Name: S.M.

Istiak Ahmed
ID: 1721365042
His103
Section: 31

A. What were the political and administrative reforms and measures undertaken by General
Ayub Khan during his undemocratic regime of ten years? How far was he successful, in terms
of achieving national integration and nation-building in Pakistan?

Answer:

Various political and administrative reforms and measures were undertaken by General Ayub Khan
during his undemocratic regime of ten years. These reforms and measures are described below in details
along with the analysis about how successful they were:

Administrative Reforms:

Basic Democracy was a local government system introduced during the Ayub regime in the early 1960s.
Ayub Khan introduced the concept under the Basic Democracies Order, 1959 having made an attempt to
initiate a grass-root level democratic system.

It’s a five-tier arrangement which included union councils, thana councils (East Pakistan), tehsil councils
(West Pakistan), district councils, divisional councils, provincial development advisory council. However
among these councils, only the union and district councils had specific functions while the other councils
mostly had coordinative functions. The most important feature of this basic democracy system was that
it formed the national Electoral College consisting of 80,000 members from East and West Pakistan
(40,000 from each) for the elections of President, members of national assembly and of the provincial
assemblies. In the referendum for presidential elections held on 14 February 1960 the basic democrats
voted for Ayub Khan.

Political Reforms:

The Constitution of 1962 was formed and enforced during the rule of General Ayub Khan. On 17
February 1960 Ayub Khan appointed a commission headed by the former Chief Justice of Pakistan,
Muhammad Shahabuddin. The report of the Constitution Commission was presented to President Ayub
on 6 May 1961. In January 1962, the Cabinet finally approved the text of the new constitution. It was
promulgated by President Ayub on 1 March 1962 and finally came into effect on 8 June 1962. The
Constitution contained 250 articles divided into twelve parts and three schedules. With the enforcement
of this Constitution after 44 Months, Martial Law came to end.
This constitution made significant provisions to the existing rules. In this constitution, Pakistan was
named as Republic of Pakistan. Islam was given prominence but not declared state religion. It also
provided for a federal system. It introduced central legislature which had one house known as the
National Assembly with 157 members. The constitution provided for a presidential form of government,
as opposed to the parliamentary form of government under the 1956 Constitution. This constitution also
stated that the President has to be elected by the electoral college of 80,000 basic democrats.

Analyzing the success of Ayub Khan’s various political and administrative reforms in terms of achieving
national integration and nation-building in Pakistan:

Although Ayub Khan brought many changes to the political and administrative structure of East
Pakistan, most of the changes failed to eliminate the disparity and sense of distance between the two
groups of people. The changes failed to counterbalance the lack of counter elite participation as it
concentrated power rather than creating it. By refusing to share or distribute the limited available
power, it alienated various groups from its system. The changes created high rate of economic growth
but the development and distribution strategy created more problems of integration. At the end, during
the military regime, Pakistan faced an integration crisis because of the lag between political
development and economic growth.

In conclusion, we can say that Ayub Khan’s various political and administrative reforms in terms of
achieving national integration and nation-building in Pakistan were large unsuccessful as the disparity
between the two groups grew even further.

C. How do you explain the unprecedented landslide victory of Awami League and
Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujibur Rahman in the National and Provincial Elections of 1970?
Briefly state the nature of problematique that emerged due to this unprecedented outcome of
the 1970 elections.

Answer:

There were several underlying reasons behind the unprecedented landslide victory of Awami League
and Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujibur Rahman in the National and Provincial Elections of 1970. The main
reasons behind this landslide victory are described below:

Before the election, the Six-points and 11-points Programs had their mass appeal which made the
general populace more eager to vote for Awami League. The charismatic leadership of Sheikh Mujib also
played a role in this. The Election Manifesto of the Awami League was something that the general
populace was looking forward to as it aimed to shorted the disparity and abolish the corruption. The
election and Awami League was broad-based enough to mobilize widest possible support for them.
Apart from this, Yahya Khan’s miscalculations also played a vital role in their victory. Declaring One Unit
in Pakistan was expected to remove WP support for autonomy in East Pakistan as Yahya thought
representation on the basis of population would not secure absolute majority in the National Assembly.
He thought votes in East Pakistan would be distributed among AL, Jamat-i-Islami, and NAP (Bhashani),
threfore, Mujib would require a coalition. However, Yahya was made to understand that the right wing
political parties of West Pakistan had mass support. He failed to evaluate properly the political situation
in East Pakistan which in turn resulted in the land slide victory for Awami League.

