POLITICAL DEVELOPMENT IN PAKISTAN (1957=1969)

Chundrigar Becomes Prime Minister [1957] 

After merely a year, Suhrawardy resigned from his Premiership in October 1957. His resignation came as a result of the President's refusal to convene a meeting of the Parliament to seek a vote of confidence. President Iskander Mirza appointed I. I. Chundrigar as the interim Prime Minister. Being a nominated Prime Minister, Chundrigar held a weak position from the very beginning. He headed a coalition government including the Krishak Sramik Party, Nizam-i-Islam Party, the Muslim League and the Republican Party. The Muslim League had agreed to form a coalition government with the Republican Party on the condition that by amending the Electoral Act, the principle of separate electorate would be implemented in the country. 
After the formation of the Cabinet, Ministers from East Pakistan and the Republican Party started opposing the proposed amendments. The Republican Party opposed the amendment as it wanted to gain advantage over its political opponent, the Muslim League. 
Iskander Mirza exploited the differences between the parties and thus made Chundrigar an easy victim as he remained Prime Minister for only two months and therefore could not give any practical shape to his program. 

Malik Feroz Khan Noon Becomes Prime Minister [1957] 

On December 16, 1957, Malik Feroz Khan Noon took over the office of Prime Minister from Chundrigar. Malik Feroz Khan Noon was the last in the line of Prime Ministers under the President-ship of Iskander Mirza. Being the leader of the Republican group in the National Assembly, Noon came to power by forging an alliance with five different political groups, Awami League, National Awami Party, Krishak Sramik Party, National Congress and the Scheduled Caste Federation. Though the coalition was dependent on the support of such a large number of political parties, it was able to form a stable government. 
The Noon Cabinet was fortunate to have the support of the Bengali and Punjabi group of politicians, reaching an accord between them for the first time. H. S. Suhrawardy's Awami League Party assured full cooperation to the cabinet of Feroz Khan Noon. President Iskander Mirza was distressed by the alliance of Suhrawardy and Noon. He not only felt a serious threat to his office but also perceived that he had lost his grip over the politicians. He tried to counter by bring other politicians to his side and making alliances with other political parties. 
On the other side, in West Pakistan, Muslim League had become quite popular under the leadership of Khan Abdul Qayyum Khan. As events were going against Iskander Mirza, he displayed his willingness to dissolve West Pakistan's One Unit for his own interests. 
President Iskander Mirza also tried to seek the help of Khan Abdul Ghaffar Khan in June 1958, and also started negotiations with the Governor of East Pakistan in order to break the strength of the Awami League there. The tussle for power reached a critical point. The Awami League, being the party in power, affronted the Speaker of the Assembly. The Krishak Sramik Party also criticized the government for its actions. With all these events in progress, an attack on the Deputy Speaker occurred from which he could not survive. 
Under these tumultuous circumstances of political instability, President Iskander Mirza turned towards General Ayub Khan, the Commander-in-Chief of the armed forces of Pakistan. At midnight between October 7 and 8, 1958, the President of Pakistan abrogated the Constitution and imposed Martial Law in the country. This brought an end to the term of Malik Feroz Khan Noon, which lasted for less than a year. The Parliamentary Government came to an end in Pakistan, thus setting the stage for the recurrence of Martial Law again and again in the future. 

Ouster of President Iskander Mirza – 1958 
On October 7, 1958, President Iskander Mirza abrogated the Constitution and declared Martial Law in the country. General Muhammad Ayub Khan, the then Commander-in-Chief of the armed forces, became the Chief Martial Law Administrator. 
Iskander Mirza and Ayub Khan had begun the new era with apparent unanimity, jointly describing it as a two-man regime. However, although the two were responsible for bringing about the change, they had different views on dealing with the new situation. Iskander Mirza had not envisaged any change in his previous powers; he wanted to retain the ability to maneuver things according to his own whim. Things however had changed. C. M. L. A. Ayub Khan knew that the real power rested with the army and he was determined to assert himself. Within a week of the proclamation of Martial Law, Iskander Mirza realized the delicate position he had gotten himself into. He regretted his decision and said, "I did not mean to do it" while offering assurances that the Martial Law would be for the shortest possible duration. 
The sharing of power soon led to the intensification of the power struggle between the two men. President Mirza tried to balance the power structure by appointing Ayub Khan as Prime Minister on October 24, 1958. The Cabinet he set up consisted entirely of non-political members. This did not satisfy Ayub Khan who had more powers as the Chief Martial Law Administrator. In order to secure himself, Iskander Mirza tried to get the support of Ayub Khan's rivals within the army and air force. He was however unsuccessful in this attempt. 
With the consensus of his military generals, Ayub Khan arrested Iskander Mirza on October 27, 1958. He was exiled to Britain where he later died. After the ouster of General Ayub Khan.

