The Age of Ayub Khan

(1958-1969)

Dr. Mohammad Humayun Kabir

 Background of the emergence of Ayub Khan
• The emergence of Ayub Khan as a military dictator happened in a very critical
moment of Pakistan history.
• This particular regime of Ayub Khan lasted for more than 10 years, brought
enormous economic prosperity to the West Pakistan, given years of political
stability but at the same time, constructed the road for independence of the
East Pakistan.
• Therefore, historians believe that the freedom movement of Bangladesh is
somehow thankful to the long lasted Ayub regime as without this,
Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujibur Rahman would have not emerged, and without
Bangabandhu, liberation war would have never been started.
 Background of the emergence of Ayub Khan
• After the fall of the United Front government in East Pakistan, the political
crisis between East and West reached its peak.
• Iskandar Mirza, temporarily controlled the instability, but it came back after
the inception of 1956 constitution.
• The very chaotic situation then after produced several governments in East
Pakistan within a short period of time.
• Under this circumstance, President Iskandar Mirza in alliance with Ayub Khan,
who was the commander in chief of Pakistan at that time abrogated the
constitution, dismissed the central and provincial governments and declared
martial law in 1958.
• Iskandar Mirza appointed Ayub Khan as the Martial Law Administrator, and
asked the army to clean up the mess and set things right.
 Background of the emergence of Ayub Khan
• General Ayub after taking the authority declared
that due to total administrative, economic,
political and moral chaos in the country the
revolution was launched against the
disruptionists, political opportunists, smugglers,
black-marketers.
• He added, “the biggest weapon of a politician is
his tongue, which we would control. I think things
are going to be quite for a while.”
 Background of the emergence of Ayub Khan
• After studying at Alīgarh Muslim University, and at the British Royal Military
College, at Sandhurst, Ayub Khan was commissioned as an officer in the
British Indian army (1928).
• In World War II he was second-in-command of a regiment in Burma and
commanded a battalion in India.
• After the 1947 partition of British India he was rapidly promoted in the army
of the new Muslim state of Pakistan: from Major General (1948) to
Commander in Chief (1951).
• In addition, Ayub became minister of defense (1956) for a brief period.
 Rule of Ayub Khan (1958-1969)
Ayub Khan regime is significant for several reasons. The main features of his
tenure include:
1. A rigid Political rule, very little freedom and invention of Basic
Democracy.
2. Modernization of Pakistan economy.
3. Development of Science and technology.
4. Westward foreign policy, especial tie with US and also China.
5. Rivalry with India and the war of 1965.
6. Discriminative and exploitative policy for the East Pakistan.
 Basic Democracy
• On the first anniversary of his government, on 27thOctober, 1959, General
Ayub Khan addressed the nation and announced the introduction of a new
system of government or basic democracies system(guided democracy).
• Goal was to bring democracy to the door steps of the people and to have
"direct participation of the people managing their affairs through
representative bodies not far from their own villages and Mohallas”.
• Ayub Khan introduced basic democracy after trashing a truly democratic
constitution through martial law.
• He had only one objective: To institute a system that could be guided at the
will of the rulers.
 Basic Democracy
• Ayub Khan stated that the system suited the “genius” of the people of
Pakistan because he did not believe that the directly elected parliamentary
system was suitable for the country.
• He argued that Western-style constitutions are unsuited to new,
underdeveloped nations.
• Banning political parties, which he blamed for pushing the country to the
brink of chaos, benevolent Dictator Ayub set out to establish a system of
"basic democracies" that would steer a middle road between authoritarian
rule and untrammeled democracy.
• He introduce Basic Democracy to legitimize his rule and introduce a new
class and also there were some religious cause (real Islamic method of
election).
• Hence, he introduced basic democracies which will be formation stone of a
new political system in country and which will be interim system.
 Basic Democracy
• Under the Presidential ordinance a five tiered hierarchical system of
local-self-government was introduced, namely

