In 1947, the founding fathers of Pakistan agreed to appoint Liaquat Ali Khan as the country's first Prime minister with the founder of Pakistan, Muhammad Ali Jinnah, tenuring as both first Governor-General and Speaker of the State Parliament.[36] Mountbatten had offered to serve as Governor-General of both India and Pakistan but Jinnah refused this offer and opted to become the Governor-General of Pakistan himself.[37]
When Jinnah died of tuberculosis in 1948,[38] Islamic scholar Maulana Shabbir Ahmad Usmani described Jinnah as the greatest Muslim after the Mughal Emperor Aurangzeb and also compared Jinnah's death to the Prophet's passing. Usmani asked Pakistanis to remember Jinnah's message of Unity, Faith and Discipline and work to fulfil his dream ''to create a solid bloc of all Muslim states from Karachi to Ankara, from Pakistan to Morocco. He [Jinnah] wanted to see the Muslims of the world united under the banner of Islam as an effective check against the aggressive designs of their enemies''.[39]
The first formal step taken to transform Pakistan into an ideological Islamic state was in March 1949 when the country's first Prime Minister, Liaquat Ali Khan, introduced the Objectives Resolution in the Constituent Assembly. The Objectives Resolution declared that sovereignty over the entire universe belongs to God Almighty. The calls for the Objectives Resolution and the transformation of Pakistan into an Islamic state were led by Maulana Shabbir Ahmad Usmani, a respected Deobandi alim(scholar) who occupied the position of Shaykh al-Islam in Pakistan in 1949, and Maulana Mawdudi of Jamaat-i Islami.[40][41]
Indian Muslims from the United Provinces, Bombay, Central Provinces and other areas of India continued migrating to Pakistan throughout the 1950 and 1960s and settled mainly in urban Sindh, particularly in the new country's first capital: Karachi.[42] The national government of Ali Khanwas left to face challenges soon after holding the office. Liaquat Ali Khan established a strong government;[36] his Finance secretary Victor Turner announced the country's first monetary policy by establishing the State bank and federal bureaux of statistics and revenue to improve the statistical finance, taxation, and revenue collection in the country.[43] Territorial problems arose with neighboring Afghanistan over the Durand Line in 1949, and with India over Line of Control in Kashmir which was the theater of the first war between the two countries in 1947.[36]
Diplomatic recognition became a challenging problem when Soviet Union led by Secretary-General Joseph Stalin did not welcome the divisionwhich established Pakistan and India. Iran was the first country to recognize Pakistan in 1947.[44] In 1948, Ben-Gurion of Israel sent a secret courier to Jinnah to establish the diplomatic relations, but Jinnah did not given any response to Ben-Gurion.
After gaining Independence, Pakistan vigorously pursued bilateral relations with other Muslim countries[45] and made a wholehearted bid for leadership of the Muslim world, or at least for leadership in achieving its unity.[46] The Ali brothers had sought to project Pakistan as the natural leader of the Islamic world, in large part due to its large manpower and military strength.[47] A top ranking Muslim League leader, Khaliquzzaman, declared that Pakistan would bring together all Muslim countries into Islamistan-a pan-Islamic entity.[48]
The USA, which already did not approve of Pakistan's creation, was against this idea and British Prime Minister Clement Attlee voiced international opinion at the time by stating that he wished that India and Pakistan would re-unite.[49] Since most of the Arab world was undergoing a nationalist awakening at the time, there was little attraction to Pakistan's Pan-Islamic aspirations.[50] Some of the Arab countries saw the 'Islamistan' project as a Pakistani attempt to dominate other Muslim states.[51]
Pakistan vigorously championed the right of self-determination for Muslims around the world. Pakistan's efforts for the independence movements of Indonesia, Algeria, Tunisia, Morocco and Eritrea were significant and initially led to close ties between these countries and Pakistan.[52]
In a 1948 speech, Jinnah declared that "Urdu alone would be the state language and the lingua franca of the Pakistan state", although at the same time he called for the Bengali language to be the official language of the Bengal province;[53] nonetheless, tensions began to grow in East Bengal.[53] Jinnah's health further deteriorated and he died in 1948. Bengali leader, Sir Khawaja Nazimuddin succeeded as the governor general of Pakistan.[54]
