministers in policymaking. In case of a difference of
opinions Quaid decided to be final. All these rights were given to Jinnah until the new
constitution came into force.
Quaid had a colossal task ahead of him, during the early days of Pakistan but he
remained committed in his duties and under his dynamic leadership and guidance, the
nation proved that it had the determination to succeed. Quaid-i-Azam Jinnah,
undoubtedly enjoyed extraordinary powers but these powers were given to him by the
Cabinet to meet the unexpected circumstances that clearly demanded extraordinary
actions.
Even though nation-building has proved to be a difficult task for Pakistan, under the
guidance of Jinnah and his competent cabinet members it continued to show its spirit
and capacity to survive and adapt to changing circumstances. James A. Muchener, a
visitor to Pakistan in the early years, wrote, “I have never seen so hardworking a
government as Pakistan’s. It is literally licking itself by its own intellectual book-straps”.

First Constituent Assembly of Pakistan (1947-1954)

The First Constituent Assembly of Pakistan came into existence under the Indian Independence
Act 1947, at the time of independence. Its roots went back to 1946 when elections for the
constituent assembly of United India were held to decide the destiny of the All India Muslim
League. The first meeting of the constituent assembly of united India was held on 19th December
1946, but Muslim League boycotted it since they demanded a separate constituent assembly for
Pakistan. With the acceptance of the 3rd June plan, a separate constituent assembly was
formulated for Pakistan.
The inaugural session of the first constituent assembly of Pakistan was held in Karachi in August
1947. Mr. J.N. Mandal was elected as temporary chairman of the Constituent Assembly of
Pakistan. Subsequently, Jinnah was elected as the president of the Constituent Assembly of
Pakistan, on 11th August 1947 and Maulvi Tamizuddin Khan as its Deputy President. The
Constituent Assembly of Pakistan functioned from 1947 to 1954 and involved two major
parties—the Muslim League representing all Muslims except for a few and The Congress Party
representing the twelve million Hindus in Pakistan.
There were 69 members in the constituent assembly; this number was increased to 79 later to
give representation to princely states and refugees. The mode of elections was based on separate
electorates. There was a clear majority of Muslim League in the Constituent Assembly of
Pakistan, with 60 members out of the total 79. The second major party was Pakistan National
Congress with 11 members; and the third party was the Azad Group with 3 members, a number
which later decreased to 1. The Constituent Assembly of Pakistan was not able to work properly
because its seats remained empty and some members migrated to India. Members of the
Constituent Assembly of Pakistan were simultaneously allowed to take seats of Provincial
assembly or they can be Chief Ministers or members of Central or Provincial Cabinet.
Under the Indian Independence Act Constituent Assembly of Pakistan was given two tasks – to
prepare a Constitution and to act as the federal legislature. The functions of the central legislature
under the Government of India Act 1935 were granted to the Constituent Assembly. As a
constitution-making body, it was completely independent. The Constituent Assembly of Pakistan
could amend the independence act by a simple majority and pass laws; moreover, no law could
be made without its approval. Every bill that was passed needed to be signed by the President of
the Constituent Assembly of Pakistan.
Though there was no opposition in the Constituent Assembly there were groups that were critical
of the League. On the left was Iftikharuddin a former congressman and a communist. On right
were the religious critics like Maulana Shabir Ahmad Osmani.
The first constituent assembly set up several committees to carry out its tasks. Most important of
these was the Basic Principles Committee; it was assigned the task to report per the Objectives
Resolution on the main principles by which the constitution of Pakistan was to be framed. Basic
Principles Committee set up three sub-committees and a special committee
named Talimaat-i-Islamia which consisted of scholars to advise on the religious matters arising
out of Objectives Resolution. Basic Principles Committee submitted its interim report in
September 1950 and the final report in December 1952.
Another important committee of the Constituent Assembly was on the ‘Fundamental Rights of
the Citizens of Pakistan’ and on ‘Matters Relating to Minorities’. It divided itself into two
sections, one dealing with fundamental rights and the other with matters relating to minorities.
The interim report of this committee was adopted by Constituent Assembly in 1950 and the final
report in 1954.
Other committees of the constituent assembly were the State Negotiating Committee, which
dealt with the question of representation of princely states, and the Tribal Areas Negotiating
Committee, dealing with matters related to tribal areas.
The progress of the first Constituent Assembly of Pakistan can be summed up as follows:

● 12 March 1949 – Objectives Resolution passed by the Constituent Assembly on aims and
objectives of the future constitution. This report was well received by the citizens of Pakistan.
● 7 September 1950 – the interim report of the Basic Principles Committee was presented to the
constituent assembly. This step however marked the beginning of the decline in the popularity
of the Constituent Assembly of Pakistan. This report was criticized mainly by East Pakistan.
● 6 October 1950 – interim report of the Committee on Fundamental Rights of the Citizens of
Pakistan matters relating to Minorities was adopted by Constituent Assembly of Pakistan. This
report got a comparatively better response.
● 22 December 1952 – the final report of the Basic Principles Committee was presented. This
report was also criticized, because of opposition in Punjab.
● 7 October 1953 – Constitutional impasse was over and formation of the federal legislature was
resolved by the ‘Muhammad Ali Formula’. This report was widely welcomed and helped the
Constituent Assembly regain popularity.
● 21 September 1954 – the Basic Principles Committees’ revised Report was approved by the
Constituent Assembly of Pakistan.
The final sketch of the constitution was prepared and the Constituent Assembly was near to the
completion of its purpose. But at this point, the Constituent Assembly was suspended by
Governor-General Ghulam Muhammad, on 24th October 1954. He stated that the Constituent
Assembly had lost the confidence of the people; this ruined the efforts of the first Constituent
Assembly of Pakistan which had been working towards formulating a viable constitution for
seven years.
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Bottom of Form

Provisional Constitution (1947-1956)

After independence, under Section 8(1) of the Indian Independence Act, 1947 the
Government of India Act, 1935 became the working constitution of Pakistan but with
few amendments till the Constituent Assembly framed a new constitution. The
Constituent Assembly of Pakistan extended the time perimeter to 31st March 1949; and
before the termination of that date, on 28th March, by the Adaptation of Central Acts
and Ordinance Order, the whole Indian Statute-Book was adopted, with due regard to
the changes subsequent upon partition.
Pakistan was established constitutionally as a Federation under the Pakistan Order
1947 which included: the four provinces of East Bengal, West Punjab, Sind and
North–West Frontier Province; Baluchistan; any other areas included in Federation;
Karachi, the capital of Federation; and such Indian states as might accede to
Federation. Its structure was espoused from the Government of India Act 1935 and
there was a proposal of establishment of autonomous provinces as constituent units of
the Federation. Centralization was found to be both problematic and detrimental to
administrative efficiency; so Provincial autonomy was its basic idea. Gradually the
central government gave up much of its powers to the provincial governments and
kept some basic affairs under its jurisdiction.
A significant attribute of the 1935 Act was that, for the first time, it provided the
provinces with separate authorized powers. It made little changes in their legislative
authority; the provinces held the right of concurrent legislation with the center with
regards to certain matters. Financial divisions between centers and provinces were also
designed to strengthen the center. The most important point was the emancipation of
the provinces from the ‘superintendence, direction and control of the center apart
from certain particular circumstances.’
The method of division of powers between center and provinces was ‘without
precedent’. The Government of India Act 1935 contained three legislative lists – the
federal, the provincial, and the concurrent. The first two lists belonged exclusively to
the federal and provincial legislature respectively and both were capable to deal with
matters covered by the third list. The residuary powers were vested with the
Governor-General and he was empowered to allow center or provinces to ratify laws
on any matter not mentioned in the three lists.
The provincial list included public order, the administration of justice, courts of law,
police, prison, provincial public services, local government, public health, education,
communications, water supply and irrigation, agriculture, land, and land tenures,
production, trade, and commerce, and fisheries, etc. Besides, the concurrent list gave
the provinces the right to legislate regarding criminal law, criminal and civil procedures,
marriage and divorce, wills and succession, transfer of property, etc. But there were
some matters outside the jurisdiction of the provinces like a military force, defense,
external affairs, currency, posts and telegraphs, census, banking, insurance, shipping,
imports and exports, custom duties and income tax, etc. In matters of the concurrent
list, the Government of India Act provided the federal law was to prevail and the
provincial law to be annulled to the degree of incompetency.
The Government of India Act 1935, empowered federal legislature to legislate even on
provincial matters in two conditions; the first was when the legislatures of two
provinces would invite the federal legislature to function in connection with any
provincial subject (Section 103), and the other condition was that the Government of
India Act gave authority to Governor-General to declare ‘Proclamation of Emergency’
when the security of State was threatened whether by war or by internal disturbances
(Section 102).  Section 102 was successively amended in 1947 as ‘the federal legislature
was empowered to make laws for provinces or any part; if Governor-General has
declared by an emergency that the security and economic life of Pakistan or any part is
threatened by was or by external disturbances or circumstances arising out of any
mass movement of population from or into Pakistan’; and its scope was enlarged to
meet the situation created by the movement of the population after partition.
After the creation of Pakistan, the original division of financial resources had to be
changed in favor of the Central Government. The Central Government’s necessities for
funds, particularly in the fields of defense, were enormous in the first few years that
the policy of sharing taxes with provinces was suspended. Similarly, sales tax which was
the subject of the provincial list was also taken away by the central government.
Under the Government of India Act, the administrative relations between the center
and provinces were weighted heavily in favor of the center. The Government of India
Act provided the supremacy of the center in different administrative subjects. One way
of securing was for the federal government to function directly through its officers
posted in the provinces. It was specified under section 124 (2) that the federal
government might confer powers and impose duties on provinces, though the subject
matter of legislation might be beyond the provincial purview.
The discretionary powers of the Governor-General were not included in Provisional
Constitution.  Although he was still the managerial head of the federation and all
proceedings were taken on his name, he was supposed to act in all such matters on the
advice of his cabinet ministers; that is why the cabinet formally gave all powers to
Quaid. However, this condition was not spelled out with lucidity in Provisional
Constitution. The discretionary powers of the Governor-General were that he could
appoint prime minister and ministers who held their offices ‘during his pleasure’.
Provincial Constitution not only held the system of separate electorates but also
extended it to the Scheduled Caste Hindus.
Summing up, a scrutiny of the associations of the center and the provinces under the
Government of India Act as amended in Pakistan would confirm that while it provided
the provinces with a separate legal personality, the central government was fully
equipped with powers to carry out its responsibilities. The center reserved the ultimate
means of controlling and directing the provinces. There was no room for a weak center.
 Objectives Resolution (1949)
Objectives Resolution is one of the most important documents in the constitutional
history of Pakistan. It was passed by the first Constituent Assembly on 12th March 1949
under the leadership of Liaquat Ali Khan. The Objectives Resolution is one of the most
important and illuminating documents in the constitutional history of Pakistan. It laid
down the objectives on which the future constitution of the country was to be based
and it proved to be the foundational stone of the constitutional development in
Pakistan. The most significant thing was that it contained the basic principles of both
the Islamic political system and Western Democracy. Its importance can be ascertained
from the fact that it served as a preamble for the constitution of 1956, 1962, and 1973
and ultimately became part of the Constitution when the Eighth Amendment in the
Constitution of 1973 was passed in 1985.
Objective Resolution was presented in the Constituent Assembly by Liaquat Ali Khan on
March 7, 1949, and was debated for five days by the members from both the treasury
and opposition benches. The resolution was ultimately passed on March 12. Following
were the main features of the Objectives Resolution:

1. The sovereignty of the entire Universe belongs to Allah alone

2. Authority should be delegated to the State through its people under the rules
set by Allah
3. The Constitution of Pakistan should be framed by the Constituent Assembly
4. The state should exercise its powers through the chosen representatives
5. Principles of democracy, freedom, equality, tolerance, and social justice, as
inshore by Islam should be followed
6. Muslims shall live their lives according to the teaching of the Quran and Sunnah
7. Minorities can freely profess and practice their religion.
8. There should be a federal form of government with the maximum autonomy for
the Units
9. Fundamental rights including equality of status, of opportunity and before law,
social, economic, and political justice, and freedom of thought, expression,
belief, faith, worship, and association, subject to the law and public morality
should be given to all the citizens of the state.
10. It would be the duty of the state to safeguard the interests of minorities,
backward and depressed classes.
11. Independence of judiciary should be guaranteed
12. The integrity of the territory and sovereignty of the country was to be
safeguarded
13. The people of Pakistan may prosper and attain their rightful and honored place
amongst the nations of the world and make their full contribution towards
international peace and progress and happiness of humanity.
Liaquat Ali Khan explained the context of the resolution in his speech delivered in the
Constituent Assembly on March 7, 1949. He termed the passage of the Objectives
Resolution as “the most important occasion in the life of this country, next in
importance only to the achievement of independence.’. He said that we as Muslims
believed that authority is vested in Allah Almighty and should be exercised per the
standards laid down in Islam. He added that this preamble had made it clear that the
authority would be exercised by the chosen persons; which is the essence of
democracy and it eliminates the dangers of theocracy.  It emphasized the principles of
democracy, freedom, equality, tolerance, and social justice and it says that these
should be part of the future constitution.
But when it was debated in the session of the Constituent Assembly, it was opposed
and criticized by minorities’ leaders. A non-Muslim, Prem Hari proposed that the
motion should be first circulated for evoking public opinion and should then be
discussed in the house on April 30, 1949. He was supported by Sris Chandra
Chattopadhyaya, who proposed some amendments in the resolution. To him, since the
committee of Fundamental Rights had finalized their report, there was no need for this
resolution to recommend these rights. He added that the Objectives Resolution was an
amalgamation of religion and politics; hence it would create ambiguities with relation
to its application in the constitutional framework. He wanted time to study and
understand the Objectives Resolution.
While discussing the rights of religious minorities, Chandra Mandal opposed the
resolution by saying that ‘why ulemas are insisting on this principle of Islam whereas
India has Pandits but they did not demand things like that. Individuals do have a
religion but the state had not. So we think it a great deviation in our beloved Pakistan.’
Kumar Datta opposed it by saying that ‘if this resolution came in the life of Jinnah it
would not have come in its present form. Let us not do anything which leads our
generation to blind destiny.’ Other Hindu members also proposed some amendments
in the resolution and recommended that some words like ‘…sacred trust”, “…within the
limits prescribed by Him”, and “… as enunciated by Islam” should be omitted. Some
new words should be inserted like “as prescribed by Islam and other religions”, and
“National sovereignty belongs to the people of Pakistan”, etc.
Mian Muhammad Iftikharuddin was the only Muslim member in the house who
opposed the resolution. To him the resolution was vague and many words used in it do
not mean anything. He further suggested that such a resolution should not only be the
product of Muslim League members sitting in the assembly alone. Rather it was
supposed to be the voice of seventy million people of Pakistan.
On the other hand Objectives Resolution was strongly supported by Dr. Ishtiaq Hussain
Qureshi, Maulana Shabbir Ahmad Usmani, Sardar Abdurrab Nishter, Noor Ahmad,
Begam Shaista, Muhammad Hussain, and others. To counter the allegations they
argued that Islam governs not only our relations with God but also the activities of the
believers in other spheres of life as Islam is a complete code of life.
After a great debate finally, the resolution was adopted by the Constituent Assembly on
March 12, 1949. Liaquat Ali Khan assured the minorities that they will get all the
fundamental rights in Pakistan once the constitution based on the Objectives
Resolution will be enforced. However, this resolution created a division on the
communal lines as the Muslim members except for Mian Iftikharuddin voted in favor of
it and the non-Muslim opposed it. It created a suspicion in the mind of minorities
against the majority. Since the Resolution has yet not been implemented in Pakistan in
the true spirit, the doubts in the minds of the minorities still exist.