            

Martial Law Under Field Marshal Ayub Khan [1958-62] 

On October 7, 1958, President Iskander Mirza abrogated the Constitution and declared Martial Law in the country. This was the first of many military regimes to mar Pakistan's history. With this step, the Constitution of 1956 was abrogated, ministers were dismissed, Central and Provincial Assemblies were dissolved and all political activities were banned. General Muhammad Ayub Khan, the then Commander-in-Chief of the armed forces, became the Chief Martial Law Administrator. The parliamentary system in Pakistan came to end. Within three weeks of assuming charge on October 27, 1958, Iskander Mirza was ousted by General Ayub Khan, who then declared himself President. 
General Ayub Khan gave himself the rank of Field Marshal. Corruption had become so widespread within the national and civic systems of administration that Ayub Khan was welcomed as a national hero by the people. 

Soon after coming to power, the new military government promised that they would carry out reforms in the entire government structure and would cleanse the administration of the rampant corruption. A thorough screening process of all government servants was conducted and service records were closely scrutinized. Public servants were tried for misconduct by tribunals consisting of retired judges of the Supreme Court or High Court. If charges were proven, disciplinary action such as dismissal or compulsory retirement of the public servant could take place. A public servant could also be disqualified from holding any public office for 15 years. 
About 3,000 officials were dismissed and many others were reduced in rank as a result of these measures. The rest of the government servants were provided with an incentive to working hard. Similarly, a law called the Elective Bodies Disqualification Order, popularly known as E. B. D. O., was promulgated for the disqualification of politicians. Under this law, a person could be disqualified from being a member of any elective body till December 31, 1966. Under this harsh law, several politicians like Suhrawardy and Qayyum Khan were disqualified. The E. B. D. O., particularly its application, was severely criticized in the legal and political circles throughout Pakistan. 
After taking over, Ayub Khan focused on the long-standing question of land reforms in West Pakistan. The land reforms included the reduction of land ceiling to 1,000 acres for non-irrigated land and 500 acres for irrigated land and with ownership rights granted to the tenants. The land in excess of these limits was taken over by the government to be distributed amongst the deserving persons. 
Ayub Khan also introduced a comprehensive scheme of local government, popularly known as Basic Democracies. This scheme was enforced through the Basic Democracies Order on October 27, 1959. Basic Democracies was a pyramidal plan enabling the people to directly elect to Local Council men they knew, who would in turn elect the upper tier of the administration. Altogether there were 80,000 Basic Democrats elected. To lend legitimacy to his rule, Ayub Khan used the Basic Democrats as an electoral college, holding a referendum to seek a mandate to continue in office as President and to have the authority to frame the future Constitution of Pakistan. 
The referendum held on February 14, 1960, asked the voters "if they had confidence in President Field Marshal Muhammad Ayub Khan, Hilal-i-Jurat?" With the results of the referendum, Ayub Khan was elected not only as President of Pakistan for five years, but also got the mandate to give Pakistan a Constitution of his choice. 
Ayub Khan set up a Constitution Commission which was not only given the responsibility to make recommendations on the future Constitution, but was also to examine the causes of failure of parliamentary government in Pakistan. The report of the Constitution Commission was presented to Ayub Khan on May 6, 1961. Ayub Khan was not satisfied by the findings. The 1962 Constitution was very different from the recommendation of the Constitution Commission, as Ayub Khan favored a presidential form of government. The 1962 Constitution was promulgated on March 1. This ended the three-and-a-half-year Martial Law regime of Ayub Khan. A civilian constitutional government under Ayub Khan replaced his previous military regime. 

Indus Water Treaty [1960] 

This treaty divided the use of rivers and canals between the two countries. Pakistan obtained exclusive rights for the three western rivers, namely Indus, Jehlum and Chenab. And India retained rights to the three eastern rivers, namely Ravi, Beas and Sutluj. The treaty also guaranteed ten years of uninterrupted water supply. During this period Pakistan was to build huge dams, financed partly by long-term World Bank loans and compensation money from India. Three multipurpose dams, Warsak, Mangla and Tarbela were built. A system of eight link canals was also built, and the remodeling of existing canals was carried out. Five barrages and a gated siphon were also constructed under this treaty. 


Field Marshal Ayub Khan Becomes President [1962-1969] 

In March 1962, Ayub Khan suspended the Martial Law and proclaimed the Constitution of 1962. Presidential elections were held in January 1965, and Ayub Khan defeated Miss Fatima Jinnah, Jinnah's sister, to once again become the President of Pakistan. 
During his term, the "Great Decade" was celebrated, which highlighted the development plans executed during ten years of Ayub's rule. The 1965 War was fought during Ayub's term and Ayub Khan represented Pakistan in the subsequent Tashkent Talks. 
Ayub Khan moved the capital of Pakistan from Karachi to Islamabad in 1965, but could not complete his term due to public pressure. 
He handed over power to General Muhammad Yahya Khan on March 25, 1969. 


Indo-Pak War [September, 1965] 

The long-standing border disputes, communal tensions, and conflict over the question of Kashmir flared up in a full-scale war between India and Pakistan in September 1965. 

The War of Rann of Kutch 

The dispute goes back to the days of the British rule in India. The Rann was the bone of contention between the princely state Kutch, and the British Indian province of Sindh.

 
The War in Kashmir 


The Kashmiri people called for an all out war against Indian imperialism and established a National Government of the people of Jammu and Kashmir. In a spillover effect, Azad Kashmir became increasingly restive. The Indian army made a series of new moves across the ceasefire line with her regular armed forces.