URCP-5106

PAKISTAN STUDIES
URCP-5106 Pakistan Studies 2(2+0)

The course is designed to acquaint the students of BS Programs with the rationale of the creation
of Pakistan. The students would be apprised of the emergence, growth, and development of
Muslim nationalism in South Asia and the struggle for freedom, which eventually led to the
establishment of Pakistan. While highlighting the main objectives of national life, the course
explains further the socio-economic, political, and cultural aspects of Pakistan’s endeavors to
develop and progress in the contemporary world. For this purpose, the foreign policy objectives
and Pakistan’s foreign relations with neighboring and other countries are also included. This
curriculum has been developed to help students analyze the socio-political problems of Pakistan
while highlighting various phases of its history before and after the partition and to develop a
vision in them to become knowledgeable citizens of their homeland.

Contents
1. Contextualizing Pakistan Studies
2. Geography of Pakistan: Geo-Strategic Importance of Pakistan
3. Freedom Movement (1857-1947)
4. Pakistan Movement (1940-47)
5. Muslim Nationalism in South Asia
6. Two Nations Theory
7. Ideology of Pakistan
8. Initial Problems of Pakistan
9. Political and Constitutional Developments in Pakistan
10. Economy of Pakistan: Problems and Prospects
11. Society and Culture of Pakistan
12. Foreign Policy Objectives of Pakistan and Diplomatic Relations
13. Current and Contemporary Issues of Pakistan
14. Human Rights: Issues of Human Rights in Pakistan
Recommended Texts
1. Kazimi, M. R. (2007). Pakistan Studies. Karachi: Oxford University Press.
2. Sheikh, Javed Ahmad (2004). Pakistan’s Political Economic and Diplomatic Dynamics.
Lahore: Kitabistan Paper Products.
Suggested Readings
1. Hayat, Sikandar (2016). Aspects of Pakistan Movement. Islamabad: National Institute of
Historical and Cultural Research.
2. Kazimi, M. R (2009). A Concise History of Pakistan. Karachi: Oxford University Press.
3. Talbot, Ian (1998). Pakistan: A Modern History. London: Hurst and Company
Contextualizing Pakistan Studies
Pakistan Study is academic research. It is study of different dimensions of Pakistan that includes
national identity, cultural heritage, demography, economy, geography, history, environment,
political scenarios, opportunities, and challenges faced by the country.
British Advents in Subcontinent
In 1600 C.E. East India Company was established in England. John Watts, a British businessman,
was the founder of Governor and Company of Merchants of London trading into the East Indies.
This company of John Watts was later in the history of Subcontinent known as East India
Company. Queen Elizabeth granted the charter to East India Company to trade in areas, East of
Africa in 1602. This included Subcontinent, Indonesia, and Malaysia etc.
In the start the East India Company tried their luck in islands of Indonesia but they were unable to
extract desirable profits from there. The first British ship landed in Subcontinent in 1608 at Surat.
This was the period of the fourth Mughal Emperor Jahangir. He did not allow British to trade in
Subcontinent. However British did not lose hope and continued to convince Mughals for the
permission. Finally in 1612 a limited permission was granted to British by Khurram (Shah Jahan)
the governor of Gujarat. As a result, British erected their first factory in Surat in 1613. James I,
dispatched Sir Thomas Roe to the royal court of Jahangir in 1614 after which, British were allowed
to trade across the Subcontinent.
Portuguese opened the sea route to Subcontinent. They were first people who started to trade with
Subcontinent from Europe. Vasco de Gama was the first European who opened the route through
sea towards Subcontinent in 1496. The next European nation to follow them were Dutch. England
was the third European country to trade with Subcontinent. Portuguese and Dutch restricted
themselves to small areas within Subcontinent. On the other hand, British tried their luck all over
Subcontinent and it paid off. Within 150 years of their stay in Subcontinent British were in such a
strong position that they started to challenge the local rulers and even the Mughal Emperors.
Different attempts by the Nations of Subcontinent to prevent British from taking control
over Subcontinent:
Since British arrived in Subcontinent, they were trying to take control over it, one way or another.
In the early days of their stay, they were taking control over the economic activity of Subcontinent.
Then after spending some decades, they felt more comfortable and stronger enough to challenge
the authority of local rulers.
British challenged the authority of Aurangzeb on the issue of tax exemption. However, he was a
powerful Mughal Emperor, so he was able to crush British easily in 1691. Then British tried to
take control of Bengal. In 1757, they challenged Nawab of Bengal Sirajud-Dauala. The dispute
was over the fortification of one factory of British. Although the Nawab was able to defeat British
in early battles, but he was finally defeated in the famous battle of Plassey by Robert Clive. The
minister of Nawab Siraj-ud-Daula’s Cabinet, Mir Jaffer betrayed him in the battle and made the
British victory possible. In 1764 the Nawab of Bengal Mir Qasim (Resistance Symbol in Bengal
against British after 1757 due to which he was called Nawab of Bengal), Nawab of Oudh Shuja-
ud-Daula and Mughal Emperor Shah Alam II fought with British Commander Hector Munro at
the battle of Buxar. British defeated the alliance of these three rulers and took control of more
lands in sub-continent. In 1765, Robert Clive was appointed as the 1st Governor of Bengal after
the peace treaty of Allahabad.
Mysore Wars
There had been four military confrontations (1767–69; 1780–84; 1790–92; and 1799) in
Subcontinent between the British and the rulers of Mysore. About 1761 a Muslim
adventurer, Hyder Ali, already commander in chief, made himself ruler of the state of Mysore and
set about expanding his dominions. In 1766 the East India Company joined the nizam (ruler)
of Hyderabad against Hyder Ali in return for the cession of the Northern Sarkars. But the nizam
abandoned the war in 1768, leaving the British to face Hyder Ali alone. In 1769 Hyder Ali
appeared before the company’s government in Madras (now Chennai) and dictated peace based
on the status quo.
In the second war, Hyder Ali joined forces with the Marathas in 1780 and again
devastated Karnataka. The tide was turned by the dispatch of British help from Calcutta
(now Kolkata) and by the death of Hyder Ali in December 1782. French help came too late to
affect the issue. Peace was made with Hyder Ali’s son Tippu Sultan by the Treaty of
Mangalore (1784).
The third war began in 1790, when Governor-General Lord Cornwallis dropped Tippu’s name
from the list of the company’s “friends.” After two campaigns, Tippu was checked at Seringapatam
(now Seringapatam, Karnataka) and forced to cede half his dominions (1792).
The fourth war was undertaken by Governor-General Lord Mornington (later Wellesley) on the
plea that Tippu was receiving help from France. British troops stormed Seringapatam in May 1799.
Tippu martyred in the fighting and his troops were defeated.
Raja Ranjeet Singh (Lion of the Punjab)
Ranjit Singh, (born Nov. 13, 1780, Budrukhan or Gujranwala, Subcontinent—died June 27, 1839,
Lahore), Founder and maharaja (1801–39) of the Sikh kingdom of the Punjab. He became chief of
the Shukerchakias (a Sikh group located in what is now Pakistan) on the death of his father in
1792. In 1799 he seized Lahore, the capital of the Punjab (and now in Pakistan), and in 1801 he
proclaimed himself maharaja of the Punjab. In 1802 he captured Amritsar, a city sacred to the
Sikhs, and by 1820 he had consolidated his rule over the whole of Punjab between the Sutlej and
the Indus rivers. The Sikh state he created, which had included Sikhs, Muslims, and Hindus in
both the army and the cabinet, collapsed soon after his death. It was after his death, that British
annexed Punjab in 1849.
Battle of Miāni
In (February 17, 1843), engagement between a British force of about 2,800 troops under Sir
Charles Napier and a host of more than 20,000 followers of the amirs (chiefs) of Sindh (Mir Nasir
Khan) ending in a British victory and the annexation of most of Sindh. Complaints had been made
against the amirs’ attitude toward the British during the First Anglo-Afghan War (1839–42).
Instead of leaving settlement to the British resident, the British gave full civil and military powers
to Napier in September 1842. A popular upsurge then led to open war. At Miāni the British
prevailed. The army of the amirs was scattered, and Sindh, except for the state of Khairpur, was
annexed in 1843.
The last attempt by people of Subcontinent to prevent British from taking control over
Subcontinent was the War of independence 1857. This was the biggest struggle against British in
Subcontinent. It was supported by many nations of Subcontinent from different parts. In short, all
the efforts by People of Subcontinent to resist against British control failed. The main reason
behind these failures was that People of Subcontinent were not united at any time and had their
own personal interests.
War of Independence
1. Causes:
i. Economic Causes:
British started to take administrative control over Subcontinent since the battle of Plassey in 1757.
The main objectives of this take over was extracting maximum profits out of Subcontinent.
Subcontinent provided multiple exploitation opportunities to British.
i) It provided raw material for the newly started Industrial Revolution in England.
ii) Mass production means need for larger market, Subcontinent provided single largest market in
the world.
iii) For extraction of raw material British pressurized the local rulers for tax exemptions and later
completely waived the taxes for their trade.
iv) They also made tax exemption for selling their products in the local markets. As a result, the
local rulers and merchants started to suffer. When mass produced products were pumped into
Subcontinent markets the prices decreased and the local manual production failed to cope up with
the change. Contrary to the British local merchants were paying all the taxes in their own land
according to the various laws prevailing in different kingdoms with Subcontinent. This disparity
led to the frustration in the hearts and minds of locals.
Political Causes:
For the first century of their stay in Subcontinent British did not indulge themselves into local
politics. Then from the start of 18th century we see British influence over local politics. The first
major ruler to lose his land was Siraj-ud-Daula 1757. Then Nawab of Oudh also lost his hegemony
over his land 1764. British accelerated the capture of power and land of Subcontinent from the
start of 19th century. During 1782 till 1799 British fought in Mysore and finally conquered it in
1799. The conquest of Sindh took place in 1843. They took capital of Punjab, Lahore in 1849. The
famous Doctrine of Lapse in 1852 of Dalhousie also deprived many rulers from their lands.
According to this doctrine the British would confiscate any land of such rulers, who did not have
a direct male heir, after his death. Through the implementation of this doctrine British were able
to take control many territories which resulted into further hatred in the hearts of locals for them.
Most of them were unable to fight British alone however when the war started, they came out in
the support for the anti-British forces and tried to take revenge.
Social Causes:
Subcontinent was home to very staunch and conservative people. British in early days of their
occupation did not interfere in the social traditions and customs of Subcontinent people. From the
beginning of 19th century British started to introduce many new reforms, which were seen as attack
by the local people on their culture. They opened schools where English was made compulsory.
English replaced Persian in 1835 as official language. Lord McCauley introduced his famous
education policy of 1835, which particularly attacked local teachings and culture. He even made
an insulting statement about the local literature,” a single shelf of a European Library is better than
all the books ever written in Sub-continent.”
Religious Causes:
Subcontinent had always been a very conservative society. The two major communities Muslims
and Hindus both had always been very orthodox towards their religious believes. Earlier the British
East India Company decided upon the policy of no interference in the religious matter of the locals.
They knew by indulging in religion or propagating Christianity they would rattle the locals.
However, with time policies changed.
i) Afghan Invasion by East India Company was an event that created a rift between the
Hindu soldiers working under the company. Bengal and Bombay regiments were
ordered to March into Afghanistan in 1839. Several Hindu soldiers refused to go
beyond river Indus on behalf of their religious believe. According to Hindu traditions
if a Hindu crosses river Indus and goes west he will lose their religion. This was a major
concern for British and Hindus at the time.
ii) British introduced a cartridge for a new riffle in Subcontinent. The cartridge was made
of paper and was coated with animal fat to protect it from moisture. These cartridges
were to be opened by mouth before use. The cartridges were being made locally in
Subcontinent by various venders. The manufacturers used cow and pig fat on them. It
was later reported by the Subcontinent Sepoyees that we would not use these cartridges
because of cow and pig fat. In the beginning British called an inquiry into the matter
and ordered vendors not use the fat of said animals. Later in May 1857 the matters got
worst when a British officer strictly ordered Subcontinent Sepoyees to use the
cartridges
 iii) Ban on Suttee was imposed by British in 1829. At the time this ban was considered as
unnecessary indulgence by British in the affairs and religious matters of locals.
Reasons for the failure of People of Subcontinent in the War:
This was not the first time that People of Subcontinent took up arms against East India Company.
Siraj-ud-Daula, Shuja-ud-Daula, Haider Ali, Tipu Sultan and Ranjeet Singh also took up arms
against East India Company but in 1857 War of Independence, the effort was collective rather than
individual. Subcontinent was one of the largest countries at that time which had one of the largest
populations in the world. Then how such a great number of people were defeated by handful British
officers? There are some reasons behind this defeat, which are as under:
i. No central leadership:
The war of independence was started by some soldiers who refused to use the disputed cartridge.