Along with these reasons, complete failure of the West Pakistan intelligence agencies was also to blame.
There was a natural disaster (November 12, 1970) in East Pakistan and poor response of the central
government disappointed the general population which made them vote for Awami League even more.

The landslide victory of Awami League and Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujibur Rahman in the National and
Provincial Elections of 1970 had created a nature of problematique in the whole Pakistan.

The overwhelming victory of Awami League meant the implementation of the 6-points and 11-points.
The army in Pakistan was panic-stricken. Yahya Khan (the army) and Bhutto joined forces against Sheikh
Mujib and two plans of action were decided upon. Firstly to minimize the political strength of Awami
League in the Assembly by getting Mujib to share power with Bhutto and secondly to discredit Mujib by
bringing charges of conspiracy against him. On 20 December 1970, Bhutto declared that his party PPP
would not accept the position of opposition in the Assembly. On 24 Dec., Bhutto declared that the two
major parties of Pakistan should share power in the government. To discredit Awami League, it was said
that the supporters of the Awami League were Hindus and the Party “had more Hindu leanings than
Islamic”. Mujib undertook the strategy of winning the support of the smaller political parties in West
Pakistan. In addition, Sheikh Mujib was successful in securing the support of at least 30-35 elected
members of the National Assembly of Sind, NWFP and Baluchistan. On 14 January, Yahya stated that
Sheikh Mujib was going to be the future Prime Minister of Pakistan;

But Bhutto strengthened his position by securing support of Punjabi generals like Hamid, Umar, Tikka
Khan and Pirzada and informed Yahya that he was the leader of the whole of West Pakistan and he
would never accept a position under Sheikh Mujib in the administration of the country.

Bhutto however, agreed to meet Mujib in an effort to settle the deadlock. Meeting between Bhutto and
Sheikh Mujib was held during 27-30 January, 1971, However, Bhutto made it clear that if all the points of
6-points and 11-points are included in the Constitution, he would not agree. After this, the hijacking an
Indian plane was done and the situation slowly spiraled out of control which developed the military
involvement in the situation.
In conclusion, landslide victory of Awami League and Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujibur Rahman in the
National and Provincial Elections of 1970 invoked the nature of problematic situation as the ruling
Pakistan Government did not expect to lose and thus began their plot to undermine the election and
Sheikh Mujib. This situation slowly developed into the liberation war and played a vital role in the
independence of the East Pakistan.

Short Questions:

1. Write briefly, what was the significance of the formation of East Pakistan Awami Muslim
League (EPAML)?

Answer:

The significance East Pakistan Awami Muslim League (EPAML) is vast and long lasting in the scope of
history of East Pakistan. Some of the most important significances are as described in short in the
passage below:

East Pakistan Awami Muslim League (EPAML) adopted 41 point program and emerged as the foremost
political party. It became a party of the common people as opposed to Muslim Leagues’ elitist nature. It
went against the communal character of Pakistan emphasizing secular and democratic nature of the
country. It also contributed to the emergence of young East Pakistan leadership which in turn
spearheaded the demand for autonomy and eventually independence for East Pakistan. In earlier
period, East Pakistan Awami Muslim League was the one to put forward and raise the demands from
East Pakistan to have Bangla as state language, to implement universal suffrage, meaning the right to
vote for all eligible adults, and also for the removal of disparity among states and people.