Basic Principle Committee Interim Report (1950)

The Basic Principles Committee was formed on 12th March 1949 by the first Constituent
Assembly of Pakistan. The Basic Principles Committee was comprised of 24 members.
These individuals were not required to be members of the first Constituent Assembly.
It was headed by Maulvi Tameezuddin Khan and Liaquat Ali Khan was its Vice
President. The task assigned to the Basic Principles Committee was to determine the
basic principles for framing the future constitution of Pakistan.
There were three sub-committees set-up under the Basic Principles Committee:

14. Sub-committee on federal and provincial constitution and distribution of powers

15. Sub-committee on franchise
16. Sub-committee for judiciary
The task of these committees was to make a recommendation regarding the area of
their expertise.
On 28th September 1950, the BPC presented its interim report to the Constituent
Assembly. The salient features of this report were as following:

● Objectives Resolution should be made part of the constitution and should serve
as the directive principle of state policy.
● The state of Pakistan was to be a federation.
● The Central Legislature was to be bicameral. It would consist of a House of Unit
(Upper House) with 100 members and a House of People (Lower House) with
400 members.
● The Upper House was to be the representative institution of the provinces,
elected by the provincial legislature. While the Lower House was to be elected by
the people based on adult franchise.
● The tenure of both the Houses was to be five years and both were to enjoy equal
power.
● The decisions regarding budget or monetary bills were to be decided in joint
sessions of the two houses.
● The Head of state was to be elected by a joint session of the two houses for a
term of five years and would work on the advice of the Prime Minister.
● The federal legislature had the authority to remove the head of state.
● Each province was to have its legislature; elected based on adult franchise for a
term of five years.
● The Head of the provincial legislature was to be elected by the head of state for
a term of five years and he was to work on the advice of the Chief Minister.
● Legislative power was to be divided into three lists: 1) The Federal list comprising
of 67 subjects on which the central legislature would legislate. 2) The Provincial
 list comprising of 35 items, the provincial legislature would legislate on these
subjects. And 3) The Concurrent list of 37 items on which both the central and
provincial legislatures had the authority to legislate. The residuary powers were
vested in the center.
● In case of a dispute, the Supreme Court had the authority to interpret the
constitution.
● The procedure to amend the constitution was very rigid; it required majority
approval from the central and provincial legislatures.
● The Head of the state was given added powers like the authority to abrogate the
constitution and issue ordinances.
● Urdu was to be the state language.
● The Supreme Court was the head of the judiciary. It would consist of the Chief
Justice and 2 to 6 judges. And High Courts for each province were to be
established.
● A Board of Ulama would be appointed by the head of state and provincial
governors to examine the process of law-making and to ensure that laws were in
accordance with the Quran and Sunnah.
The reaction to this report proved counterproductive and was not conducive to
success. As a consequence popularity of the First Constituent Assembly was badly
maligned. Resultantly Liaquat Ali Khan was forced to postpone his considerations on
account of severe criticism on the part of East Pakistan. This delay led to many
complications in the progress of the First Constituent Assembly.
This report was criticized strongly by S.C. Chattopadyaya and East Pakistan. The crux of
criticism was related to underrepresentation in the central legislature and the proposal
for a strong center with vast powers on financial matters. East Pakistan was given an
equal number of seats in the Upper House, the same as West Pakistan. Thus it reduces
the principle of majority and turned East Pakistan into a minority. Moreover, the
interim report was preposterous for East Pakistan since it Urdu as the national
language and Bengali was nowhere in the constitutional arena.
As a result of this reaction, Liaquat Ali Khan postponed the consideration of the report
and invited new suggestions. To include public opinion he called forth general
comments and suggestions by the public on the report. For this, a committee was set
up headed by Sardar Abdur Rab Nishter, who presented a report in the Constituent
Assembly in July 1952.
Resultantly, the struggle for making a constitution caused serious apprehension in the
mind of East Pakistan. They felt that the Bengali interests were not safe in such a state
of affairs. There could have been rational and mature negotiations with productive and
pleasing results for the sake of nationalism, but that did not happen. Even though the
constitutional deadlock was later vented off but it was too late, the interim report
inevitably posed an ever-impending threat in the minds of East Pakistan that their
interests were not safe given the supremacy accorded to West Pakistan in a federation.
 Rawalpindi Conspiracy (1951)
Certain events in the history of nations leave deep impacts on their future. Such
incidents are always controversial and remain a matter of dispute among sections of
society. The Rawalpindi Conspiracy case is one such incident in our post-independence
history that has influenced our political and social history. After the termination of
decades, the event ought now to be analyzed objectively to learn useful lessons from it
as the dust of emotions and sentiments has settled down.
Rawalpindi Conspiracy case was an attempted coup d’état against the government of
Liaquat Ali Khan who the first Prime Minister of the country. This was the first attempt
succeeding a number of attempts against the elected governments of Pakistan in later
history. The mastermind behind the whole plan was Major General Akbar Khan who
was a senior commander of the Pakistan Army at that time. And for this plan, he got
the support of some military men and some left-wing politicians as well.
At the time of independence, Major General Akbar Khan was serving the country as
Brigadier. Soon after independence when war broke out between India and Pakistan
on the issue of annexation of Kashmir; Akbar Khan led the regular army and civilian
tribes against India in the war whereas General David Gracy was the C-in-C of the
Pakistan Army.
General Gracy did not like Pakistan’s deep involvement in the war. Consequently,
Pakistan could only be successful in occupying some areas of Kashmir. General Akbar
Khan who was a valiant solider was not satisfied with the state policies and he was
greatly disheartened by this agreement of ceasefire. He used to express his anger
against the ceasefire incautiously in the presence of all. General Akbar Khan and his
associates were not satisfied with the domestic and foreign policies of the government
particularly policies regarding the Kashmir issue. Along with this Akbar Khan had
personal grievances as well; he felt that he had been unfairly ignored when Ayub Khan
was selected the C-in-C of the Pakistan army. Khan’s valor pooled with aggravation
incited him to make a plan of overthrowing the current government of Liaquat Ali Khan
who was the Prime Minister and Khawaja Nazimud Din the Governor-General.
Consequently, Khan called together a meeting at his place in Rawalpindi on
23rd February 1951 which was attended by Faiz, Syed Sajjad Zaheer, the then
secretary-general of the party, and Muhmmad Hussain Ata, another leader of the party.
Besides civilians, Akbar Khan, Lt Col Siddique Raja, and Maj M Yousaf Sethi were
present in the meeting. According to the planned coup d’etat offered by Khan, both
Governor-General and Prime Minister were to be arrested; the Governor-General was
to be forced to suspend the Prime Minister and his government. And after the
dismissal of the government, Khan was to form the new government which was to
organize general elections in the country. The new government was to allow the
communist party to take part in the political process and as a return, the party was to
welcome and provide support to the new government. The Daily under the editorship
of Faiz was to provide editorial support to the new government. But one of Khan’s
confidants, Ali, who was a police officer, reported the whole plan to the IG Police who,
through the Governor of NWFP, brought the plan to the knowledge of the PM. As a
Consequence, Khan, Begum Nasim, Faiz, and Zaheer were arrested.
A special tribunal was constituted to try the accused persons. The case began in the
court, on 15th June 1951 specially prepared for the trial in the compound of the
Hyderabad jail. The case was not false altogether. The accused claimed that the
meeting had ended without any accord after a prolonged eight hours of intense
debate. According to the law of the land, the conspiracy could only be established if
there was an agreement on the plan. Since no agreement was reached, there was no
conspiracy. After months of trial, finally, the court declared its verdict. The trial
concluded on 22nd November 1950, and the verdict was announced the following year
in January The civilians and the junior army officers were imprisoned for four years and
were charged with a fine and Akbar Khan for 14 years.
The most surprising point of the case was the alliance between the communist party
leaders and the army officers, as both sectors of the society were obsessed with
different approaches towards the society and its functioning and progression.
The conspiracy was gigantic in terms of its consequences to the state since the military
and the elite of the bureaucracy were waiting to capture the state machinery because
the politicians were not working for the people. The subsequent Martial laws imposed
in the country are merely the reflections of the Rawalpindi Conspiracy Case 1951.
Nowadays when there are talks about the incapability of the state to deal with the
problems of the people it must be remembered that these thoughts were wandering in
the minds of the people when Liaquat Ali Khan served as the Prime Minister. The
Rawalpindi Conspiracy Case echoes across all future events that are a result of the
frustrations among the people concerning the inability of the government.
Subsequently, in October 1955, all the fourteen conspirators were released following
the legal battle that went on in the higher courts after the dissolution of the CAP. Major
General Akbar Khan was soon transformed in Pakistani political life, becoming an
adviser to Pakistani politician Zulfikar Ali Bhutto. Upon coming to power in 1971, Bhutto
appointed Akbar Khan to be chief of national security. Faiz continued to publish many
works of poetry and was appointed to the National Council for Arts by the Bhutto
government.

Report of the Basic Principle Committee (1952)

The Basic Principles Committee was established on 12th March 1949 by Khawaja
Nazimuddin on the instruction of Prime Minister Liaquat Ali Khan. This committee had
24 members and was headed by Khawaja Nazimuddin and Liaquat Khan was its vice
president. This committee presented its first report in 1950 but was severely criticized,
particularly in East Pakistan so it referred back to the Constituent Assembly. At that
time sub-committees were also appointed for public suggestions and these
sub-committees made their reports and presented them to the Basic Principles
Committee which then presented the final and complete report to the Constituent
Assembly in 1952. The report was revised before an agreement could be reached in the
Constituent Assembly. The prominent features of the report were:

17. The Objective Resolution was adopted as a preamble to the proposed

constitution and its principles were to guide the state. Another important clause
 was that which laid down procedure to prevent any legislation to be made
against the Quran and Sunnah.
18. The Head of the State should be a Muslim and elected by the both Houses of the
federal legislature for a term of 5 years.
19. Seats were also allocated for communities in the House of People.
20. Word unit was specified for all provinces, capital, and federations. The head of
these units was to be selected for a term of 5 years.
21. The formula gave weightage to the smaller units of West Pakistan. Federal
legislature comprised of two Houses, House of Units consisted of 120 members.
The East Bengal legislature was to elect 60 members according to the principle
of proportional representation and the rest of the members were to be elected
from the west by the same rule. The House of People had real authority and
comprised of 400 members, 200 from West and 200 from East Pakistan.
22. Chief Minister of each unit and minister were appointed by the Head of that unit
and ministers for each unit would be chosen by the Chief Minister.
23. When the federal legislature was not in session, the Head of the State could
promulgate ordinances. The Head of the State could dissolve the House of
People on the advice or counsel of the minister.
24. Chief justice of the Supreme Court would be appointed by the Head of the State
and other 6 judges would also be appointed by the Head of the State by the
recommendations of the Chief Justice.
25. Guarantees were also given to the civil servants of the federation and units
against the dismissal, and reduction in the rank without an opportunity to
showcases.
But the second and final report of the Basic Principles Committee was not received too
well. The report was criticized because of these defects:

● The draft ignored the fact that East Bengal contained the majority of the
population of the country and West Pakistan had a major part of the country’s
territory.
● The draft made the lower house a weak replica of the House of People and
reduced its utility. It also made no provision if both houses were unable to
resolve the conflict in a joint session.
Like the first report, this was also criticized but this time criticism arose from Punjab
which considered the federal formula to be defective. They demanded equal
representation for various units in the lower house and equal power for both Houses.
The Punjab members in the Basic Principles Committee and the Federal Cabinet
disliked the formula because they felt East Pakistan would easily dominate West
Pakistan which had been divided into nine units.
Religious leaders were also not satisfied with the Islamic character of the
recommended constitution especially with regards to their demand for the declaration
of Ahmadis as non-Muslims. In July 1952 during the All Pakistan Muslim Parties
Convention held at Lahore a demand was put forward for the removal of Ahmadis from
the key posts including Zafarullah Khan who was the Foreign Minister.  Although
Nazaimuddin sympathized with the demand he refused to incorporate them in the
Basic Principles Committee report.

Ulama’s 22 Points
One of the main arguments of the secularists in Pakistan was that the Ulema were
divided into sectarian lines and they were not in a position to agree on one concept of
the Islamic system. They considered that the Ulema had given such confusing
interpretations to the precepts of the Quran that the unity of purpose in Islam was lost.
They believed that the Ulema of various schools of thought were incapable of giving a
rational and systematic constitutional plan, which could be acceptable to the bulk of
the Pakistani Muslims. To counter this argument and to demonstrate unity, 31 Ulema
from different shades of opinion: Sunnis, Ahl-i-Hadith, and Shias, under the leadership
of Syed Sulaiman Nadvi, gathered at a convention held in Karachi from January 21 to
24, 1951. After thorough discussions, they formulated a program of 22 principles which
according to them were the irreducible minimum for an Islamic State. The formula
given by them is commonly known as the Ulema’s 22 Points.

