Z U L F I K A R

A L I
B H U T T O
( 1 9 7 1 -
7 7 )
POLITICS
DOMESTIC POLICIES
DOWNFALL
Introduction
• Zulfikar Ali Bhutto became President and CMLA on 20th
December 1971.
Pakistan in 1971:
- Army had suffered a ‘shock’ defeat in East Pakistan.
- East Pakistan had seceded.
- Pakistan was still under martial law.
• The 1970 election had given PPP a majority in the National
Assembly and Bhutto intended to use that power.
Bhutto as CMLA
• At the time of his appointment in 1971, Pakistan was still under martial
law and Bhutto was the first civilian CMLA.
• He aimed to limit the army’s power so that it would not be able to
intervene in his policies.
• He established control by:
1. Removing the most important army leaders.
2. Appointing his own leaders. Example: General Tikka Khan was made
Chief of Army Staff which was a new post.
3. Setting up the Federal Security Force (FSF) from October 1972. This
was a government controlled military force set up to ‘assist the police
force’.
 • Signed on 2nd July 972 with the Indian Prime Minister,
Indira Gandhi.
• Importance: Restoration of diplomatic relations with India
was important to secure the return of Prisoners of War
(PoWs).
• The agreement obligated India to return the PoWs in
exchange for Pakistan agreeing not to discuss the Kashmir
issue on international forums like the UN and do so directly
with India.
• Bhutto did not give up Pakistan’s claim to Kashmir and its
consequent right to speak for Kashmir.
• Impact of Simla Agreement:
1. Dependence on army reduced as chances of war with India
lessened.
2. Improvement of Pakistan’s international reputation as
willing to negotiate for peace.

The Simla Agreement 3. Increased popularity at home for Bhutto by bringing

PoWs home.
Establishing the 1973 Constitution
• April 1972 – martial law was lifted and a new assembly was called
based on the 1970 elections which PPP had won in West Pakistan.
• A constituent committee was set up to come up with the new
constitution and included representatives from different
parties.
• The committee reported in April 1973. Its recommendations
received almost unanimous support in the Assembly.
• 14th August 1973 – the new constitution was enacted. It relied
heavily on the principles of the 1956 Constitution.
• Bhutto became the Prime Minister and Chaudry Fazal Elahi
became the President.
 Most Significant Features
of the 1973 Constitution

1. There would be 2 houses: the Senate and the Assembly. The

Assembly would be elected for 5 years and there would be
equal nomination in the Senate of all 4 provinces.
2. The leader of the party with a majority in the Assembly
would become Prime Minister.
3. The President became largely a figurehead.
4. Pakistan was an Islamic Republic so both the President and
Prime Minister had to be Muslims.
5. Pakistan was a federal state so there were elaborate rules
for provincial governments. Any changes to the Fundamental Human Rights as
Constitution required a 75% majority vote. enshrined in the 1973 Constitution
6. All fundamental basic human rights were guaranteed.
The Federal Security
Force (FSF)
• Purpose: A government controlled
military force set up to ‘assist the police
force’.
• 1975 – Laws passed to allow FSF to
detain suspects indefinitely which took
away the right of bail for anyone in FSF’s
custody.
• This organisation became increasingly
active and would stifle political
opposition by:
1. Breaking up opposition rallies.
2. Intimidating political opponents.
Party Politics & Limitations on Civil
Liberties
• On 27th April 1972, PPP signed a coalition with JUI/NAP which stated that:
1. The National Assembly could not appoint Provincial Governors without
the agreement of the Provincial Assembly (giving greater power to the
provinces).
2. In return for their support of the PPP, NAP and JUI could have a free
hand in their provinces. However, this agreement didn’t last beyond a
year. The Federal Government was only able to put down the unrests
that followed by relying on the army.
3. April 1974 – constitutional amendment allowed the government to
limit press freedom and ban any political parties.
4. 1975 – laws passed allowing security forces to detain suspects
indefinitely without right of bail for FSF detainees.
Bhutto’s Reforms
• Goals of Bhutto’s Government:
1. Raise food production
2. Create more jobs
3. Provide a better welfare system

