Lecture 12

The Emergence of Pakistan, Difficulties and Problems on the Establishment of

Pakistan, Quaid-e-Azam’s utmost attention towards the problems.
 The Problems of Partition and the Nascent State
Pakistan came into existence as the fifth most populous and biggest Muslim State, Quaid-e-Azam Muhammad Ali Jinnah
was sworn in as the Governor General of Pakistan. He declared that Pakistan has come to exist for ever, but the new
nation faced many problems before it could feel secure.
As a result of British-Hindu conspiracy on the eve of independence the state of Pakistan which ultimately emerged in
August 1947, was not so strong as visualized by the Quaid-e-Azam but only a mutilated, moth-eaten and truncated
Pakistan.
The leaders of India had accepted the partition of the sub-continent in the expectation that Pakistan would not be able to
survive, most of leaders of congress subscribed to the view that Pakistan was not a viable state - politically, economically,
geographically or military – and that sooner or later the areas which had ceded would be compelled by force of
circumstances to return to the fold.
This was the challenge for the Quaid-e-Azam; to establish the new country and to hold it together, despite the many
problems it faced at the time of partition.

The Radcliffe Award

Mount Batten had appointed Sir Cyril Radcliffe as the chairman of boundary commission to establish the new borders. The
boundary award was announced on 16th August. The Radcliffe award was unfair to Pakistan because it awarded many
Muslim areas in Punjab and Bengal to India. The League was disappointed to hear that in Bengal, the great city of Calcutta
was given to India, even though it was surrounded by Muslim areas. In Punjab , both Ferozpur and Gurdaspur were given to
india. By awarding Gurdaspur to India the Indians now had a border with Kashmir and future disputes between India and
Pakistan became inevitable.
 Geographical problems
 Pakistan, at the time of its independence was a unique country. It consisted of two wings situated at one
thousand miles away with Indian territory lying in between the two wings. The geographical location of
the two wings - East Pakistan and West Pakistan – made it difficult to govern the country effectively and
smoothly. Moreover Pakistan did not have clear and natural boundaries such as rivers, mountains and the
sea. These clearly indicate that where one country ends and the other begins. But Pakistan lacked in
this important and vital geographical indicators.
 East Pakistan was comprised of most of Bengal and the district of Sylhet. Geographically East Pakistan
was situated at the farthest end of the sub-continent which spurred their mental dissatisfaction from
the rest of the country
 West Pakistan was comprised of West Punjab, Sind, Balochistan and the NWFP. The West Pakistan was
large area with a more developed economic and social system
 The Princely States of Dir, Sawat, Chitral, Amb, Hunza, Gilgit and Bhawalpur had also joined Pakistan.
 Due to the vast geographical distance of more than one thousand miles, the two wings kept a part
culturally. There were significant differences of outlook between the two people. A sense of insecurity
and deprivation developed in the people of East Wing especially because the capital was situated in
West Pakistan, they always felt alienated which gave rise to the feeling of separation and provincialism.
Political Problems
 When Pakistan came into being there was hardly a reasonable accommodation available to set up government
offices. The government offices were set up in private buildings and army barracks. Furniture and stationery
for office work, were not available. The conditions, under which the administrative work began, were
extremely difficult. However, the officials accepted the challenge with firmness and determination, they
worked diligently with a spirit of sacrifice in the most difficult circumstances. It was all because of the
dynamic and selfless leadership of Quaid-e-Azam that the nation successfully faced the formidable challenge.
 India had officials, members of the Indian National Congress with political experience to take over the
government. These people had worked to gain political influence under the British and they had experience
both of the election process and of holding political office. In Pakistan, the Constituent Assembly members
were mostly wealthy landowners with little political experience.
 The geographical distance between East and West Pakistan made it difficult to govern as one country.