During a massive political rally in 1951, Prime Minister Liaquat Ali Khan was assassinated in Rawalpindi, and Nazimuddin became the second prime minister.[36] Tensions in Eastern Pakistan reached to its climax in 1952, when the East-Pakistani police opened fire on students near the Dhaka Medical College protesting for Bengali language to receive equal status with Urdu. The situation was controlled by Nazimuddin who gave a waiver to Bengali language as equal status, a right codified in the 1956 constitution. In 1953 at the instigation of religious parties, anti-Ahmadiyya riots erupted, which led to many Ahmadi deaths.[55] The riots were investigated by a two-member court of inquiry in 1954,[56] which was criticised by the Jamaat-e-Islami, one of the parties accused of inciting the riots.[57] This event led to the first instance of martial law in the country and began the inroad of military intervention into the politics and civilian affairs of the country.[58]
In 1954, the controversial One Unit Program was imposed by the last PML Prime minister Ali Bogra dividing Pakistan on the German geopolitical model.[59] The same year, the first legislative elections were held in Pakistan, which saw the Communists gaining the control of East-Pakistan.[60] The 1954 elections results clarified the differences in ideology between West and East, with East under the influence of communism nexus of Communist Party allying with Workers Party and the Awami League.[60] The Pro-American Republican Party gained majority in West, ousting the PML government who secured only 10 seats in East.[60]
In a vote of confidence movement in state parliament and promulgation of 1956 constitution which granted Pakistan as Islamic republic, the notable Bengali figures, Huseyn Suhrawardy became the Prime minister leading the communist-socialist alliance, and Iskander Mirza became the first President of Pakistan, both as first Bengali leaders of the country.[61] Just two years later, the military would take control of the nation.[62]
Suhrawardy's foreign policy was directed towards the improving fractured relations with the Soviet Union, strengthening and establishing relations with the United States and China after paying first a state visit to both countries.[63] Announcing the new self-reliance program, Suhrawardy began building a massive military and launched the plan of nuclear power program in the West in an attempt to legitimize his mandate in West.[64] Foreign efforts by Suhrawardy led to an assigning of American training program for country's armed forces which met with great opposition in East-Pakistan after his party in East-Pakistan Parliament which threatened to leave the state of Pakistan. Furthermore, Suhrawardy gave verbal authorization of leasing the ISI's secret installation to American CIA to conduct operations in Soviet Union.[64]
Differences in East Pakistan further encouraged the Baloch separatism, and in an attempt to intimidate the communists in East, President Mirzainitiated massive arrests of communists and party workers of Awami League in East Pakistan, which damaged the image of West-Pakistan in the East.[64] The Western contingent's lawmakers determinately followed the idea of Westernized Parliamentary form of the democracy when East opted for becoming a socialist state. The One Unit program and centralizing of national economy on the USSR model was met with great hostility and resistance in West, although the Eastern contingent's economy was quickly centralized by Suhrawardy's government.[63] Egoistic problems grew between the two Bengali leaders further damaging the unity of the country, which soon forced Suhrawardy to lose an edge in his own party to the growing influence of cleric Maulana Bhashani.[63] Resigning under a threat of Mirza's dismissal, Suhrawardy was succeeded by I. I. Chundrigar in 1957.[63]
Within two months, Chundrigar was dismissed; followed by Sir Feroz Noon, who proved to be an incapable prime minister. The support for the Pakistan Muslim League led by Nurul Amin began to threaten President Mirza who was unapproved of by the public.[60] In less than two years, Mirza dismissed four elected prime ministers, and was increasingly under great pressure for calling for new elections in 1958.[65]
On October 1958, President Iskandar Mirza issued order for massive naval, air, and troop mobilization of Pakistan Armed Forces all over the country and appointed chief of army staff General Ayub Khan as Commander-in-chief of Pakistan armed forces.[66] In a quick move, President Mirza declared a state of emergency and imposed martial law in 1958, suspended the constitution and dissolved the socialist government in the Eastern wing and the parliamentary government in West Pakistan.[67]