2. Why the United Front won in the 1954 Provincial Elections of Pakistan?

Answer:

The United Front won a landslide victory with 223 seats out of 237 of the Muslim seats in the
provincial election of 1954. They had sufficient reasons behind their victory in this election. The most
relevant reasons are listed below:

The provincial 1954 election was held on the basis of Universal Adult franchise, which gave the right to
vote all adult citizens. This gave the general populace got an opportunity to reject Muslim League which
was deemed anti-people by most. Via this election, people also voiced their opposition against Punjabi
domination. Voting for the United Front was a reflection of the people’s aspirations for full regional
autonomy of East Bengal. Benglis also voted for United Front as the impact of language hegemony made
them feel alienated culturally and this election was a way to vent the frustration. Housewives also voted
against the prices of daily necessities such as salt, kerosene and mustard oil going up. Economic distress
of the people of East Bengal, failure to form the constitution and the Cabinet being confined among the
Muslim League leaders also played a role to pave way for United Front’s Victory. Along with these
reasons, the absence of charismatic leadership for opposing parties while United Front having
charismatic and highly acclaimed leader such as AK Fazlul Huq, Bhasani and, the overall prevailing
oppressive rule and corruption played a key role in the victory of United Front in the election of 1954.

3. What were the major drawbacks of the 1956 Constitution of Pakistan?

Answer:

The first Constitution of Pakistan was adopted on 29 February and enforced on 23 March in 1956.
However it had several glaring drawbacks. The drawbacks of 1956 Constitution of Pakistan are as
follows:

In this constitution, devolution of power was not given constitutional recognition. This also created two
distinct entities – East and West, which in turn further consolidated regional loyalties. The constitution
of Pakistan allowed too much interference by the Center which impeded the politicians and they failed
to observe constitutional provisions. Even after this constitution was enforced, unconstitutional forces
were active and political conflict had been a common phenomenon. Governor General Ghulam
Muhammad and President Iskander Mirza failed to uphold the Constitution in several occasions.
Provincial autonomy was not given which had been a fervent desire of many. From observing these
points we can say that the constitution of 1954 indeed had severe drawbacks.

5. What was ‘Basic Democracy’ as devised by General Ayub Khan?

Answer:

Basic Democracy was a local government system introduced during the Ayub regime in the early 1960s.
Ayub Khan introduced the concept under the Basic Democracies Order, 1959 having made an attempt to
initiate a grass-root level democratic system.

It’s a five-tier arrangement which included union councils, thana councils (East Pakistan), tehsil councils
(West Pakistan), district councils, divisional councils, provincial development advisory council. However
among these councils, only the union and district councils had specific functions while the other councils
mostly had coordinative functions. The most important feature of this basic democracy system was that
it formed the national Electoral College consisting of 80,000 members from East and West Pakistan
(40,000 from each) for the elections of President, members of national assembly and of the provincial
assemblies.
6. What were the main provisions newly adopted in the 1962 Constitution of Pakistan?

Answer:

The 1962 Constitution of Pakistan contained 250 articles divided into twelve parts and three schedules.
It adopted many new provisions and the most significant ones among them are described below:

In this constitution, Pakistan was named as Republic of Pakistan. Islam was given prominence but not
declared state religion. It also provided for a federal system. It introduced central legislature which had
one house known as the National Assembly with 157 members. The constitution provided for a
presidential form of government, as opposed to the parliamentary form of government under the 1956
Constitution. This constitution also stated that the President has to be elected by the electoral college of
80,000 basic democrats.

These were the main provisions newly adopted in the 1962 Constitution of Pakistan.

8. What were the implications of 6-point program that was proposed by Sheikh Mujibur
Rahman in 1966?

Answer:

On March 23, 1966 Sheikh Mujibur Rahman unveiled the Six-Points program in a pamphlet titled, “Our
Right to Live”. It was a document prepared by the university teachers, senior government officials and
the economists. The implications of the six point program were far reaching. The most prominent ones
among them are as follows:

The six point program went deeper than any other political demands before. It had more concrete and
concerted demands than any other demands before this. It gave the federal government only defence
and foreign affairs, not currency, thus restricting their influence. It also demanded parliamentary
government on the basis of universal adult franchise. It attracted massive support of the people from all
over the Province.

