AYUB KHAN ERA

(1958-1969)

INTRODUCTION:
Ayub khan was born in small village of Rehana in 1907 A.D.
His father Meer Dad was the Junior Commissioner Officer. He got early education
from his village and then for higher education moved to Aligarh University. After
studied in Aligarh University Ayub Khan commissioned as an officer in the Indian
Army in 1928. In 1958 President Iskander Mirza abrogated the constitution and
appointed Ayub as chief Martial law administrator.

Military Career of Ayub Khan:

Ayub khan got selected in Royal
Military Academy for getting Military education. After passing out from Royal
Military Academy in 1972, he was appointed as second lieutenant in Royal British
Army. He was an intelligent and brave soldier with very short span of time in 1973
he promoted as captain. In 1940 he appointed as Major of Army. In World War-2
he was second in command of a regiment in Burma. After partition he was rapidly
promoted in the army of the new Muslim state of Pakistan. Ayub Khan became
minister of defence in 1954. On the time of partition he was serving as Brigadier
of British army in 1947. He was appointed as commander in chief in 1951.

Martial law:
The government of Iskander Mirza was unpopular and the
political situation was chaotic. People were in great despair. General Ayub Khan
deposed Iskander Mirza in 7th October 1958. He imposed Martial law and justified
his actions on some grounds.

President of Pakistan:
Ayub Khan removed Iskander Mirza and took on
the office of president. This event was known as the GLORIOUS REVOLUTION.
Legitimization under the doctrine of necessity:
There was a legal
th
vacuum when the military took over on 7 October 1958. Under which legal
system the courts would operate. The president issued a new legal order titled
LAWS ORDER on 10th October 1958.

Law Orders:
The law orders provided for;

 Validation of laws in force before the declaration of martial law

 Restoration of jurisdiction of courts
 Governance as nearly as possible in accordance with the 1956 constitution.

Causes of the Martial Law

Some important causes of this martial law are given below,

 Political conflict
 Poor economic conditions
 Lack of political leadership
 Smuggling and nepotism
 Role of bureaucracy
 Ayub Khan politics
 Provincial prejudices
 Political instability
 Delay in elections

Early Issues of Ayub Era

Many issues were found at the early stage of his era. Among them some of them
are given below;

 Rejection of strict laws of dictatorship

 Unbalance diplomatic policies
 Weak economy of country
 Lack of weapons and technology
  Social disparities
 Crisis of sugar
 Failure of import policies
 Hatred of east Pakistan

 Five Year Plan For The Economy Of Pakistan (1960-1965):

This plan gave highest priority to agriculture, heavy industrial development and
science. This plan gave Pakistan an increase income of 20% and the growth rate of
agriculture increased from 1.43 to 5.1%.Other reasons for the country economy
increment was Korean War proved to be a highly factor.

Constitution of Pakistan (1962)

In February, 1960 Ayub Khan constituted a ten members constitution commission
for the formulation of constitution. Former chief Justice, Shahb-ud-Din, chaired
this commission. It submitted its recommendations to the then president of
Pakistan on May 6, 1961. Through a Presidential Order, the then President
Muhammad Ayub Khan promulgated this constitution in the country on June 8,
1962. Some special features of this constitution are as follows;

 The constitution of 1962 consists of 250 section and 3 schedule.

 Pakistan was declared Democratic Islamic Republic.
 Urdu and Bengal were declared two national languages of Pakistan.

Reforms Introduced by Ayub Khan:

The two famous reforms introduced by the ayub khan were;

 Legal Reforms
 Foreign Policy

 Legal Reforms:
In legal reforms he introduced the Muslim Family Laws in March 2, 1961 .
According to this law,
  Muslims marriages were to be compulsory registered in Union Councils.
 Unwanted polygamy was abolished.
 The minimum age limit for marriage was fixed.
 In case of divorce a period of 90 days was fixed as iddat period.
 Orphaned grand-children may receive share from the property of their
grandparents.
 Increasing population shall be controlled through family planning.

 Foreign Policy:
He introduced the foreign policy of allied Pakistan with the global U.S military
alliance against the Soviet Union.

His cultivation of China angered the USA. The war increased the socio economic
problem. Therefore , Ayub Khan was not successful in his foreign policy.

Relations with Other Countries:

Ayub khan in his reign established
relations with other countries as well. He established relations with USA, Great
Britain, China, Soviet Union.

Shifting of Capital:
After the partition of Pakistan, Karachi was declared as
the capital city of Pakistan by considering various purposes. But Ayub Khan
decided to shift the capital of the country Karachi to Islamabad. He said that
Karachi was unsuitable for various purpose for location and business. In 1967, he
officially made Islamabad as the capital city of Pakistan by saying that Islamabad is
a modern and carefully planned city.

Some Major Developments

 Through purge of bureaucracy through scrutiny and screening process.
 Land reforms announced in January 1959.
 Prohibition of politicians taking part in politics by enacting.
  System of basic democracies introduced on 27th October 1959
 Presidential referendum in February 1960.
 Indirect Presidential elections in December 1964
 Shifting of capital order 1959, completed by 1964
 Capitalist system of economic development
 1962 constitution
 Rapid industrialization
 1965 war with India
 Agitations of 1968-69

Industrial Revolution in Ayub Era:

Ayub Khan’s era is known for the industrialization in the country. He created an
environment where private sector was encouraged to establish medium and small
scale industries in Pakistan. This opened up avenues for new job opportunities
and thus the economic graph of the country started rising.

 He established cotton industry in Faisalabad.

 He established heavy machinery and fan industry in Gujrat.
 He established sports industry in Sialkot.
 He also established the small and medium size of mills in Pakistan. He also
give subsidy to industrialist for importing goods from the foreign countries.