General Ayub Khan, as the Chief Martial Law Administrator, asserted his position all over the country.[66] Within two weeks President Mirza also attempted to dismiss General Ayub Khan.[66] This move backfired on President Mirza who was soon to be relieved from his presidency and exiled to London, United Kingdom in 1958. That same year General Ayub Khan appointed himself to the rank of a five-star Field Marshal and named a new civil-military government under him.[68] Upon becoming the President, Ayub Khan was succeeded by General Muhammad Musa as chief of army staff in 1958.[69]
1962–1969: Presidential republic[edit]
The parliamentary system came to an end in 1958, following the imposition of martial law.[70] Tales of corruption in the civil bureaucracy and public administration had maligned the democratic process in the country as the public seemed supportive towards the actions taken by General Ayub Khan.[70] Major land reforms were carried out by the military government and it enforced the controversial Elective Bodies Disqualification Order (EBDO) which ultimately disqualified Suhrawardy from holding public office.[70] Ayub Khan introduced a new presidential systemcalled "Basic Democracy", by which an electoral college of 80,000 would select the President,[68] and he also promulgated the 1962 constitution.[68] In a national referendum held in 1960, Ayub Khan secured nationwide popular and ground support for his bid as second President and replaced his military government into civilian constitutional government.[70] In a major development, the capitol infrastructure had been moved to newly planned state capital, Islamabad, all capital work development was relocated from Karachi to Islamabad.[71]
The presidency of Ayub Khan is often dubbed and celebrated as "Great Decade" which highlighted the economic development plans and reforms executed.[71] Under Ayub's presidency, the country took a cultural shift when the pop music industry, film industry and drama industry began to be noticed by the public and became extremely popular in the country during the 1960s. Rather than preferring neutrality, Ayub Khan worked closely to make an alliance with the United States and the Western world to gain support and proceeded to join two formal military alliances, the CENTO in 1955;[72] and the SEATO in 1962, against the Soviet bloc.[73] During this time, the private-sector gained more power to control the national economy, educational reforms, human development and scientific achievements gained a lot of international appraisal from the global community.[71] In 1961, the space program was launched with the continuation of nuclear power program on the other hand. Military aid from the U.S. grew unprecedentedly but the country's national security was severely compromised following the exposure of the secret spy operation launching from Peshawar to Soviet Union in 1960. The same year, Pakistan signed Water treaty with India in an attempt to normalize the relations.[74] The relations with China further strengthened after the Chinese war with India, and both countries signed a boundary agreement which shifted the balance of the Cold War by bringing Pakistan and China closer together while loosening ties between Pakistan and the United States in 1963.[75] In 1964, the Pakistan Armed Forces quelled a suspected pro-communist revolt in Western Pakistan allegedly supported by the Afghanistan and American armoury was used to stop the rebellion. During the controversial 1965 presidential elections, Ayub Khan almost lost the presidential elections to Fatima Jinnah.[76]
In 1965, after Pakistan went ahead with its strategic air-borne mission code named the Operation Gibraltar, India declared a full-scale war against Pakistan.[77] The war, which ended militarily in a stalemate, was mostly fought in West as only mild operations were conducted in East by India.[78] Controversially, the East Pakistani Army did not interfere in the conflict and this brought a great ire in West Pakistan against the Eastern wing.[79] The news of war with India was highly unapproved by the United States which dismayed Pakistan by adopting a policy of denying military aid to both India and Pakistan during the Indo-Pakistani War of 1965 over Kashmir and the Rann of Kutch.[80] A positive gain of the treaties was the re-strengthening of Pakistan's close historical bonds with its western neighbors in Asia.