It was also formally adopted as party manifesto of East Pakistan Awami League. People of East Pakistan
had been demanding autonomy and democracy for 16 years and six-points program provided
crystallized their demands. This six point program also paved the way for Sheikh Mujib as it was a
demonstration of charismatic leadership of Sheikh Mujib for the first time for the populace.

9. What were the differences between the 6-point and 11-point programs?

Answer:

Differences the 6-point and 11-point programs are as follows:

While the 6-points program was mainly focused on securing regional autonomy, 11-points widened its
ambit. It also covered the interests of the communist parties such as the workers and peasants. It was
anti-imperialist in nature. 11 point program as able to bring all section of the people under a single
umbrella which 6-point program failed to achieve completely. Restoration of parliament democracy,
creation of Sub-Federation of in West Pakistan, tax reduction of farmers, proper labor wage and so on
were also covered in the 11-point program which 6-point program did not cover.

In conclusion, while 6-point program set the foundation for people’s demands and autonomy, 11-point
program expanded that to cover all aspects of the system. But the 11 points program would not be
there without the 6-point program to start it off, so both of them are almost equally important in our
history.

10. What was the Agartala Conspiracy Case?

Answer:

The Agartala Conspiracy Case was a ploy by the then Pakistan Government as the six point program was
not well received them as they did not want to share their political and economic power with East
Pakistan.

In accordance to this scheme, Sheikh Mujib was arrested along with Tajuddin Ahmed, Khandokar
Mushtaq Ahmed, Mansoor Ali and others under the Defense of Pakistan Rules (DPR) on May 8, 1966.
Latter in January 1968, Sheikh Mujib along with 35 others – including some Bengali members of Pakistan
Civil Services and armed forces – were charged with the infamous Agartala Conspiracy Case, plotting to
bring about the secession of East Pakistan with Indian help.

A press-note was issued by the Pakistan Home Ministry that claimed that this group of 36 persons was
maintaining close link with the Deputy High Commissioner of India in Dhaka and some of them visited
Agartala, had meetings with Colonel Mishra, Major Menon and other Indian officials. It was also alleged
that a large amount of money and arms were collected to make the plan a success. This whole situation
is known as Agartala Conspiracy Case in history.

The Agartala Conspiracy Case transformed the movement for autonomy into a mass movement and
made Sheikh Mujib the undisputed leader of East Pakistan.

13. What was the Legal Framework Order (LFO) promulgated by Yahya Khan on 30 March,
1970?
Answer:

The Legal Framework Order, 1970 (LFO) was a decree issued by then-President of Yahya Khan that laid
down the political principles and laws governing the 1970 general election, which was the first direct
elections in the history of Pakistan. It was promulgated on 30 March 1970, along with the Province of
West Pakistan (Dissolution) Order. According to the LFO of 1970, several points were made such as-

Pakistan was to be a Federal Republic. Islamic ideology which is the basis for the creation of Pakistan
shall be preserved. It also stated that the Head of the State shall be Muslim. It ensured that fundamental
principles of democracy shall be maintained by providing direct and free elections to the Federal and
Provincial Legislatures on the basis of population and adult franchise.

The LFO laid down the composition of the National and Provincial Assemblies, principle of election, date
of polling, and rules of procedure. The National Assembly of Pakistan was to consist of 313 seats: 300
directly elected on the basis of adult franchise and 13 seats reserved for the women. However, women
were not barred from being elected to a general seat. The numbers of seats to the National and
Provincial Assemblies were allocated on the basis of the Populations Census of 1961.

14. What were the results of the National and Provincial Assemblies’ Elections in 1970?

Answer:

The results of the National and Provincial Assemblies’ Elections in 1970 are described below:

The results of the National and Provincial Assemblies’ Elections in 1970 took everyone by surprise and
paved the way for autonomy and self-determination for East Pakistan. In this election, Awami League
secured 160 out 162 and all reserved seats (07) of women totalling 167 of 169 in the National Assembly
and 298 out of 310 in the Provincial Assembly. The two seats lost in National Assembly were one to PDP
leader and another to an independent candidate from Chittagong Hill Tracts.