Although these sepoyees got support from other People of Subcontinent as well but there was a
major weakness in the organization of the rebel army. There was no leader who could command
the volunteer army and fight the war with proper strategy. The sepoyees got the official support of
Bahadur Shah Zafar, but he was a very old man at that time and was physically unable to take
active part in the war. On the other hand, British had a proper high command and proper structured
army. Due to this lack of central leadership the rebel army was unable to achieve its objective.
ii. Lack of weapons:
The war is fought with weapons. The British had their factories which were supplying weapons
continuously. On the other hand, the local people were fighting with the weapons which they got
from British. The other weapons which were locally made, (swords, lances, bow and arrow) were
useless against the advanced weapons of British like guns and cannons.
iii. Lack of support from all over Subcontinent:
This war is remembered as the war of Independence of Subcontinent but, it was not supported by
all the People of Subcontinent. Main fighting tribes like Punjabis and Gurkhas were supporting
British. The three presidencies Calcutta, Madras and Bombay remained loyal to the British. The
war effort was concentrated only in the central Subcontinent. The people of other parts of
Subcontinent did not support the war.
iv. Lack of unity and coordination:
The people who were fighting against British were not united among themselves as well. They
were fighting for their own goals rather than the national goal. That is why they did not have
coordination with each other. Different rulers were fighting in different areas for example, Nana
Sahib at Kanpur, Begum Hazrat Mahal at Oudh, Moulvi Liaquat Ali at Allahabad and most famous
Rani Laxmi Bai at Jhansi. If all these people would have been fighting like a single machine and
with coordination the results of the war would have been different.
Objectives of War of Independence
This war was a failure because it was unable to achieve the goals for which it was fought.
The Objectives of the war were
1- Send British back to England
2- Reinstall Mughal rule in Subcontinent
The people who fought this war were unable to achieve any of these goals through the war.
Although the war was unable to achieve the goals for which it was fought but it achieved some
indirect goals which were not considered as success at that time. This indirect success proved very
helpful for People of Subcontinent to gain Independence 90 years later.
i. The people of Subcontinent were able to abolish the tyrannical rule of British East India
Company and to replace it with comparatively better rule of British Crown. The company was
only working to gain profit for its people.
ii. The people of Subcontinent convinced the British Government that they need recognition and
now their voice cannot be pressed. That is why the Government of England took control of
Subcontinent directly into their hands and introduced acts which gave People of Subcontinent a
chance to participate in the Government.
Phases of Indo-Pak history from 1857 till 1947
The history of Subcontinent after the War of Independence till Independence of Sub-Continent
could be divided into four phases, which are as under:
First Phase 1858 till 1905 (Hindus + British vs. Muslims)
This period is marked by good relations between Hindus and British. Muslims were being
ignored by both and persecuted.
Second Phase 1905 till 1913 (British + Muslims vs. Hindus)
During this period British made some administrative and legislative changes which favored
Muslims. Hindus during this period were very active against both British and Muslims.
Third Phase 1913 till 1928 (Muslims + Hindus vs. British)
Since the change of objectives by Muslim League the Congress found some common grounds
with them. This period is marked by Hindu Muslim Unity shown in Lucknow Pact, Khilafat
movement etc.
Fourth Phase 1928 till 1947 (British vs. Muslim vs. Hindus)
Since the Nehru Report the unity between Hindu and Muslims ended. Since then both parties
worked for their own rights without the help of each other. First Phase 1858 till 1905
(Hindus + British Vs Muslims)
Role of Sir Syed Ahmed Khan in Freedom Movement: (1817-1898)
Introduction:
Sir Syed Ahmed Khan is one of those personalities who shape the future of nations. Sir Syed
Ahmed Khan was born on 17th October 1817, and he died on 27th March 1898. He belonged to
an educated family and his father had served in the Mughal court. After completing education, he
looked for his future in judiciary during the rule of East Subcontinent Company. He was a realistic
person and a man of reason. He saved the life of an English collector Shakespeare and his family
from an angry mob. He was the first person who took a middle path and tried to solve the problems
Muslims were facing at the time especially after the war. At the time of the war, he was 40 years
old, and he dedicated rest of his life towards the restoration of the status of Muslim society in sub-
continent.
Contributions and services of Sir Syed:
After the war Sir planned to raise the status of Muslim society by education and bringing them
close to British. To accomplish this task, he wrote books on various topics and opened schools and
other institutions.
Literary Works
i. Asbab-e-Baghawat-e-Hind; (The causes of Subcontinent Revolt). 1858 (Political effort):
It was originally written in Urdu and later it was translated into English by Sir Auckland Colvin
and G.F.I. Graham in 1873 and published same year7. In this pamphlet he blamed the war on
British. He said that it is due to the tyrannical rule of British East Subcontinent Company that
People of Subcontinent started to hate them and finally this hatred led to the war. He pointed out
that British did not include People of Subcontinent in the government. He argued that British
should include People of Subcontinent in the government. This will help British to understand and
solve the problems faced by People of Subcontinent. This piece of writing had a great impact on
politics of Subcontinent, British for the first time included People of Subcontinent in the
government after the Subcontinent Councils act 1861. These Subcontinent members were chosen
by the Viceroy this means they were not elected, or they had the approval of Subcontinent people.
ii. Loyal Mohammedans of India. 1858 (Political effort):
In this book Sir Syed mentioned all those Muslims who served under the British. The main purpose
of this book was to tell British that Muslims are not their enemies and they have served them with
loyalty.
iii. Tabyin-ul-Kalam (Explanation of Bible) (Social effort):
In this book Sir Syed explained Bible to bring out its relationship with Quran and Islam. It was a
very important book to cultivate friendly relations between Muslims and British.
iv. Tahzeeb-ul-Akhlaq. (Magazine) (Social efort)
It was a magazine started by Sir Syed to bring Muslims closer to their culture and moral values. It
worked as a social reformer.
v. Ahleam-e-Taam-e-Ahle-e-Kitab (Social efort) (Table manners of the people of book)
Both Muslims and Christians are the people of book. Muslims follow Quran and Christians follow
Bible. In this writing Sir Syed tried to bring out the similarities between Muslims and Christian.
vi. Khutabt-e-Ahmadiah (A book on the life of Holy Prophet Mohammad P.B.U.H)
In this book Sir Syed discussed different events and summons of Holy Prophet.
vii. Tafseer-ul-Quran. (Commentary of Holy Quran)
It was a detailed commentary on Holy Quran.
Educational institutes:
i. Laid the foundations of a school at Moradabad in 1859.
ii. Established a school in Ghazipur in 1864.
iii. Established a scientific society at Ghazipur in 1863. The main function of this society was to
translate books written in European languages into local languages so the people of Subcontinent
could understand them.
iv. In 1869 he went to England to admit his son Mohammad in Cambridge University. There he
observed the education system and particularly universities. He observed that Universities like
Oxford and Cambridge are working for more than three centuries due to which the society of
England was modern and advanced. After coming back from England, he started to work towards
establishing a university in Subcontinent. In 1875 he was able to establish a school at Aligarh,
which was upgraded to MAO College in 1877. This same college was finally made a university in
1920 as Aligarh Muslim University.
v. He also established Mohammedans Educational conference in 1886 to promote education
amongst Muslims of Sub-continent.
Aligarh Movement:
It was not a separate movement launched by Sir Syed Ahmed Khan. All his educational efforts
which had their base in Aligarh came to be known as Aligarh Movement which included the
Tehzeb-ul- Akhlaq, MAO. College etc.
Political efforts:
Sir Syed tried to transform Muslim society of sub-continent to be a modern society. For this
purpose, he made many different efforts. Along with his social, educational and religious efforts
his political mentoring of Muslims is very important.
Two nation theory:
Sir Syed was the first person who distinguished the two major communities of subcontinent on the
political and religious basis. He had a very fine observation on the political events of his times. In
1867 Hindi Urdu controversy occurred. The course of this event got Sir Syed’s attention and he
started to think about the two-nation theory at that time. British introduced Subcontinent Councils
Act 1892 in which they introduced for the first time in Subcontinent the system of elections. It
means that now the Subcontinent people can choose their representatives on their own.
Political Advice to Muslims:
When Subcontinent National Congress was established in 1885 Sir Syed advised Muslims of sub-
continent to stay away from the politics. The reason behind it was that he believed that Muslims
are not properly aware of politics at that time and not properly educated to become got politicians.
On the other hand, Hindus were in better position than Muslims. That is why he asked Muslims to
work towards education and when they are prepared then enter politics.
Freedom Movement First Phase 1858 till 1905 (Hindus + British vs. Muslims)
Introduction:
The Great War had started in May 1857, and it ended in August 1858. The two simultaneous and
most significant aftermaths of the war were the dissolution of British East Subcontinent Company
and the takeover of all Subcontinent affairs by the British government under royal authority of her
highness Queen Victoria. On 1st November 1858 the queen declared the takeover officially. For
the first time during the British interaction with People of Subcontinent were given the status of
British subject unlike the rule under the company. This might not be a status anyone would like to
associate themselves with however it was a lesser evil. The queen announced constitutional
reforms in the new official colony. Act of India 1858 was the result of that intention.
Act of India 1858:
1. “Subcontinent was to be governed directly by and in the name of the Crown, actin through
a Secretary of State.”
2.“There shall be paid to each member of the ' Council the yearly salary of one
thousand two hundred pounds out of the revenues, of Subcontinent.”
3.“If most of the Council record as aforesaid their opinions against any act
proposed to be done the Secretary of State shall, if he do not defer to the opinions of the
majority, record his reasons for acting in opposition thereto.”
Indian Councils Act 1861:
In 1861 British introduced first major reforms. These reforms were the result of continuous
criticism from Indians on the administration and legislative structure of British in India. There was
no representation of Indians in the legislative council of Viceroy and central administration.
According to Indian critics the absence of Indians is a major cause of rejection of British and one
of the major elements for the war of 1857. Leading from the front in criticism was Sir Syed Ahmed
Khan. He wrote Asbab-e-Baghawat-e-Hind (Causes of Indian Revolt, later translated in English)
in 1858. Since this book came out, British started to discuss inclusion of Indians in governmental
setup. These reforms for the first time brought Indians into legislature. It said that Indians would
be allowed to sit in the council of Viceroy based on selection by British. Although this inclusion
was not on democratic basis, but it opened a window of opportunity for Indians to take part in law
making. The function of Indian member was just to tell British about the feelings of Indians when
asked. He did not have any power to make any change or to stop any law. The first Indians to
become members of Imperial Legislative Council were, Raja Sir Deo Narayan Singh of Benaras
(Jan 1862-1866) Narendra Singh, Maharaja of Patiala (Jan 1862-1864) Dinkar Rao (Jan 1862-
1864).
Hindi-Urdu controversy 1867:
This event occurred when British decided to replace Urdu which is written in Persian script with
Hindi written in Deo-Nagri script, in lower courts. Muslims all over India started to agitate against
the step taken by the Government. On the other hand, Hindus were celebrating on the replacement
of the Language. This event also sparked disturbance in many localities across India. Muslims
were surprised by the reaction shown by the Hindus, because till then both Hindus and Muslims
stood with each other against British. Hindus had started to lean towards British, while Muslims
were facing hardships at the hands of British. Sir Syed Ahmed Khan took notice of the event and
observed it. He then started to think about the two-nation theory, that Muslims and Hindus are two
different nations which have totally different history, culture, religion and language etc. Although
they have lived together with each other for more than eight centuries but still they have not learnt
to tolerate each other. After some interval of time in history both communities found themselves
face to face against each other over some issue.
Formation of “All Indian National Congress” 1885:
It was formed by a retired British civil servant Allan Octavian Hume in 1885. The main purpose
of this party was to provide Indians a platform to voice their grievances and demands to the British
Government. It welcomed people of all castes and color. British wanted to avoid any other
confrontation like the War of Independence 1857 in future. The first meeting of the Congress was
held in Bombay when Lord Dufferin was viceroy. It was attended by 72 delegates. Womesh
Chandra Banerjee was elected as the first president of Congress. By 1907 the Congress party got
split into two sections first under Bal Gangadhar Tilak (the extremist) and the second under Gopal
Krishna Ghokle (themoderates). Sir Syed Ahmed Khan at this moment advised Muslims not to
join Congress. He was not against politics, but he believed that Muslims were not fully prepared
to indulge themselves into politics. He believed that Muslims at that time had other important than
politics challenges which need immediate attention. He said that Hindus are more advanced and
educated than Muslims. They will easily overpower Muslims in politics. He also predicted that
Congress would become a Hindu party neglecting Muslims. To provide Muslims a platform to
work on education and divert their attention from politics he established Mohammedan Education
Conference in 1886. Time proved the fears and predictions of Sir Syed when Hindus objected on
the partition of Bengal in 1905 which was in the favor of Muslims.
Indian Councils Act 1892:
Since its establishment Congress was asking for more representation in the legislature and based
on elections by Indians rather than selection by British. In 1892 British introduced new reforms in
which for the first time they brought limited democratic representation system in India. This time
the number of Indians in provincial council was increased and they were going to be nominated
from Indian. This was not a direct election amongst the people like in practice today across the
world, but these members would be nominated by different groups or bodies working in India for
example, City Corporation, Municipal Corporation, district boards, associations of merchants or
manufacturers and University senate (source given below). The power to make regulations
regarding the nominations of Indians was given to provincial governors under the article 1(4) of
the Indian Councils Act 1892. At the time there were four administrative units of British India,
Madras, Bombay, Calcutta and Northwestern Provinces and Oudh. The number of nominated
members in these provinces was as follows.