26. Ultimate sovereignty over all Nature and Laws belongs to Allah Rabb al-Alamin.
27. Quran and Sunnah as the basis of all Law. Current laws considered in conflict
with the Sharia to be abrogated or suitably amended to conform with the
Shariah.
28. The State to be based on principles and ideals of Islam and not on any
geographical, racial, or linguistic concepts and considerations
29. The State to enjoin practices prescribed by the Quran and Sunnah and to
prohibit those forbidden by it. Beliefs of various sects to be taken into
consideration while reviving or establishing Islamic customs, practices, and law.
30. The State to strengthen bonds of unity and solidarity with the Muslim world.
31. The State undertakes responsibility for providing the basic needs of its citizens
who are unable to earn their livelihood irrespective of religion, race, or creed.
32. All citizens to enjoy fundamental rights granted by the Shariah such as safety of
life and property, freedom of religion, worship, freedom of expression, assembly
and movement, freedom to work and to enjoy equality of opportunity, etc.
33. No citizen would be deprived of fundamental rights except under the law of
Islam and no court of law would sentence a citizen without providing him with
an opportunity for defense.
34. Recognized Muslim sects were to enjoy full religious freedom within the limits of
the law. They had the right to impart education to their followers in their way.
Their personal law was to be governed by the laws of their sect and the law
courts were to respect these sectional laws while dealing with members of the
sect.
 35. Similar freedom was to be enjoyed by non-Muslim citizens of the State in respect
of their religion, education, and culture. Law courts were to respect their
religious law and custom while dealing with cases involving personal law.
36. All agreements and treaties entered into with non-Muslim subjects of the State
were to be honored in accordance with the Shariah. Non-Muslim citizens were
granted fundamental rights on par with Muslim citizens.
37. The Head of State was to be a Muslim male citizen of the State.
38. All responsibility for running the State was vested in the Head of State who could
delegate his authority or part thereof to any individual or institution in the State.
39. The Government constituted by the Head of the State was to be a consultative
and not dictatorial character. The Head of the State was required to discharge
his responsibility in consultation with the elected representatives of the people.
40. The Head of the State had no right to rule the country by abrogating the whole
or part of the Constitution.
41. The institution was responsible for electing the Head of the State had the power
also to remove or suspend him.
42. The Head of the State enjoyed no immunity and was subject to the law like any
other citizen.
43. The accountability to the law of the land was equally applicable to all members
of the government and functionaries of the State.
44. The judiciary was to be independent of the executive.
45. Propagation of such ideas and ideologies as are considered contrary to the
fundamentals of Islam was to be prohibited.
46. The State was to be of a unitary nature. Different regional racial, tribal, or
linguistic areas constituting the territory of the State were not to enjoy the right
of secession.
47. No interpretation of the Constitution which was repugnant to the Quran and the
Sunnah was considered valid.

1951-58 Establishment in power

Dismissal of Nazimuddin’s Government (1953)

Pakistan’s higher bureaucracy was dominated by non-Bengalis. The bureaucracy

disliked the Nazimuddin ministry right from the beginning and considered Nazimuddin
a weak administrator, who was incapable of achieving the political, administrative, and
constitutional tasks that the country faced. However, the immediate cause of the
dismissal of the Nazimuddin ministry was the Anti-Ahmadiya riots and food shortages
which created difficulties for Nazimuddin Government.

During 195-52 due to a lack of proper rainfall and then because of flood the crops were
badly damaged in Punjab and Sindh. Moreover, the prospect of land reforms
influenced wheat production so this food shortage was created by the landlords who
had turned hostile due to the modest reforms made by the Doultana government in
favor of agriculture tenants. With this background, when Nazimuddin showed an
inability to declare Ahmadis non-Muslim the ulama restored to direct action. Five
volunteers carrying placards with demands marched to the residence of the Prime
Minister and the situation worsened when Mumtaz Doltana, who was the Chief
Minister of Punjab endorsed the demands and appealed to the center for their
acceptance.

Martial Law was imposed in Lahore to maintain the law and order situation by Ayub
Khan who was Commander in Chief of the army, to control the disorder that had
followed the direct action. Mumtaz Doltana not only retraced his earlier statement but
also vacated the office of Chief Minister for Firoz Khan Noon. After a few days, the
Punjab assembly passed the budget and the situation worsened for Nazimuddin, due
to slashing of the defense budget by one-third in light of stringent financial conditions.
This situation created annoyance between the military leaders for the Nizamuddin
Government. However, Nazimuuddin still enjoyed the confidence of the constituent
assembly and could defeat his opponents in the assembly.

However, Ghulam Muhammad with the support of bureaucracy and military leadership
used the discretionary power given to him by the provisional constitution and
dismissed Nazimuddin. He was summoned by Ghulam Muhammad along with his
cabinet and ordered to resign when Nazimuddin declined he was dismissed along with
his cabinet. The Governor-General had acted under section 10 of the adopted
Government of India Act, thus Nazimddin became the victim of a bureaucratic-military
coup. Nazimuddin tried to resist his dismissal since he enjoyed the confidence of the
legislature and had also passed the budget for the year 1953-54. He also tried to
contact the Queen in England to remove Ghulam Muhammad from the office of
Governor-General but failed to produce the desired effect. Muhammad Ali Bogra
became the new Prime Minister of the country on 17th April 1953.

Muhammad Ali Bogra Formula (1953)

When Muhammad Ali Bogra became the Prime Minister of Pakistan, the main task
ahead of him was to achieve an agreement on a workable constitution for the country.
He worked hard on this project and within six months of assuming power, came out
with a constitutional formula. He presented the formula to the Constituent Assembly
on 7th October 1953 and it is known as the Bogra formula.  The major features of the
formula were:

● The federal legislature would comprise of two houses – the House of Unit and
the House of People. The total strength of the House of Units would be 50, which
was to be equally divided among five units namely, East Bengal, Punjab, NWFP,
Frontier States, Sindh and Khairpur, Balochistan. The House of Units would be
elected indirectly by the legislature of the units. The Bogra formula reduced the
9 units of West Pakistan into 4 units.
● The House of People was to have a total number of three hundred members, to
be divided among the five units in this manner – East Bengal 165 members,
Punjab 75, NWFP 13, Sindh 19, State of Khairpur 1, Balochistan 3, and
Bahawalpur State 7.
● Both Houses were to have equal powers in all matters. There was a provision for
a joint session of the two for the election of the Head of the State and the
disposal of votes of confidence.
● In case of a difference of opinion between the two Houses, a joint session of the
two Houses would be called and the matter would be decided by a majority vote,
provided that the majority included thirty percent of the members from each
zone.
● It maintained the principle of parity between East and West Pakistan in
combined Houses, with 175 seats for each zone. So in total, both the wings were
to have 175 seats each in the two Houses of the Legislative Assembly.
● In place of the Board of Ulama, the Supreme Court was given the power to
decide if a law was in accordance with the basic teachings of the Holy Quran and
Sunnah.
● The two houses of the Legislative Assembly formed the Electoral College for the
Presidential elections and the President was to be elected for a term of 5 years
This proposal was received with great enthusiasm however, there were some points of
criticism as well. The issue of equal powers to both Houses attracted a lot of criticism
and some people maintained that since the lower house represented the people it
should have more power. But generally, this proposal was accepted although the
parliament was divided on the response to the formula. Another significant measure
during this period that facilitated the problem of constitution-making was the
settlement of the language issue. In 1954 the Constituent Assembly of Pakistan decided
that Bengali and Urdu would be the national languages of Pakistan. This decision
facilitated the constitution-making process.

Unlike the two reports of the Basic Principles Committee, the Bogra Formula was
appreciated by different sections of the society. There was great enthusiasm amongst
the masses as they considered it to be a plan that could bridge the gulf between the
two wings of Pakistan and would act as a source of unity for the country. The proposal
was discussed in the Constituent Assembly for 13 days, and a committee was set to
draft the constitution on 14th November 1953. However, before the constitution could
be finalized, the Assembly was dissolved by Ghulam Muhammad, the then
Governor-General of Pakistan.

Dissolution of the 1st Constituent Assembly (1954)

Pro-US Governor-General, Ghulam Muhammad, and Prime Minister, Muhammad Ali

Bogra, were moving well and in a cooperative way. Both had a mission to bring
Pakistan into the Western camp. However, they were afraid of the ever-increasing
popularity of the anti-US and anti-establishment forces in the country, especially in East
Bengal. The victory of the United Front in the 1954 provincial assembly elections
appeared as a threat to their intentions. The members of the Constituent Assembly of
Pakistan had openly started criticizing the attempts to bring Pakistan closer to the
United States. In a statement issued on September 22, Fazlur Rahman, the formal
federal minister, alleged that the proposed Pak-US cooperation would ‘seriously
jeopardize the political and economic interests of Pakistan and it would ultimately
result in the colonization of the country by America. On his initiative, the assembly
decided to send a trade delegation to the Soviet Union with an idea to bring the two
countries closer.

Furthermore, the Constituent Assembly was not happy with the ever-increasing role of
the Governor-General and day-to-day affairs of the government. They also disliked the
power of the Governor-General to dissolve the government. When Ghulam
Muhammad was on an official tour of NWFP, the CAP amended the constitution and
snatched away his discretionary power under which he had dismissed Nazimuddin’s
government. Ghulam Muhammad cut short his tour and immediately returned to
Karachi. On his return, he, first of all, tried to win over important politicians including
Ayub Khuhro, Mumtaz Daultana, Fazlul Haq, and Dr. Khan Sahib, etc., and then took
Ayub Khan into confidence. Once he was sure that he had the backing of the people
who matter on October 24 he dissolved the CAP on the ground that it had lost the
confidence of the people of Pakistan. He imposed press censorship and promised fresh
elections. Bogra, the Prime Minister of the dissolved assembly endorsed the move and
declared CAP was responsible for imperiling national unity by provoking personal,
sectional, and provincial rivalries and suspicion. He was made the Prime Minister of the
Cabinet which used the back door to gain power.

Maulvi Tamizuddin Case

Maulvi Tamizuddin Khan, the president of the dissolved CAP did not submit to the idea
and along with other members tried to hold the already scheduled session of the
assembly on October 28. When they were not allowed to enter the assembly hall, on
November 7 he filled a writ in the Sindh Chief Court against the action of the
Governor-General. On February 9, 1955, a full bench of the Sindh Chief Court gave a
verdict in favor of Maulvi Tamizuddin and ordered that the Governor-General had no
power to dissolve the CAP. After the ruling, Maulvi Tamizuddin called the meeting of
the CAP on March 7. Bogra, after consulting Ghulam Muhammad, who was in Paris at
that time for his medical treatment, decided to challenge the decision in the Federal
Court. Chief Justice of the Federal Court, Justice Muhammad Munir, assured the
government that the judgment of the Sindh Court would be reverted. The Federal
Court, working according to the doctrine of necessity, did not go into the question,
whether the CAP was legally dissolved or not. Rather, they rejected the writ on the
technical ground that Section 233A under which the writ had been issued in favor of
Maulvi Tamizuddin was not yet law since it had not received the assent of the
Governor-General. One member of the five-member bench, Justice A.R. Cornelius held
that the assent of the Governor-General was not required for constitutional Act and
believed that the decision of the Sindh Chief Court should be upheld. The history of
Pakistan would have been different, had the voice of Justice Cornelius be heard by the
other four judges of the bench.

Cabinet of Talents (1954-55)

Before the dissolution of the constituent assembly, Ghulam Muhammad instructed Muhammad Ali
Bogra, the prime minister to form a cabinet for the benefit of the parliament. Hastily a ten-member
cabinet was put together on 24th October 1954 which included five members of the previous cabinet
three as ministers – Chaudhry Muhammad Ali, Dr. A.M Malik, and Ghiyyasuddin Pathan, two as ministers
of state – Sardar Amir Azam Khan and Murtaza Raza Chaudhry. The new members of this cabinet were
M.A. Isphani from the Muslim League, Mir Ghulam Ali Talpur, PML Vice President, Dr. Khan Sahib, Major
General Sikandar Mirza, General Ayub khan commander in chief of the army.

Later on, five more ministers were added to this Cabinet, Habib Ibrahim Rahimtoola, Sayyed Abid
Hussain, and Sardar Mumtaz Ali both from the Muslim League, Shrawardy and Hussain Sarkar.  Bogra
described it as the “cabinet of talents” which, in the nonexistence of an elected legislature,   was
responsible to people. Although he was the figurative head of the cabinet but had no authority over it.
This Cabinet of Talents can be viewed as the beginning of the military taking over civilian responsibility,
as is clear from the appointment of Mirza as Minister of Defense and his time as Interior Minister.
Sikander Mirza became so important, that he provided strategy and policies of the cabinet. His main task
was to facilitate the cabinet in constitution-making. For this purpose, he greatly employed the note that
Ayub khan had drafted in London and presented in the USA to the closed military audience as the basis
for constitution building. The cabinet first adopted the One Unit Plan, which sought amalgamation of the
provinces and princely state of Pakistan into one province. The cabinet used influential and coercive
methods to eliminate any hurdles in its way to implementing the One Unit Plan.

The cabinet wanted official authorization from all the legislative bodies wherever they existed. Mushtaq
Ahmad Gurmani was appointed as the Governor of Punjab to convince the MPAs to agree to the
One-Unit Plan. The NWFP assembly accepted the plan, even though Pir of Manki Sharif with five other
members opposed and boycotted the plan. In Sindh, all political forces earlier combined and form a body
known as the Security of Sindh. And on 23rd October 1954 74 out of 109 MPAs issued a signed statement
against the idea of One Unit. In the wake of this event, the Cabinet of Talent replaced Sattar Pirzada with
Ayub Khuhro, as Chief Minister and after one month Sindh Assembly also agreed to the One-Unit
scheme. Mir of Khairpur state agreed with the plan and Amir of Bhawalpur also gave his consent after
the dissolution of the ministry. Khan of Qalat, president of Balochistan States Union was coerced into a
merger document on the behalf of states for the administration of West Pakistan.

The Governor-General established a council on 16th December 1954. Gurmani was made the chairman of
this council which comprised of Governor and Chief Ministers of Units. It set up committees to settle the
organization, staffing, integration of services. The cabinet engaged Sir Ivor Jenning, a British expert to
prepare a draft constitution based on the American Presidential System, with a Vice President and
President who were assigned wide executive and financial powers. This draft was adopted by the Cabinet
of Talents as the country’s constitution and the Council of Administration finalized its report. However,
the higher courts halted constitution-making by an executive decree.

ONE UNIT (1955)

When Pakistan came into existence the geography of Pakistan was completely confusing in a sense of
divisional land. The land of Pakistan was geographically divided into two parts which were known as East
Pakistan (now current Bangladesh) and West Pakistan (Islamic Republic of Pakistan). It is crystal clear that
East Pakistan was separated from West Pakistan with a vast expanse of land.  On the other hand, West
Pakistan was itself divided into four provinces. East Pakistan was considered one province. It was difficult
for east Pakistani to be prosperous with the privileges which it had. So there were a lot of hurdles
between east and west. Such as language issues, sharing of powers, etc. additionally West Pakistan was
more developed and it had a strong military and bureaucracy.

Nevertheless, the rulers of Pakistan tried to solve the issue of disparity that was being faced by East
Pakistan. The then Prime Minister Muhammad Ali Bogra brought the concept of one unit under
discussion. The leaders of the viewed that the disparity and hopelessness of East Pakistan could be
removed by merging all four units of West Pakistan into one unit and the campaign would have other
development projects.