PPP won 88 (83 direct and 05 women) out of 313 in the National Assembly and none in the Provincial
Assembly of East Pakistan.

Awami League secured 38.3 % votes cast all over Pakistan while PPP secured only 19.5 %. Although
Awami League emerged with the largest majority but did not win a single seat other than East Pakistan
and PPP did not win a single seat in East Pakistan. This result of the election was ground for secession in
the overall political picture of Pakistan.
1.

The significance East Pakistan Awami Muslim League (EPAML) is vast and long lasting in the scope of
history of East Pakistan. Some of the most important significances are as described in short in the
passage below:

East Pakistan Awami Muslim League (EPAML) adopted 41 point program and emerged as the foremost
political party. It became a party of the common people as opposed to Muslim Leagues’ elitist nature. It
went against the communal character of Pakistan emphasizing secular and democratic nature of the
country. It also contributed to the emergence of young East Pakistan leadership which in turn
spearheaded the demand for autonomy and eventually independence for East Pakistan. In earlier
period, East Pakistan Awami Muslim League was the one to put forward and raise the demands from
East Pakistan to have Bangla as state language, to implement universal suffrage, meaning the right to
vote for all eligible adults, and also for the removal of disparity among states and people.

2.
The United Front won a landslide victory with 223 seats out of 237 of the Muslim seats in the
provincial election of 1954. They had sufficient reasons behind their victory in this election. The most
relevant reasons are listed below:

The provincial 1954 election was held on the basis of Universal Adult franchise, which gave the right to
vote all adult citizens. This gave the general populace got an opportunity to reject Muslim League which
was deemed anti-people by most. Via this election, people also voiced their opposition against Punjabi
domination. Voting for the United Front was a reflection of the people’s aspirations for full regional
autonomy of East Bengal. Benglis also voted for United Front as the impact of language hegemony made
them feel alienated culturally and this election was a way to vent the frustration. Housewives also voted
against the prices of daily necessities such as salt, kerosene and mustard oil going up. Economic distress
of the people of East Bengal, failure to form the constitution and the Cabinet being confined among the
Muslim League leaders also played a role to pave way for United Front’s Victory. Along with these
reasons, the absence of charismatic leadership for opposing parties while United Front having
charismatic and highly acclaimed leader such as AK Fazlul Huq, Bhasani and, the overall prevailing
oppressive rule and corruption played a key role in the victory of United Front in the election of 1954.

3.

The first Constitution of Pakistan was adopted on 29 February and enforced on 23 March in 1956.
However it had several glaring drawbacks. The drawbacks of 1956 Constitution of Pakistan are as
follows:

In this constitution, devolution of power was not given constitutional recognition. This also created two
distinct entities – East and West, which in turn further consolidated regional loyalties. The constitution
of Pakistan allowed too much interference by the Center which impeded the politicians and they failed
to observe constitutional provisions. Even after this constitution was enforced, unconstitutional forces
were active and political conflict had been a common phenomenon. Governor General Ghulam
Muhammad and President Iskander Mirza failed to uphold the Constitution in several occasions.
Provincial autonomy was not given which had been a fervent desire of many. From observing these
points we can say that the constitution of 1954 indeed had severe drawbacks.

5.

Basic Democracy was a local government system introduced during the Ayub regime in the early 1960s.
Ayub Khan introduced the concept under the Basic Democracies Order, 1959 having made an attempt to
initiate a grass-root level democratic system.

It’s a five-tier arrangement which included union councils, thana councils (East Pakistan), tehsil councils
(West Pakistan), district councils, divisional councils, provincial development advisory council. However
among these councils, only the union and district councils had specific functions while the other councils
mostly had coordinative functions. The most important feature of this basic democracy system was that
it formed the national Electoral College consisting of 80,000 members from East and West Pakistan
(40,000 from each) for the elections of President, members of national assembly and of the provincial
assemblies.