Madras 7
Bombay 8
Calcutta 7
N.W. Provinces and Oudh 6
Sir Syed said that the European democratic system cannot work in India as it is working in England
because there are many different communities living in India. This way only the community in
majority would be able to make laws and they would suppress the communities in minorities. On
the other hand, in England all the people are English, and they do not have communal differences
amongst them. They vote based on policies of political parties or politicians. In India all people
would vote based on religion or community.
Second Phase 1905 till 1911
(British + Muslims Vs Hindus)
Partition of Bengal 1905:
Bengal at the start of the twentieth century had Bengal proper, Biharm Orrisa and Cholta Nagpur.
It was the most populous Province in British India, having an area of 189,900 square miles, with
a population of 78.5 million (7 crore 85 lacs). This was not the first time that British had discussed
or planned to bifurcate this area of India. The size of Bengal according to British was too much
for a single governor to handle and administer. They divided Bengal into two provinces, East
Bengal, and West Bengal. Before the partition most of the Muslims lived in the Eastern Bengal
and Hindus dominated the Western Bengal. Partition took effect on 16th October 1905. After the
partition Muslims got almost full majority in the new province East Bengal.
This partition sparked a reaction from Hindus, who were not in the favor of sharing power with
Muslims and agreeing to any favors for Muslims. Prior to the partition in all provinces Hindus had
majority and Muslims were in minority, so when the Muslims got majority in one province it was
not acceptable to Hindus. On the other hand, Muslims felt relieve. This was the first time during
the British Raj that Muslims as a community received some benefit out of the government. They
welcome the decision. The main advantage to Muslims was that now they did not have to compete
with the Hindus of Calcutta who were head and shoulder above the Muslim merchants
economically and had a control over markets.
Why was the partition done?
Bengal was the largest province of India which had the largest population and area. Due to its size
and population, it was becoming difficult to administer it. So, administer it properly the Viceroy
decided to divide into two smaller provinces under two Governors. The population was about 70
million. Another political reason can be drawn out of the activities of Congress and behavior of
British Government. Since the establishment of Congress in 1885 the demands of Indians were
increasing day by day. Congress was dominated by Hindus and Muslims had a very small number
in it. British wanted support for them amongst Indians and they thought that by giving political,
administrative, and economic favor to Muslims they might be able to receive support from
Muslims, which might be helpful against Congress. This is exactly what happened after the
partition. Muslims were in favor of it and Hindus rejected it completely.
Why did Hindus not like it? And Why Muslims welcomed it?
Before the partition the Hindus were in majority. Hindus had more than half of the population in
Bengal, most of which was in the Western part of the province. The Muslims had the second largest
population and most of them were in the Eastern part. After the partition East part of Bengal
became under most of the Muslims and the Western part was still dominated by the Hindus.
Congress and Hindus were unable to tolerate Muslim majority in any of the provinces of India.
Secondly Hindus were claiming that by drawing lines on the holy land of Hindus British have
committed a sin and dividing any piece of land on India is like cutting holy deity in two halves.
For Muslims, it was a sigh of relief. Finally, the mission of Sir Syed was accomplished to some
extent. He always wanted to bring Muslims and British closer for the benefit of Muslims. It was
the first time after the War of Independence 1857 that Muslim community got any benefit out of
the British Government. Muslims were enjoying majority in one newly created province in India.
How Hindus and Congress opposed it? Or why the partition was reversed?
Congress and Hindus were against this decision since the beginning. They wanted to reverse it at
any cost. The following events and action show how they were able to pressurize British to reverse
the partition.
i Swadeshi movement:
“Swadeshi” is a Hindi word which literally means “of our own”. In this movement Congress asked
their fellow countrymen to boycott British goods and buy only Indians goods. They thought this
way British would suffer financial losses and they would be forced to reverse the partition.
ii. Violence across country:
Initially British were able to sustain pressure of agitation and Swadeshi Movement. But after some
time, Hindus got more frustrated and violent in their demand. Some extremist Hindus started to
conduct attacks on government officials. They even attempted to assassinate the Viceroy of India
Lord Minto twice, but he survived both times.
iii. Delhi Durbar:
King George V became king of England on 6th May 1910 after the death of his father. He chose
India for his coronation ceremony because it was the most prized possession of the British
monarchy. When Indians came to know about this Idea of the king, they threaten to kill the king
if he tries to come to India. Before this could happen, the British Government took firm action to
avoid this situation by reversing the partition and shifting the capital from Calcutta to Delhi. Sir
John Jenkins a member of Viceroy’s Council advised to reverse the partition of Bengal and to shift
the capital of India to Delhi. Both suggestions were accepted by Viceroy and implemented. When
King came to India the capital was Delhi and there, he announced the reversal of the Partition of
Bengal on 22nd June 1911.
Shimla deputation, 1906
After the partition of Bengal, the Muslims of Sub-continent felt alone. The reaction of Hindus
against the partition was very strong and anti-Muslim. At that time some prominent members of
Muslim community thought that the time has arrived for Muslims to take some action towards
safeguarding their rights. Therefore, Sir Agha Khan III led a delegation of some prominent
members of Muslim society of India to meet Viceroy Lord Minto in Shimla in October 1906. There
they demanded separate electorates for Muslims and weightage for Muslims in different councils.
The meeting was a success and brought future hopes for Muslim politics in India. The Viceroy
assured that he would convey the demands to House of Commons. Separate electorates were
finally granted to Muslims in Minto
The Formation of Muslim League 1906:
The political system and culture were introduced in India by British in the last quarter of nineteenth
century. In 1885 the formation of Congress started the process of politics in India. At that time Sir
Syed Ahmad Khan advised Muslims not to take part in Congress. The reason was that Muslims
were not aware of politics at that time. Muslims were ignored time and again by the British and
Hindus in India. The Indian Councils Act of India 1891 also proved that Hindus would dominate
the politics and will leave Muslims behind. Since the start of 20th century Muslims had started to
feel the need of a separate political party or a group. In 1901, in a meeting at Lucknow, Nawab
Waqar ul Mulk stressed on the formation of a political party for Muslims of India. The Hindu
attitude towards Muslims after the Partition of Bengal proved that Hindus cannot work for the
rights of Muslims and Muslims need to have a political party of their own. The annual session of
the “Mohammedan Educational Conference”, was held at Dhaka in 1906. Many prominent
members of Muslim society of India were present there. After the meeting the Nawab of Dhaka,
Nawab Waqar-ul-Mulk arranged another meeting to discuss the prospects of a political party of
Muslims. He chaired the meeting and, in this meeting, everyone agreed on the need to form a
separate political party.
Objectives of the League
i. To protect the rights of Muslims
ii. To cultivate friendly relations with British.
iii. To prevent the rise of hostile feeling in the hearts of Muslims for other communities and in the
hearts of other communities for Muslims.
The formation of Muslim League was inevitable due to the behavior of Hindus and Congress. After
its formation Congress blamed the League as the representative of British and said that British
have made Muslim League to divide Indians and to counter Congress.
Morley Minto Reforms 1909:
British introduced legislative reforms after 1892 in 1909. These reforms are known as Indian
Councils act 1909 or Morley Minto reforms. Lord Minto was Viceroy and Lord Morley was the
Secretary of State for India. Salient features of these reforms are as under.
i. The separate electorates were given to Muslims in the provinces where they were in minority.
ii. The number of seats in the provincial councils was increased as 30 in small provinces and 50 in
large province.
iii. The numbers of central council was increased to be 60 members.
These reforms were very important for Muslims in two aspects.
i. Firstly in it the Separate Electorates were officially granted to Muslims which meant a great
Victory for early Muslim politics.
ii. Secondly the partition of Bengal was not reversed in these reforms which meant that British
kept their promise. These reforms were not meant to give Indians a chance to rule themselves but
on the contrary to give them the opportunity to convey their issues or problems to British. The
Indian members of the councils were not there to make any significant changes in the laws or
frame them. They were there to advice British, and it depended on them to accommodate those
advice or to reject them. British could easily ignore their advice. On the other hand, Congress was
very unhappy with these reforms. They also refused to accept these reforms for the following three
reasons:
i. It did not grant self- rule to Indians which was the demand of Congress before these reforms.
ii. Secondly separate electorates were given to Muslims in minority provinces and Congress was
against this demand of Muslims.
iii. Thirdly the partition of Bengal was not reversed in these reforms. Congress was agitating
against the partition of Bengal since it was done in 1905 and they were expecting that British
government would officially reverse this partition in these reforms.
Third Phase 1911 till 1928
(Hindus+Muslims Vs British)
Change of Objectives by Muslim League:
After the reversal of partition of Bengal in 1911 during Delhi Darbar, the leadership of Muslim
League was shocked and felt betrayed by British. During the movement against the partition
Muslims were curious about the future of East Bengal (a Muslim majority area) and they were
satisfied by British that it will remain separated no matter how many tactics would be utilized
against it. On this assurance Muslim League during its earlier years into politics decided to side
with British if they continue to favor the community across India. The decision to re-unite East
and West Bengal was an eye opener for Muslims. They realized that British are not there to provide
relieve to anyone their only motif is trade, profits earned from it and the revenues from India.
During 1911 and 1912 the leaders of Muslim League wanted to deviate from earlier objective of
the League which said to cultivate friendly relations with British. Finally in the annual session of
1912-13 Muslim League announced the change in its objectives. The friendly relations with British
were replaced with the demand for self-rule from British. This was a significant demand because
it brought Muslim League and Congress closer, and it also compelled Muhammad Ali Jinnah to
join Muslim League in 1913. “At a meeting of the Council of the League in 1913 the adoption of
the Congress formula of colonial self-government as the constitutional objective was moved but
found no seconder, and the Council adopted in its place the formula, ' the attainment under the
aegis of the British Crown of a system of self-government suitable to India ' a decision which the
League confirmed. The President of the Council, Mr. (afterwards Sir) Muhammad Shafi,
denounced the Congress formula as inadmissible and unsound.”
Lucknow Pact 1916:
In 1913 Jinnah joined Muslim League. He was already a member of Congress since he came back
to India. After joining Muslim League, he believed that these two political parties could come
closer and work together. He believed that they both are Indians, and they should not become each-
others weakness. The change of objectives by Muslim League in 1913 brought these two political
parties closer due to the common demand of Self Rule. Jinnah was successful to convince both
parties to conduct their annual session at the same time in same city. Lucknow was chosen for this
purpose. After conducting their own sessions both conducted a common session.
i. For the first time the Congress agreed to the right of separate electorates for Muslims. They also
introduced the separate electorates in Punjab and Bengal where they did not exist.
ii. They agreed that no bill will be passed in any provincial assembly if ¾ of the community
concerned with that law agrees to it.
iii. Muslims were given the 1/3 seats in the councils where their ratio was ¼.
iv. In another demand it was asked that any act or law passed by a large majority in any provincial
council should become a binding on the government.
v. Provincial autonomy was asked in all provinces.
vi. Both parties agreed that they will protect the rights of minorities living in their areas.
“This agreement between the two major political organizations may be regarded as the most
striking expression of Indian nationalism so far achieved within the bounds of British India. And
it was only achieved by major concessions on both sides.
Khilafat movement (1919-1924)
Why did the Khilafat movement start?
It was a political movement launched by the Muslims of sub-continent. There were two main
reasons behind Khilafat Movement
i. Protection of Ottoman Empire and Caliph
ii. To join all the Muslims of the world under single caliph like the early days of Islam by re-
establishing the system of Caliphate.
The First World War started in 1914. Indian Sub-continent was under the rule of British. The Great
War was amongst two groups of countries. First group was led by England and the second group
was led by Germany. In the German group a very important ally was Turkey. Turkey was the seat
of Caliphate of Muslims. “Caliph” means “successor” or “representative”. British asked Indians
to fight along with them in the war against Germany. The Muslims of India refused to fight against
Turkey which was supporting Germany. After the reversal of Partition of Bengal in 1911 Muslim
League lost confidence in British and started to build friendly relations with Congress. On behalf
of this friendship Hindus also refused to fight for British. To further convince Indians British said
that their main enemy is not Turkey. They further assured that after the war Turkey would not be
treated harshly. On behalf of this assurance Indians decided to support British.
The First World War ended in 1918. After the war the victorious countries started to treat all the
loosing countries harshly through different treaties. The first treaty which affected Turkey was the
“Armistice of Mudros” signed on 30th October 1918. According to this treaty Turkey accepted
defeat in the war and surrendered Hejaz, Yemen, Syria, Mesopotamia, Tripolitania, and Cyrenaica.
The allies also got control over Dardanelles and the Bosporus the two traits of Black Sea, which
lie within the boundaries of Turkey. Then Treaty of Sevres in 1920 August 10th further humiliated
Turkey. It broke the Ottoman Empire and reduced the control Turkey to the city of Istanbul and
surrounding territory and to part of Asia Minor. The Muslims of India felt that they have been
cheated by British. In 1919 they started to raise their voice against this harsh treatment of Turkey.
They also reminded British about their promise in which they said that Turkey would be left alone
after the war. When these early attempts did not work then people like Maulana Muhammad Ali
Jauhar, Maulana Shaukat Ali Jauhar, Abul Kalam Azad etc. started a full fledge movement to
pressurize British. Another long term or wider goal of the movement was to unite all Muslims of
the world against anti-Muslim forces such as west.