 The major political problem that Pakistan faced was the issue of provincialism, it was the most alarming issue
for the stability and solidarity of the newly born country. The linguistic agitation added fuel to the fire by
stimulating the sentiments of provincialism.
 The monopoly of West Pakistanis in the government departments accelerated the apprehensions of the Bengalis
who believed that they were being ignored of their rights in the national progress. The Quaid-e-Azam warned
the people of the dangerous impact of provincialism.
FORMATION OF A GOVERNMENT
 The immediate task before the nation after independence, was to set up a workable
administrative and governmental machinery to run the affairs of the newly born state. The
biggest administrative problem facing Pakistan was the acute shortage of competent and
experienced personnel in the central and provincial governments. There were serious
deficiencies in cadres of general administration as well as in the technical services.
 The Quaid-e-Azam became the first Governor General of Pakistan. He had full authority on
civil as well as the armed forces of Pakistan. He formed his cabinet with Liaquat Ali Khan as
Prime Minister. Karachi was chosen first capital of Pakistan. Arrangements were made to
bring Muslim officials to Pakistan who had opted for Pakistan.
 ECONOMIC PROBLEMS
 Pakistan was comprised of those areas which were backward and underdeveloped. These areas were
mostly producers of raw materials which could not be used locally because related Processing
industries were located elsewhere. The British government had not paid any attention towards the
economic uplift of the areas forming Pakistan. The agricultural system was obsolete which increased
the economic problems of Pakistan.
 Division of Armed Forces, Military Assets and Financial Assets
 Pakistan faced dire threats to its security at the time of independence. It needed armed forces and military equipment. Congress and Indian
Cabinet Ministers created many hurdles in the division of military assets
 The assets were to be divided with a ratio of 36% and 64% between Pakistan and India respectively. All the ordinance factories, sixteen in
number, were located in the Indian union. The Indian leaders were stubbornly opposed to the transfer of any ordinance factory to Pakistan,
they were not even prepared to part with any piece of machinery which may have been given to Pakistan.
 It was decided that the army soldiers and men, who opted either for Pakistan or India, but the Indian leaders created many hurdles in the
division of military assets and equipment. The equipment which were given to Pakistan were mostly in shabby condition. The machinery was
obsolete and out of order. A financial settlement was arranged and Rs.60 million in lieu of Pakistan’s share of ordinance factories was given
to Pakistan. With this amount the ordinance factory at Wah was established.
 The Indian leaders adopted every possible means to strangle Pakistan’s economy so that it should not survive. It was decided that Pakistan
was to get 750 million rupees of the 4 billion rupees in the Reserve Bank. The first instalment of Rs.200 million was paid. Then war broke
out over Kashmir. India refused to pay the rest, saying Pakistan would only use it to buy arms to fight against India, they threatened that the
amount shall not be paid until Pakistan acknowledged India’s right over Kashmir. Mr. Gandhi intervened by a threat of going to hunger strike
if the amount was not paid to Pakistan, on Gandhi’s insistence Indian government gave another instalment of 500 million. The remaining
amount of 50 million has not been paid uptil now.
 Indus Basin Water Treaty
 The water dispute had its origin in the partition of Punjab. It came to light on April 1 st 1948, when India cut off the flow of canal waters to
West Punjab in Pakistan. West Pakistan has a fertile soil but hot and dry climate. Agriculture, the mainstay of Pakistan’s economy is,
therefore, dependent almost entirely upon irrigation by canals drawn from the Indus and its five tributaries.
 India promised not to interfere with the waters of those rivers, but only after few months
 of partition, India stopped the waters of the river Ravi and Sutlaj. Pakistan however managed to overcome its problem with the assistance
of the world bank. In 1960 Indus Basin Water Treaty was signed between India and Pakistan, according to this treaty the rivers Beas, Ravi and
sutlaj would be used by India while the waters of the river Chanab, Jhelum and Indus would be given to Pakistan
The Accession of Princely States
 Hyderabad was the largest and richest of the Princely states with a population of160 million, the state had a non-
Muslim majority but the Nizam was Muslim and, therefore, favored joining Pakistan. The Indian government began
pressurizing the Nizam to join india and then forcely captured the state.