In this way, equality between east and west would come to the surface. On 30th September a bill was
passed in the assembly in the favor of one unit. Furthermore, Lahore was declared the capital of one
unit. The land of West Pakistan was controlled by three governors which became under a chief
commissioner. Knowing the fact the one unit’s first governor was appointed as Mushtaque Ahmed
Gurmani and the first chief minister was dr. khan sahib.

The question arises here whether the merging of all West Pakistan provinces was the consent of all the
units of the provinces or not. The answer would be “NO” because when the campaign of one unit was
initiated, firstly it was opposed by the Sindh assembly. It is clear as day that the center or federal
government has been strong all the time. The then chief minister was dismissed Pirzada Abdul Sattar was
dismissed by Ghulam Muhammad.

After the dismissal of Pirzada, Muhammad Ayub Khuro was installed as the new chief minister of Sind.
The Sind assembly started supporting one unit campaign. Sad to as that Ayub Khuro was dismissed in the
case of corruption PRODA (public and representative officer disqualified act) “under the Act 1949, the
government could start legal proceedings against ministers and members of the assembly on the charges
of misconduct or corruption.’ But after three years he was appointed as chief minister. After few months
again he was dismissed. But in 1954 PRODA was lifted and Mr. Khuro was again made the chief minister
of Sindh. Besides Sind and West Pakistan, East Pakistan was fully against one unit campaign because they
had a threat of demographic change. But passing through great hurdles one unit came into existence.

The fact cannot be denied that the merging of the provinces created further troubles and tribulations.
The circumstances of one unit could not bring prosperity and development to the country. Due to that
the West Pakistan legislature passed a bill in October recommending the dissolution of one unit. This led
to the downfall of Suhrwardy’s cabinet. The central government dismissed the ministries in Punjab, Sind,
and NWFP. One unit continued until general Yahya khan dissolved it on July 1st, 1970.

To conclude, one unit created more problems internally in West Pakistan. With one unit of West Pakistan
neither the disparity of East Pakistan was removed nor was any other issue was resolved.

Second Constituent Assembly (1955-1958)

The Federal Court’s decision in the Reference by the Governor-General cleared the way for summoning
the Second Constituent Assembly (1955-1958). The verdict of the Federal Court in Usif Patel’s case had
put to an end the effort of Ghulam Mohammad and his nominated Cabinet to make a Constituent make
a Constitution by executive decrees.

The Federal Court unanimously declared that the task of framing a Constitution had to be performed by
a Constituent Assembly. That decision was made on 13th April and two days later, the Governor-General,
Ghulam Mohammad, by proclamation, summoned a sixty-member Constituent Convention to meet on
10th May 1955. The Convention was to be elected from the existing provincial assemblies and its function
would be to replace the first Constituent Assembly.

The Convention, unless dissolved earlier, would stand dissolved at the expiry of six months and would be
presided over by a person appointed by the Governor-General. Of its sixty members, seven were to e
reserved for non-Muslims in East Pakistan. The number of the seats was allocated as follows:

East Pakistan        30

Punjab                  16

North-West          3

Sindh                    4

The remaining seven would be nominated by the Governor-General based on one from Baluchistan,
Frontier State, Khairpur State, Bahawalpur State, and Karachi. The Tribal Areas had two representatives.
The proclamation of the Governor-General was amended by subsequent orders. Within fifteen days, two
new orders were issued. The first was related to the method of election to the Constituent Convention. It
provided that the procedure for the election would be the same as had been adopted for the
Constituent Assembly elected in 1947 that is, by the method of proportional representation with a single
transferable vote. The Governor-General issued a second amendment Order on 27 April under which the
Convention would have eighty members and would also function as the federal legislature. The new
Constituent Convention would now have all powers which were exercised by the first Constituent
Assembly under the provisions of Section 8 of the Indian Independence Act. The composition now stood
as follow:

East Pakistan         40(9 for non-Muslims)

Punjab                   21(1 for non-Muslims)

NWFP                   4

Sindh                     5(1 for non-Muslims)

The Governor-General would nominate ten members as follows:

Baluchistan                            1

Baluchistan States Union       1

The Frontier States                 1

Tribal Areas                           3

Khairpur State                        1

Bahawalpur State                   2

Karachi                                   1

The composition of the Convention was based on the principle of parity of representation between East
and West Pakistan. In East Pakistan, the leader of the united front, A.K. Fazlul Haq, was threatening to
boycott the Constituent Convention on the ground that did not give East Pakistan a majority of seats
based on population. Subsequently, as a result of a deal with the Prime Minister, Mohammad Ali, under
which parliamentary institutions suspended since 1954 was restored in East Pakistan, United Front
accepted its representation. Law Minister Suhrawardi already accepted it. Party position in the second
Assembly was very different. In the first Constituent Assembly the Muslim League had an absolute
majority since it had captured almost all the Muslim seats. It was clear that from the beginning that the
Muslim League would not enjoy that position in the new Assembly. It was in East Pakistan that out of 309
members in the East Pakistan provincial legislature the League only had 10 members and it could get one
seat from the province. In West Pakistan, the League captured all the Muslim seats from Sindh and
NWFP. In the Punjab internal divisions prevented it from having a monopoly. It lost three seats to the
dissident group led by Malik Feroz Khan Noon. With twenty-five members in the house eighty, the
Muslim League was still the largest single party in the new Assembly.

Since no single party was in the position to command a majority the various groups lost no time in
seeking alliances. A coalition of the Muslim League and the United Front was ultimately formed with
Chaudhry Mohammad Ali the Former Finance Minister, as prime minister. Mohammad Ali Bogra quietly
resumed his old assignment as Ambassador to the United States.

Chaudhry Mohammad Ali contributed a lot to the success of the new Assembly in framing a Constitution.
Other prominent members of the New Assembly were H.S.Suhrawardy leader of Opposition, A.K Fazl ul
Haq, Leader of the United Front. There was a complete absence of women from the Second Assembly.
The immediate task before the Second Constituent Assembly was to revalidate those statues which had
become null and void as a result of the legal disputes. The task was not too easy as it involved the
delicate discussion of the merits of those statutes. The Assembly first met on 7 July 1955 and
immediately passed the Validation of Laws Act of 1955. The first important and highly controversial task
performed by the second Constituent Assembly was the unification of West Pakistan. West Pakistan was
established as One Unit. The Second Constituent Assembly also had the advantage of profiting from the
work of its predecessor. The draft provided for a strong center. Draft containing 245 Articles was finally
approved by the Second Constituent Assembly.

Constitution of 1956

After assuming charge as Prime Minister, Chaudhary Muhammad Ali and his team
worked hard to formulate a constitution. The committee, which was assigned the task
to frame the Constitution, presented the draft Bill in the Constituent Assembly of
Pakistan on January 9, 1956. The bill was opposed by the Bengali autonomists. Bhashai,
the leader of Awami League in East Pakistan, even used the threat of secession to press
for autonomy and his party staged a walkout from the Assembly on February 29, when
the Assembly adopted the Constitution. Later on, Awami League boycotted the official
ceremonies celebrating the inauguration of the Constitution. However, despite their
opposition, the Constitution was adopted and was enforced on March 23, 1956. With
this Pakistan’s status as a dominion ended and the country was declared as the Islamic
Republic of Pakistan. Constituent Assembly became interim National Assembly and
Governor-General Iskander Mirza sworn in as the first President of Pakistan.

The Constitution of 1956 consisted of 234 articles, divided into 13 parts and 6
schedules. Following were the chief characteristics of the Constitution:

● Pakistan was declared as the Islamic Republic and it was made mandatory that
only a Muslim could become the President of the country. President would set
up an Organization for Islamic Research. Good relations with the Muslim
countries became the main objective of the Foreign Policy. Objectives Resolution
and Quaid’s declaration that Pakistan would be a democratic state based on
Islamic principles of social justice were made the preamble of the Constitution.
Steps were to be taken to enable the Muslims individually and collectively to
order their lives in accordance with the teaching of the Quran and Sunnah and
to implement Islamic moral standards. The sectarian interpretations among the
Muslims were to get due regard. Measures were to be taken to properly
organize zakat, waqfs, and mosques. However, one clause relating to the
elimination of riba, which was the part of the draft was eventually dropped.
● The constitution provided for the federal form of government with three lists of
subjects: federal, provincial and concurrent. The federal list consisted of 33
items, provincial of 94 items, and a concurrent list of 19 items. The federal
legislation was to get precedence over provincial legislation regarding the
concurrent list. In case of a conflict between federal and provincial governments,
or between the provincial governments, the Chief Justice of the Supreme Court
was to act as a mediator. The federal government exercised wider control in
provincial matters in case of emergency.
● Though the constitution provided for the Parliamentary form of Government,
yet it declared that the executive authority of the Federation would be in the
president.
● Any Muslim citizen of Pakistan, who was at least forty years old, could be elected
as the President of Pakistan for the term of five years. No one was entitled to
hold this office for more than two tenures. 3/4th members of the Assembly could
impeach the president.
● President could appoint from amongst the MNAs a Prime Minister who had to
take the vote of confidence from the house in two months. The Prime Minister
had to inform the president about all the decisions of the cabinet.
● Ministers could be taken from outside the National Assembly but they were to
get themselves elected within six months.
● President had the power to summon, prorogue, and dissolve the Assembly on
the advice of the cabinet. No bill imposing taxes or involving expenditure could
be moved without his consent. He had partial veto power. He could give or
withhold his assent to a bill passed by the Assembly.
● Prime Minister and his cabinet were to aid and advise the president. The
president was required to follow the advice of the cabinet except where he was
empowered to act at his discretion.
● The Constitution entitled for a Unicameral Legislature. The National Assembly
was to consist of 300 members. The age limit of a candidate for a seat in the
National Assembly was 25 years.
● The principle of parity was accommodated in the Constitution. West Pakistan
was treated as one unit and seats were divided equally between the two wings
of the country. National Assembly was to meet at least twice a year. A minimum
of one session should be held in Dhaka.
● Members of the Assembly were to be elected based on Direct Elections
conducted based on Adult Franchise. However, for the first ten years, five
additional seats were reserved for women from each wing. Every citizen, who
was more than 21 years of age was considered an adult.
● The provincial structure was similar to that of the center. There were 300
members in both provincial assemblies. Ten additional seats were reserved for
women. Punjab was given 40% seats in the West Pakistan Assembly.
● It was a Written Constitution.
 ● It was a Flexible Constitution and two-third members of the Assembly could
bring an amendment to the constitution.
● Fundamental Rights were made justiciable. However, the President had the
power to suspend fundamental rights in case of emergency.
● Elaborate provisions were made for the higher judiciary to ensure its
independence.
● Urdu and Bengali were declared as the state languages. However, for the first
twenty years, English was to continue as an official language. After ten years, the
president was to appoint a commission to make recommendations for the
replacement of English.
The constitution was never practically implemented as no elections were held. It was
eventually abrogated on October 7, 1958, when Martial Law was enforced.

Termination of the System

Iskander Mirza and Ayub Khan had perfect cordial relations. Mirza was instrumental in
Ayub’s selection as the Commander in Chief of the Pakistan army while Ayub helped
Mirza in becoming the Governor-General of the country. Both were party to all the
decisions taken by the country when Mirza was the head of the state on even the basic
issues. Both had close contact with the Americans. They played a key role in
formulating defense and foreign policies and were influential in pushing Pakistan to
join CENTO and SEATO and granting military bases to the United States.
Both Mirza and Ayub were also jointly responsible for the political instability in Pakistan
during 1955-58. They manipulated the political situation and took maximum advantage
of the divided house in the second Constituent Assembly They were involved in palace
intrigues and used their offices to play one political group against the other. It was
because of this that four Prime Ministers were changed in a short span of two years.
They had used threats of a military take over to political forces and pushed them to
accept the unpopular decisions like One Unit, parity, and the mildest form of provincial
autonomy.
However, when they realized that despite all the pressure the politicians were not
ready to act completely according to their wish, they decided to explore other options.
In March 1957, East Pakistan Assembly demanded a radical form of autonomy for the
provinces. This was followed by the West Pakistan Assembly’s demand for the
dissolution of One United. This compelled Mirza to openly talk about the idea of
“controlled democracy” in one of his press conferences. In a nation-wide address, Mirza
declared that the parliamentary system was unsuitable for the country and proposed a
modified form of the American system. His close friend, Dr. Khan Sahib, suggested a
“revolutionary council” with absolute powers to administer the country.

Enforcement of Martial Law

When the stage was set for the military to take over Ayub Khan went to the United
States and took the US administration in confidence. After getting a green signal from
Americans, an operation code-named, Operation Overload, was secretly planned.
Three key officers of the General Staff, Brig. Yahya Khan, Brig. Abdul Hamid Khan and
Brig. Sher Bahadur was associated with the planning of the operation. Massive PML
demonstration in Karachi in protest against the banning of its National Guards, as a
consequence of a general ban on all paramilitary organization and the alleged revolt of
the Khan of Qalat provided for the excuse and the first Martial Law was enforced in the
country on October 7, 1958. Iskander Mirza was retained as the President while Ayub
Khan took charge as the first Chief Martial Law Administrator of Pakistan.

Analysis
Many in Pakistan while discussing the reasons for the enforcement of Martial Law in
the country believe that it was the failure of the Parliamentary system. They argue that
the politicians and the political parties of the country were not competent enough to
run the affairs of the state and thus failed to provide good governance. According to
this school of thought, differences arose on the basic constitutional issues like the role
of Islam in Politics, Provincial Autonomy, and the distribution of powers between the
East and the West Wing of the country, etc. They further claim that the bad economic
conditions, due to both wrong policies as well as lack of rains, resulted in the lack of
development as an important cause.
However, a good look at the history of Pakistan from 1951-1958 indicates that the
system collapsed less because of the above-mentioned reasons and more because of
the mal intentions of the establishment. First Ghulam Muhammad and then Iskander
Mirza and Ayub Khan never allowed the system to flourish. They tried their best to
create hurdles in the process of institutionalization so that their hegemony could
prevail. It was on the initiative of the establishment that the wrong policies like the
creation of One Unit and the principle of parity were introduced. They were afraid of
the masses and thus always tried to delay the holding of general elections in the
country. Isn’t it an irony that those who forced Martial Law declared that the
parliamentary form of government failed to work in Pakistan without having a single
general election in the country? Those who have studied even the basics of political
science know that elections are the main prerequisite for the parliamentary system.