The movement was weak from the start
The movement was weak from the start. The basic reason behind the movement was the restoration
of Caliphate in Turkey, but on the contrary the people of Turkey wanted to get rid of Caliphate
and make Turkey a republic under the leadership of Kamal Ataturk. So, the claim of restoration
from outside by design became week.
Secondly the aim to unite all Muslims of the world under the leadership of one Caliph was also an
idealistic one. The institution of Caliphate was able to run properly only under the four pious
Caliphs. After the takeover of Umayyad’s, the institution was lost, and it became kingship where
the successors were nominated, and families ruled. The Muslim world had many diverse cultures
and people during the days of Khilafat Movement.
The reasons for its failure:
The movement was fragile from the beginning. It did not last long and started to erode with time.
Some main reasons behind the failure of the Khilafat movement are discussed as under:
a) Hijrat Movement 1920
In 1920 some religious leaders and the leaders of Khilafat movement declared Indian Sub-
continent a “Dar-ul-Harb”. It means a place where Muslims cannot live their lives according to the
teachings and practices of Islam. Around 20000 Muslims from Sind, Punjab, and N.W.F.P
migrated to Afghanistan, the nearest “Dar-ul-Islam”. They sold all their belongings and other
household to go to Afghanistan. When they reached there the government of Afghanistan refused
to take them in. They were turned back forcibly. Most of them died on the way. The ones who
were able to reach back found it very difficult to start a new life. In other words, it was a complete
failure and brought humiliation for the leaders of Khilafat movement. People lost their confidence
in the leadership.
b) Chaura Chauri incident 1922
In 1920, the leaders of Khilafat Movement decided to start Non-Cooperation movement under the
guidance of Gandhi. British arrested these leaders on behalf of this movement. Through time, the
movement grew more violent due to the frustration they were facing. In 1922, an angry mob
torched a police station. 22 police officers also were killed in this incident.
When Gandhi got this news in the jail, he decided to withdraw his support from the movement. He
said that now the movement has become very violent, and he cannot be a part to any violent
movement. He was a strong follower of the theory of “Ahinsa”, meaning nonviolence. With the
departure of Gandhi all the Hindus supporting the movement also left and the movement became
weak because now only Muslims were supporting the cause.
c) Proclamation of Republic in Turkey 1924
Since the end of World War, I a movement for democracy in Turkey started. It aimed the monarchy
or Caliphate in Turkey. The last Caliph signed a very humiliating treaty with the victorious powers,
and it caused unpopularity for the Caliph. Finally, in 1924 the movement got successful under the
leadership of Kamal Ataturk. The people of Turkey abolished Caliphate and declared Turkey a
Republic. When the people of Turkey themselves abolished Caliphate then the demand to restore
Caliphate from other countries made no sense.
Montague Chelmsford Reforms or Act of India 1919:
Immediately after the 1st World War, British brought a new constitution in India. According to
them it gave more opportunity and power to the local people. This can be said right in theory but
in practice it was nothing like what they claimed it was. All the powers were in the hands of British.
Some salient features of these reforms are as under.
1. The Central Legislature was divided into two houses. Counsel of state and Legislative assembly.
New composition of various legislative houses.
House Elected Nominated Term Total
Council of State 33 27 5 years 60
Legislative Assembly 103 41 3 years 144
Provincial Assemblies 70% 30%
2. The voter qualification was relaxed due to which more Indians got the chance to vote.
3. The Viceroy of India (a British officer) was given Veto power to stop any law which he did not
agree to.
4. The recommendations made in 1916 regarding passing of any law concerning a particular
community was accepted. In it, it was recommended that any law which affects or concerns any
particular community would not be passed if ¾ elected members of that community agree to it in
that province.
5. A new system of diarchy was introduced in the provincial governments. “di” means two and
“Archy” means rule it means dual rule. The administration of provinces was divided in between
Chief Minter and Governor. The thing to understand here is that Chief Ministers were to be elected
so they represented the people of that province. On the other hand, the Governors were selected
and appointed by the Viceroy which means they were not the representatives of the people.
The administration was divided into two section i. Reserved Subjects and ii. Transferred Subjects.
First section was given to Governors and the second was given to Chief Ministers. In reserved
subjects all important ministries related to the collection of taxes were retained by British. This
way they had the upper hand, and they did not lose any money.
The administration of provinces was divided between Chief Minister and Governor
• Reserved Subjects (Governor) Transferred Subjects (C.M)
• Finance. Health.
• Police. Sanitation.
• Maintenance of peace and order. Local government.
• Revenue. Public works.
• Publication of books and newspaper. Agriculture.
• Famine. Cooperative societies.
On paper British transferred some subjects to Indian but real powers were still in the hands of
British because whenever any Indian minister wanted to construct a school or college, he needed
money and money was still in the hands of British. Diarchy was introduced in 1921.
6. Central Government under VR would look after the following subjects for whole of India,
defense, foreign affairs, railway, telegraph, foreign trade, currency etc.
7. New provinces were made which increased the number of provinces to eight. i. Assam, ii.
Bengal, iii. Bihar, iv. Bombay, v. Madhya Pradesh, vi. Orissa, vii. Punjab, and viii. Uttar Pradesh.
8. Separate electorates were retained for Muslims and extended to new communities. Such as,
Sikhs, Anglo-Indians, Christians, and the Europeans.
Reaction of Muslim League and Congress on these reforms.
Both parties refused to accept these reforms because majority of the demands were not accepted.
The system of diarchy was also heavily criticized by all Indians. Both parties knew that British
government has played a trick through introduction of diarchy. This way the real financial powers
were still in the hands of British. Self-rule was also not accepted in these reforms.
Rowlett Act:
On February 6, 1919, a bill was introduced in Imperial Legislative Council for approval.
Immediately a sharp reaction was sparked from Muslims and Hindus alike and a heated debate
arose over the rights of Indians. On March 18, same year the bill was passed and stirred political
agitation. It was an act which was specifically introduced to control the different political
movements in India during that time. The most important movement was Khilafat Movement
which was gaining momentum. British after dealing with First World War started to concentrate
in Indian Affairs. Through this act the police became powerful to arrest anyone without warrant
and any reason. The arrested people also did not have any right to go on trial. This meant that
police could do anything at any time and the people of India did not have any security from police.
The most political slogan against this law was “na daleel na wakeel” (not reason and no lawyer).
Jinnah resigned from the legislative council in protest of this act because he was strongly against
it.
Jallianwala Bagh Incident:
On April 13, 1919 people living around Jallianwala Bagh gathered into the garden to celebrate a
local festival. The military in charge of Amritsar General Dyer appeared on the scene with his
forces. He ordered people to leave the area, or he would shoot indiscriminately. The local people
ignored him and continued with their festivities. Finally General Dyer ordered his forces to shoot
at people at their will. Around 400 people died at the spot and 1600 injured.
Simon Commission (1927):
In 1927 the secretary of state for India Lord Birkenhead announced a commission to work for the
recommendations for the new constitution of India, which would replace Montague Chelmsford
Reforms of 1919. It was good news for Indians but there was a surprise of bad news in it. He did
not include any Indian in it and was strongly against the idea of including Indians in any type of
legislation process for India. He stated that Indians are not capable of legislation. They cannot
agree on anything among themselves and can only criticize on legislation done by British. This
commission was not accepted by almost all Indian political parties. There was only one section of
Muslim League which welcomed it. The league got divided on this issue. One section was under
Jinnah called Jinnah League and the other was under the leadership of Shafi called Shafi league or
Punjab league. The Punjab or Shafi League welcomed it, and Jinnah was against it. The report of
this commission came out in 1929, which was rejected by all political parties of India.
Delhi Muslim Proposals:
In accordance with the Congress Party’s initiation, Muslims on their behalf called a meeting in
Delhi to offer constitutional proposals of their own which could be acceptable to all parties and
protected Muslim rights. As a result, on March 20, 1927, following proposals were drafted and
forwarded to Congress.
i. Sindh should be separated from Bombay and made a province.
ii. Reforms should be in traduced in N.W.F.P and Baluchistan on the same footings as in any other
province of India.
iii. Reservation of seats according to population for different communities in Punjab and Bengal.
iv. Muslims should be given 1/3 representation in central legislature.
On the very next day Congress Working Committee passed a resolution and welcomed the decision
of Muslims to surrender separate electorates. Congress approved and adopted three of the four
demands forwarded by Muslims, except 1/3 representation of Muslims in central legislature.
All Parties Conference and Nehru Report:
In response to this commission Congress being the largest political party of India invited all other
political parties to talk. They called All Parties Conference in 1928. Dr. M.A. Ansari was the
president of the conference. The main idea was that British have put up a challenge in front of
Indians and now the time has come to unite and work together. All political parties of India
welcomed it. Even Muslims League under Jinnah was a part of this unified effort.
A committee was shaped under the chairmanship of Motilal Nehru (father of Jawaharlal Nehru)
on May 19, 1928. There were two Muslim members in this committee as well. When the report
came out it was not acceptable to Muslims. It was against the benefit of minorities.
Jinnah made a very famous statement on this occasion that, “it is the parting of the ways”, of
Hindus and Muslims. Since then, Muslims and Hindus never came on terms again and started
working for their own separate agendas.
1. Immediate dominion status.
2. “Declaration of Rights”, should be adopted, insuring fullest liberty of conscience and religion.
3. N.W.F.P should be given full provincial status.
4. Sind should be separated from Bombay.
5. *Separate Electorates should be immediately abolished.
6. *No weightages should be allowed.
7. Reservation of seats was recommended in center and provinces where they are in minority only,
and reservation was strictly to the proportion of population.
8. Bi-cameral legislature was proposed, Senate as upper house and House of representatives as
lower house.
a. *Senate would have 200 seats. Its members would be elected from provincial councils and
representation of provinces would be proportional to its population.
b. “House of Representatives” of 500 should be constituted based on direct elections from all over
India according to the population.
9. *Residuary powers would be given to the center.
NOTE: (* means these points were contradictory to the federal form of government and not
acceptable to minorities.)
These constitutional recommendations were hinting towards the domination of majority
population in a country which was deeply divided on ethnic and religious lines. It hinted towards
federalism however it was as unitary as the 1919 Montague-Chelmsford reforms were. These
constitutional recommendations were seen as legal yoke to strangle minorities.
Muhammad Ali Jinnah was disappointed on the proceedings of APC. He proposed three
amendments to the Nehru Report on December 22, 1928 and offered to agree to all other
recommendations. However, Congress refused to accommodate these recommendations.
i. One third (1/3) seats reserved in the center for Muslims.
ii. Reserved seats for Muslims in Punjab and Bengal.
iii. Federal form of government with residuary powers vested in the provinces.
Fourth Phase of Freedom Movement (1928-1940)
Fourteen points of Jinnah
Nehru report was not acceptable to Muslims, and they had already rejected the Simon Commission.
Now Muslims had to come up with a set of their own demands which they could put in front of
British. Jinnah took up this task and presented fourteen points. In these points he summed up all
the demands of Muslims of India. This was the first time that Muslims of India came up with
constitutional recommendations. For a long time, it was believed that Muslims are not capable
enough to take part in constitutional developments. Fourteen points proved to British and Hindus
that they were wrong and made them, realize the fact that now Muslims will not accept such
legislation which is against their rights. It also declared that Muslims of Sub-continent are not just
spectators.
Fourteen Points
1-The form of the future constitution should be federal, with the residuary powers to be vested in
the provinces.
2- A uniform measure of autonomy shall be granted to all provinces.
3- All legislatures in the country and other elected bodies shall be constituted on the definite
principle of adequate and effective representation of minorities in every province without reducing
the majority in any province to a minority or even equality.
4- In the Central Legislature, Muslim representation shall not be less than one third.
5- Representation of communal groups shall continue to be by separate electorates: if it shall be
open to any community, at any time, to abandon its separate electorate in favor of joint electorate.
6- Any territorial redistribution that might at any time be necessary shall not in any way affect the
Muslim majority in the Punjab, Bengal and the NWFP.
7- Full religious liberty i.e., liberty of belief, worship, and observance, propaganda, association,
and education, shall be guaranteed to all communities.
8- No bill or resolution or any part thereof shall be passed in any legislature or any other elected
body if three fourths of the members of any community in that particular body oppose such a bill
resolution or part thereof on the ground that it would be injurious to that community or in the
alternative, such other method is devised as may be found feasible practicable to deal with such
cases.
9- Sind should be separated from the Bombay Presidency.
10- Reforms should be introduced in the NWFP and Baluchistan on the same footing as in other
provinces.
11- Provision should be made in the Constitution giving Muslims an adequate share along with
the other Indians in all the services of the State and in local self-governing bodies, having due
regard to the requirements of efficiency.
12- The Constitution should embody adequate safeguards for the protection of Muslim culture and
for the protection and promotion of Muslim education, language, religion and personal laws and
Muslim charitable institutions and for their due share in the grants-in-aid given by the State and
by local self- governing bodies.
13- No cabinet, either Central or Provincial, should be formed without there being a proportion of
at least one-third Muslim ministers.