 Junagarh was a small state. The population was mostly non-Muslims but Prince was Muslim, it announced that it
would join Pakistan, but the Indian government sent troops to surround the state, they invaded and took control of
the area.
 The most serious disagreement between India and Pakistan concerned the state of Jammu and Kashmir. This was the
largest state of the Sub-Continent and the fact that it had boundaries with Tibet, China, Afghanistan and Russia gave
it great strategic importance. In 1947 most of the 4 million inhabitants of Kashmir were Muslim, but the ruler was a
Hindu, he did not want to accede to Pakistan In September 1947 he started a campaign to drive many Muslims out of
Kashmir and a large scale Muslim massacre was planned to turn the Muslim majority into minority. The people
revolted against this mass killing and the despotic policies of the Hindu ruler. More than 2,37, 000 innocent Muslims
were executed and nearly 500, 000 were made to leave their homes and seek shelter in Pakistan. The Maharaja Hari
Singh , could not control the uprising and made an appeal to the Indian government to extend assistance to control
the situation. The Indian government put a condition and first asked for the accession of the valley with India. The
Hindu ruler immediately compiled and announced the accession of Kashmir with India. The Indian government at
once indeed its armed forces in Kashmir. The Quaid-e-Azam, ordered General Gracey, the then C-in-C of Pakistan
army, to attack Kashmir which he refused to carry out on the pretext that he could not take such action without the
orders of the Supreme Commander of Indo-Pakistan armed forces. However, the people of Kashmir fought in a
valiant manner against Indian forces, most of the area was liberated from the Indian occupation. As the Indian
forces had entered Kashmir, the Pakistani borders were in danger . A war between India and Pakistan began. Pakistan
got hold of important posts and places. In January 1948 the matter was referred to the UNO. A ceasefire was
arranged and Kashmir was divided India and Pakistan. Pakistan was angered that India retained the largest area of
Kashmir. The Kashmir problem could not be settled in spite of the best efforts of UNO, India rejected UNO proposals
about Kashmir in 1949. Since then Pakistan has taken initiative and invited world attention towards Kashmir. The
Kashmir issue remains a major source of discontent between the two countries today.
 Efforts for the Consolidation of the State by Quaid-e-Azam
Pakistan had to face many problems after its emergence. The first and immediate problem, which invited the
government attention was the rehabilitation of the refugees, millions of mutilated persons were pushed into
Pakistan to create difficulties for the government which was busy in consolidating itself. Quaid-e-Azam handled the
situation arising out of the influx of refugees with vision, wisdom and courage. He made stirring speeches to revive
faith and confidence in the distressed refugees. He warned the government officials that they were no more the
rulers and now should behave as servants of the people with national spirit. He addressed the nation and said, if we
are not united we shall become weak and disgraced. We are all Pakistanis. None of us is a Punjabi, Sindhi, Balochi,
Pathan or Bengali. Everyone of us should think, feel and act as a Pakistani and we should feel proud of being
Pakistani alone.
Quaid-e-Azam immediately set to the difficult task of re-building the economic system and ordered that a State
Bank of Pakistan be set up immediately. On 1st July, 1948, in his inaugural address he said, The Bank symbolized the
Sovereignty of our people in the financial sphere.
In order to put the administrative machinery on smooth sailing, the Civil Services Rules were drafted and the
Pakistan Secretariat was established. Accounts and Foreign Services were introduced and the first Pay Commission
was set up. Headquarters for Navy, Army and Air Force were set up at different places. Jinnah firmly believed in
enforcing the law and order, he strongly opposed nepotism, bribery, corruption and black marketing, he desired to
see Pakistan progressive, forward looking, modern and welfare oriented within the limits of Islam.