HISTORY OF PAKISTAN & SURRENDER OF DACCA A research based article…………………….T. Agha MD Pakistan was born in bloodshed on August 14, 1947, confronted by insurmountable problems. The Migration of 12 million people involved in the mass transfer of population. Much of the investment in East Pakistan came from West Pakistani. The Bengalis constituted a majority (an estimated 54 percent) of Pakistans entire population. The government machinery established at independence was similar to the British system. When Quaid-e-Azam died on September 1948, the power shifted from the governor general to the Prime Minister, Liaquat Ali Khan. After the assassination of Liaquat Ali Khan on October 16, 1951, Pakistan faced an unstable period. A conservative Bengali, Governor General Khwaja Nazimuddin, succeeded Liaquat Ali Khan as Prime Minister. Former finance minister Ghulam Mohammad became governor general. In 1953 Ghulam Mohammad dismissed Prime Minister Nazimuddin, established martial law and imposed governors rule i.e. direct rule by the central government on East Pakistan. In East Pakistan, the Muslim League was overwhelmingly defeated in the provincial assembly elections by the United Front coalition of Bengali regional parties including Awami League led by Hussain Shaheed Suhrawardy. Rejection of West Pakistans dominance and the desire for Bengali provincial autonomy were the main ingredients of the coalition. After Nazimuddin, in September-October 1954 Prime Minister Bogra tried to limit the powers of Governor General Ghulam Mohammad. Bogra, a man without a personal following, remained Prime Minister but without effective power. General Sikander Mirza, who had been a soldier and civil servant, became minister of the interior, General Mohammad Ayub Khan, the army commander, became minister of defense; and Choudhry Mohammad Ali, former head of the civil service, remained minister of finance. In September, 1955 Bogra fell and was replaced by Choudhry Ghulam Mohammad. He had very poor health. Iskader Mirza succeeded Choudhry Ghulam Mohammad as the governor general in 1955. After successfully promulgating the 1956 constitution, he became the first president. His presidency saw great political instability, challenges in foreign policy, and the ouster of four prime ministers in two years. He finally imposed martial law in 1958 after suspending the constitution and dissolving democratic institutions, including the Pakistan Parliament. Mirza has the distinction of being the first to bring in military influence in national politics after he appointed his army chief as chief martial law administrator of the country. The drift toward economic decline and political chaos continued from1954 till Ayub Khan’s assumption of power on October 27, 1958. (1958-66) The new constitution promulgated by Ayub Khan in March 1962 had following features. 1. All executive authority of the republic lies with the president. 2. As chief executive, the president could appoint ministers without approval by the legislature. 3. There was no provision for a Prime Minister. 4. There was a provision for a National Assembly and two provincial assemblies, whose members were to be chosen by the Basic Democrats. 5. Pakistan was declared a republic. 6. The president was required to be a Muslim, and no law could be passed that was contrary to the tenets of Islam. The 1962 constitution made few concessions to Bengalis. Throughout the Ayub years, East Pakistan and West Pakistan grew farther apart. The death of the Awami Leagues Suhrawardy in 1963 gave the mercurial Sheikh Mujibur Rahman the leadership of East Pakistans dominant party. Mujib, who always advocated the liberation of East Pakistan and had been jailed in 1958 during the military coup, quickly and successfully brought the issue of East Pakistans movement for autonomy to the forefront of the nations politics. During the years between 1960 and 1965: - 1. The annual rate of growth of the gross domestic product per capita was 4.4 percent in West Pakistan versus a poor 2.6 percent in East Pakistan. 2. Bengali politicians complained that much of Pakistans export earnings were generated in East Pakistan by the export of Bengali jute and tea. 3. As late as 1960, approximately 70 percent of Pakistans export earnings originated in the East Pakistan. 4. By the mid-1960s, the East Wing was accounting for less than 60 percent of the nations export earnings, and by the time of Bangladeshs independence in 1971, this percentage had dipped below 50 percent Also West Pakistan was benefiting from Ayubs Decade of Progress, with its successful green revolution in wheat, and from the expansion of markets for West Pakistani textiles, while the East Pakistani standard of living remained at abysmally low level. Bengalis were also upset that West Pakistan was the major beneficiary of foreign aid. All this added to “Emerging Discontent” between 1966-70 In 1966 Shaikh Mujib announced his controversial six-point political and economic program for East Pakistani provincial autonomy. He demanded, 1. The government be federal and parliamentary in nature, its members to be elected with legislative representation on the basis of population 2. The federal government have principal responsibility for foreign affairs and defense only 3. Each wing have its own currency and separate fiscal accounts 4. Taxation would occur at the provincial level, with a federal government funded by constitutionally guaranteed grants 5. Each federal unit could control its own earning of foreign exchange; and 6. Each unit could raise its own militia or paramilitary