14- No change shall be made in the Constitution by the Central Legislature except with the
concurrence of the States constituting the Indian Federation.
First ever demand of full independence:
In 1929 the annual session of Congress was held in Lahore. Jawaharlal Nehru was the president of
the session. In his presidential address he demanded full independence of India and complete
withdrawal of British from India on 26th January. Later, they took this demand back during the
second-round table conference for the time being. Today Indians celebrate republic day on 26th
January every year and it’s their national holiday.
Allahabad Address 1930:
The All-India Muslim League decided to conduct its annual session of 1930 at Allahabad. Allama
Iqbal was the president of this session. This session became memorable due to the presidential
address of Allama Iqbal. In his address Allama presented an outline of the future independent
country for Muslims. In his long address he emphasized on the need for an autonomous Muslim
state (provinces). I his address he emphasized on the significance of the Muslim provinces or
section ‘with in the body politic of India’. He said that Indian Muslims have the highest proportion
in army compared to their proportion of population in whole of India. Such as Muslims at the time
were around 23 percent of the total population and in army, they were around 35 to 40 percent. He
also said that if any attack is carried out on Indian (from Russia or any one from West on land)
then this Muslim section would serve as the best defender of India.
He specifically said that “I would like to see the Punjab, North-West Frontier Province, Sind, and
Baluchistan amalgamated into a single State. Self-government within the British Empire, or
without the British Empire, the formation of a consolidated North-West Indian Muslim State
appears to me to be the final destiny of the Muslims, at least of Northwest India.” This prophecy
made by Allama became a reality in 1947. That is by we say that Allama Iqbal saw the dream of
Pakistan. However, he did not specifically demand independent Muslim country out of India in his
address.
Round Table Conferences:
The constitutional process which was started by the announcement of Simon Commission in 1927
was unresolved till 1930. To resolve this issue the Prime Minister of England Ramsay McDonald
through Viceroy of India Lord Irwin invited all political parties to London.
First Round Table Conference.
The conference started on 12th November 1930. All parties sent their representatives to attend the
session. Congress was not present in it. Congress demanded independence on 26th January 1929.
Since then, they started Civil Disobedience for grant of their demands. They also decided to
boycott the round table conference. The first Round Table conference started in the absence of
Congress. It was impossible to achieve any constitutional solutions for India without including
Congress because it represented more than 70% of Indians. It was attended by other political
parties including Muslim League and the Princes of Independent states. Those who were present
there agreed on two basic principles.
i. Dominion status was demanded on, immediate basis. British said they principally agree to the
viewpoint however it will be given once, the “process of realizing responsible government in India
as part of British Empire was complete.”
ii. More responsible government was demanded in the center by Indians. British reused to share
power in the center however they were willing to give powers to Indians in provinces.
Second Round Table Conference:
After the failure of the first-round table conference the Prime Minister of England Ramsay
McDonald told Lord Irwin that he should make sure that the Congress would attend the next
conference going to be held in 1931. Lord Irwin met Gandhi in jail to discuss the issue. Both agreed
to resolve this matter. They made concessions to each other, and this agreement is known as
Gandhi Irwin Pact.
Gandhi Irwin Pact 1931
Congress
• Congress agreed to withdraw demand of independence.
• Congress would attend the Second Round Table conference.
• Congress would discontinue its civil disobedience movement.
British
• British agreed to lift ban from the political activities of Congress.
• British agreed to release all the prisoners of Congress.
After it the Second Round Table started with maximum hope of success, but no one knew the true
designs of Congress. Gandhi was alone to represent Congress in the conference. The problem
started when Gandhi started to treat other political parties with disregard. He said that all the
representatives present here are hangers on and do not represent true India. He further said that
British should only talk to Congress about the future of India. Due to this arrogant attitude of
Gandhi the Conference was bound to fail. The second-round table conference was also unable to
achieve its objectives. The Prime Minister Ramsay McDonald had made it clear that if Indians are
unable to come up with a solution, then British government had the right to come up their own
solutions. This gave way to Communal Awards which were announced by the government before
the third-round table conference.
Communal Awards (1932):
In 1932 when nothing was achieved through the first and second round table conference then
British decided to pressurize Indians to come up with a solution. For that they presented Communal
Awards in 1932 August just before the third-round table conference. They said if this time Indians
do not decide something then they would have the right to go ahead with Communal Awards. The
main features of these awards are as under.
1. The separate electorate would be continued for Muslims and would be extended to other
communities.
2. The population in Bengal was not correctly calculated and they decreased the Muslim population
on paper reducing their percentage to less than 50%.
3. In Punjab as well the Muslim population was reduced on paper.
These awards were rejected by Muslims because according to it they lost their clear majority in
Bengal and Punjab. Congress also rejected it because it retained the separate electorates for
Muslims.
Third Round Table Conference:
The third-round table conference was also hopeless like the first one. Gandhi went back to India
after the second conference and started his civil disobedience movement and was duly arrested.
Mohammad Ali Jinnah had also left the politics of India and went on a self-exile to England. This
conference also ended without achieving any success.
Role of Chaudhry Rehmat Ali:
He was a very enthusiastic Muslim young man who was keen towards changing the political and
social conditions of Muslims of India. He was a student at Cambridge University, Emanuel College
in England during 1930’s. During the round table conferences, he was in England and wanted the
Muslim delegates in the conferences to demand a separate homeland for Muslims within the
geographical boundaries of India where Muslims would live with complete independence. For this
purpose, he wrote a pamphlet known as “Now or Never” published in January 1933. In it he
demanded Muslim leaders to demand a new separate land for which he also proposed a name
“Pakistan”. He also mentioned the areas which he wanted to become a part of Pakistan and he also
took letters from these areas to make the word PAKISTAN.
P = Punjab
A = Afghania
K = Kashmir
I = Used as a vowel
S = Sind
TAN = Baluchistan
Other than consisting of alphabets from the demanded areas the name has another significance, it
means “Land of Pure”.
Self-Exile of Muhammad Ali Jinnah:
In 1931 Muhammad Ali Jinnah left the politics of India and went to England. He was disheartened
from the politics and differences of Indian Muslims. He said that we have so many differences
amongst us that we cannot present a united front to our opponents. He stayed in England with his
daughter and sister for three years. Although he wanted to work for Indian Muslims, but he knew
that it was hopeless. In 1934 Liaquat Ali Khan paid him a visit to England along his wife Begum
Rana Liaquat. There he was able to convince Jinnah to go back to India and work for the betterment
of Muslims. Liaquat Ali Khan offered Jinnah lifetime president ship and also assured that all other
Muslim Leaders would follow his advice. Muhammad Ali Jinnah came back from his self-exile in
1934 and immediately started to work for the upheaval of Muslim League. Under his leadership
Muslim League became the most popular political party of Muslims of India. In the elections of
1945-46 Muslim League proved its popularity.
Act of India 1935:
The constitutional process which started with the announcement of Simon Commission in 1927
finally ended in 1935 with the announcement of Act of India 1935. British finally made a
constitution themselves with keeping the demands of Indians in their minds. The demands of
Indians could not have been fulfilled because this way British will lose their control over India.
So, this act was a mixture of many things. Some salient features of this act are as under:
1. The country would become a federal form of Government in future and the independent states
would join the federation.
2. The system of diarchy was abolished in the provinces and was introduced at the center.
3. There would be governor appointed by the viceroy in each province. These governors would
have special powers to dissolve the provincial. This was the most controversial point in the act.
4. Sind would be separated from Bombay and would be made a new province.
5. Provinces would be given maximum autonomy, so the Chief Ministers can work freely in the
provinces.
6. India was going to be divided into 11 provinces.
7. Fresh elections would be conducted to form provincial and central legislative assemblies.
8. The recommendations of Communal Awards of 1932 were incorporated in this Act.
Conclusion:
Quid-e-Azam being the president of the Muslim League called it a defected piece of document for
many reasons. The League showed concerns about the decrease of Muslim population in Punjab
and Bengal on paper my British. Secondly the powers which were given to governors of the
provinces to dissolve the provincial assemblies were against the principles of democracy. This
means that the provincial government would be in continuous pressure and fear that if they do
something against the wishes of British then they will dissolve the provincial assembly through
the Governor. Lastly the much-debated system of diarchy was still in use in the central
administration.
Election of 1937:
These elections were very important for the politics of India in general and politics of Muslim
League in particular. The results of these elections were in favor of Congress and Muslim League
got its wakeup call. Congress was able to secure victory in 8 out of 11 provinces. On the other
hand, Muslim League was unable to form Government in any of the provinces. To make the things
worse there were other Muslim local political parties which got victory in provinces but not the
League. In 5 out of 8 Congress provinces they had full majority to form government and in the
other three they formed coalition governments. The only significant victory for Muslim League
was in those provinces where Muslims were in minority. In Muslim majority areas the League
failed comprehensively. Congress became more rude towards all other political parties particularly
Muslims League. They started to say that Muslim League does not enjoy the support of Muslims
and Congress has more support of Muslims than the League.
Reasons for the failure of Muslim League:
Muslim League was formed in 1906 Dec. but in its first major elections after 31 years of its
formation it was unable to achieve what it claimed. The League claimed that they were the true
representatives of Muslims of India but in the elections of 1937 Muslims of India preferred other
local parties over the League. There are many reasons behind this failure, which are as under:
1. The League’s leadership had aristocratic outlook. Most of them were Nawabs and landlords.
They did not have a proper link with common people. The meetings of the league were also not
attended by many people. This gulf between the leadership and the common people played an
important role in the defeat of Muslim League in the elections of 1937.
2. The main demand of Muslim League was Separate Electorates. This demand only addressed the
issues of Muslims living in Hindu majority areas. The League failed to address the issues of the
Muslims of Muslim majority areas. Therefore, the people of Muslim majority areas did not vote
for the League.
3. Before the elections there was a very weak network of the offices of Muslim League across
India due to which the message of the League was not spreading properly. People also were unable
to become a part of Muslim League due to lack of offices.
Efforts of Jinnah to reconstruct Muslim League
Jinnah after coming back to India from his self-exile stated to concentrate towards the weaknesses
of Muslim League. Following are the measures he took to make Muslim League popular among
the Muslim masses.
1. He visited many colleges and universities and met many students. He asked them to participate
in Muslim Politics to help their community to achieve its goals. He made them believe that they
are the future, and they have to play their role.
2. Muslim League opened new offices in many different cities across the country to accommodate
more Muslims. This helped in spreading the message of Muslim League.
3. He travelled across India to get support from Muslims living in all parts of the country.
Congress Rule and difficulties faced by Muslims (1937-39):
After a comprehensive victory Congress was able to form their government in 8 out of 11
provinces. In 5 of them they formed single party government and in other three they formed
coalition governments. Before taking oath Congress party made it sure that there is no check on
their ministries that is why they said that they will not take oath until British assure that the
governors of the provinces will not use their emergency powers. After forming government
Congress brought all the changes, they wanted to without consider the feeling of other
communities’ particularly Muslim community. Immediately after taking control Congress started
to pass draconian laws which were offensive to Muslims. Many Muslims living in the Congress
provinces started to complain to Muslim League. In March 1938 a committee of 8 members was
formed to find out about the grievances of Muslims. The chairman of this committee was Raja
Syed Muhammad Mehdi of Pirpur. The report came out in November 1938 which identified and
discussed the atrocities of Congress. Then another report came out in March 1939 known as
Shareef Report which served the same purpose. Lastly Fazul Haq Report was prepared to find out
the atrocities faced my Muslims in provinces under Congress Ministries. Following are the
findings of these reports which describe the true picture of Muslims of Hindu majority areas.
1. Ban on Azan:
The congress ministries banned “Azan” on loudspeakers in their provinces. This was a step which
infuriated Muslims living in these provinces. Muslims are bound to observe “Namaz” and “Azan”
is the call for it. By taking this step they showed that they do not care about other religions.
2. Ban on slaughtering of cows:
Cow is one of those animals which are not forbidden by Allah for Muslims. It also is a main meat
source for Muslims across the world. On “Eid-ul-Azha” Muslims sacrifice animals in the path of
Allah and cow is the main choice of most.
3. Disturbances during worships in mosques:
The congress supporters and Hindus used to conduct noisy processions during the ‘namaz’ time
which was disturbing Muslims. Then in some places it was reported that some fanatic Congress
supporters threw dead pigs in Mosques.
4. Education Policy:
A new education policy was introduced under the title of Wardha Scheme. There were many new
proposals which were not acceptable to Muslims living in Congress Provinces. The religious
education was not allowed at any level. This way the Muslim families thought that their children
will slowly get far from their religion. Then the Hindu principle of ‘Ahinsa’ was propagated on a
large scale according to which one should not resort to violence at any cost. On the other hand,
Islam also teaches about the peace, but it also tells Muslims to fight in the name of Allah, Jihad if
someone tries to wage war against you.
5. Pay Respect to Portray of Gandhi:
Students at schools and colleges were supposed to pay respect to the portrait of Gandhi on their
way into the building. This was again an act which Muslims cannot accept. Then in schools and
colleges the practice of making thread by throwing wheel was adopted. This was a political symbol
of Congress which was started by Gandhi.
