YAHYA KHAN AND BANGLADESH

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Pakistan Table of Contents

The new administration formed a committee of deputy and

provincial martial law administrators that functioned above the civil
machinery of government. The generals held power and were no
longer the supporting arm of the civilians--elected or bureaucratic--
as they had been throughout much of the country's history. In the
past, every significant change of government had relied, in large
part, on the allegiance of the military. However, Yahya Khan and his
military advisers proved no more capable of overcoming the nation's
problems than their predecessors. The attempt to establish a
military hierarchy running parallel to and supplanting the authority
of the civilian administration inevitably ruptured the bureaucratic-
military alliance, on which efficiency and stability depended. Little
effort was made to promote a national program.

These weaknesses were not immediately apparent but became so as

events moved quickly toward a crisis in East Pakistan. On
November 28, 1969, Yahya Khan made a nationwide broadcast
announcing his proposals for a return to constitutional government.
General elections for the National Assembly were set for October 5,
1970, but were postponed to December as the result of a severe
cyclone that hit the coast of East Pakistan. The National Assembly
was obliged within 120 days to draw up a new constitution, which
would permit maximum provincial autonomy. Yahya Khan,
however, made it clear that the federal government would require
powers of taxation well beyond those contemplated by the six points
of the Awami League. He also reserved the right to "authenticate"
the constitution. On July 1, 1970, the One Unit Plan was dissolved
into the four original provinces. Yahya Khan also determined that
the parity of representation in the National Assembly between the
East Wing and the West Wing that had existed under the 1956 and
1962 constitutions would end and that representation would be
based on population. This arrangement gave East Pakistan 162
seats (plus seven reserved for women) versus 138 seats (plus six for
women) for the new provinces of the West Wing.

An intense election campaign took place in 1970 as restrictions on

press, speech, and assembly were removed. Bhutto campaigned in
the West Wing on a strongly nationalist and leftist platform. The
slogan of his party was "Islam our Faith, Democracy our Policy,
Socialism our Economy." He said that the PPP would provide "roti,
kapra, aur makhan" (bread, clothing, and shelter) to all. He also
proclaimed a "thousand year war with India," although this
pronouncement was played down later in the campaign. In the East
Wing, the Awami League gained widespread support for the six-
point program. Its cause was further strengthened because West
Pakistani politicians were perceived as callously indifferent to the
Bengali victims of the October cyclone and slow to come to their aid.

The first general election conducted in Pakistan on the basis of one

person, one vote, was held on December 7, 1970; elections to
provincial legislative assemblies followed three days later. The
voting was heavy. Yahya Khan kept his promise of free and fair
elections. The Awami League won a colossal victory in East
Pakistan, for it was directly elected to 160 of the 162 seats in the
east and thus gained a majority of the 300 directly elected seats in
the National Assembly (plus the thirteen indirectly elected seats for
women, bringing the total to 313 members) without winning a seat
in the West Wing. The PPP won a large majority in the West Wing,
especially in Punjab and Sindh, but no seats in the East Wing. In
the North- West Frontier Province and Balochistan, the National
Awami Party won a plurality of the seats. The Muslim League and
the Islamic parties did poorly in the west and were not represented
in the east.
Any constitutional agreement clearly depended on the consent of
three persons: Mujib of the East Wing, Bhutto of the West Wing,
and Yahya Khan, as the ultimate authenticator representing the
military government. In his role as intermediary and head of state,
Yahya Khan tried to persuade Bhutto and Mujib to come to some
kind of accommodation. This effort proved unsuccessful as Mujib
insisted on his right as leader of the majority to form a
government--a stand at variance with Bhutto, who claimed there
were "two majorities" in Pakistan. Bhutto declared that the PPP
would not attend the inaugural session of the assembly, thereby
making the establishment of civilian government impossible. On
March 1, 1971, Yahya Khan, who earlier had referred to Mujib as
the "future prime minister of Pakistan," dissolved his civilian
cabinet and declared an indefinite postponement of the National
Assembly. In East Pakistan, the reaction was immediate. Strikes,
demonstrations, and civil disobedience increased in tempo until
there was open revolt. Prodded by Mujib, Bengalis declared they
would pay no taxes and would ignore martial law regulations on
press and radio censorship. The writ of the central government all
but ceased to exist in East Pakistan.

Mujib, Bhutto, and Yahya Khan held negotiations in Dhaka in late

March in a last-ditch attempt to defuse the growing crisis;
simultaneously, General Tikka Khan, who commanded the
Pakistani forces in East Pakistan, prepared a contingency plan for a
military takeover and called for troop reinforcements to be flown in
via Sri Lanka. In an atmosphere of distrust and suspicion, the talks
broke down, and on March 25 Yahya Khan and Bhutto flew back to
West Pakistan.

Tikka Khan's emergency plan went into operation. Roadblocks and

barriers appeared all over Dhaka. Mujib was taken into custody and
flown to the West Wing to stand trial for treason. Universities were
attacked, and the first of many deaths occurred. The tempo of
violence of the military crackdown during these first days soon
accelerated into a full-blown and brutal civil war.