• (i) Union Councils (7618) (rural areas), Town and Union Committees
(220)(urban areas);
• (ii) Thana Councils (East Pakistan), Tehsil Councils (West Pakistan);
(630+108+29)
• (iii) District Councils (78);
• (iv) Divisional Councils (16);
• (v) Provincial Development Advisory Council (upto 1962)
 The Union Council
• The Union Council was the lowest but the basic tier of the system.
• The Union Council consisted of 5-8 villages of about 10,000- 15,000
population.
• At the base of the system was the union council which consisted of a
chairman and usually about 15 members.
• It had both elected and nominated members.
• Two-thirds of the members were elected representatives and one-third
consisted of non-official members nominated by the government.
• However, the nomination was abolished by an amendment in 1964.
 The Union Council
• There used to be 10-15 electoral wards and from each ward one councilor
was to be elected.
• This means each ward was represented by one basic democrat elected by
1,000-1,500 voters on adult franchise basis (21 years of age).
• The members of the Union Council had to elect a Chairman who used to be
the executive head of the Council.
• In a way, it was at par with the erstwhile union board with minor
differences.
• The total number of such councils was 7618.
 The Union Council
• These councils/town committees were given judicial, as well as public services
functions in addition to their economic developmental functions.
• With the approval of the divisional commissioner, the Union Council could levy
any tax and impose rates, tolls and fees.
• The functions of a union councils consisted of a variety of subjects mostly
economic development.
• They were also assigned the duty of agriculture, industrial and communication
development and food production development.
• The Union Councils/town committees were also assigned some welfare and
administrative functions like lighting of public ways, maintenance of public
streets, public places, reconciliation marriage and child birth registration, death
registration, divorce registration, and
• Finally it was converted into an electoral college for election of the members of
provincial and national assemblies and then, a life–long president.
 The Thana/Tehsil Council
• The second tier was the thana council and there was no election to this
council.
• The thana council which consisted of ex-officio representative/ non-official
members and official members
• The representative members were the chairmen of the union councils and
town committees.
• The official members were the representatives of various nation-building
departments of a thana and their number was fixed by the district magistrate
of the concerned district.
• The total number of official members could not in any case exceed the
number of non-official members.
 The Thana/Tehsil Council
• The council was headed by the Sub-Divisional Officer (SDO) who was the
ex-officio chairman.
• In his absence the Circle Officer (development) would preside over the meetings
of the thana council as ex-officio member.
• In case of West Pakistan, the thana was known as tehsil and it was presided
over by a tehsilder.
• In all, there were 655 thanas and tehsils in Pakistan.
• This tier had no executive or any other function except to pass on the
recommendations of the Union Councils(communication link) to the District
council.
• In true sense this was just a coordinating body.
• this was an elite club where all the officials and non-official elites had to meet
very rarely.
 The District Council
• The third tier was the district council. It consisted of one chairman, official and
non-official members.
• The number of members would not exceed 40.
• The chairmen of thana councils were its members, and other official members
were drawn from district level officers of development departments and an
equal number of non-official members.
• At least 50% the non-official members was drawn from amongst the chairmen
of union councils and town committees.
• The district magistrate(Deputy Commissioner in case of Pakistan) acted as
chairman of the council while the vice-chairman was elected by the elected
members of the council.
• In absence of the chairman, the vice-chairman had to perform such other
functions assigned by the chairman.
 The District Council
• There were 78 district councils in Pakistan.
• The district council was the most important tier in the basic democracy
system.
• It was the successor organization to the district board.
• So far as the composition of the council was concerned, it regressed beyond
its 1885 position when 25% members were nominated.
• This tier had vast financial and executive powers.
• In addition to the development functions, it could levy any tax.
• The DM/DC had to coordinate the activities of the departments.
 The District Council
• The functions and powers of the DM/DC were divided into ‘compulsory’ and
‘optional’.
• Compulsory functions included the provision and maintenance of schools,
libraries, hospitals, public roads and play grounds, as well as protection of
food stuff, regulation of traffic, and measure to increase agriculture
production.
• The optional functions included wide jurisdiction over education, culture,
social welfare, economic welfare, public health and public works.
 The Divisional Council
• The fourth and the apex tier was the divisional council. The Divisional
Commissioner was the ex-officio chairman of the council.
• It had both official and non-official (representative) members.
• The maximum number of members was 45.
• Official members consisted of the chairmen of district councils of the
concerned division and representatives of development departments.
• The total number of divisional councils was16.
 The Divisional Council
• Basic democracies specified a provincial development advisory council for
each wing.
• Its composition followed the pattern of the divisional council except that only
one-third of the appointed members had to be selected from union council
chairmen.
• The council did not have any power.
• However, it was dropped with the introduction of provincial assemblies in
both East and West Pakistan.
 The Divisional Council
• Of the five councils created by the Basic Democracies Order only the union
and district councils had been given specific functions.
• The divisional and thana council performed mostly coordinative functions.
• The most important feature of the basic democracy system was that it formed
the national electoral college consisting of 80,000 basic democrats
• These basic democrats were basically democratically elected public
representatives who served in the Divisional, District, Tehsil or Union councils)
from East and West Pakistan for the elections of President, members of
national assembly and of the provincial assemblies.
Structural Arrangement of BD
 Political Impact
• Apart from being the agent of local government, the basic democracies also
performed political and electoral functions to legitimize the government
through popular support and participation.
• In the referendum for presidential elections held on 14 February 1960 the basic
democrats voted for Ayub Khan.
• In such an election in February, 1960, Ayub won by a vote of 95.6 per cent.
• Pakistan's second Presidential Elections were held on 2 January 1965.
• The election results came in favor of the incumbent President Ayub Khan, who
had won 62.43% of the Electoral vote, while Fatima Jinnah was at 35.86%.
 Political Impact
• Ms. Jinnah was however extremely successful in some areas of the country.
She had swept across major urban centres such as Karachi and Dhaka.
• Ayub also faced disappointing results in East Pakistan.
• However, Ayub had decisively triumphed in rural Pakistan.
• As majority of the Electoral College consisted of representatives from the
rural setup, Ayub was able to win a clear majority.
• The election results were not accepted by the Combined Opposition Parties,
who accused Ayub Khan of rigging.
• The COP staged demonstrations and protests, however, didn't gain much
public support as Ms. Jinnah accepted the election results.
 Political Impact
• The monopolization of electoral rights by the basic democrats was strongly
despised by the vast rural and urban masses, which led to mass upheaval
against Ayub in 1969.
• As a political institution, it not only failed to legitimize the regime but also in
fact lost its legitimacy after the fall of General Ayub in 1969.
• The only beneficiaries of the system were big landlords, industrialists, and
the civil service whose powers were greatly augmented in that period(the
gainers).
 Critique
• Ayub Khan changed the definition of democracy as “government for the people
by the bureaucracy” from “government of the people, for the people and by the
people”.
• Under this system, district administration and elected bodies were given under
district bureaucrats to strengthen the Electoral College for future presidential
elections.
• It was an effort to undermine the political competitions by district officials
(Musarrat & Azhar, 2012).
• BD System was dominantly bureaucratic in nature. Bureaucracy was given upper
hand in decision-making even they had powers to suspend the elected
representatives (Batool, 2014).
• Military-bureaucratic oligarchy was the main framer of that local government
system.
 Critique
• Ayub Khan decentralized the political powers to strengthen his central
control over federating units.
• Administrative, political and financial control of district bureaucracy
helped to manipulate the local politics (International Crisis Group,
2004).
• Divisional, district and thana level bureaucrats were privileged while
elected representatives of councils politically and administratively
pathetic.
• Union councils were not authorized in budgetary allocations
 Critique
• DM/Deputy Commissioner was authorized to appoint a person to
investigate the unlawful activities of the councils and act in case of
failure of union council to take such action (Friedman, 1960).
• Commissioners and deputy commissioners performed various duties
under the system of Basic Democracies.
• Nominations and appointments of official and non-official members of
local councils were purely rested with the office of those officers.
• Bureaucracy depoliticized the institutions and isolated the politicians and
political parties from governance mechanism.
 Modernization of Pakistan
• The decade of 1960s in Pakistan also witnessed modernization under General Ayub
Khan, who passionately believed in the progressive-liberal and modernist version of
Islam.
• In 1958, a legal commission was set up to suggest reforms of the family and marriage
laws. Ayub Khan examined its report and in 1961 issued the Family Laws Ordinance.
Among other things, it restricted polygamy and 'regulated' marriage and divorce, giving
women more equal treatment under the law than they had before.
• Land reform and consolidation of holdings were combined with rural credit program
and work program, higher procurement prices, increased allocations for agriculture,
and, especially improved seeds to put the country on the road to self-sufficiency in food
grains in the process described as the Green Revolution.
 Modernization of Pakistan
• The Ayub policies brought 15% GNP growth of the country that was three times greater than
that of India. Despite the increase in the GNP growth, the profit and revenue was gained by
the famous 22 families of the time that controlled 66% of the industries and land of the
country and 80% of the banking and insurance of Pakistan.