1958-69 Military in politics

Top of Form
Bottom of Form
Enforcement of Martial Law (1958)
On the night of 7 October 1958, the constitution was suspended by a Presidential
proclamation. The ministers were dismissed; the legislatures dissolved and political
parties were banned. The Commander in Chief of the Army, General Mohammad Ayub
Khan, was appointed Chief Martial Law Administrator. The proclamation dwelt at length
on the chaotic state of the country, lack of scruples on the part of parliamentary
leaders, widespread corruption, irresponsible conduct of services and disorderly
finances. Another announcement stated that the object of this ‘take over’ was to ‘clear
the messes’ and prepare the country for more practicable form government. Three
weeks experience of the new government showed, however, that Iskandar Mirza was
still playing and trying to use the same weapons against his new colleagues that he had
so successfully used against the politicians. He was made to vacate office on 27
October1958 and the Chief Martial Law Administrator, Mohammad Ayub Khan, became
the President of the country.
The Constitution Commission, appointed in 1960, recorded its considered opinion that
the breakdown of the Constitution of 1956 was caused by the absence of organized
political parties in the country and the want of probity among the politicians as a class.  
The cabinet consisted of civilian as well as generals. The office of Prime Minister was
abolished and Ayub Khan’s cabinet began to function as a Presidential cabinet. In the
courts set up by the new Government, military officers sat alongside of judges and
magistrates to try anti-social offences. A rigorous system of price control was enforced.
Hoarded stocks were brought out. Arrears of Government revenues and taxes flowed
speedily into the treasury. National life was revitalized within a few days.
A general screening of all Government servants was ordered. This was necessary
because the morale of public services had been destroyed by indiscriminate
recruitment and rapid promotions. The administration was blamed for many sins of
omission and commission, but inefficiency and corruption were the main charges.
Services recorded of all state employed were examined carefully with the result that
the name of 133 officers of class I, 221 officer of class II and I, 303 officials of class III
were removed from the public payroll. None of the foregoing Governments could have
taken such an unprecedented step to tone up the administrative bureaucracy.   The
proclamation of martial law and the abrogation of the Constitution resulted in a
complete void in the legal set-up.
Therefore, three days after the imposition of martial law, on 10th October 1958 the Laws
Orders was promulgated with a view to bring about new legal order. The Laws Order
1958 seemed to have provided a legal framework to the state for the continuity of the
legal system after the abrogation of Constitution. The legal vacuum and the crisis which
country had faced after the dissolution of the first Constituent Assembly in 1954 were
thereby avoided. The expression used in the order Republic shall be governed as nearly
as may be in accordance with the late constitution.
On the imposition of martial law, state power came into the hands of President Mirza
and General Ayub Khan who had been appointed as a Chief Martial Law Administrator.
The logical result of this sharing of power had to be struggle between the two men, and
it ensued soon thereafter. President Mirza tried to rationalize the power structure and
state framework by appointing Ayub Prime Minister on 24 October 1958.He formed a
new cabinet consisting of non-political personalities. This did not satisfy Ayub Khan
who had a strong claim to power, being the Commander -in- Chief of the Army.
President Mirza was nervous about his own future and he tried to enlist the support of
the Air Force and Ayub’s rivals within the army. He allegedly made an unsuccessful
attempt to order Air Commodore Robb, the Chief of Staff of Pakistan Air Force to arrest
four Generals close to Ayub including Major-General Yahya Khan. Ayub decided to rid
himself of Mirza and assume complete control over the affairs of state. Mirza was
arrested and sent to exile to Great Britain where he later died. Ayub quickly set about
proving to skeptics that he was not merely the army’s “front man” but the “absolute
master” in Pakistan.
Measures taken by Ayub Khan
1: Rehabilitation of peace:-
In the absence of any effective governmental authority, the law and order situation was
deteriorating throughout the country. Therefore, the priority of the military government was to
check the criminal activities within the boundaries of the state; special military cells were
established to facilitate the masses in case of trouble and to take precautionary measures against
the trouble mongers factors in the society.
2: Price Control:-
The next step, which the military administration took, was the management of price control cells
and bodies. During the times of democratic governments, there was no check over the prices of
the daily commodities of life. Hoarding was very common. These factors were the primary
source of inflation. The situation was aggravated by the excessive profits earned by the retailers.
The military government printed price lists and made sure that no one could earn excessive
profits by exploiting the needs of the consumers.
3: Check on Smuggling:-
Identification of economic flaws and their rectification was one of the most high-pitched
priorities of the military government. Smuggling was one of the monstrous issues that resisted
the growth of the country’s economy. Chittagong and Karachi Seaports had been used for
smuggling for a long. The role played by the politicians in burgeoning such evil should not be
neglected. As soon as the military government took over, strict disciplinary actions were initiated
against the smugglers; crackdowns were planned to seize the people involved in such notorious
activities.
4: Settlement of the properties:-
Since the independence of the country, the issue of the abandoned properties could not be
resolved. However, the issue was settled within a year after the military takeover.
5: Rehabilitation of migrants:-
When India was divided, a large number of people migrated from India to Pakistan. They
reached Pakistan in very poor condition. Quaid and Liaquat took a keen interest in the
rehabilitation of the immigrants on a priority basis; however, the later rulers did not consider it
important enough to take steps for their resolution. As soon as the military government was
established, the rehabilitation ministry, under the supervision of Gen. Azam Ali, worked so
rigorously that it came up with the settlement of the majority of migrants in a very short time.
Several housing societies were established to provide shelter to the migrants, Korangi being one
of them.
 Reforms Introduced by Ayub Khan
On October 7, 1958, President Iskander Mirza abrogated the Constitution and declared Martial
Law in the country. This was the first of many military regimes in Pakistan’s history. The
Constitution of 1956 was abrogated, ministers were dismissed, Central and Provincial
Assemblies were dissolved and all political activities were banned. General Muhammad Ayub
Khan, the then Commander-in-Chief of the armed forces, became the Chief Martial Law
Administrator. The parliamentary system in Pakistan came to end. Iskander Mirza was ousted by
General Ayub Khan, who then declared himself President. This was welcomed in Pakistan as the
nation had experienced a very unstable political climate since independence. Despite economic
growth, continuing economic and social inequalities, the disadvantaged position of East Pakistan,
and the limitation of civil liberties provoked increasing discontent with his regime.
Ayub Khan used two main approaches to governing in his first few years. He concentrated on
consolidating power and undermining the opposition. He also aimed to establish the groundwork
for future stability through altering the economic, legal, and constitutional institutions. The
imposition of martial law targeted “antisocial” practices such as abducting women and children,
black marketeering, smuggling, and hoarding. Many in the Civil Service of Pakistan and Police
Service of Pakistan were investigated and punished for corruption, misconduct, inefficiency, or
subversive activities.
Corruption had become so widespread within the national and civic systems of administration
that Ayub Khan was welcomed as a national hero by the people. The new military government
promised that they would carry out reforms in the entire government structure and would cleanse
the administration of the rampant corruption. A thorough screening process of all government
servants was conducted and service records were closely scrutinized. Public servants were tried
for misconduct by tribunals consisting of retired judges of the Supreme Court or High Court.
Disciplinary actions such as dismissal or compulsory retirement of the public servant could take
place against corrupt officials. A public servant could also be disqualified from holding any
public office for 15 years. About 3,000 officials were dismissed and many others were reduced in
rank as a result of these measures. A law called the Elective Bodies Disqualification Order,
popularly known as E. B. D. O, was promulgated for the disqualification of politicians. Under
this law, a person could be disqualified from being a member of any elective body. Under this
harsh law, several politicians like Suhrawardy and Qayyum Khan were disqualified. The E. B. D.
O, particularly its application, was severely criticized in the legal and political circles throughout
Pakistan.
Moreover, Ayub Khan focused on the long-standing question of land reforms in West Pakistan. It
was meant to reduce the power of groups opposing him like the landed aristocracy. The Land
Reform Commission was set up in 1958. In 1959, the government imposed a ceiling of 200
hectares of irrigated and 400 hectares of unirrigated land in the West Wing for a single person. In
the East Wing, the landholding ceiling was raised from thirty-three hectares to forty-eight
hectares. Landholders retained their dominant positions in the social hierarchy and their political
influence. Four million hectares of land in West Pakistan were released for public acquisition
between 1959 and 1969. It was sold mainly to civil and military officers. It created a new class of
farmers having medium-sized holdings. These farms became immensely important for future
agricultural development, but the peasants benefited scarcely at all.
Besides, a legal commission was set up to suggest reforms of the family and marriage laws.
Ayub Khan examined its report and issued the Family Laws Ordinance in 1961. It restricted
polygamy and “regulated” marriage and divorce, giving women more equal treatment under the
law. It was a humane measure supported by women’s organizations in Pakistan. The ordinance
could not have been promulgated owing to opposition from the ulema and the fundamentalist
Muslim groups. This law like family planning was relatively mild and did not seriously
transform the patriarchal pattern of society.
Furthermore, Ayub Khan adopted an energetic approach toward economic development. It soon
bore fruit in a rising rate of economic growth. Ayub Khan period is credited with Green
Revolution and economic and industrial growth. Land reform, consolidation of holdings, and
strict measures against hoarding were combined with rural credit programs and work programs,
higher procurement prices, augmented allocations for agriculture, and, especially, improved
seeds put the country on the road to self-sufficiency in food grains. This is popularly known as
the Green Revolution. The Export Bonus Vouchers Scheme (1959) and tax incentives stimulated
new industrial entrepreneurs and exporters. Bonus vouchers facilitated access to foreign
exchange for imports of industrial machinery and raw materials. Tax concessions were offered
for investment in less-developed areas. These measures had important consequences in bringing
industry to Punjab and gave rise to a new class of small industrialists.
Moreover, Ayub Khan introduced certain reforms in the field of education. It was meant to raise
the literacy level and trained manpower in Pakistan. He made technical education mandatory. 
The two-year degree program was extended to three years. Civil Defense training was made
mandatory in schools and colleges.
Last but not the least, Ayub khan introduced labor reforms. Ayub showed interest to work for the
betterment of the labor class. It was made mandatory for the factory owners to recognize the
elected union council and to consider its opinion in all the issues. The government provided
security to the leader and members of the union council from any revengeful activity of the
factory owner. In September 1961, a law was passed about the basic daily wages of the laborers.
Social security scheme was promulgated by which the labor was to be facilitated in case of any
emergency.
Ayub’s policies of concentrating political power in his own hands, his control over the press and
media, imposing the state of emergency in the country, and his interference in religion were also
responsible for his downfall. By the end of 1968, the public resentment against the Ayub’s
regime touched a boiling point and an anti-Ayub movement was launched by the urban-middle
class; including students, teachers, lawyers, doctors, and engineers. Law and order broke down
and Ayub was left with no other option but to step down.

Constitution of 1962
After the military coup of 1958, Ayub Khan waited for some time intending to pave the
path of public opinion in his favor. A legislative commission was established in the
leadership of Justice Shahaab-ud-din. The commission forwarded the report on 6th May
1961. Justice Manzoor Qadir designed and drafted the whole constitution. Ayub,
bypassing a presidential ordinance, enacted the new constitution on 8th June 1962.
It had the following salient features:-

1. It was in written form and had information about the state institutions and their
mutual relations.
2. The constitution was not passed with the consent of the elected representatives
of the people. It was the creation or brainchild of a single person.
3. The constitution was president-friendly; making amendments was easy only if
supported and endorsed by the president or it was a very lengthy and difficult
job. For making any amendment, the 2/3rd majority of the assembly had to pass
the bill and then had to send it to the president. If the president did not take up
any objection for thirty days, the amendment was considered valid. However,
the president might disapprove or send back the resolution with certain
alterations. In that case, it was needed to gain the consent of the 3/4th majority of
the assembly. The president had to give consent in ten days or had to propagate
it for the opinion of Basic Democrats. In that case, the opinion of the B.D’S was
considered final.
4. It was a federal system of government with East Pakistan and West Pakistan as
its units. The constitution contained the list of only federal authorities, the rest
were given to the federating units. The center had the authority to intervene in
the provincial matters if considered necessary.
5. Unlike previous constitutions, the Indian Act 1935 and the constitution of 1956, it
was presidential with all the executive powers resting with the president. He was
the constitutional head of government and state.
6. It was a unicameral system of government with only one house. The members of
the National Assembly were elected by the basic democrats.
7. The judiciary was kept independent to the extent of theory. All the judges of the
High courts had to be selected and appointed by the president with the advice of
the chief justice. But the president was not bound to the opinion or wishes of
the Chief Justice.
8. The constitution guaranteed the basic human rights for all the citizens of
Pakistan without any discrimination of caste, creed, and color.
The constitution of 1962 was a one-man show. It was designed for a single man.
Apparently, it gave many rights and securities to the people but actually it deprived the
people of all kinds of political rights and their representation in the legislation.

COMBINED OPPOSITION PARTIES (1965)

