Pakistan History Course Notes: Ayub Khan to Zulfikar Ali Bhutto

First Martial Law and the Controlled Democracy: The Ayub Era ($1958$-$1969$)\n\n- Ayub Khan replaced Iskander Mirza in a coup d’ tat, promising to restore democracy but ultimately taking greater authority for himself without delivering promised progress.\n- Definition: Coup d’ tat is typically an illegal and overt attempt by a military organization or other government elites to unseat an incumbent leadership.\n- Ayub Khan’s takeover set a pattern for later military rulers unseating elected leaders, leading to a cycle between democracy and dictatorship for the next half-century.\n- The administration faced significant challenges, including:\n - A poor and uneducated population.\n - Lack of public services and economic development.\n - Various ethnic and religious groups/sects resisting assimilation.\n - Intensifying hostility between East and West Pakistan.\n- Within a decade of the coup, dissatisfaction led to demands for freedom and a temporary restoration of civilian rule. Ayub Khan believed democracy needed to be limited to avoid being counterproductive in a struggling nation.\n- Ayub Khan utilized initial public support to institute reforms in political, social, and economic sectors, with a priority on destroying the existing political order:\n - Political parties were abolished on October $7$, $1958$.\n - The Elected Bodies Disqualification Order (EBDO) and Public Officers Disqualification Order (PODO) were passed in August $1959$.\n - Under EBDO, $75$ leaders were disqualified from political activities for $8$ years (until December $1966$). Targeted groups included the National Awami Party and the East Pakistan Awami League due to their opposition to ‘One Unit’.\n - Under PODO, corrupt administrators were put on trial.\n\n# The Basic Democracies Order ($1959$)\n\n- Introduced on October $27$, $1959$, this plan replaced the parliamentary system with an indirect elective government system, suspending the $1956$ constitution.\n- Doctrine: Believed Pakistan’s largely illiterate population required limited democracy with reduced freedoms.\n- The system aimed to slowly introduce the population to government workings, limiting decision-making to local government and rural development.\n- Terminologies: Ayub Khan called it ‘Basic Democracies’; critics called it ‘Representational Dictatorship’.\n- Structure: Created approximately $80,000$ elective council seats. The public voted for these representatives (members of village and town councils), who then elected members of the national assembly and senior government officials.\n- Criticisms: The $80,000$ representatives represented less than one-thousandth of the population and were prone to pressure from Ayub Khan and his proxies compared to anonymous citizens.\n\n# Land Reforms and Economic Measures in West Pakistan\n\n- Ayub Khan undertook major land reforms to curb the influence of landlords, viewing their concentration of wealth as a threat to government and economic progress.\n- Holding Limits for West Pakistan:\n - Non-irrigated lands: $1,000$ acres.\n - Irrigated lands: $500$ acres.\n- Excess land was distributed to people chosen by the government.\n\n# Islamabad: The New Capital\n\n- In $1959$, Ayub Khan moved to relocate the capital from Karachi to an inland location.\n- A commission chaired by Agha Muhammad Yahya Khan (Chief of Army Staff, $1917$–$1980$) recommended a site north of Rawalpindi.\n- Design and Planning:\n - Greek firm Doxiadis designed the city in a triangular grid pointing toward the Margalla Hills.\n - The name Islamabad (‘City of Islam’) was chosen to placate religious figures concerned with the regime’s secular tilt.\n- Timeline:\n - Construction began: $1961$.\n - First residents arrived: $1963$.\n - Official federal capital status: Per the Constitution of $1962$.\n- Wing Parity: Only the executive branch was based in Islamabad. The legislative branch was based in a new city near Dhaka, East Pakistan, to show the East Wing's importance.\n\n# Resolving the Indus Water Dispute\n\n- In December $1958$, Pakistan accepted the World Bank’s plan for dividing Indus River waters; India had already accepted.\n- The Indus Waters Treaty was signed on September $19$, $1960$.\n - Pakistan's exclusive rights: Indus, Jhelum, and Chenab Rivers.\n - India's exclusive rights: Ravi, Beas, and Sutlej Rivers (up to their entry into East Punjab).\n - There was a $10$-year transition period where India supplied water from eastern rivers to Pakistan.\n- Water Projects: Pakistan utilized the transition to build/renovate massive projects, including dams at:\n - Warsak (Federally Administered Tribal Areas).\n - Mangla (Azad Kashmir).\n - Tarbela ($30$ miles/$50$ km northwest of Islamabad).\n- Funding: These cost approximately $900$ million, funded by World Bank loans, Indian compensation, and contributions from Australia, Canada, West Germany, New Zealand, UK, and USA.