6.

The 1962 Constitution of Pakistan contained 250 articles divided into twelve parts and three schedules.
It adopted many new provisions and the most significant ones among them are described below:

In this constitution, Pakistan was named as Republic of Pakistan. Islam was given prominence but not
declared state religion. It also provided for a federal system. It introduced central legislature which had
one house known as the National Assembly with 157 members. The constitution provided for
a presidential form of government, as opposed to the parliamentary form of government under the
1956 Constitution. This constitution also stated that the President has to be elected by the electoral
college of 80,000 basic democrats.

These were the main provisions newly adopted in the 1962 Constitution of Pakistan.
8.
On March 23, 1966 Sheikh Mujibur Rahman unveiled the Six-Points program in a pamphlet titled, “Our
Right to Live”. It was a document prepared by the university teachers, senior government officials and
the economists. The implications of the six point program were far reaching. The most prominent ones
among them are as follows:

The six point program went deeper than any other political demands before. It had more concrete and
concerted demands than any other demands before this. It gave the federal government only defence
and foreign affairs, not currency, thus restricting their influence. It also demanded parliamentary
government on the basis of universal adult franchise. It attracted massive support of the people from all
over the Province.
It was also formally adopted as party manifesto of East Pakistan Awami League. People of East Pakistan
had been demanding autonomy and democracy for 16 years and six-points program provided
crystallized their demands. This six point program also paved the way for Sheikh Mujib as it was a
demonstration of charismatic leadership of Sheikh Mujib for the first time for the populace.

9. Differences the 6-point and 11-point programs are as follows:

While the 6-points program was mainly focused on securing regional autonomy, 11-points widened its
ambit. It also covered the interests of the communist parties such as the workers and peasants. It was
anti-imperialist in nature. 11 point program as able to bring all section of the people under a single
umbrella which 6-point program failed to achieve completely. Restoration of parliament democracy,
creation of Sub-Federation of in West Pakistan, tax reduction of farmers, proper labor wage and so on
were also covered in the 11-point program which 6-point program did not cover.

In conclusion, while 6-point program set the foundation for people’s demands and autonomy, 11-point
program expanded that to cover all aspects of the system. But the 11 points program would not be
there without the 6-point program to start it off, so both of them are almost equally important in our
history.
13.

The Legal Framework Order, 1970 (LFO) was a decree issued by then-President of Yahya Khan that laid
down the political principles and laws governing the 1970 general election, which was the first direct
elections in the history of Pakistan. It was promulgated on 30 March 1970, along with the Province of
West Pakistan (Dissolution) Order. According to the LFO of 1970, several points were made such as-

Pakistan was to be a Federal Republic. Islamic ideology which is the basis for the creation of Pakistan
shall be preserved. It also stated that the Head of the State shall be Muslim. It ensured that fundamental
principles of democracy shall be maintained by providing direct and free elections to the Federal and
Provincial Legislatures on the basis of population and adult franchise.

The LFO laid down the composition of the National and Provincial Assemblies, principle of election, date
of polling, and rules of procedure. The National Assembly of Pakistan was to consist of 313 seats: 300
directly elected on the basis of adult franchise and 13 seats reserved for the women. However, women
were not barred from being elected to a general seat. The numbers of seats to the National and
Provincial Assemblies were allocated on the basis of the Populations Census of 1961.

14. The results of the National and Provincial Assemblies’ Elections in 1970 are described below:

The results of the National and Provincial Assemblies’ Elections in 1970 took everyone by surprise and
paved the way for autonomy and self-determination for East Pakistan. In this election, Awami League
secured 160 out 162 and all reserved seats (07) of women totalling 167 of 169 in the National Assembly
and 298 out of 310 in the Provincial Assembly. The two seats lost in National Assembly were one to PDP
leader and another to an independent candidate from Chittagong Hill Tracts.

PPP won 88 (83 direct and 05 women) out of 313 in the National Assembly and none in the Provincial
Assembly of East Pakistan.