On March 26, Yahya Khan outlawed the Awami League, banned

political activity, and reimposed press censorship in both wings.
Because of these strictures, people in the West Wing remained
uninformed about the crackdown in the east and tended to
discount reports appearing in the international press as an Indian
conspiracy.

Major Ziaur Rahman, a political unknown at the time, proclaimed

the independence of Bangladesh from Chittagong, a city in the
southeast of the new country. He would become president of
Bangladesh in April 1977. A Bangladeshi government in exile was
formed in Calcutta.

Ziaur Rahman and others organized Bengali troops to form the

Mukti Bahini (Liberation Force) to resist the Pakistan Army. The
East Pakistan Rifles, a paramilitary force, mutinied and joined the
revolutionary forces. Nevertheless, the Pakistan Army pressed its
heavy offensive and in early April controlled most of East Pakistan.
More than 250,000 refugees crossed into India in the first few days
of the war. The influx continued over the next six months and
reached a total of about 10 million. No accurate estimate can be
made of the numbers of people killed or wounded or the numbers
women of raped, but the assessment of international human rights
organizations is that the Pakistani crackdown was particularly
alarming in its ferocity.

Relations between Pakistan and India, already tense, deteriorated

sharply as a result of the crisis. On March 31, the Indian
parliament passed a resolution in support of the "people of Bengal."
The Mukti Bahini, formed around regular and paramilitary forces,
received equipment, training, and other assistance from India.
Superpower rivalries further complicated the situation, impinged on
Pakistan's war, and possibly impeded its political resolution.
In the fall, military and guerrilla operations increased, and Pakistan
and India reported escalation of border shelling. On the western
border of East Pakistan, military preparations were also in evidence.
On November 21, the Mukti Bahini launched an offensive on
Jessore, southwest of Dhaka. Yahya Khan declared a state of
emergency in all of Pakistan on November 23 and asked his people
to prepare for war. In response to Indian military movements along
and across the Indian-East Pakistani border, the Pakistan Air Force
attacked military targets in northern India on December 3, and on
December 4 India began an integrated ground, naval, and air
invasion of East Pakistan. The Indian army launched a five-pronged
attack and began converging on Dhaka. Indian forces closed in
around Dhaka and received the surrender of Pakistani forces on
December 16. Indian prime minister Indira Gandhi proclaimed a
unilateral cease-fire on December 17.

Violent demonstrations against the military government soon broke

out at the news of Pakistan's defeat. Yahya Khan resigned on
December 20. Bhutto assumed power as president and chief martial
law administrator of a disgraced military, a shattered government,
and a bewildered and demoralized population. Formal relations
between Pakistan and Bangladesh were not established until 1976.

PAKISTAN

Peter Blood, ed. Pakistan: A Country Study. Washington: GPO for the
Library of Congress, 1994.

Acknowledgments
Preface
History
EARLY CIVILIZATIONS
ISLAM IN INDIA
THE MUGHAL PERIOD
COMPANY RULE
THE BRITISH RAJ
The Forward Policy
The Seeds of Muslim Nationalism
Beginnings of Self-Government
The Two Nations Theory
Toward Partition
INDEPENDENT PAKISTAN
Problems at Independence
Constitutional Beginnings
Early Foreign Policy
Collapse of the Parliamentary System
AYUB KHAN
YAHYA KHAN AND BANGLADESH
ZULFIQAR ALI BHUTTO
ZIA UL-HAQ
THE ZIA REGIME
Geography
Topography and Drainage
Climate
Pollution
National Conservation Goals
Society
POPULATION
Traditional Kinship Patterns
Linguistic and Ethnic Groups
Punjabis
Pakhtuns
Sindhis
Baloch
Men and Women, Gender Relations
The Status of Women and the Women's Movement
RELIGION
Basic Tenets of Islam
Islam in Pakistani Society
Politicized Islam
Non-Muslim Minorities
EDUCATION
HEALTH AND WELFARE
The Economy
STRUCTURE OF THE ECONOMY
ROLE OF GOVERNMENT
FOREIGN ECONOMIC RELATIONS
LABOR
AGRICULTURE
INDUSTRY
Manufacturing
Energy
Mining
Tourism
The Government
Independence
Role of Islam
Regional and Ethnic Factors
The Civil Service
The Military
Early Constitution Building
Ayub Khan
Yahya Khan
Zulfiqar Ali Bhutto
Zia ul-Haq
GOVERNMENT STRUCTURE
POLITICS
Muslim League
Islami Jamhoori Ittehad
Jamaat-i-Islami
Pakistan People's Party
Muhajir Qaumi Mahaz
Awami National Party
Jamiat-ul-Ulama-i-Islam
Tehrik-i-Istiqlal
The First Government of Benazir Bhutto
Ghulam Mustafa Jatoi
Nawaz Sharif
President Ghulam Ishaq Khan
Struggle Between Nawaz Sharif and Ishaq Khan
Moeen Qureshi
Benazir Bhutto Returns
THE MEDIA
FOREIGN POLICY
India
The Former Soviet Union
China
Middle East
The United States
Bibliography

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