Foreign Policy
• Ayub Khan was the architect of Pakistan's policy of close alignment with the United States,
and his first major foreign policy act was to sign bilateral economic and military agreements
with the United States in 1959.
• Pakistan’s friendship with China intensified in 1959 when China occupied Tibet and Dalai
Lama fled to India. During China’s invasion of northern India in 1962, Ayub established close
relations with China and received substantial military aid from it. In the meantime, Pakistan’s
dispute with India over Jammu and Kashmir worsened, culminating in the outbreak of war in
1965.
 Discriminative Policy towards Bengalis
• The Ayub regime did not adopt any special policy to make the military more
nationally representative. According to Herbert Feldman, who wrote the book
The End and the Beginning: Pakistan, 1969-1971- “Sixty percent of the army
consisted of the Punjabis, 35 percent were Pushtuns and other constituted the
remaining 5 percent.
Discriminative Policy towards Bengalis
 Discriminative Policy towards Bengalis
• The Bengalis were greatly underrepresented in the Central Civilian Services (CSP). Apart
from the disparity in Armed forces, East Pakistanis demanded parity in the Civil Service.
Their representation in (CSP) was less than West Pakistan.

• The people of East Pakistan demanded parity in the Civil Service. They were convinced
that economic disparity could not be corrected unless a greater number of East Pakistanis
were placed in senior positions in Secretariat. The Bengali position in the civil service even
in 1964 was that there were only two Bengali officers who held the rank of Acting
Secretaries, West Pakistan not only hosted the central government but also held nearly 90
percent of its position.

• This exploitative and discriminative policy continued over the years and thus 6 points
movement emerged as the political destiny of the Bengalis.