Awami League secured 38.3 % votes cast all over Pakistan while PPP secured only 19.5 %. Although
Awami League emerged with the largest majority but did not win a single seat other than East Pakistan
and PPP did not win a single seat in East Pakistan. This result of the election was ground for secession in
the overall political picture of Pakistan.
The Agartala Conspiracy Case was a ploy by the then Pakistan Government as the six point program was
not well received them as they did not want to share their political and economic power with East
Pakistan.

In accordance to this scheme, Sheikh Mujib was arrested along with Tajuddin Ahmed, Khandokar
Mushtaq Ahmed, Mansoor Ali and others under the Defense of Pakistan Rules (DPR) on May 8, 1966.
Latter in January 1968, Sheikh Mujib along with 35 others – including some Bengali members of Pakistan
Civil Services and armed forces – were charged with the infamous Agartala Conspiracy Case, plotting to
bring about the secession of East Pakistan with Indian help.

A press-note was issued by the Pakistan Home Ministry that claimed that this group of 36 persons was
maintaining close link with the Deputy High Commissioner of India in Dhaka and some of them visited
Agartala, had meetings with Colonel Mishra, Major Menon and other Indian officials. It was also alleged
that a large amount of money and arms were collected to make the plan a success. This whole situation
is known as Agartala Conspiracy Case in history.

The Agartala Conspiracy Case transformed the movement for autonomy into a mass movement and
made Sheikh Mujib the undisputed leader of East Pakistan.

1.

Various political and administrative reforms and measures were undertaken by General Ayub Khan
during his undemocratic regime of ten years. These reforms and measures are described below in details
along with the analysis about how successful they were:

Administrative Reforms:

Basic Democracy was a local government system introduced during the Ayub regime in the early 1960s.
Ayub Khan introduced the concept under the Basic Democracies Order, 1959 having made an attempt to
initiate a grass-root level democratic system.

It’s a five-tier arrangement which included union councils, thana councils (East Pakistan), tehsil councils
(West Pakistan), district councils, divisional councils, provincial development advisory council. However
among these councils, only the union and district councils had specific functions while the other councils
mostly had coordinative functions. The most important feature of this basic democracy system was that
it formed the national Electoral College consisting of 80,000 members from East and West Pakistan
(40,000 from each) for the elections of President, members of national assembly and of the provincial
assemblies. In the referendum for presidential elections held on 14 February 1960 the basic democrats
voted for Ayub Khan.

Political Reforms:

The Constitution of 1962 was formed and enforced during the rule of General Ayub Khan. On 17
February 1960 Ayub Khan appointed a commission headed by the former Chief Justice of
Pakistan, Muhammad Shahabuddin. The report of the Constitution Commission was presented to
President Ayub on 6 May 1961. In January 1962, the Cabinet finally approved the text of the new
constitution. It was promulgated by President Ayub on 1 March 1962 and finally came into effect on 8
June 1962. The Constitution contained 250 articles divided into twelve parts and three schedules. With
the enforcement of this Constitution after 44 Months, Martial Law came to end.

This constitution made significant provisions to the existing rules. In this constitution, Pakistan was
named as Republic of Pakistan. Islam was given prominence but not declared state religion. It also
provided for a federal system. It introduced central legislature which had one house known as the
National Assembly with 157 members. The constitution provided for a presidential form of government,
as opposed to the parliamentary form of government under the 1956 Constitution. This constitution also
stated that the President has to be elected by the electoral college of 80,000 basic democrats.

Analysing the success of Ayub Khan’s various political and administrative reforms in terms of achieving
national integration and nation-building in Pakistan:

Although Ayub Khan brought many changes to the political and administrative structure of East
Pakistan, most of the changes failed to eliminate the disparity and sense of distance between the two
groups of people. The changes failed to counterbalance the lack of counter elite participation as it
concentrated power rather than creating it. By refusing to share or distribute the limited available
power, it alienated various groups from its system. The changes created high rate of economic growth
but the development and distribution strategy created more problems of integration. At the end, during
the military regime, Pakistan faced an integration crisis because of the lag between political
development and economic growth.