• To achieve this, Bhutto’s government enacted Industrial,

Agricultural, Social and Administrative Reforms.
• To achieve these, it would cost money and time for implementation.
Industrial Reforms
• Bhutto’s Goals: Promote economic growth and bring
down inflation from a soaring rate of 25%.
• A major part of his reforms was Nationalisation.
• Industries taken under government control: Sugar,
cotton, vegetable oil, rice, banking and insurance.
• 70 Major Industrial Units were placed under the
control of a Federal Ministry of Production.
Purpose of Industrial Reforms
1. Control Industrial Output and Channel investment into
industrialisation.
2. Raise the workers’ living and working standards along with
provision of cheap housing.
3. All the workers to set up unions.
4. Even out the financial disparity and inequalities since only 20
industrial houses owned 80% of Pakistan’s large-scale industry.
5. Create wealth to fund other government reforms.
6. Raise PPP’s popularity with the urban populace.
PROBLEMS OF NATIONALISATION IN
INDUSTRIAL REFORMS
1. Capable factory owners were often replaced by civil servants with little
understanding of commerce.
2. Nationalisation across the country often got bogged down in bureaucratic
muddle.
3. Changes occurred during a global recession. Private companies would
have been forced to shut down but Pakistan’s nationalised industries had
to continue operating, even when making a loss.
Successes:
a. Inflation fell to 6% in 1976 from a rate of 25% when Bhutto took over in
1971.
b. Economic Growth also began to increase.
Agricultural Reforms
1. Land Ownership - Bhutto made the size of land for each landowner
smaller as he believed increasing use of technology would allow them
to be more productive on small pieces of land.
- The surplus land was sold to peasant farmers to make better profits.
More land was also available to allow many people to own their own
farms for the first time.
Failures:
- Big landowners had anticipated this policy of Bhutto’s and had
transferred their lands to family or trusted tenants so they could then
lease them back.
They also made use of personal influence and bribery to persuade
officials to overlook their transgressions of the new law.
Agricultural Reforms
2. Security of Tenure – Tenants were given the first right of purchase of land
farmed by them. This meant that land could not be sold to third party buyers
who could then evict these tenants. Hence, tenants were encouraged to
make more improvements on the land knowing they couldn’t be evicted.
Failures:
- This resulted in mass eviction of tenants by big landowners to prevent
security of tenure from applying to them.
- It was also very difficult for tenants to gather the funds to buy this land and
fight a legal case if the landowner refused to sell to him.
- Many big landowners also used their social influence to convince officials to
record land as ‘owner-cultivated’ when it was actually being managed by
tenants.
Social Reforms – Education
• Article 37 of the 1973 Constitution entitled every Pakistani child to
free and compulsory education provided by the government.
• Bhutto’s government outlined eight ambitious goals:
 Social Reforms – Education
• Challenges faced by Bhutto’s government in their implementation were:
1. There was disparity as areas with a greater number of administrators were
able to plan better while other areas saw little impact.
2. Only 13% of the government education budget was allocated to primary
schools so implementation was difficult.
3. Many people in rural areas did not see the need for education or literacy.
Even free education was not appealing as many poor farmers couldn’t
afford the loss of earnings made by their children.
4. Drop in the standard of education due to inability to cater to a growing
number of students with no additional trained staff.
5. Education is a slow process which is why even after 5 years, the literacy rate
had not risen by more than 1%.
Social Reforms – Health
• Pakistan had poor healthcare facilitaties, low life expectancy, and one of the highest
infant mortality rates in the world.
• In August 1972, Bhutto launched a health scheme to correct this:
1. Rural Health Centres (RHC) and Basic Health Units (BHU) introduced.
2. Training colleges for doctors and nurses expected to admit on merit and after
graduation doctors had to practice wherever their government placed them for the
first year.
3. Sale of medicines under brand names banned. This reduced the cost of medicines
dramatically and they could be bought at any pharmacy without prescriptions.
Failures:
- There was a shortage of doctors and nurses as there was a fewer number of them in
1977 than in 1970.
- Many international drug companies closed down their operations in Pakistan as they
could not make a profit.
Administrative Reforms
• Bhutto wanted a modern and efficient civil service as he felt the current
CSP was inefficient and full of unnecessary rules and regulations.
• He reorganised the CSP and unified pay scales to remove
unnecessary distinctions between types of civil servants.
• He reformed the entry requirements so people could join at any level
– even senior ones. According to Bhutto, this would encourage
recruitment of high quality staff.
• Criticism: Opponents felt Bhutto was setting up a system of patronage
where he could reward his followers with posts in the CSP.
The 1977 Elections
• When Bhutto called a general election in 1977, he was confident that
his government’s record + lack of effective opposition would lead
the PPP to victory.
• However, nine opposition parties combined to form the Pakistan
National Alliance (PNA). Their aims were to:
1. End the rule of Bhutto and the PPP
2. Rule Pakistan in accordance with Islamic law
• PNA began to attract big audiences to its rallies and was clearly
gaining support.
• Bhutto’s government passed a law limiting public gatherings to five
people.
Election Results
• Landslide victory for the PPP. It
won 154 of the 200 seats
contested.
• PNA accused PPP of rigging the
elections and demanded new
elections. However, no
substantial basis for this
accusation was found.
Bhutto vs. PNA
• When Bhutto refused to hold fresh elections, PNA organised mass
protests against the government. Even the FSF could not stop the
unrest.
• Bhutto was then forced to negotiate with PNA and offered to hold
fresh elections in some disputed constituencies.
• He also banned gambling, restricted the sale of alcohol and
declared Friday to be the weekly holiday to appease the religious
factions.
• At the same time, Bhutto also turned to the army for help.
Imposition of the 3rd Martial Law in
Pakistan
• On 19th April 1977, Bhutto declared a state of emergency and
imposed martial law for the third time in Pakistan’s history.
• PNA leaders were arrested.
• The army leaders viewed the concessions Bhutto was making as
signs of weakness.
• Hence, on 5th July 1977, the army launched Operation Fairplay
during which Bhutto and all other major political leaders were
arrested.
• On 7th July 1977, the Chief of Army Staff, General Zia-ul-Haq,
abrogated the Constitution and dissolved all Assemblies.