A successful intervention of USSR led to signing of Tashkent Agreement between India and Pakistan in 1965.[81] Witnessing the American disapproval and USSR's mediation, Ayub Khan made tremendous efforts to normalize relations with USSR and Bhutto's negotiation expertise led to the Soviet Premier, Alexei Kosygin, visit to Islamabad.[77]
Delivering a blistering speech at the UN General Assembly in 1965, Foreign Minister Zulfikar Ali Bhutto with the atomic scientist Aziz Ahmed present there for good measure, Bhutto made Pakistan's intentions clear and loudly announced that: "If India builds the (nuclear) bomb, we will eat grass, even go hungry, but we will get one of own ... We have no other choice". Abdus Salam and Munir Khan jointly collaborated to expand the nuclear power infrastructure, receiving tremendous support from Bhutto. Following such announcement, the nuclear power expansion was given an accelerated after signing a commercial nuclear power plant agreement with GE Canada, and several other agreements with the United Kingdom and France.
Disagreeing with the signing of Tashkent agreement, Zulfikar Bhutto was ousted from the ministry on personal directives of President Ayub Khan in 1966.[82] Dismissal of Bhutto led to a spontaneous mass demonstrations and public anger against Ayub Khan, leading to major industrial and labour strikes in the country.[83] Within weeks, Ayub Khan lost the momentum in the West and his image was destroyed at the public circles.[81]
Amidst further allegations that economic development and hiring for government jobs favoured West Pakistan, the Bengali nationalism began to take a sharp rise and an independence movement began to gather ground in East Pakistan.[84] In 1966, the Awami League led by Sheikh Mujibur Rahman presented demanded the provisional autonomy at the Round Table Conference held by Ayub Khan which was forcefully rejected by Bhutto.[84] The influence socialismspectrum began to rise after country's notable economist, Mahbub ul Haq, publishing a report on private-sector's schemes of evading taxation and the few oligarchs control over the national economy.[85] In 1967 Socialist convention attended by country's leftist philosophers and notable thinkers in Lahore, the Pakistan People's Party (PPP) was founded with Zulfikar Ali Bhutto becoming its first elected chairman. The Peoples Party's leaders, JA Rahim and Mubashir Hassan, notably announced to "defeat the great dictator with the power of the people."[83]
In 1967, the PPP tapped a wave of anger against Ayub Khan and successfully called for major labour strikes in the country.[83] Criticism on the United States and Ayub Khan further damaged Ayub Khan's authority in the country.[83] By the end of 1968, Ayub Khan forwarded the Agartala Case which led to the arrests of many of Awami League leaders, but was forced to withdraw after a serious provisional uprising in East Pakistan. Under pressured from the PPP, public resentment, and anger against his administration, Ayub Khan resigned from the presidency in poor health and handing over his authority to army commander, a little known personality and heavy alcoholic, General Yahya Khan, who imposed§
1969–1971: Martial law[edit]
Witnessing the events and tensions, President General Yahya Khan was deeply aware of the explosive political situation in the country, in 1969.[83] The progressiveness and socialism in the country was rising, and calls for change of regime was gaining momentum.[83] On a television address to the nation, President Yahya Khan announced his intention to hold the nationwide general elections in the following year and set his motion to transfer power to the elected representatives of the people.[83] Earliest authoritative decisions were towards the establishment of National Security Council (NSC) by President Yahya Khan to analyze the military and political situation.[86] Virtually suspending the 1962 Constitution, President Yahya Khan instead issued the LFO Order No. 1970 which brought radical changes in West. Tightening the grip of martial law, the One Unit program was dissolved in West Pakistan, removing the "West" prefix from Pakistan, and direct ballot replaced the principle of parity.[87] Territorial changes were carried out on four provinces of the country, allowing to retain their geographical structures as it were in 1947.[87] The LFO No. 1970 had restored the borders and geographical positions of four provinces as of 1947 and the provincial assemblies and provincial boundaries also were restored.[87] The state parliament, supreme court and major government and authoritarian institutions also regained their status.[87]This decree was only limited to West, it had no effects on East.[87]