In clonclusion, we can say that Ayub Khan’s various political and administrative reforms in terms of
achieving national integration and nation-building in Pakistan were large unsuccessful as the disparity
between the two groups grew even further.

C. How do you explain the unprecedented landslide victory of Awami League and Bangabandhu Sheikh
Mujibur Rahman in the National and Provincial Elections of 1970? Briefly state the nature of
problematique that emerged due to this unprecedented outcome of the 1970 elections.

Answer:

There were several underlying reasons behind the unprecedented landslide victory of Awami League
and Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujibur Rahman in the National and Provincial Elections of 1970. The main
reasons behind this landslide victory are described below:

The Six-points and 11-points Programs had their mass appeal which made the general populace more
eager to vote for Awami League. The charismatic leadership of Sheikh Mujib also played a role in this.
The Election Manifesto of the Awami League was something that the general populace was looking
forward to as it aimed to shorted the disparity and abolish the corruption. The election and Awami
League was broad-based enough to mobilize widest possible support for them.

Apart from this Yahya Khan’s miscalculations also played a vital role in their victory. Declaring One Unit
in Pakistan was expected to remove WP support for autonomy in East Pakistan as Yahya thought
representation on the basis of population would not secure absolute majority in the National Assembly.
He thought votes in East Pakistan would be distributed among AL, Jamat-i-Islami, and NAP (Bhashani),
threfore, Mujib would require a coalition. However, Yahya was made to understand that the right wing
political parties of West Pakistan had mass support. He failed to evaluate properly the political situation
in East Pakistan which in turn resulted in the land slide victory for Awami League.
Along with these reasons, complete failure of the West Pakistan intelligence agencies was also to blame.
There was a natural disaster (November 12, 1970) in East Pakistan and poor response of the central
government disappointed the general population which made them vote for Awami League even more.

The landslide victory of Awami League and Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujibur Rahman in the National and
Provincial Elections of 1970 had created a nature of problematique in the whole Pakistan.

The overwhelming victory of Awami League meant the implementation of the 6-points and 11-points.
The army in Pakistan was panic-stricken. Yahya Khan (the army) and Bhutto joined forces against Sheikh
Mujib and two plans of action were decided upon. Firstly to minimize the political strength of Awami
League in the Assembly by getting Mujib to share power with Bhutto and secondly to discredit Mujib by
bringing charges of conspiracy against him. On 20 Dec. 1970, Bhutto declared that his party PPP would
not accept the position of opposition in the Assembly. On 24 Dec., Bhutto declared that the two major
parties of Pakistan should share power in the government. To discredit Awami League, it was said that
the supporters of the Awami League were Hindus and the Party “had more Hindu leanings than
Islamic”. Mujib undertook the strategy of winning the support of the smaller political parties in West
Pakistan. In addition, Sheikh Mujib was successful in securing the support of at least 30-35 elected
members of the National Assembly of Sind, NWFP and Baluchistan. On 14 January, Yahya stated that
Sheikh Mujib was going to be the future Prime Minister of Pakistan;

But Bhutto strengthened his position by securing support of Punjabi generals like Hamid, Umar, Tikka
Khan and Pirzada and informed Yahya that he was the leader of the whole of West Pakistan and he
would never accept a position under Sheikh Mujib in the administration of the country.

Bhutto however, agreed to meet Mujib in an effort to settle the deadlock. Meeting between Bhutto and
Sheikh Mujib was held during 27-30 January, 1971, However, Bhutto made it clear that if all the points of
6-points and 11-points are included in the Constitution, he would not agree. After this the hijacking an
Indian plane was done and the situation slowly spiraled out of control which developed the military
involvement in the situation.

In conclusion, landslide victory of Awami League and Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujibur Rahman in the
National and Provincial Elections of 1970 invoked the nature of problematic situation as the ruling
Pakistan Government did not expect to lose and thus began their plot to undermine the election and
Sheikh Mujib. This situation slowly developed into the liberation war and played a vital role in the
independence of the East Pakistan.