forces. Mujibs six points ran directly counter to President Ayub Khan’s plan for greater national integration. In January 1968 the government arrested Mujib. On 1968 Ayub Khan suffered a number of setbacks. His health was poor, and he was almost assassinated at a ceremony marking ten years of his rule. On February 21, 1969, Ayub Khan announced that he would not run in the next presidential election in 1970. A state of near anarchy reigned with protests and strikes throughout the country. On March 25,1969, Ayub Khan resigned and handed over the administration to the commander in chief, General Mohammad Yahya Khan. Yahya announced that he considered himself to be a transitional leader whose task would be to restore order and to conduct free elections for a new constituent assembly, which would then draft a new constitution. On December 7, 1970 Yahya Khan announced plans for a national election. The elections were the first in the history of Pakistan in which voters were able to elect members of the National Assembly directly. In the election the Awami League won a triumphant victory. The misfortune however was that the Awami League did not won a single seat in West Pakistan. Similarly, the Pakistan Peoples Party did not have a single seat in eastern wing. The Awami Leagues electoral victory promised it control of the government, with Mujib as the countrys prime minister, but the inaugural assembly never met. The military, bureaucracy, and all West Pakistanis, were shocked at the results because they faced the prospect that the central governments power would be passed away to the Bengalis, The results of the election gave the Awami League the possibility of framing the constitution according to its 6-point program. The election put the Pakistani ruling elite in such a position that, if it allowed the democratic process to continue, then it would be unable to stop the Awami League from framing a constitution that would protect the Bengali interests. The month of December passed and yet there was no sign of the calling of the assembly. On the 3rd of January 1971, Sheikh Mujibur Rahman called a mammoth public meeting in which he administered an oath to the persons who had been elected to the national and provincial assemblies by which they swore allegiance to the partys program for provincial autonomy. Between the election results and this meeting apparently all the efforts made by General Yahya Khan failed to bring the leaders together. By and large most of the parties in the west did openly oppose the six points program. General Yahya went to East Pakistan. Accordingly the meeting was held. Mujib presented his six pints and asked General Yahya: - Sir you know what the six points program is, please tell me what objections you have to this program ? General Yahya said that he himself had nothing against the program and he admitted to Mujibur Rehman that he is the elected Prim Minister but some west Pakistanis do have problems. General Yahya came to Karachi on 17th January 1971 went to Larkana to pay a visit to Mr. Bhutto. After this visit Mr. Bhutto went with some other members of his party to Dacca where he met Sheikh Mujib on the 27th of January 1971. Mr. Bhutto returned from Dacca quickly. The question is did he really fail in his mission ?? Mr. Bhutto met General Yahya in Rawalpindi on the 11th February 1971, and reported to him the result of the discussions After this meeting. General Yahya announced that the assembly will meet on the 3rd of march 1971. Because his intention was to implement the results of fair and free elections. But on the 15th of February, Mr. Bhutto called a press conference in the Peshawar and said that the date has come as total surprise to him. He basically did not accept to attend the assembly on the 3rd of March 1971. Gen. Yahya along with high ranking miltary and civilian leadership reviewed the current situation to the Sheikh Mujibur Rahman. It is also a fact that the president took the decision to postpone the national assembly. On the 1st of March as soon as General Yahya announced the postponement of the national assembly meeting. The East Pakistanis reacted violently to the postponement and the immediate results were the violent demonstrations and disturbances in Dacca. The army was called to cope with this situation. Also, on that day Yahya named General Tikka Khan, as East Pakistans military governor. On the 24th and 25th march, Mr. Bhutto met the president to discuss the proposals of Awami League. On the evening of the 25th the Pakistans Peoples Party was informed about the final proposals of Awami League. At about midnight between the 25th and 26th Dacca was awakened to the noise of gunfire; military crackdown had started. Since the commencement of the political crises and the military action in East Pakistan in March 1971, certain significant changes had taken place. 1. India had entered into a military alliance with the Soviet Union. 2. The prolonged military action in East Pakistan had completely alienated the local population, with the result that the Pakistan army was faced not only with external aggression, but also with the constant threat of internal subversion. 3. India had openly started training forty to fifty thousand guerillas for infiltration into East Pakistan. The defeat suffered by the armed forces of Pakistan was not merely the result of military factors alone but had been brought about as the cumulative result of political, international, moral and military factors.
Posted on: Tue, 16 Dec 2014 05:04:29 +0000
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