On January 2, 1965, the first presidential election was held. Some 80,000 ‘basic
democrats’, as members of urban and regional councils, caucused to vote. The
presidential election of January 1965 resulted in a victory for Ayub Khan but also
demonstrated the appeal of the opposition. Four political parties joined to form the
Combined Opposition Parties (COP). There were two main contestants: the Pakistan
Muslim League (Conventional) lead by General Ayub Khan and the Combined
Opposition Parties (COP) under the leadership of Fatima Jinnah. COP was made up
of some 5 opposition parties, i.e., Pakistan Muslim League (Council), led by Khwaja
Nazimuddin and Mian Mumtaz Khan Daultana; the Awami League, led by Sheikh
Mujibur Rehman; the National Awami Party, led by Maulana Bashani; the North
West Frontier group of the National Awami Party, led by Wali Khan, son of the
famous Abdul Ghafar Khan; the Nizam-e-Islam Party, led by Chaudhry Mohammad
Ali and Farid Ahmad; and the Jamaat-e-Islami, led by Maulana Maudoodi.
The COP nominated Fatima Jinnah (sister of the Quaid-i-Azam and known as
Madar-i-Millet, the Mother of the Nation) as their presidential candidate. The
nine-point program put forward by the COP emphasized the restoration of
parliamentary democracy. Ayub Khan won 63.3 percent of the Electoral College
vote. His majority was larger in West Pakistan (73.6 percent) than in East Pakistan
(53.1 percent). The PML secured a thumping majority of 120 seats in those
elections. The opposition could settle only 15 seats. Combined Opposition Party
(COP) won 10 seats whereas NDF bagged 5 seats in East Pakistan and 1 in West
Pakistan. The rest of the seats went to the independents.
Nawabzada Nasrullah Khan was the guiding spirit behind all anti-government
alliances including the Combined Opposition Parties (COP) that was formed to
defeat Ayub in the 1965 presidential election. On the contrary, it was Khawaja
Nazimuddin, who came up with the idea of a grand opposition alliance that
eventually culminated in the making of COP.
It was Nasrullah Khan, who first proposed the name and later on prevailed upon
Mohtarma Fatima Jinnah to contest against the Field Marshal in the presidential
election of 1965 as the unanimously approved candidate of the COP; however, the
reality is quite different. Heads of some of the parties within the COP had personal
ambitions to contest the election to become the president of Pakistan. For example,
the Jamaat-e-Islami lobbied for the candidature of Maulana Maudoodi while
Maulana Abdul Hameed Bhashani of the National Awami Party (NAP) was himself
interested but both were unacceptable to the other parties in the COP. Outside the
alliance, the candidate, who was likely to pose a serious challenge to the incumbent
was General(R) Azam Khan but this proposition was cunningly subverted on the
objections of Bhashani due to Azam’s association with the martial law regime
through the courtesy of Zulfikar Ali Bhutto, who, as the foreign minister of Ayub,
paid rupees five lac to Bhashani through his friend Masih-ur-Rehman to eliminate
the candidature of Azam Khan.
While the COP was clueless as to who could be their next most suitable choice, it
was the ‘Frontier Gandhi’ Abdul Ghaffar Khan, the President of (NAP) in West
Pakistan, who suggested that if anybody in the country could take on the dictator, it
was Quaid-e-Azam Mohammad Ali Jinnah’s sister. After much procrastination,
Fatima Jinnah agreed but only if Bhashani guaranteed to extend electoral support
to her in the then East Pakistan, which the wily ‘Red Mullah of Bengal’ promised by
touching his flowing beard but betrayed the ‘Madar-e-Millat’ in the presidential
election by directing his party’s Punjab president, C R Aslam to instruct the Basic
Democrat members of (NAP) to vote for Ayub Khan.
It was the opposition alliance Democratic Action Committee (DAC) formed under
the Nawabzada in January 1969 that brought down Ayub’s government whereas the
reality is that it was the agitation launched by the PPP under Bhutto in West
Pakistan and the radical Student Action Committee (SAC) as well as Sheikh Mujib in
East Pakistan that orchestrated the overthrow of the Ayub regime. Nasrullah’s
opposition was pliant believing in non-violent and disciplined measures. That is why
the dictator was able to rule for over a decade.
Bhutto was more clearheaded than Nasrullah and his cohorts on how to dislodge a
dictator. Bhutto believed that a peaceful and constitutional struggle can never
dislodge a dictator. If the objective of the movement is to remove the dictator then
the edifice of law and order has to be shaken… A government can be changed
through the vote only in a democracy but it means nothing in a dictatorship… A
dictatorship can be eliminated through revolution, violent movement… because a
dictator neither gives real democratic concessions nor voluntarily gives up power.”
Nawabzada was the greatest of all leaders. To hone the point, his admirers argue
that had he been not the most towering of all the politicians, he would not have
been accepted as the head of DAC by such political stalwarts as Maulana Maudoodi,
Maulana Mufti Mahmood, Wali Khan, Mumtaz Daultana, and Nurul Amin but the
fact of the matter is that all these bigwigs had competing egos, so, they agreed to
Nawabzada’s chairmanship of the DAC because he was “a weak person, amenable
to influence.” Even his nemesis Ayub Khan, after some parleys with Nasrullah
concluded, “This man has no authority. He is a weak man and they have put him
there because he has no opinion of his own.
ELECTIONS OF 1965
Ayub Khan took over the body politic of Pakistan in 1958. He dominated the politics of
Pakistan for almost a decade. Ayub Khan promulgated a new presidential constitution
in 1962. Presidential elections were held in Pakistan on January 2, 1965. It was a
memorable occasion as it was the year of the first indirect elections. The vote was held
amongst the 80,000 “basic democrats.” These basic democrats were members of the
urban and regional councils. Elections were significant as a woman was contesting the
highest political office in the country. The orthodox religious political parties, including
the Jamaat-i-Islami led by Maulana Maududi, modified their stance and supported the
candidature of Miss Fatima Jinnah. The election showed that the people had no
prejudice against women holding high offices. Women could be key players in the
politics of the country. Ayub Khan, however, wins the elections and further rules the
country in coming years.
Presidential candidates for the elections of 1965 were announced before the
commencement of the Basic Democracy elections, which was to constitute the
Electoral College for the Presidential and Assembly elections. Two major parties were
contesting the election: the Convention Muslim League and the Combined Opposition
Parties. The Combined Opposition Parties consisted of five major opposition parties. It
had a nine-point program, which included restoration of direct elections, adult
franchise, and democratization of the 1962 Constitution. The opposition parties of
Combined Opposition Parties were not united and did not possess any unity of thought
and action.
Ayub Khan was nominated by the Convention Muslim League party while COP
nominated Miss Fatima Jinnah. She did not take part in any political activity after
independence. She accepted the candidature as she was strongly in favor of
democratic ideals. She sympathized with the opposition party and contested the
elections.
There were four candidates; Ayub Khan, Miss Fatima Jinnah, and two persons with no
party affiliation in the 1965 elections. There was a short campaigning period of one
month. It was further restricted to nine meetings that were organized by the Election
Commission. These meetings were attended only by the members of the Electoral
College and members of the press. The public was barred to attend the projection
meetings as it would have enhanced Miss Fatima Jinnah’s image.
In 1964, Ayub confident in his apparent popularity and seeing deep divisions within the
political opposition called for Presidential elections. He was taken by surprise when
opposition parties dropped General Azam as a presidential candidate. The joint
opposition agreed on supporting the respected and popular Fatima Jinnah, the sister of
the founder of Pakistan, Quaid-i-Azam Mohammad Ali Jinnah.
Miss Fatima Jinnah Had a certain advantage over Ayub Khan and other candidates. Miss
Jinnah’s greatest advantage was that she was the sister of the Founder of Pakistan. She
had detached herself from the politics after the Founder’s death. She moved in the
streets of big cities and rural areas. She declared Ayub Khan as a dictator. Miss Jinnah’s
line of attack was that by coming to terms with India on the Indus Water dispute, Ayub
had surrendered control of the rivers over to India. She generated tremendous public
enthusiasm. She drew enormous crowds in all cities of East and West Pakistan.
Ayub Khan had a great advantage over the rest of the candidates. The Second
Amendment of the Constitution confirmed him as President till the election of his
successor. He exercised complete control over all governmental machinery during
elections. He utilized the state facilities as head of state, not as the President of the
Convention Muslim League, and did not even hesitate to legislate on electoral matters.
Bureaucracy and business helped him in his election campaign. Being a political
opportunist, he brought all the discontented elements together to support him.
Students have assured the revision of the University Ordinance and journalists the
scrutiny of the Press Laws. Ayub Khan also gathered the support of the ulema who
believe Islam does not permit a woman to be the head of an Islamic state.
Miss Fatima Jinnah lost the election of 1965 and Ayub Khan was elected as the
President of Pakistan. On the indirect ballot, Ayub Khan defeated Fatima Jinnah by
taking 64% of the vote. The PML secured a thumping majority of 120 seats in those
elections. The opposition could clinch only 15 seats. Combined Opposition Party (COP)
won 10 seats.
The rest of the seats went to the independents. The election did not conform to
international standards and journalists. It is widely held, that the elections were rigged
in favor of Ayub Khan using state patronage. He influenced the indirectly elected
Electoral Colleges.

Democratic Action Committee

Ayub Khan took over the politics of Pakistan in 1958. He formulated and enforced
many policies to stabilize the country and legitimize himself. Land reforms, economic
reforms, family law reforms, social reforms, and constitutional reforms are among the
most prominent. Ayub policies were criticized by a large number of the urban
population. Ayub almost ruled for a decade. It created grievances in the people. Ayub
authority lessens owing to the failure of reforms and the war of 1965. Ayub was forced
to lift the ban from opposition parties, trade unions, and student unions. Political
parties started to react against and criticize him. With the undaunted efforts of
Nawabzada Nasrullah Khan, a combined opposition front was launched against Ayub
Khan. It is popularly known as Democratic Action Committee. It contributed
significantly to the downfall of Ayub Khan and the restoration of democracy.
On 30th April 1967, Nawabzada Nasrullah Khan succeeded in forming a five-party
alliance for the opposition which was named as ‘Pakistan Democratic Movement’ but
later renamed as ‘Pakistan Democratic Action Committee’. It played an important role
in the removal of Ayub Khan. He founded his party with the collaboration of four other
parties in 1969. He named it as ‘Pakistan Jamhuri Party’ and became its Vice President.
In October 1968, the government sponsored a celebration called the Decade of
Development. The festival highlighted the frustrations of the urban poor afflicted by
inflation and the costs of the 1965 war instead of reminding people about the
achievements of the Ayub Khan regime. Ayub Khan had become the symbol of
inequality for the masses. Bhutto capitalized on this and challenged Ayub Khan at the
ballot box. In East Pakistan, dissatisfaction with the system went even deeper. In
January 1969, several opposition parties formed the Democratic Action Committee with
the declared aim of restoring democracy through a mass movement.
Ayub Khan reacted by alternating conciliation and repression. It resulted in widespread
disorder. The army moved into Karachi, Lahore, Peshawar, Dhaka, and Khulna to
restore order. In rural areas of East Pakistan, curfew was ineffective; local officials
sensed losing of government control and began retreating from the peasant revolt. In
February, Ayub Khan released political prisoners, invited the Democratic Action
Committee and others to meet him in Rawalpindi. He promised a new constitution and
said that he would not stand for reelection in 1970. Ayub Khan sought a political
settlement as violence continued although he was in poor condition and lacking the
confidence of his generals.
On March 25, 1969, martial law was again proclaimed; General Agha Mohammad Yahya
Khan, the army commander in chief, was designated chief martial law administrator
(CMLA). The 1962 constitution was abrogated. Ayub Khan announced his resignation
and Yahya Khan assumed the presidency. Yahya Khan soon promised elections based
on adult franchise to the National Assembly, which would draw up a new constitution.
He also entered into discussions with leaders of mainstream political parties.
The new coalition demanded the lifting of the state of emergency and the canceling of
the criminal law amendment which had been invoked to arrest Mujib for participation
in the same conspiracy. These were both tools the government was using to deal with
the worsening political situation. Jama‘at and the Awami League both wanted it
eliminated so they could pursue their political objectives more freely. Faced with
Mujib’s rising popularity following his arrest, the government responded by lifting the
emergency and abrogating the amendment. It was a Pyrrhic victory for the opposition.
To begin with, it did away with the demands that the Jama‘at and the Awami League
had shared and which had fostered a working arrangement between them. Instead,
tensions between them continued in East Pakistan following the government’s
conciliatory overtures. It also removed the rationale for democratic demands from the
political agenda and focused attention instead on provincial demands in East Pakistan
and populist demands in West Pakistan. Consequently, Mawdudi’s efforts to revive
interest in the Islamic constitution came to naught. The Jama‘at’s political agenda
became completely divorced from the critical political issues in the country.
In August 1968, Mawdudi was taken ill and was compelled to leave Pakistan for medical
treatment in England. During his months of departure, Jama‘at’s affairs were overseen
by Mian Tufayl. Mawdudi’s absence reduced both the Jama‘at’s prominence in the
Democratic Action Committee and reduced the party’s flexibility. Mian Tufayl did not
provide new strategies for confronting either the more rambunctious Awami League or
the new force in Pakistani politics, the People’s Party, and was unable to control the IJT,
which soon became a force in itself, drawing the Jama‘at into the quagmire of East
Pakistani politics.
Mawdudi returned before the Round Table Conference between Ayub Khan and the
Democratic Action Committee, which convened in March 1969 to reform the
constitution to accommodate the Awami League’s demands for autonomy. No mention
was made of the socioeconomic grievances which Mujib and Bhutto were manipulating
so successfully. Mawdudi’s address to the conference was removed from the realities
of Pakistani politics. He placed the entire blame for the crisis on the government’s
intransigence over the demand for Islamization. It was the only policy that could keep
Pakistan united.
Causes Of Ayub’s Decline
The immediate measures of the Martial law regime were successful but in the long
term failed to solve the problems.
GENERAL REASONS

● The concentration of political power in his own hands.

● Dictatorial powers of President: people wanted a parliamentary form of
democracy
● Right of adult franchise curtailed by the system of basic democracy
● Hold of the military hierarchy, civil bureaucracy, and rural elite in policymaking.
 ● Disqualification of politicians and political parties under Elective Bodies
Disqualification Order (EBDO).
● Control of Press and Media under Press and Publication (Amendment)
Ordinance: Pakistan Times, Imroz, Mashriq were placed under National Press
Trust.
● Restrictions on Individuals fundamental rights. State of emergency.
● Land and Muslim family laws Reforms were revolutionary in words than in
deeds.
● Urbanization but not facilities in the cities.
● Strength of Convention Muslim League was fictitious
● The opposition of One Unit by the small provinces.
● Exaggerated claims about development in the ceremonies of Celebrations of a
decay.
● Interference in Religion (Two Eids in 1967)
● News of his illness in early 1968.
● Roomer that he was going to appoint Gohar as his successor.
● Withdrawal of military support: Reduction on Armed Forces’ in the budget of
1967-68
ECONOMIC REASONS

● Economic growth in quantitative terms not in qualitative terms.

● Economic disparity: 80% of the bank assets were controlled by 22 families
● No Foreign Aid after 1965.
● Rapid Growth of Prices
DISSATISFACTION OF EAST PAKISTAN

● East Pakistan considered Marshal law as the rule of the Punjabi-dominated

Army.
● Issue of Provincial Autonomy In East Pakistan
● East Pakistan was politically deprived.
● East Pakistan was economically deprived.
STRONG OPPOSITION

● The dynamic leadership of Bhutto, Asghar Khan, Mujeeb, Bhashani, etc.

● The wide popularity of Awami League in East Pakistan and P.P.P in West
Pakistan.
Bhutto & PPP

● PPP established in Dec. 1967: Objectives of genuine democracy, Islamic

Socialism, Adult franchise, and Freedom of Press.
● Slogan: ‘Roti Kapra aur Makan’.
● The exploitation of Tashkent by Bhutto: Kashmir
 ● Students-Police clash (Nov. 1968) at Rawalpindi. One student died. Bhutto
attended his funeral. Achieved support of students.
● The arrest of Bhutto on Nov. 13, 1968, as he insists masses violate the law.
● Asghar Khan continued the movement.
Mujeeb and AL

● Agartala Conspiracy Case (separation of East Pakistan from West Pakistan with
the armed aid of India) against Mujeeb and a band of civil and military officers in
Jan. 1968.
● Bhashani gave the lead till the release of Mujeeb.
● Slogan: ‘Gheraoo, Jalaoo’. Burnt govt. offices and ministers’ houses. Compelled a
large number of BD’s to resign. Some were burnt alive.
Political Alliances

● National Democratic Front (NDF): in Oct. 1962 by a group of East Pakistanis for

the restoration of democracy. Became party after the death of Suharwardy, its
leader.
● Combined Opposition Parties (COP): during Presidential elections of 1964-65.
Failed to launch effective movement due to internal differences.
● Pakistan Democratic Movement (PDM): After the expire of the ban on EBDOed
politicians. April 1967. Included 5 parties i) Council ML. ii) Nizam-i-Islam Party iii)
Jamat-i-Islami iv) Awami League (Nasarullah Group) v) NDF. Demands:
● Direct Elections on adult franchise
● Full powers to the directly elected parliament
● removal of emergency

● restoration of civil rights

● release of all political prisoners.
● Democratic Action Committee (DAC): Jan. 9, 1968. Included PDM, AL (six points)
AL (Wali Khan Group), and JUI. 3 more demands:

● i) withdrawal of all prohibitory orders under section 144.