Civilians in Ayub Khan's administration were dismissed by the military government appointment of high-profile joint military officers occupying civilian government assignments and posts. The Election Commission (EC) registered a total of twenty-four political parties, and the public meetings attracted many huge crowds. On the eve of the elections in 1970, a cyclone struck East-Pakistan killing approximately 500,000 people, though this event did not deter people from participating in thje first ever general elections.[88] Mobilizing support for the Six Points manifesto, the Awami League secured its electoral support in East-Pakistan.[88] Zulfiqar Ali Bhutto's Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP) asserted itself even more densely; its socialist rationale, "Food, Cloth, and Shelter, and party's socialist manifesto quickly popularized the party in a small span of time.[88] The intellectuals, philosophers, and Bhutto's charismatic personality, were the key factors that contributed to the popularity of PPP.[88] The conservative PML, led by Nurul Amin, raised religious and nationalist slogans all over the country.[88]
Out of a total of 313 seat in the National Assembly, electoral results showed that the Awami League won 167 seats but none from West Pakistan[88] and the PPP won 88 seats but none from East Pakistan. Though Awami League won enough seat to form a government without the need for any coalition, West Pakistani elites refused to handover power to the East Pakistani party. Efforts were made to start a constitutional dialogue. Bhutto asked for share in government saying 'Udhar tum, idhar hum', means 'You are in east, I am in west'. The PPP's intellectuals maintained that Awami League had no mandate in Western contingent.[89] Although President Yahya Khan invited Awami League for a National Assembly session in Islamabad, he did not hand over the powers to the Awami League form a government due to constant pressure from the PPP.[89] When no agreement seemed to be reached, President Yahya Khan consequently appointed Bengali anti-war activist, Nurul Amin, as Prime Minister with the additional office of the country's first and only Vice-President.[89]
Sheikh Mujibur Rahman then launched a civil disobedience movement which effectively paralyzed the state machinery in the East. Convening a round-table conference with Bhuttoand Rehman in Dhaka, the talks collapsed and President Yahya Khan ordered an armed action against the Awami League. Operation Searchlight and Barisal, led to a crackdown on East Pakistani politicians, civilians, and student activists in all over the East. An arrested Mujibur Rahman was extradite to Islamabad, while the entire Awami League leadership escaped to India to set up a parallel government. Popular guerrilla insurgency was initiated by the Indian organized and supported Mukti Bahini (lit "freedom fighters").[90] Millions of Bengali Hindus and Muslims took refuge in Eastern India leading to Indian Prime minister Indira Gandhi announcing support for the Bangladesh liberation war and providing direct "military assistance" to the Bengalis.[91] On March 1971, regional commander, Major Ziaur Rahman of East-Pakistan Army declared the independence of East Pakistan as the new nation of Bangladesh on behalf of Mujib.
Pakistan launched pre-emptive air strikes on 11 Indian airbases on 3 December 1971, leading to India's entry on the side of Bangladeshi nationalist forces. Untrained in guerrilla warfare, the Eastern high command quickly scrambled its operational capabilities under its commanders, General Amir Niazi and Admiral Muhammad Sharif.[89] Exhausted, outflanked and overwhelmed, the Eastern high command could no longer continue its fight against the intense guerrilla insurgency, and finally surrendered to the Allied Forces of Bangladesh and India in Dhaka on 16 December 1971.[89] Nearly 90,000 soldiers taken as prisoners of war and the result was the emergence of the new nation of Bangladesh,[92]thus ending 24 years of turbulent union between the two wings.[89] The figures of the Bengali civilian death toll from the entire civil war vary greatly, depending on the sources. Pakistan's official report, by the Hamood-ur-Rahman Commission, placed the figure at only 26,000, while estimates range up to 3 million; the 'million' is attributed to vernacular 'lakh' getting mistranslated in Western media, thus increasing the casualties ten-fold. Discredited by the defeat, President General Yahya Khan resigned and Bhutto was inaugurated as president and chief martial law administrator on 20 December 1971.[89]
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