6. Wande Mataram:
A Hindu nationalist song was written by a Bengali writer. This song gave the message that India
is a sacred land only for Hindus and all the other people including Muslims are outsiders.
Day of Deliverance 22nd December 1939:
In September 1939 World War II started and again England was involved in it. The government
of England asked for support in the war from Indians. The people of India replied that they will
only support British in this war if they get complete independence from British rule. When British
government did not accept this demand Congress party resigned from all of their provincial
ministries. Jinnah considered this resignation as good news for all the Muslims who were living
under Congress government. He declared that on 22nd December 1939 all Muslims will celebrate
Day of Deliverance. The main reason for this celebration was that now Muslims would not have
to face all the atrocities and hardships of Congress rule any more.
Pakistan Movement (1940-47)
Pakistan Resolution 23rd March 1940:
The Muslim League decided to conduct its annual session of 1940 in Lahore in Manto Park also
known as Iqbal Park. During this session the final decision of most of the Muslims of sub-continent
was spelled out. A resolution was passed which changed the future of all the people of India
Muslims and non-Muslims.
A.K.Fazlul Haq forwarded the resolution asking a separate homeland for Muslims of Western and
Eastern India. Besides many others, the Resolution was seconded by Chaudhary Khaliquzzam
from UP, Maulana Zafar Ali Khan from Punjab, Sardar Aurangzeb from the N. W. F. P, Sir
Abdullah Haroon from Sindh, and Qazi Muhammad Esa from Baluchistan. Those who seconded
the resolution, in their speeches declared the occasion as a historic one. The Resolution was
eventually passed on the last day of the moot, i.e. March 24”.
Cripps Mission Plan 1942:
Since the start of the Second World War in 1939 British wanted the complete support of Indians
in the war. First offer was made in 1939 but it was refused by Indians and Congress also resigned
from their ministries. The events which occurred in the early 1940’s changed the situation and
British thought that now Indians would reconsider their position and may support the war.
In 1941 Japan attacked USA at Pearl Harbour and entered the Great War. It joined the German
Camp and declared war against England and her allies. England looked at it as an opportunity to
pursue India to support the war. Japan started to invade countries towards east. India was in
approach of Japan. If Japan wanted to attack England directly it was very difficult because
geographically England was very far from Japan. So the best way to harm England was to attack
India because it was the economic engine of England.
In 1942 British sent Stafford Cripps to India with a set of proposals for India. In return they wanted
Indian support in the war. The draft declaration which Cripps brought
with him to India was published on 30th March 1942. These proposals are as under:
1. India would be made a dominion of United Kingdom.
2. Immediately after the war a new body for making a constitution would be framed through
provincial legislatures. Any constitution made by this body would be acceptable to British.
3. India would be made a union and any province would be free to join this union or not.
Quit India Movement:
In reaction the Congress party said they do not accept the proposals offered by Sir Stafford Cripps.
They said Japan does not have any enmity with India. If British leave India there is no threat of
Japanese invasion. So British should give complete independence and leave India as soon as
possible. To further pressurize British the Congress started a political movement “Quit India”
movement. In this movement they demanded British to immediately leave India and give it
independence. Although this movement was unable to achieve its objectives at that time but in the
longer run it became helpful to make British realize that now Indians are unwilling to allow them
to manipulate India.
Divide and Quit India:
On the other hand Muslim League was also not satisfied with the proposals of Sir Stafford Cripps.
They said his proposals do no talk about the creation of Pakistan. So Muslim League cannot accept
anything without Pakistan being offered in it. Muslims were also suspicious of the Quit India
Movement because it did not consider the demand of Muslims of separate homeland. So Muslims
League started “Divide and Quit India” movement. Through this movement Muslims of sub-
continent gave a clear message to British and Congress that they wanted independence and
separation from Hindus.
Gandhi Jinnah Talks 1944:
In 1944 Lord Wavell became Viceroy of India. He was man of moderate approach towards the
problems. To create the feeling to reconciliation and brotherhood he released many political
prisoners. Gandhi was also released during this time, who was in jail due to his Quit India
movement. After coming out of jail he immediately contacted Jinnah to talk about the future of
Muslims in India.
Jinnah agreed and the meetings were held at Jinnah’s home in Bombay. The first thing Gandhi
said was that Congress and Muslim League should come over their differences and join hands to
get rid of British. He said we need to work together to send British back to England and then we
will talk about the rights and problems of India after we get Independence. He said this is our
internal matter. Jinnah was staunch enough to understand that it was a trap in which Congress
wanted Muslims to fell. He knew it well that once British leave India without deciding the issue
of Muslim separate home land Congress will do anything to suppress the voices of Muslims and
will not give them their rights. Jinnah refused this offer.
Secondly Gandhi tried to argue that Muslims of India do not have proper ground to ask for a
separate home land with in India. He said there are two types of Muslims in India and both of them
cannot ask for a separate home land. The first type he said are those who have come from other
parts of the world and stayed in India for example, Arabs, Turks, Persian and Afghans. In this case
if they want their homeland then they should return back to their countries. Secondly there are
those Muslims who are the inhabitants of India and they converted their faith after Muslims came
to India. In this case India is their home land and they do not have any right to ask a separate
homeland. Jinnah dismissed his arguments on the basis of modern democratic principles.
Simla Conference 1945:
In 1945 the Viceroy of India Lord Wavell decided to conduct new elections. For this purpose an
administrative setup was required to conduct elections. To form this setup he invited major
political parties to Simla. He said that in the interim setup there would be equal number of Muslims
and Hindus.
To discuss the working and formulation of this interim setup Lord Wavell invited major political
parties to Simla in June 1945. Everyone agreed to the principle of having a council. However the
discussion came on a standstill on the point of nominations. The main issue was the nomination of
Muslim members. Muslim League was claiming that all the Muslim members would be nominated
by us. On the other hand Congress was claiming that they have a large number of Muslim members
and they represent Muslims as well, so Congress also has the right to nominate Muslim members.
Muslim League was in an awkward position because it cannot claim that they represent Hindus as
well. However Jinnah gave one name of a Hindu member to represent Muslim League. The dispute
between the parties was not resolved and the conference ended without achieving its goals.
Winter Elections 1945-46:
In 1945 British conducted general elections for new governments across India. The results of these
elections were like a new life for Muslim League. The league got convincing victory across India.
In central legislative assembly the League was successful in winning all Muslim seats which means
it was a 100% victory for Muslim league. In the provinces they were able to get 87% of total
Muslims seats.
Before the elections Congress was confident that they would get a large number of Muslim votes
and that is why they used to portray themselves as the true representatives of Muslims of India.
These elections officially brought Muslim League on the equal footings with Congress. Now
Muslim League has earned the right to talk on behalf of all Muslims of India. This convincing
victory also strengthened the demand of Pakistan, because people voted for Muslim League which
had a single demand of Pakistan.
The results of winter elections also bring into prominence the leadership qualities of Muhammad
Ali Jinnah. Since the loss of the election in 1937 Jinnah had taken full charge of Muslim League
and had taken the League to new heights. The results of Winter Elections were the confirmation
of the fact that Jinnah’s leadership was very important for the Muslims of sub-continent.
Comparison between the elections of 1937 and 1945:
It is very important here to understand the reasons for the outcomes of the two mentioned elections
and especially the reasons for the outcome for Muslim League. In 1937 elections Muslim League
lost elections heavily by the hands of local Muslim political parties in the Muslim majority areas
(as discussed earlier) and the little success they were able to achieve was in the Muslim minority
areas or where Congress formed government.
i. Agenda:
The main agenda for which Muslim League contested elections for in 1937 was separate
electorates and weightage. This agenda only attracted Muslims living in the Hindu majority areas
and did not appeal Muslims of Punjab, Sindh, Bengal and NWFP that much.
On the other hand in 1945 elections ML had framed a new universal agenda of a separate homeland
for Muslims in sub-continent. This agenda was adopted officially after the famous Pakistan
resolution on 23rd March 1940 in Lahore. This time the Muslims of Punjab, Sindh, NWFP and
Bengal saw their interest in the sense that if ML succeeds then they will become independent from
Congress or Hindu domination.
ii. Alliances:
In 1937 Muslim League contested elections individually. Other than Congress which was a Hindu
dominated political party ML also contested elections against other Muslim dominated political
parties for example, Sindh United fron, Unionist party in Punjab etc.
In 1945 elections ML asked many Muslim dominated political parties not to contest election
against them to show Congress and British that Muslims of India are one force. Jinnah was able to
make them agree to this point.
Cabinet Mission Plan 1946:
The winter elections proved that the division of India was now inevitable. The success of Muslim
League in the elections proved that Muslims all across India have supported the demand of
Pakistan. However the British gave it a last try to keep India united. For this purpose three members
of British Cabinet Stafford Cripps, A.V. Alexander and Pathick Lawrence. Lord Wavell the
Viceroy of India assisted them.
The Cabinet Mission Plan gave different proposals to Congress and Muslim League and asked
them to consider them to live together. They said that any solution achieved now would be a
temporary solution which would work for 10 years. During these ten years the either parties or
communities would give another a chance to prove them. At the expiration of the time either parties
or communities would be free to stay together or to make their own country. Until then the country
would work as a union. Congress and Muslims League agreed to this basic principle.
The next step was the demarcation of the boundaries of Muslim areas and Hindu areas for making
different provinces. Wavell said Muslim League should take Baluchistan, Sind, N.W.F.P and West
Punjab and make western part of Muslims India. Jinnah replied that Punjab cannot be accepted
without its Eastern part. He said this way the province would be very weak because most of the
resources of Punjab are located in Eastern part. That is why Jinnah refused this proposal.
Then in the second proposal British said that the province of Bengal would be divided between
Hindu and Muslim population. According to this plan most of the important areas of Bengal were
going to be given to Hindus including the most important city of Calcutta. It is located on the bank
of river Hugly and has served as the center of trade of Bengal since British established it in 1690.
This plan was also refused by Jinnah. He said that this way the part which British are offering to
Muslims will be handicapped.
Lastly British said that the Indian Territory should be divided in three parts. Part ‘A’ would include
all the Muslim majority areas of West. Part ‘B’ would consist of all the Hindu Majority areas in
the central India and Part ‘C’ would have the Eastern Muslim majority areas. Further it was decided
that this setup will last for ten years and the parties at the end of this period would decide about
the future that they want to stay together or they want to divide India. Jinnah agreed to this last
proposal. Congress also agreed on it.
Unfortunately Jawaharlal Nehru made a statement regarding this agreement. He said that Congress
would not feel bound by this agreement once British leave India. This act of Nehru decided the
fate of sub-continent. This meant that Muslims of India would have to face Congress rigidity and
atrocities which they faced during Congress rule of 1937-39. Consequently Muslim League backed
out of the agreement and protested on the attitude of Nehru. This way the final attempt to keep
India united also failed. Abul Kalam Azad rightly said in his book, ‘India Wins Freedom’ that
“Jinnah did not make Pakistan Nehru did”.
Direct Action Day (16th August 1946):
After the failure of Cabinet Mission plan and rude attitude of Congress Jinnah and Muslim League
decided that there was need to take the struggle for Pakistan to the next level. Jinnah stated that
now it’s our turn to hold the pistol and dictate our terms. So it was declared that on 16th August
1946 a Direct Action Day would be conducted by Muslim League across sub-continent in which
Muslims where ever they live would come out on streets to protest.
This turned to be a very dangerous decision. Riots erupted across India and only in Calcutta around
4000 people lost their lives. These were the largest riots before 1947. Although many lives were
lost but it became evident that Muslims cannot be ignored and their demands are serious.
3rd June plan 1947 and Independence Act 1947:
In the first quarter of 1 947 Lord Atlee the new prime minister of England declared that British
will leave sub-continent by June 1948. Till then the British government will make the necessary
arrangements to accommodate the transfer of power to the local people.
He called back Lord Wavell and sent Lord Mountbatten as new viceroy of India. The main task of
him was to arrange the transfer and divide the assets, resources and land between the two future
parts of Indian sub-continent. He arrived in India in March 1947.
On 3rd June Lord Mountbatten came up with a plan of division of sub-continent. In it he sealed
the fate of the future state of Pakistan. This plan became famous as 3rd June Plan. Some salient
features of this plan are as under:
1. The British will give independence to India on 15th August 1947.
2. The assets between Pakistan and India would be divided on the ratio of 5/17.
3. Sind, Baluchistan and N.W.F.P would be given to Pakistan completely if their people confirm
it and give a vote for Pakistan.
4. The provinces of Punjab and Bengal would be divided because they have mix population.
According to a formula the Muslim majority districts would become part of Pakistan and non-
Muslim majority districts would become part of India.
5. To decide the boundaries between Pakistan and India a commission was setup and Cyril Radcliff
became its chairman. He had hardly spent any time in India so it was clear that such a man would
not be able to deliver. He used to take direct dictation from the viceroy over the issue of division
of land. There were two sub-committee of this commission one for Punjab and one for Bengal.
(The final report of this commission came out on 16th August 1947, which means two days after
the independence of Pakistan. This contributed a lot in the violence during the migration after
independence, because the people living in areas close to present Pakistan thought their area would
be part of Pakistan).
6. All the independent states in sub-continent were given the choice to decide on their own that
which country would they accede to or they want to remain independent.