Science, technology & Air Line development:

 In the field of science and technology Ayub khan did a lot. The first satellite
AL-BADAR was also launched for during the research of the space science.
 Ayub khan also gave boost to the Pakistan in the field of airline.
 SHUKRIA KHANAM was the first women pilot of Pakistan who got the
license of plane flying during the era of ayub khan.
Reforms in Media:
Besides other fields of life Ayub Khan also play its role in
the field of media. In November 25, 1964 Ayub Khan established the first TV
station in Lahore commonly known as the PTV Pakistan Television.

Establishments of Financial & Development Corporations:

Pakist
an Industrial Corporation (PIDC) was set up with the capital of R.S 1 Billion. It was
put in charge to promote the following industries;

 Heavy engendering
 Fertilizers
 Sugar
 Cement

Educational Reform:
After the report of the commission on national education
which identified the importance of education as an investment in national growth
in the Primary education, Secondary education, New curriculum, Building new
institutes, Technical education, University degree coerces, Improve scientific
education and Civil Defense training etc.

Agriculture Reform:
Land reforms & Green revolution—In land reforms a
person could not own more than either 500 acres of canal irrigated land or 1000
acres of unirrigated land.

Other agriculture reforms are given below;

 Utilization of resumed areas

 Creation of pools
 Abolition of jagirs
 Protection of tenants
 Rights for tenants
  Building of three major dams
 Set up of AGRICULTURE DEVELOPMENT BANK
 Loans for farmer

1965 War and Election

After 3.5 years of its life, 1958-62 martial law came to an end . on January 2 nd
1965, presidential elections was to be held. For these elections 4 candidates were
selected i.e. Ayub Khan, Fatima Jinnah and two more members with them was
selected. With them no party was affiliated. Ayub Khan again won the elections
and again became the president.

Border incident was becoming frequent from January 1965 to onwards. At Runn
of kutch India was badly defeated by Pak Army. But on February 19,1965 tribunal
gave northern 350 sq.miles to Pakistan and rest to India. Indian Prime Minister Lal
Bahadur Shastri wanted to amalgamate Kashmir into India so Kashmir called for
an all out war against Indian Imperialism. India made Lahore oppensive on
September 6, 1965 at 3am their targets were Lahore and Sialkot. Soviet Union;
Neutral USA suspended to both China and supported Pakistan. Finally UN
declared cease fire which came into effect on September 23, 1965.

Pakistan army started operation Gibraltar in Kashmir and in the reaction of this
India army attacked Pakistan. At last Pakistan won the war of 1965 by giving many
sacrifices for its homeland.

Tashqand Treaty:
This treaty was signed by Ayub Khan and Indian Prime
Minister. The aim of this treaty was to cease fire in 1965 war. Pakistan president
Ayub Khan ended the 17 day war between Pakistan and India.

 Indo pak war of 1965 was the turning point of his reign which ended in a
settlement reached by Ayub at Tashkent, called the TASHKENT
DECLARATION. The whole nation felt deceive at this act of Ayub Khan; even
his right hand and foreign minister of that time Zulfiqar Bhutto, resigned
from his post and took up the opposition against ayub. The war had its
 repercussions on the domestic politics of the country. Two powers emerged
as a result of this incident i.e. Z. A. Bhutto.
 In west Pakistan and Mujeeb -ur –Rehman opposition in East Pakistan
where the Awami League sought more autonomy for the province.

IN 1966
Tashkent declaration was signed between India & Pakistan. All the talks lasted
from January 4-10. Soviet Union played broker at Tashkent. In accordance with
Tashkent Decaration talks were held on March 1 & 2, 1966.

Final Year In Office

Negotiations were opened up and the pressure was increasing from Z.A Bhutto
and then handed over control of Pakistan by Yahya Khan.

Achievements

Green Revolution:
A green revolution was set in force during five year plan by increasing in
irrigation and introducing mechanized farming and fertilizers. As a result between
1960-1965 agriculture production grow by 3.8% per annum. Between 1960 and
1964-65 irrigation was the main cause of development.

Other Achievements
 Administrative reforms were introduced during his regime.
 He improved law and order in Pakistan.
 He made Islamabad a new capital of Pakistan.
 Making of price control list.
 He took steps up eradicate smuggling.
 He asked to return black money.
 Failures of Ayub

Mujeebs rebellious behavior:

General Ayub Khan was powerful military man
but he did many mistakes on this whole issue. During the war of 1965 east
Pakistanis raised the voice that West Pakistanis left them alone to kill from the
cruel Indian army. This destroyed their confidence over our army and
government. Then duing that period sheikh Mujeeb met numerous times with
Indian high authority and intelligence members of India in London but in the
result he took no any action against him.

 The Indian aggression in 1965 had implications for the economy, including
monetary policy because of this 1966-67 the growth rate of economy
slowed down to 3.1% the lowest in ten year period ending 1969-70.
 Due to increase in prices of fertilizers, edible oil, there was a sharp increase
in the import payments.
 By introducing the system of basic democracy the right of adult franchise
was curtailed.
 The whole of west Pakistan was made in one unit with which the small
provinces were not happy.

Criticism against Ayub Khan:

The criticism against ayub khan started
about government corruption & nepotism. Criticism of his son and family personal
wealth also began. Gohar’s ayub corruption and increasing price of sugar was the
main criticism against the ayub khan.

Conclusion:
Ayub khan was a man of great determination but lacking the quality of
listening to others. He always did what he through better in the light of his known
experience. His regime can be characterized with some developments but he
could not maintain the national harmony among the distant provinces of
Pakistan.