● ii) restoration of the right to strike
iii) withdrawal of all curbs on the press.
Round Table Conference with Ayub on March 10, 1969. Ayub accepted 2 demands:

1. direct elections on adult franchise

2. restoration of the parliamentary system.
DAC dissolved.
Non-Political Elements

● Anti Ayub Movement (1968-69) launched by the Urban middle class i.e. Students,
lawyers, teachers, doctors, laborers, politicians, etc.
 ● Joint Labor Council called for laborers strike.
● Central Medical Body held a successful strike of the Doctors.
● Association of teachers participated in the anti-Ayub movement.
Ayub resigned and Marshal law was re-imposed on March 25, 1969.

The downfall of Ayub Khan (1969)

After independence and especially the death of Quaid-i-Azam Muhammad Ali Jinnah,
Pakistan was entangled in a web of chaos and confusion. The instability can be seen
with having four Governor Generals, seven Prime Ministers and one President in eleven
years. Not a single government was stable enough to think and work in the right
direction.
General Iskander Mirza decided to abrogate the first constitution of Pakistan and invite
General Ayub Khan to impose the first martial law in the country. The intentions of
General Iskander Mirza were quite personal in inviting Ayub, as he considered
democracy as a useless tool in a country like Pakistan where the literacy rate is low and
there is a lack of political awareness among the people. The plan which Iskander Mirza
had in his mind failed when Ayub overthrew him after a few days of proclaiming the
Martial law in October 1958 and sent him in exile.
By and large, the ten-year rule of General Ayub Khan is seen as an era of progress and
industrial development. Ayub promulgated mega projects like the construction of
Mangla Dam, the Karachi Steel Mills, oil refineries and above all construction of a new
capital at Islamabad. He introduced various reforms to improve the state of affairs, like
the Muslim Family Laws Ordinance of 1961, imposing restrictions on polygamy and
reinforcing inheritance rights of women. The Land Reforms initiated by him were a step
to reduce the increasing power of the landed aristocracy.  He signed a boundary
agreement with China in March 1963, which proved to be the beginning of a long term
friendship between the two countries.
The prominent feature of a Martial Law regime is the rapid growth of development, but
in the long run, the various measures taken by a martial dictator come into the
limelight and create disruption among the society. Despite all the positive steps and
development marking General Ayub’s Era, the graph of his popularity began declining.
The immediate cause was the elections of 1965 and the Tashkent Declaration.

● If we minutely study the ten years of Ayub’s era we calculate a few things. Like
every martial law administrator, Ayub liked to keep the power in his own hands.
As soon as he came to power, one of the first steps he took was the passing of
EBDO (Disqualification of politicians and political parties under the Elective
Bodies Disqualification Order), claiming to minimize corruption.
● People wanted a parliamentary form of government, but General Ayub.
presented the nation with the second constitution in 1962 which was
presidential in nature.
● By introducing the system of Basic Democracy (BD), the right of the adult
franchise was curtailed.
● The control of the media and press was observed.
 ● The Land and Family Laws were very attractive but they were not fully
implemented.
● The concept of urbanization was encouraged, but facilities were not provided.
● The whole of West Pakistan was made in one unit, with which the small
provinces were not happy.
● Rumours about his illness in early 1968, about making Gohar Ayub his
successor, withdrawal of military support added more to his unpopularity.
One more aspect which Ayub neglected from the beginning that caused a major
upheaval in his popularity graph was the case of East Pakistan. It is an atrocious truth
that since independence all the governments including that of Ayub Khan had
neglected East Pakistan. Like his predecessors, he did nothing to decrease the
economic disparity between East and West Pakistan. He was aware of the acute
grievances of the Bengalis, but he did not try to tackle it seriously.  As Bengal was a
densely populated and politicized province, it’s feeling of deprivation increased by the
absence of democratic institutions in Ayub’s highly centralized regime. The East
Pakistanis also considered Martial law as the rule of Punjabi dominated Army. The
issue of provincial autonomy was also an issue that intensified with time and we see
that in 1966 Sheikh Mujeeb ur Rahman presented his six points formula for provincial
autonomy of the East wing. Even then,  no heed was paid to the growing
discontentment.
Zulfiqar Ali Bhutto exploited the Tashkent declaration to turn public opinion against
Ayub. The increasing popularity of the Awami League under Sheikh Mujib-ur-Rahman in
East Pakistan and Pakistan Peoples Party under Zulfiqar Ali Bhutto in West Pakistan
was alarming for the stability of General Ayub’s Regime. Then there was also Asghar
Khan’s movement and few other political alliances which were creating hurdles for a
stable Ayub’s government.
Finally, the movement against his government intensified towards the end of 1968 and
at the beginning of 1969. The movement was launched by the Urban middle class i.e.
Students, lawyers, teachers, doctors, labourers, politicians etc.
It became quite difficult for General Ayub to face so much opposition from politicians
as well as common people from all walks of life. He ultimately decided to resign in
March 1969. In his last radio address to the nation on 25 March 1969, he said, “I cannot
preside over the destruction of my country”.
This ended a rather stable and progressive era in the history of Pakistan.

1969-71 Dismemberment
Legal Framework Order (1970)
After becoming the Chief Martial Law Administrator in 1969, Yahya Khan announced to
conduct free and fair elections and gave an assurance that a new constitution would be
made soon. In March 1970 he announced the Legal Framework Order that determined
principles for the future constitution of Pakistan and on 1st July 1970 he dissolved the
One-Unit scheme. The salient features of the LFO 1970 are as below:
1: The National Assembly of Pakistan will consist of 313 seats with 13 seats reserved for
women. Out of 313, 169 seats were reserved for East Pakistan, 85 for Punjab, 28 for
Sindh, 19 for NWFP, 5 for Baluchistan, and 7 seats were allotted to the tribal areas.
2: Each province will have a provincial assembly consisting of elected members. East
Pakistan provincial assembly will have 400 members, Punjab 186, Sindh 62, Baluchistan
21, and NWFP 42.
3: The elections for National Assembly will be held on 5 October 1970 and for provincial
assemblies not later than 22 October.
4:  The new constitution of Pakistan will follow these principles:
a: Pakistan will be the Federal Republic and will be known as the Islamic Republic of
Pakistan
b: The head of the Pakistan state would be a Muslim and the divinity of Islam will be
preserved in the constitution.
c: The principles of democracy will prevail by holding free elections for federal and
provincial legislatures based on adult franchise. Independent judiciary will be made
possible along with fundamental rights for the citizens.
d: The center will remain strong while all provinces will be given maximum autonomy.
e: The state will try to eliminate economic disparities in the society and the citizens of
the country will be able to participate actively in the affairs of the state.
f: The constitution of the country will enable the Muslims of Pakistan to live their lives
according to the teachings of Islam. The minorities will be free to follow their faiths and
will be able to enjoy the benefits of citizenship along with their fellow Pakistanis.
g:  The LFO clarified the status of national and provincial assemblies. The National
Assembly would either be the only legislature provided that federal legislature
consisting of one house or it would be the lower house if the federation has two
houses. Its tenure would be for the full term in both cases. The same went for
provincial assemblies.
h: The Constituent Assembly was to stand dissolved if it was unable to frame the
Constitution within 120 days.
5: After the elections of the National Assembly, provisions will be made to arrange its
meetings.
6: The LFO specified the number of conditions and qualifications. Any contesting
political party failing to fulfill the requirement will not be allowed to participate in the
elections.

Six-Points of Sheikh Mujib-ur-Rehman (1970)

Sheikh Mujib-ur-Rehman was the founder of Bangladesh. During the rule of Ayub Khan
and Yahya Khan, he played a bouncy role in Pakistan politics and became prominent
especially when he presented a Six-Point formula in 1966, in collaboration with his
party and demanded the Pakistan government to implement his six points in every way
to the fullest extent. The Government of Pakistan disliked his idea that was prone to
make the center significantly weak and the provinces predominantly independent. But
his Awami League urged the Government to encompass all the six points in the new
constitution that was to be framed by the new Constituent Assembly. Sheikh Mujib and
his party showed extreme rigidity when asked to amend or modify a few points.
Though at times he agreed to take a reasonable view of his points, especially before the
elections of 1970, yet at every juncture, he backed out and stuck to the Six-Point
formula that had made him exceedingly popular among the people of Bengal. All the
members of the Awami League were so emotional that they pledged to make every
sacrifice to implement the Six-Point formula. And it was the very formula that aroused
them to civil disobedience and to defy the authority of the central government. A force
of freedom fighters known as Mukti Bahini paralyzed the civil administration. Exploiting
the appalling scenario India intruded, dashed off to their rescue, and paved the way for
the Awami League to declare an independent Bangladesh.
The Six-Point formula comprised the following points:
1: Through a federal parliamentary system based on direct adult franchise
representation of provinces would be based on population in the federal legislature.
2: The federal government will be restricted only to foreign affairs, defense and
currency.
And even concerning foreign affairs, the subject of economic issues would rest
with the provinces.
3: There would be either two different currencies for the two wings or a single one with
a
separate Federal Reserve System for each wing.
4: The power of implementing and collecting taxes would rest with the provinces.
The federal government will be given enough shares to fulfill its tasks of foreign
affairs and defense.
5: There would be separate accounts of foreign exchange earnings for each wing.
6: East Pakistan would be entitled to have militia or paramilitary force solely under its
jurisdiction.
 Elections of 1970
After becoming the President of Pakistan in 1969 General Yahya Khan announced that
very soon the free elections would be held in Pakistan on an adult franchise and party
basis to establish a democratic government in the country. For that purpose, a
three-member Election Commission was formed under the chairmanship of Justice
Abdus Sattar as the Chief Election Commissioner.
The electoral rolls were printed both in Bengali and Urdu for East and West Pakistan
respectively. The elections which were initially due on 5 October 1970 for the National
Assembly and on 19 October for the provincial assemblies were postponed till
December of the same year because of the severe monsoon floods in the eastern wing
in August. The new dates announced were 7 and 17 December 1970. Still, elections for
nine seats of the National Assembly and eighteen for provincial assemblies in East
Pakistan were held next year on 17 January 1971 because of a cyclone. From 1 January
1970, the political parties were allowed to start campaigning. A total of twenty-four
political parties participated in the elections. Mainly there were two types of parties,
religious and secular.
The religious parties included the convention Muslim League, Qayyum Muslim League,
Pakistan Muslim League, Pakistan Democratic Party, Jamiat-ul-Ulama-e-Islam,
Jamiat-ul-Ulama-e-Pakistan, and Jamiat-e-Islam Party among many others. These
religious parties called for the Islamization of the country. Despite having a common
attitude they differed on certain points from one another and could not unite on a
single platform. The regime of Yahya Khan was supporting the religious parties for their
conservative stance that seemed to uphold a strong central government. Among the
secular parties, the two most prominent and popular political parties that received
immense public support from the masses were the Pakistan Peoples Party being led by
Zulfiqar Ali Bhutto and the Awami League of Sheikh Mujib-ur-Rehman. Their prime
focus was on economic issues. Both Bhutto and Mujib possessed extraordinary and
charismatic appeals in their personalities for people of all ages and professions.
However, the popularity of Bhutto and Mujib was restricted within West Pakistan and
East Pakistan respectively.
The East Pakistan Student League played a major role in promoting the AL party
program to educational institutions. It was based on the Six-Points Formula that the AL
not only got support from the east wing Bengalis but also received generous funds
from their Bengali brothers living abroad. The AL pronounced a system for
abolishing jagirdari, zamindari, and sardari system. Like AL, PPP also became popular
mainly because of  Bhutto and remained restricted to its region, West Pakistan, mainly
provinces of Sindh and Punjab with its widespread appeal of Islamic Socialism. It was a
modified type of Socialism with Islamic traits. The PPP was also a great advocate of the
Kashmir cause, unlike AL. With a slogan of roti, kapra or makan Bhutto promised
economic prosperity to the nation and amassed commoners under the PPP’s flag.
Drastic differences between the two leading political parties became even more
obvious and their regional outlook became prominent with the election campaign. The
Awami League popularized its Six-Points and declared that at the cost of the eastern
wing’s products the western wing was prospering but was depriving them of their due
share. They argued that Bengal was being treated as a “colony” of the west wing. The
PPP, on the other hand, was emphasizing on economic problems of the whole country
but at the same time, it closed down its branch in East Pakistan and thus proved itself
to be the representative of only the West Pakistanis.
It was decided in the Legal Framework Order of 1970 that the National Assembly of
Pakistan will consist of 313 seats with 13 seats reserved for women. Out of these 313,
169 seats were reserved for East Pakistan, 85 for Punjab, 28 for Sindh, 19 for NWFP, 5
for Baluchistan, and 7 seats were allotted to the tribal areas. It was decided that the
East Pakistan provincial assembly will have 400 members, Punjab 186, Sindh 62,
Baluchistan 21, and NWFP will have 42 members. The elections were held peacefully
and 60 percent of registered voters cast their votes.
The results, however, brought dire changes in the political setup of the country. The
religious parties were washed up because the public was more concerned with their
economic problems. The results also confirmed the provincialism of Pakistan politics.
The two major winners were the Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP) and the Awami League
(AL). The AL secured 160 seats of the National Assembly out of which only seven
candidates belonged to West Pakistan. However, the AL could not win a single
provincial assembly seat from any of the west wing provinces. The PPP won got 81
seats out of 130 allotted to the western wing but achieved no seat from East Pakistan.
According to the LFO, the National Assembly was responsible for making a constitution
within 120 days before government power was liable to be transferred to the elected
members. But unfortunately, both Bhutto and Mujib failed to maintain the unity of
Western and Eastern wings; they couldn’t do away with the huge differences over the
Six-Point formula that led to the tragic division of the country with the result that a
separate sovereign state of Bangla Desh emerged on the globe.