Early Problems Faced by Pakistan
Pakistan when came into being faced many problems. First of all it was a country which was based
over an Ideology. Secondly the country from which Pakistan was made did not want Pakistan to
remain independent. Then finally no other country wanted Pakistan to be made although other than
Afghanistan every other country accepted Pakistan in United Nations.
The government of Pakistan had a mammoth task of making Pakistan acceptable in the world and
to survive against all odds. Some early problem which Pakistan faced in its early years of
Independence is as under:-
1. Financial Assets:
Pakistan was allotted 750 million Rs. according to partition plan. India as a first installment paid
200 million Rs. Then India refused to pay the further 550 million Rs. to Pakistan. The case then
was taken up by Gandhi who pressed on the fact that although Congress has always worked against
the creation of Pakistan but now Pakistan has become a reality so we should accept it and pay the
due share to Pakistan. He went on a hunger strike for the right of Pakistan to get money. As a result
the Government of India paid another 500 million Rs. to Pakistan. India has not paid the remaining
50 million Rs. to Pakistan.
2. Refugee problem:
The roots of refugee problem can be found in the 3rd June plan. In this plan the last Viceroy to
India Lord Mount Batten lessened the time allowed by Lord Attlee (the prime Minster of England)
by almost a year. Lord Attlee said in his speech in House of Commons the British will leave India
by June 1948 and in 3rd June plan the Viceroy declared that partition would take place on 15
August, 1947.This proves that the Viceroy totally ignored the Communal tension and the dispute
over land distribution between Muslim League and Congress.
The main cause of the refugee problem was Radcliff Awards. It was decided that Pakistan would
get Sind, Baluchistan, N.W.F.P, East Bengal and West Punjab. Muslims had full majority in all
provinces other than Punjab and Bengal where they had more than 50% population but there were
other communities as well. According to the original plan it was decided that the provinces of
Punjab and Bengal would be divided according to the population distribution. Means the area
which have Muslim majority would be given to Pakistan and the areas which have non-Muslim
majority would be given to India.
The people living in Punjab were sure that their area would be included in Pakistan, so they did
not try to migrate before 14th August. The problem started when on 16th August Radcliff Awards
were announced. According to it many districts of Punjab which had Muslim majority, like,
Gurdaspur, Firozpur, Amritsar etc, were included in Indian territories. When Muslims of these
areas came to know about this foul play by the Viceroy they left everything in India and tried to
reach Pakistan. Many of them were killed on the way and those who reached Pakistan had no
belongings.
To counter the problem Jinnah set up a “Quaid-e-Azam Refugee relief fund” and asked people to
donate money in the fund to help the refugees. Then he moved his headquarters from Karachi to
Lahore for some time to counter the problem and have a close eye on the relief work.
3. Military assets:
All army officers were given the choice to join any country after the Independence. Other physical
assets were to be divided according to 5/17 ratio between Pakistan and India.
The only problem which Pakistan faced was that there were 16 ordnance factories in undivided
India unfortunately for Pakistan all of them were located in divided India. So India agreed to set
up an ordinance factory in Pakistan. Wah ordinance factory was established with the help of India.
4. Accession of Independent states
There were 562 independent states in Sub-continent at the time of partition. British gave two
choices to them, i) either to remain independent or ii) to join any country they would like to. Out
of these 562 independent states only 14 were within the boundaries of Pakistan. The problem of
accession was with only 3 of them namely Kashmir, Junagarh and Hyderabad Deccan.
Kashmir, Dir, Sawat, Lasbelah, Bhawalpur, Khairpur, Kalat.
i. Kashmir:
Kashmir was sold to the Dogra family by British in middle of the 19th century. Since then they
were ruling over it. The majority of its population, which was Muslim, was not satisfied with their
rulers. At the time of Independence Kashmir had the status of Independent state, which had the
right to accede to any country. The ruler of Kashmir at the time Hari Singh Dogra wanted to accede
to India, but the 75% Muslim population wanted to accede to Pakistan.
The clash between the ruler and the ruled resulted in violence. Hari Singh ordered the killing of
anyone who was against him. In this situation Muslims living in Pakistan on the bordering areas
of Kashmir attacked Kashmir to save their fellow Muslims. Hari Singh in reply asked for the help
from India. Lord Mount Batten was the Governor General of India at the time; he immediately
sent Indian troops into Kashmir. Indian army stopped the advances of liberation army. Since that
day Indian army has occupied Kashmir and refuse to leave and claim that Kashmir is part of India.
ii. Junagarh:
It is a maritime state which does not have a land link with Pakistan. It can be reached from Pakistan
through sea. The majority of the population in the state was Hindu but the ruler was Muslim who
wanted to accede to Pakistan. Indian government wanted it to accede to India. Due to this tussle
the ruler and the population was in dilemma of either joining any country or to remain independent.
Finally a large force of liberation army entered into the borders of Junagarh and forcefully took it
from the ruler.
iii. Hyderabad Deccan:
The case of Hyderabad was like Junagarh. The population was Hindu majority but the ruler was
Muslim. However there was a difference in the location of this area. Hyderabad is situated in the
South of India and it is surrounded by Indian Territory from all sides. The ruler although wanted
to join Pakistan initially but realizing the geographical handicap he decided to remain independent.
The Government of India cannot allow the most powerful and the richest independent state to
remain independent. Indian forces also entered into Hyderabad and took the area by force.
5 Canal Water dispute:
Pakistan is an agricultural economy. Still today Pakistan earns most of it foreign exchange through
agro based industry and exports. For agriculture and second most important element after land is
water. Fortunately Pakistan is blessed with every efficient river system. Without rivers Pakistan
could not progress in any field.
India took advantage of this weakness of Pakistan immediately after independence. The five major
rivers which bring water into Pakistan have their headwork in Kashmir and India. Indus, Jhelum
and Chenab have their sources in Kashmir and Ravi, Sutlej and Beas have their source in Northern
India. India stopped the water of these rivers. Pakistan objected on it. India said these rivers start
from Indian Territory that’s why we have the right to use their water.
Pakistan argued that these rivers should be allowed to flow on their natural course which means
allowing them to flow through Pakistan. However the dispute took more than 12 years to be solved.
It was finally resolved in 1960 that the three Eastern Rivers Indus, Jhelum and Chenab would be
given to Pakistan and Ravi, Sutlej and Beas would go to India. World Bank played the role of
arbitrator in this treaty and it is known as Indus Basin Treaty.
The politics of Pakistan from 1947 Onwards
The politics of Pakistan from 1947 till 1958:
Pakistan after coming into being went through a very ruthless phase of political chaos. After the
death of Jinnah there was a vacuum of leadership, although Rana Liaquat Ali Khan was the best
person to lead the party and the country however there were many opportunists who were waiting
for any loop hole to take advantage of it in their own favor. It was clear that there was a lack to
capable politicians to take control of all important portfolios of Government. Due to this paucity
the Prime Minister had to rely on bureaucrats to fill the slots. In the early governments the
administration relied heavily on bureaucrats and that became a weakness of politicians and strength
of civil servants.
Liaquat Ali Khan governed the government to best of his abilities from 1947 till his death in
assassination on 16th October 1951. During these four years we do not find any evidences that he
worked for his own selfish goals and did not give his 100% to his beloved country. After his sad
demise again there was a split between the leadership of Muslim League that who should govern
the country. Finally the finance minister Mlik Ghulam Muhammad convinced Governor General
Khawaja Nazim ud Din to step down from his post and to take up the post of Prime Minister
because the work started by Rana Liaquat can be best continued by the Khawaja Nazim because
of his close working relations with the former Prime Minister.
Malik Ghulam Muhammad was a bureaucrat and did not have his roots in people and therefore did
care about the will of people. He later fully utilized powers vested in the office of Governor
General. He dismissed Khawaja Nazim Uddin in 1953 and later dismissed a Constituent Assembly
in 1954. He brought Muhammad Ali Bogra as Prime Minister in place of Khawaja Nazim, who
was another bureaucrat. So after 1953 both major governing offices were occupied by bureaucrats
without the process of elections.
Rise of Bureaucracy and destruction of democracy in Pakistan;
At the time of independence Pakistan lacked people of talent and skills who could take care of the
affairs of the state. The ability of Politicians to take control of all state affairs during initial years
was compromised by the frictions between them and their ambitions. There was a difference
between bureaucrats and politicians of that time. When Pakistan became independent both
bureaucrats and politicians were trained and worked in united India of pre-independence.
Era of Ayub Khan 1958-1969:
Ayub Khan became first chief of army staff from Pakistan. He replaced General Douglas in 1951
when he was appointed as the Chief of Army Staff by Liaquat Ali Khan. Then he was appointed
as the defense minister of Pakistan in 1953 by the Prime Minister Muhammad Ali Bogra when
there was a political crisis in the country. Since then army became a very integral part of
government. The difference amongst the political leader ship further gave way to the military
intervention in political matters. After the proclamation of martial law by Iskandar Mirza on 7th
October 1958 Ayub Khan saw a greater role for himself and the army in politics of the country.
He seized power for himself two weeks later and threw Iskander Mirza out of Government.
After assuming full power for himself he needed to legitimize his rule and stay in power. So he
started the system of Basic Democracies. In first stage he divided the country into 80000
administrative units or Basic Democracies. Then he raised the number to 120000. After the
elections of these basic democracies Ayub Khan took the vote of confidence from the newly
elected Basic Democrats. He became second President of Pakistan in 1960. His rule over Pakistan
was a long rule of 11 years. During this time he introduced many new policies which are discussed
as under:
1. Early career and rise to power
Ayub Khan was born in a small village Rihana, an unknown place near Hasan Abdal in modern
day KPK, Pakistan on May 14, 1907. He was born in a low income house hold and his father was
a Subedar Major (a non-commissioned rank) in the British Indian army. His father from the very
beginning had the desire of sending his son to a military and unlike himself, his son would become
a commissioned officer.
Ayub Khan received his military education from one of the best military schools Sandhurst.
He joined British Indian Army and after the independence of Pakistan became the first Muslim
Pakistani Chief of Army Staff in 1951, by the hands of Prime Minister Liaquat Ali Khan. He was
later given the portfolio of Defence minister by Governor General Malik Ghulam Mohammad in
1954.
Iskander Mirza proclaimed martial law on October 7, 1958 and appointed General Ayub Khan as
the Chief Martial Law Administrator and Prime Minister. On 27th same month he ousted Iskander
Mirza and took charge of the country as President and appointed General Musa as the new Chief
of Army Staff.
2. Silencing the opposition (EBDO & PODO)
The foremost thing for Ayub Khan after taking over power was to silence any potential opposition
that could challenge his newly formed administration. There were only two major sections of the
society who could post any kind of resistance to him, politicians and bureaucrats. Bureaucrats were
tamed by introducing a law known as PODO (Public Office Disqualification Order). It described
that any public servant would be discharged from service if found guilty of corruption, nepotism
or abuse of power.
For politicians he made a law EBDO (Elective Body Disqualification Order) August 1959.
According to which any elected office holder if found guilty would be debarred from politics till
31 December 1966. The use of this law was ruthless. Ayub EBDOed all possible political leader.
Even the person who presented Lahore Resolution in 1940, A. K. Fazlul Haq.
These two laws sound appropriate, however the implementation of these laws was based upon
silencing the opposition rather than achieving their actual targets.
3. Legalizing his rule (Basic Democracies)
After acquiring the rule and silencing the opposition Ayub Khan took the next logical step in terms
of military takeover, legitimizing his rule. Although since independence democracy has not been
able to prevail however the power struggle was in between politicians and bureaucrats, both
civilians. This was the first time army has intervened directly.
Military rule is always considered as illegitimate. To have acceptability in home and in
international arena Ayub Khan had to depict himself as publicly accepted and elected leader. Ayub
did not belong not any political party thus could not conduct democratic elections. For this purpose
he chose to use indirect way of public approval.
He introduced Basic Democracies in 1960. The mandate of to be elected member was to deal with
the municipal services, such as taking care of the roads, water supply, sewerage, basic health
facilities, local education etc. The Basic Democracies order was passed in 1959 and the elections
were conducted in January 1960. From all over Pakistan 80000 Basic Democrats were elected.
Soon after their election the purpose of the exercise was revealed by the president when they were
asked in an ambiguous referendum question about the continuity of Ayub Khan’s presidency. The
results were, 80,000 Basic Democrats, 75,283 affirmed their support. Ayub Khan proclaimed
himself as the elected president of the country.
Consolidating his rule and controlling opposition:
Ayub Khan after taking powers in his hands from Iskander Mirza needed to device mechanism to
control opposition from two sections of the society, bureaucracy and politicians. For both of the
he crafted laws which seemed need of the time for Pakistan however they were used as a political
device in his hands. He put a ban on political parties arrested G. M Syed and Abdul Ghaffar Khan.
In March 1959 Ayub introduced Public Office Disqualification Order (PODO)
Constitutional reforms:
After becoming president the highest priority was given to the constitutional problem. With the
proclamation of Martial Law in 1958 the constitution of 1956 was abrogated so there was a need
for a new constitution. For this purpose he ordered the formation of a commission. The
composition of this commission was retired chief justice of Supreme Court who would work as
the chairman of this commission, two retired judges, a lawyer, a mill owner, a business man, a
land lord and a member from minorities. This composition gives the hint about the final product
and the intentions of Ayub Khan that what sort of government and constitution he wanted to create.