\n\n# The Constitution of $1962$ and Initial Measures\n\n- Ayub Khan used the $80,000$ council members to hold a referendum in February $1960$, winning approval to remain President for $5$ years and draft a new constitution.\n- Secular Tilt: Ayub Khan attempted to counter the power of the religious establishment. In his book Friends Not Masters ($1967$), he accused the ulema of turning an enthusiastic people into a cynical community. The Muslim Family Laws Ordinance ($1961$) made religious law subservient to secular rules.\n- Adoption: The Constitution was adopted in March $1962$.\n- Presidential Powers: Massive authority consolidated in the President, who had to be a Muslim, serving a $5$-year term (max $2$ terms).\n - Roles: Head of state, head of government, commander of armed forces.\n - Appointments: Federal ministers, department heads, administrative commissions, provincial governors, and chief justices of supreme/high courts.\n - Legislative Control: Power to veto legislation, dismiss members of the National Assembly, and make laws while the legislature was out of session. Could declare a state of emergency to abrogate legislative approval.\n- Structure of Legislature: Unicameral National Assembly with $156$ members.\n- Constitutional Identity:\n - Initially dropped ‘Islamic’ from the name (Republic of Pakistan).\n - The First Amendment (December $1962$) restored the name to Islamic Republic of Pakistan due to National Assembly pressure.\n - Established the Advisory Council of Islamic Ideology.\n- Governance Concepts: Retained ‘One Unit’ for West Pakistan and parity for the two wings. National languages: Urdu and Bengali (English as official language for $10$ years).\n\n# The Economy and Sustainability Under Military Regimes\n\n- National targets for the first five-year plan ($1955$–$1960$) were not met; per capita income growth was less than $1$ percent.\n- Second Five-Year Plan ($1960$–$1965$): Ayub Khan chaired the planning commission. The Gross National Product (GNP) grew at an annual rate of $5.2$ percent.\n- 'Decade of Development': Industrial production grew by $72$ percent compared to an average of $55$ percent for other Asian countries.\n- Factors for Success in Military Regimes vs. Domestic Regimes:\n - Consistency of economic policies over a decade.\n - Generous flow of foreign aid (e.g., aid during Zia’s rule rose to an average of $1,201$ million compared to $770$ million previously due to the Russian intervention in Afghanistan).\n - Centralization of power: Ayub, Zia, and Musharraf held three posts simultaneously (Army Chief, President, Chief Martial Law Administrator).\n- Long-term Drawbacks: Economic growth was often lacklustre in the long run because investment gaps were met by foreign aid rather than domestic savings or exports.\n\n# Foreign Policy and the $1965$ Indo-Pakistan War\n\n- Alliance with the US: Pakistan leased three air bases to the US for the Cold War, but Pakistan exploited this military alliance primarily to offset India, not counter communism.\n- Shift in Relations: Deteriorating ties with the US led Pakistan to explore relations with China and the Soviet Union. In $1961$, Zulfikar Ali Bhutto negotiated oil and gas agreements with the Soviets.\n- Kashmir Crisis and ‘Operation Gibraltar’:\n - Confrontations first erupted in April $1965$ at the Rann of Kutch (salt-marsh region of $3,500$ sq. miles or $9,100$ sq. km).\n - Encouraged by limited military success, the government launched Operation Gibraltar on August $5$, $1965$, infiltrating warriors into Kashmir to incite insurrection. It failed.\n- Full-Scale War: Started September $6$, $1965$, after India launched attacks on Lahore, Sialkot, and Rajasthan. Pakistan invaded India at several points.\n- Tashkent Declaration: Issued after a UN-sponsored cease-fire (effective September $23$, $1965$). Signed January $10$, $1966$ (negotiations started Jan $4$).\n - Terms: Withdraw forces to positions held prior to August $5$, $1964$; renounce force for settlements.\n - Reactions: Stunned Pakistanis who felt they were winning; considered a humiliation, leading to riots and a weakened Ayub Khan.\n\n# Economic Fallout and Growing Unrest\n\n- Third Five-Year Plan ($1965$-$1970$) was derailed by war costs. By the end, GNP grew at $5.5$ percent, but income was not shared equally.\n- Resource Disparity Data ($1950$–$1970$):\n - $1950$–$1955$: West Pakistan spending $1,129$ crore ($68.31$ percent); East Pakistan spending $524$ crore ($31.69$ percent).\n - $1955$–$1960$: West Pakistan spending $1,655$ crore ($75.95$ percent); East Pakistan spending $524$ crore ($24.05$ percent).\n - $1960$–$1965$: West Pakistan spending $3,355$ crore ($70.5$ percent); East Pakistan spending $1,404$ crore ($29.5$ percent).\n - $1965$–$1970$: West Pakistan spending $5,195$ crore ($70.82$ percent); East Pakistan spending $2,141$ crore ($29.18$ percent).