Mukti Bahini
Mukti Bahini also termed as the Freedom Fighters collectively refers to the armed
organizations that fought against the Pakistan Army during
the Bangladesh Liberation War. It was dynamically formed by Bengali regulars and
civilians after the proclamation of Bangladesh‘s independence on March 26, 1971.
Subsequently, by mid-April 1971, the Bengali officers and soldiers of East Bengal
Regiments formed the Bangladesh Armed Forces and M. A. G. Osmani assumed its
command. The civilian groups continued to assist the armed forces during the war.
After the war, Mukti Bahini became the general term to refer to all forces military and
civilian of former East Pakistani origin fighting against the Pakistani armed forces
during the Bangladesh Liberation War. Often Mukti Bahini operated as an
effective guerrilla force to keep their enemies on the run.
Although Mukti Bahini was formed to fight off the military crackdown by
the Pakistan army on March 25, 1971, during the climax of the Bangladesh freedom
movement, The crisis had already started taking shape with the anti-Ayub uprising in
1969 and precipitated into a political crisis at the height
of Sheikh Mujibur Rahman‘s Six–point movement beginning in the 1970s. In March
1971, rising political discontent and cultural nationalism in what was
then East Pakistan later, Bangladesh was met by harsh suppressive force from the
ruling elite of the West Pakistan establishment in what came to be
termed Operation Searchlight. India started actively aiding and re-organising what
was by this time already the nucleus of the Mukti Bahini. This led to a crackdown
by West Pakistan forces became an important factor in precipitating the civil war as a
sea of refugees (estimated at the time to be about 10 million) came flooding to
the eastern provinces of India.
The immediate precursor of the Mukti Bahini was Mukti Fauj, which was preceded
denominationally by the Sangram Parishads formed in the cities and villages by the
student and youth leaderships in early March 1971. When and how the Mukti Fauj was
created is not clear nor is the later adoption of the name Mukti Bahini. It is, however,
certain that the names originated generically to refer to the people who fought in
the Bangladesh liberation war.
The anti-Ayub uprising in 1969 and during the height of Mujib’s six points movement
there was a growing movement among the Bengalis in East Pakistan to become
independent driven by the nationalists, radicals and leftists. After the election of 1970,
the subsequent crisis strengthened that feeling within the people. Sheikh Mujib himself
was facing immense pressure from most prominent political quarters, especially the
ultra-nationalist young student leaders, to declare independence without delay. Armed
preparations were going on by some leftist and nationalist groups, and the Bengali
army officers and soldiers were prepared to defect. At the call of Sheikh Mujibur
Rahman the people of East Pakistan joined in a peaceful movement for
non-cooperation from 3 March 1971, and 7th March and onward, which lasted up to
midnight of 25 March 1971. On this date, the Pakistani Army cracked down upon
unarmed civilians to take control of the administration. During the army crackdown on
the night of March 25, 1971, there were reports of small scale resistance notably at
Iqbal Hall, Dhaka University and at the Rajarbagh Police Headquarter. The latter
initially put a strong fight against the Pakistan Army. As political events gathered
momentum, the stage was set for a clash between the Pakistan Army and the Bengali
people vowing for independence. Bengali members of the Army were also defecting
and gathering in various pockets of the country.
All these early fights were disorganized and futile because of the greater military
strength of the Pakistani Army. Outside of Dhaka, resistance was more successful. The
earliest move towards forming a liberation army officially came from the declaration of
independence made by Major Ziaur Rahman of the East Bengal Regiment on behalf
of Sheikh Mujibur Rahman. In the declaration made from Kalurghat Betar Kendra
(Chittagong) on March 27, 1971, Zia assumed the title of “provisional commander in
chief of the Bangladesh Liberation Army”, though his area of operation remained
confined to Chittagong and Noakhali areas. Major Ziaur Rahman’s declaration on
behalf of Sheikh Mujibur Rahman marked a break with Pakistan by the Bengali units of
the army.
Though prolonged Bengali resistance was not anticipated by Pakistani planners
of Operation Searchlight, when the Pakistani Army cracked down upon the population,
the Mukti Bahini were becoming increasingly visible. Headed by Colonel (later,
General) M. A. G. Osmani, a retired Pakistani Army officer, this band was raised as
Mujib’s action arm and security forces before assuming the character of a conventional
guerrilla force. After the declaration of independence, the Pakistani military sought to
quell them, but increasing numbers of Bengali soldiers defected to the underground
“Bangladesh army”. These Bengali units slowly merged into the Mukti Bahini and
bolstered their weaponry.
On April 12, 1971, Colonel M. A. G. Osmani assumed the command of armed forces at
Teliapara (Sylhet) headquarters. Osmani was made the commander-in-chief of
Bangladesh Armed Forces on April 17, 1971. A serious initiative for organizing the
Bangladesh liberation army was taken between 11–17 July.
The regular forces later called Niomita Bahini (regular force) consisted of the members
of the East Bengal Regiments (EBR), East Pakistan Rifles (EPR, later BDR), police, other
paramilitary forces and the general people who were commanded by the army
commanders in the 11 sectors all over Bangladesh. Three major forces: Z-Force under
the command of Major (later, Major General) Ziaur Rahman, K-Force under Major
(later Brigadier ) Khaled Mosharraf and S-Force under Major (later Major
General) K M Shafiullah were raised afterwards to fight battles in efficient manners.
The irregular forces, generally called Gono Bahini (people’s army), were those who
were trained more in guerrilla warfare than the conventional one.
The irregular forces, which after initial training joined different sectors, consisted of the
students, peasants, workers and political activists. Irregular forces were initiated inside
Bangladesh province to adopt guerrilla warfare against the enemy. The regular forces
were engaged in fighting the usual way.
The Mukti Bahini obtained strength from the two main streams of fighting elements:
members of armed forces of erstwhile East Pakistan and members of the urban and
rural youths many of whom were volunteers. Other groups included members of
Sangram Parishads, youth and student wings of Awami League, NAP,
Leftist-Communist Parties and radical groups. The Mukti Bahini had several factions.
The foremost one was organized by the members of the regular armed force, who
were generally known as Freedom Fighters. Then there was Bangladesh Liberation
Forces (BLF) led by four youth leaders of the political wing of Sheikh Mujib’s Awami
League and the third one generally known as Special Guerrilla Forces (SGF) led by the
Communist Party of Bangladesh, National Awami Party, and Bangladesh Students
Union. They then jointly launched guerrilla operations against
the Pakistani Army causing heavy damages and casualties. This setback prompted the
Pakistani Army to induct Razakars, Al-Badrs and Al-Shams , as well as other Bengalis
who opposed independence, and Biharis who had settled during the time of partition.
This helped Pakistan stem the tide somewhat as the monsoon approached in June and
July.
Bangladesh Navy was constituted in August 1971. Initially, there were two ships and
45 navy personnel. These ships carried out many successful raids on the Pakistani fleet.
But both of these ships were mistakenly hit and destroyed by Pakistani fighter planes
on 10 December 1971, when they were about to launch a major attack
on Mongla seaport.
Bangladesh Air Force started functioning on 28 September at Dimapur in Nagaland,
under the command of Air Commodore AK Khondakar. Initially, it consisted of 17
officers, 50 technicians, 2 planes and 1 helicopter. The Air Force carried out more than
twelve sorties against Pakistani targets and was quite successful during the initial
stages of the Indian attack in early December.
Besides, some independent forces fought in various regions of Bangladesh and
liberated in many areas. These included Mujib Bahini which was organized in India.
Major General Oban of the Indian Army and Student League leaders Serajul Alam
Khan, Sheikh Fazlul Haque Mani, Kazi Arif
Ahmed, Abdur Razzak, Tofael Ahmed, A. S. M. Abdur Rab, Shahjahan Siraj, Nur E
Alam Siddiqi, and Abdul Quddus Makhon were organisers of this Bahini. There was
the Kaderia Bahini under Kader Siddique of Tangail, Afsar Bahini and Aftab Bahini of
Mymensingh,Tiger Bahini under Abu Siddique Ahmed of Netrakona Latif Mirza Bahini
of Sirajganj, Akbar Hossain Bahini of Jhinaidah, Quddus Molla and Gafur Bahini of
Barisal, Hemayet Bahini under Hemayet Uddin of Faridpur..Several communist leftist
groups clashed with the Pakistan Army and controlled some areas independently.
Besides, there were some other groups of freedom fighters that were controlled by the
Leftist parties and groups including the NAP and Communist Parties. Among
others, Siraj Sikder raised a strong guerrilla force that fought several battles with the
Pakistani soldiers in Payarabagan, Barisal. Although there were ideological conflicts
among the communist parties on deciding a common action in the context of
Bangladesh Liberation, many of the individuals and leaders of Mukti Bahini were
deeply influenced by the leftist ideology in general. There were strong concerns among
the Indian authority and members of the Awami League-led provisional government
not to lose control of the liberation war to the leftists. Nevertheless, many leftists
overcame these internal and external difficulties and actively participated in the
Liberation War with the main nucleus of the Mukti Bahini.

War of 1971 and the Birth of Bangladesh

After the elections of 1970, the situation in Pakistan turned into chaos and turmoil. The
leaders of the two leading political parties, the Pakistan Peoples Party and the Awami
League, have earned popularity in their regions, didn’t seem to compromise with each
other at any cost. Sheikh Mujib-ur-Rehman continued insisting on his specific Six-Point
Program while Zulfiqar Ali Bhutto with his reservations asked for some amendments.
Thus they couldn’t get to the bottom of the predicament due to their inflexibility.
President Yahya Khan was himself too incompetent to instigate them to negotiate and
co-operate with each other.
Yahya Khan urged Sheikh Mujib a couple of times to come to West Pakistan, certainly
not realizing the growing discontent of the Bengali public because of their deep-rooted
mistrust of their western brethren. When Yahya Khan saw that Mujib remained
unmoved, he called on Mujib and invited him to visit Islamabad. But as again Mujib
didn’t respond, Yahya goaded Bhutto to leave for Dacca. Bhutto acceded to his request
and had detailed talks with Mujib but both of them couldn’t eliminate the ever-growing
gap between the two wings.
In a desperate bid to break the political deadlock, Yahya Khan announced that the
National Assembly session will be held in Dacca on 3 March 1971 for seeking the
solution of constitutional matters. Subsequently, the elected MNAs of PPP vowed on
Quran that they would remain faithful to their leader. Similarly, the MNAs of AL
pledged that they would not yield at any cost as far as their Six-Point Formula was
concerned. Forthwith Yahya Khan was disappointed and decided to deferment the
session that only added fuel to the fire. On 3 March East Pakistan province went on a
tremendous strike and mammoth civil disobedience. Thereupon the army was called to
curb their civil disobedience. But the conditions further deteriorated and there was a
great massacre due to clashes that occurred to and fro between the Mukti Bahini and
the Pakistan military.
Later, on 6 March, to keep the Bengali protestors at peace, Yahya Khan gave another
date for the session but Mujib put forward his demand for the immediate lifting of
Martial Law and transfer of power to the elected MNAs. The President once again went
to Dacca but their talks again remained futile. On 23 March while West Pakistan was
celebrating Independence Day, East Pakistan termed it a Resistance Day all over the
roads and streets waving flags of Bangladesh. Even the elected members of AL who
had been invited to meet the President for negotiations arrived in cars carrying
Bangladeshi flags.
At that stage, Yahya Khan was suggested by his close associates to go for direct military
action to curb the uprising of the Bengalis once and for all. Accordingly the “Operation
Searchlight” was launched at midnight on 25 March 1971 under Lieutenant-General
Tikka Khan, the newly appointed Martial Law Administrator and governor of the
eastern wing. The army came into swift action and within no time killed hundreds of
protesting students. It also raided police headquarters and East Pakistan Rifles to
ensure peace in the province. These merely brutal acts remained secret for a long time
among the West Pakistanis until the report of the Hamood-ur-Rehman Commission
was partly revealed after several years. The army assault, however, gave rise to an
anticlimax and fuelled nothing but repulsion and resistance, and the bloodshed that
followed further alienated Bengalis. Their desire to be free from the clutches of their
brother “colonialists” intensified. The migration of seven million Bengalis to India paved
the way for the Indian government to exploit the whole situation and defame Pakistan
on an international level. On 17th April a Bangladeshi government-in-exile to be headed
by Mujib was formed in Calcutta. Mujib was arrested at the orders of the President
while his associates who could not be arrested fled to the government-in-exile.
While Pakistan was being condemned in the world press, Yahya Khan announced
amnesty to all the migrants so that they could return to their homes but even this
amnesty couldn’t diminish the agitation and the demonstrations going incessantly
against the government. To gain the favor of the Bengalis India blocked West Pakistan’s
air connection with East Pakistan. The Indian government not only fully supported the
“revolutionaries” but also helped them prepare a Liberation Force well known as Mukti
Bahini whose training camps were formed on Pak-Indian border areas in mid-1971. In
September the total strength of the Mukti Bahini trainees was around 100,000. Mukti
Bahini looted arms depots and police stores to acquire weapons but India remained
the major supplier of arms. Thus to restore order in East Pakistan became quite
difficult.
The activities of Mukti Bahini started with their attacks on key installations of the army
in Dacca and on Chittagong harbor. During July-August, they invaded lines of
communications, railways, and roads and consequently discontinued the link between
the two wings of the country. When the army seemed to be inadequate to curb the
disturbance the government of Pakistan sought help from the local Bihari, non-Bengali
speaking people to fight the Mukti Bahini guerrillas.
The Pakistani government was facing many problems including shortage of goods,
inflation mainly because IMF and the World Bank had ceased to support Pakistan’s
economy and without their aid and loan, it was almost impossible to deal with the
clashes. At that crucial time when the Pak army was already too down in the dumps,
Indian military intervention followed on 3rd December 1971and a full-fledged war broke
out on the Eastern front of Pakistan. Already from 21 November, India had started
direct attacks on Pakistan border regions and a plan was previously devised to occupy
Dhaka on 6 December. Mukti Bahini and the public in general fully supported the
intrusion of the Indian army that was duly aided by the Indian Air Force.
Worldwide appeals were made for a ceasefire but the Indian army continued the war
that lasted for nearly two weeks. At length Pakistani commander Lieutenant-General
Niazi in East Pakistan had to surrender on the orders of his superiors along with his
93,000 troops at Dacca on 16 December. As soon as Mujib was released, he went to
Bangladesh where Mukti Bahini was engaged in taking revenge from the non-Bengali
residents.
Indeed, the aftermath was not less than a nightmare. People were drowned in despair
and depression. Pakistan had lost half of her navy, a third of the army, and a quarter of
the air force besides millions of casualties. The biggest setback was the disintegration
of Pakistan with the emergence of Bangladesh. In the “remaining” West Pakistan people
came out on the streets declaring Yahya and his fellows as traitors and asked for his
resignation. Thus Bhutto, President of the PPP was asked to come back from New York
to take over the charge of the country. On 20 December 1971, he assumed the rank of
the President of new Pakistan and Civil Martial Law Administrator.