\n - Total: West ($71.16$ percent), East ($28.84$ percent). Note: East Pakistan held $63.77$ percent of the total population.\n\n# The Six Points of the Awami League (February $21$, $1966$)\n\n1. Federation based on Lahore Resolution with a parliamentary form and universal adult franchise.\n2. Federal government deals only with Defence and Foreign Affairs.\n3. Separate currencies for both wings or one currency with provisions to stop capital flight from East to West. Separate Banking Reserve and fiscal/monetary policy for East Pakistan.\n4. Taxation and revenue collection power vested in federating units, not the federal center.\n5. Separate accounts for foreign exchange earnings; units established trade links with foreign countries.\n6. East Pakistan to have separate military/paramilitary force; Navy headquarters in East Pakistan.\n\n# Yahya Khan’s Regime ($1969$-$1971$) and Civil War\n\n- Initiatives: Established National Security Council (NSC); advisor Major-General Ghulam Omar.\n- Legal Framework Order (LFO) No. $1970$: Disestablished ‘One Unit’; removed the prefix ‘West’ and renamed it Pakistan.\n- General Elections $1970$:\n - Voter count: $56,941,500$ ($31.2$ million East; $25.7$ million West).\n - Awami League (Mujibur Rahman) won $160$ of $300$ National Assembly seats (all in East wing).\n - PPP (Zulfikar Ali Bhutto) won $81$ of $138$ West Pakistan seats.\n- Refusal to Transmit Power: Bhutto refused to accept Mujib as Prime Minister or his Six Points. Meetings in Dhaka failed to find common ground.\n- Operation Searchlight: Launched March $25$, $1971$; military offensive in East wing. Mujibur Rahman was arrested. East Wing declared independence as Bangladesh on March $26$, $1971$.\n- War and Surrender:\n - India invaded on November $21$, $1971$, siding with the Mukti Bahini.\n - Strength: Mukti Bahini ($175,000$), India ($250,000$), Pakistan ($365,000$ regular, approx. $97,000$ in East).\n - Surrender: General Amir Abdullah Khan Niazi signed the Instrument of Surrender on December $16$, $1971$. Approximately $93,000$ prisoners of war (POWs) taken.\n - Casualties: Estimated between $300,000$ and $3$ million civilian deaths.\n\n# Hamoodur Rahman Commission (War Enquiry Commission)\n\n- Established December $26$, $1971$; Chaired by Chief Justice Hamoodur Rahman.\n- Findings from the First and Supplementary ($1974$) reports:\n - Accused the army of arson, killings of intellectuals, professionals, and the Hindu minority.\n - Accused army generals of ‘premature surrender’.\n - Identified military interference in politics after $1958$ as a cause of corruption and senior-officer ineffectiveness.\n\n# Zulfikar Ali Bhutto’s Regime ($1971$-$1977$)\n\n- Simla Agreement (July $1972$): Signed with Indira Gandhi. India returned $5,000$ sq. miles of territory; Pakistan returned $70$ sq. miles. Released POWs after Pakistan agreed to recognize Bangladesh (done formally February $22$, $1974$).\n- Foreign Policy: Terminated SEATO and Commonwealth memberships. Recognized East Germany, North Korea, and North Vietnam. Policy of bilateralism with major powers.\n- Internal Policies and Islamic Socialism:\n - Nationalized $10$ heavy industries ($1972$) and $32$ life insurance companies. Banks nationalized later.\n - Land Reform: Irrigation limit lowered to $150$ acres; non-irrigated to $300$ acres.\n - Devalued Rupee by $58$ percent to improve trade balance (stimulated inflation).\n- Constitution of $1973$ (August $14$, $1973$):\n - Federal republic; Islam as state religion.\n - Bicameral system (National Assembly and Senate).\n - Primacy of the Prime Minister; military put under civilian authority.\n - Qur’an teaching made compulsory; Zakat collection organized by state.\n- Balochistan Insurgency ($1973$-$1977$): Led by Baloch People’s Liberation Organization (BPLO). Suppressed with help from Iranian Huey-Cobra gunships.\n- Elections of $1977$: The Pakistan National Alliance (PNA), a coalition of $9$ parties, campaigned on an anti-Bhutto platform. After PPP's victory, PNA alleged massive fraud, leading to nationwide strikes and violence.\n- End of Rule: General Muhammad Zia ul-Haq arrested Bhutto and imposed martial law on July $5$, $1977$. Bhutto was later tried and executed.\n\n# Definitions and Philosophical Concepts\n\n- Populism: A political approach striving to appeal to ordinary people who feel their concerns are disregarded by elites.\n- Statism: The doctrine that the political authority of the state is legitimate to some degree.\n- Oligarchy: A small group of people having control of a country or organization.\n- Egalitarian: Believing in the principle that all people are equal and deserve equal rights/opportunities.\n- Islamic Socialism: A term describing a spiritual form of socialism where Sharia principles like Zakat are viewed as compatible with economic equality.", "title": "History of Pakistan (1947–1977): The Eras of Ayub Khan, Yahya Khan, and Zulfikar Ali Bhutto"}