There was no representation of majority of the people for example common man, laborers, farmers
etc. This commission prepared a detailed questionnaire for understanding the views of people. This
questionnaire was produce in the quantity of 28000 copies. Other than this exercise the commission
conducted 565 interviews of people belonging to different walks of life. Many people were
apprehensive about the wishes of Ayub Khan. Finally the report of the commission came out and
it met the decided fate. It was not the commission which was running the show it was Ayub Khan.
The report said the government should be formed on the model of USA with directly elected
President and check and balance of Legislative, Executive and Judiciary. Ayub was willing to
adopt it but with his own interpretation which says that the executive should not have any checks
but other two pillars needs its authentication. “Whatever the shortcomings of the commission’s
proposals, their chief merit was the concern for the rehabilitation of democratic process, and
whatever merit the president saw in his own proposal, their main was to provide a constitutional
façade for a dictatorial design”.
Finally the constitution came out in 1962. Some salient features of this constitution are as under;
i. The name of the country would be the Republic of Pakistan. (In the last constitution it was
Islamic Republic of Pakistan)
ii. The country would be presidential form of government and president would be directly elected.
iii. All the executive authority would be exercised by President.
iv. President will select Prime Minister from the national assembly.
v. All the laws passed by the parliament will be subject to the presidential consent. If the president
disagrees with any particular legislation he would send it back to the parliament. (If the parliament
still does not make any changes then finally the president has the power to send parliamentarians
to home by dissolving the assembly).
vi. President will appoint governors in all the provinces. These Governors were giver extra powers
of dissolving the provincial assemblies on the order of the President.
Agricultural reforms:
Ayub Khan paid a lot of attention towards agricultural potential of Pakistan. He knew that it is the
back bone of Pakistan and it is the only quick way to boost the economy of Pakistan. In longer run
reforms in other sectors like industry and export were needed for stability.
1. He ordered the import of Highly Yielding variety of seed. Through these seeds farmers can get
extra yield from the same land during the same amount of time. This way the annual produce of
any particular crop can increase. The main areas in which HYVs helped were exports. The HYVs
of particular crops like cotton, wheat, rice and sugarcane contributed a lot in the economy. Even
today rice and cotton are the main exports of Pakistan.
2. The mechanization process also started during his rule. Through it the efficiency of work
increased and finally it translated into increase in annual growth. This advancement helped in
increasing the cultivatable land. Earlier agricultural activity needed lots of labor now machines
can do work of many people at one time.
3. Another important aspect of agriculture is fertilizers. Chemical fertilizers are crucial for the
agricultural activity of any country especially in today’s world when the demand is increasing day
by day and the land is continuously used. Land starts losing its fertility after some time for which
some months of gap is required. However countries like Pakistan which only depend on agriculture
cannot afford any break. In this situation chemical fertilizers provide strength to the land and soil.
Ayub Khan imported and introduced many chemical fertilizers in Pakistan and he also supported
the growth of chemical fertilizer industry.
4. He also introduced land reforms. He limited the land holding of irrigated and non-irrigated land.
Through this way his target was to distribute land amongst the people of Pakistan. Theoretically
this was supposed to increase the annual production of crops because large land holding means
unutilized land. The big land lords may not need to cultivate all the land they have because their
life style can be supported easily by much less cultivation. This unutilized land may not affect the
land lord but it is bound to affect the country because the annual production cannot be maximum
according to the potential of the country. By distributing it in many owners the government wanted
to make sure that the land is properly used.
Industrial Reforms:
The process of industrialization started by Ayub Khan was very beneficial to the economy of
Pakistan. He invited investments from across the world and convinced the local investors to invest
in the country. He assured them that their investments would be safe and profitable. The industrial
growth indicators during his time were favorable.
He established an oil refinery in Karachi in 1962. Oil refinery is a very important feature of
industrialization. More industries means rise in the demand of electricity and the major source of
electricity in Pakistan is fossil fuel. Earlier Pakistan was importing refined oil which costs much
more than crude oil. In addition, by refining the crude oil many by products are also getable which
are used for other purposes.
He started a very important program Regional Cooperation for Development (RCD) with Iran and
Turkey. This was a very important program which had the potential of pulling Pakistan out of the
list of Third World Countries. This was a very well thought out plan that could benefit all the three
partners. Pakistan shares 450, miles border with Iran in South West and Iran shares approximately
200 mile long border with Turkey in North West. The program suggested road and railways links
from Pakistan till Turkey passing through Iran.
To promote exports he gave many incentives to exporters. He introduced a scheme called Bonus
Export Scheme. Any exporter who met the targets set by the government was given extra
incentives.
Although all of these reforms resulted in record high growth rate of Pakistan but created another
problem. The main criticism of his industrialization policy was that it favored few big business
families rather than the whole population. 22 business families controlled around 80% of all the
industries of Pakistan and 60% of all the banking and insurance business. Although the growth
rate of Pakistan was very high the beneficiaries of this growth and development were few and the
distribution of wealth or money was vertical rather than horizontal. Secondly all of these families
were located in West Pakistan.
Downfall of Ayub Khan:
The downfall of Ayub Khan was not sudden it took some years. We can say that his decline started
after 1965. Pakistan entered into war with India in September the same year. This war was an
adventure that the people and government of Pakistan could not afford at that time. The war lasted
less than a month and went into the favor of India. Both countries signed a peace treaty with the
help of Russia in Tashkent. Although Ayub Khan told the people that it was great victory of
Pakistan but the reality was something else.
Ayub Khan blamed the war and the treaty on his foreign minister Zulfiqar Ali Bhutto and asked
him to leave his cabinet in July 1966. Bhutto in retaliation started his own political party Pakistan
People’s Party and became the center of the opposition against Ayub Khan.
The presidential elections also earned him a bad name. The presidential candidate against him was
Fatima Jinnah and the people who were against him saw a savior in the form of Ms. Fatima. She
also had lots of popularity and there was a chance that she could surprise every one and sweep the
polls. The results showed that Ayub Khan was very popular with the people and they support him
to become the president again. This result was not accepted by people. The opposition parties
protested and said that Ayub Khan has used his official powers to turn the elections in his favor.
The political agitation against Ayub got strong during 1968. He was not a man who would leave
the power easily or unless he tries out all the options he had. He arrested thousands of people. He
also ordered the arrest of political leader ship including Bhutto. The agitation against him rather
than slowing down paced up. In February 1969 he released many political prisoners and offered
the opposition to reconcile the difference but it was too little too late. Finally in March 1969 he
decided to leave power and step down as president. He did not go silently; he proclaimed Martial
Law once again in the country and gave all the powers to the Chief of Army Staff General Yahiya
Khan.
The partition of Pakistan and creation of Bangladesh 1971:
Pakistan was created on 14 August 1947 and as a new country it was a different example in front
of the world. First of all it was divided into two part and these two parts were separated from each
other by enemy territory. Furthermore there were many other differences between the two parts of
Pakistan.
Pakistan was created on the basis of an ideology. However many scholars believe that we lost this
ideology when we lost more than half of our population in 1971. There are many reasons behind
the separation of East Pakistan and creation of Bangladesh. Even at the time of independence many
political leaders had argued that should Bengal become a part of Pakistan or should it be made a
separate Muslim country like Pakistan?
Following are some reasons behind the division of Pakistan and creation of Bangladesh;
Population distribution:
At the time of independence Pakistan had around 70 million people in both parts of the country.
Out of them more than 55% were living in East Bengal. Pakistan had 5 provinces in total at that
time. The remaining 45% population was living in the other four provinces. Then all the people
living in Bengal were Bengalis. On the other hand the remaining population was divided into four
major types of people and multiple sub groups. The first problem which arose between the people
of East Bengal and other Pakistanis was on the issue of national language. Urdu was chosen as the
national language and on the contrary Bengalis were asking the government to make Bengali the
national language of Pakistan. This issue was resolved in the first constitution when both languages
were made the national languages under the constitution of 1956.
Then their majority was falsely decreased and was brought to the level of West Pakistan. This was
done in 1955 when parity formula or one unit plan was introduced. In it all the provinces in
Western Pakistan were united together to form one province called West Pakistan. The main
purpose of this plan was to bring East Bengal on the equal level and to deny the majority it had.
Although this plan was implemented but the people of East Pakistan or Bengal never forgot the
mistreatment of the ruling elite.
Representation in army:
Pakistan army had a very few people from East Bengal. More than 85% of Pakistan army consisted
on the people from two provinces Punjab and N.W.F.P. People of Bengal hardly had any
respectable share in national army. This led to the rise of sense of deprivation in the hearts and
minds of the people of East Bengal. After eleven years of the establishment of Pakistan martial
law regime took over the country. Again like first 11 years Bengalis had no role to play in the new
politics of Pakistan because of their representation in the army.
Representation in Government:
Like army the people of East Bengal were poorly represented in important offices of government.
The cabinet and other advisors of the government were from the West side of the country. Also
the power to make any decision was not in the hands of the East Bengalis.

Central Secretariat Elite Posts, 1955 East Bengal West Pakistan

Secretary 0 19

Joint Secretary 3 38

Deputy Secretary 10 123

Under Secretary 38 510

Flight of money from East to West Pakistan:

East Pakistan was the largest supplier of Jute in the world. Other than that many crops of East
Pakistan had high demand across the world. Bengal was the first province that East India Company
captured. The main reason for their presence was the economic potential of Bengal. They stayed
there and spread to other areas of India from here. Since the British rule Bengal was the center of
all the major economic activity of sub-continent.
After the independence of Pakistan in 1947 East Bengal still had the economic value. The main
grievance of the people of East Pakistan was not that the Federal Government is earning money
from there but the Government was not giving anything back. All the development was taking
place in West Pakistan while the East side was growing frustration. The new capital Islamabad
was built with the money of East Pakistan or with the major contribution from East.
Six Points of Sheikh Mujibur Rehman:
The political direction of East Pakistan started to deviate from pro Pakistan towards Bengali
nationalism as early as 1948. The address of Jinnah in Dhaka in which he declared that Urdu would
be the national language of Pakistan was not taken lightly. Agitations started immediately after the
speech. Since then Muslim League started to lose popularity. In these circumstances a nationalist
party Awami League attracted the inhabitants of East Pakistan by promising them the rights which
the government of Pakistan was not giving them.
Sheikh Mujib gained popularity in short time and established himself as the savior of his people.
He was able to reach the apex of his political career after he presented his famous six points, which
are as under;
1. Both sides of Pakistan should have their own currency. (The reason behind this point was that
they believed that due to the West Pakistan the currency does not have value in international
market. By separating currency they wished to safe themselves from the impact of slow and weak
economy of West Pakistan).
2. The provinces should have full power to collect and set taxes within their jurisdiction. The
provinces will pay the due share to the federal government. (This point suggests that they wanted
to keep the money with themselves which seems right as well. This way they can develop their
part of the country which they think is behind the pace of development of West.)
3. Both sides should have their own paramilitary forces. (There was a strong believe that East
Pakistan is very venerable compared to West Pakistan. Another reason was that majority of the
army personals were from West Pakistan so there should be parity in this regard.)
4. A directly elected government should be installed at the center and allowed to work properly.
5. Each part should be allowed to make their own trade agreements. (The Federal Government was
getting all the profits made through the trade East Pakistan. This point says that now the money
would stay in the province.)
6. Federal Government should only control defense and foreign relations. All the other subjects
should be given to the province
The nature of these six points suggest that the people who have asked these points do not wish to
stay with Pakistan any more.
Elections of 1970:
The first general elections were finally conducted in 1970 December under the LFO issued by
Yahiya Khan. According to this ordinance the One Unit Plan was abolished and total number of
seats was 300. West Pakistan was allocated 138 seats and East Pakistan was allocated 162 seats.
The results of elections were very unique. Awami League won 161 seats in total but all of them
were in East Bengal (Pakistan). They were unable to secure a single seat in the Western part. On
the other hand the second largest party was Pakistan People’s Party and they were able to secure
81 seats in total and all of these seats were located in four provinces of West Pakistan. PPP was
completely rejected in Bengal.
National Assembly Election Results, 1970
S.no Party Punjab Sindh NWFP Bal. West East Pakistan
Total Total Total
1 AL -- -- -- -- -- 160 160
2 PPP 62 18 1 -- 81 -- 81
3 PML (Q) 1 1 7 -- 9 -- 9
4 CML 7 --- -- -- 7 -- 7
5 JU (H) -- -- 6 1 7 -- 7
6 JUP 4 3 -- -- 7 -- 7
7 NAP (W) -- -- 3 3 6 -- 6
8 JI 1 2 1 -- 4 -- 4
9 PML (C) 2 -- -- -- 2 -- 2
10 PDP -- -- -- -- -- 1 1
11 Independent 5 3 7 -- 15 1 16
Total 82 27 25 4 138 162 300

According to the rules of democracy it was the right of Awami League to form the government
because of their clear majority in the parliament. However the demography of the election results
can easily confuse any one. The people of both sides have rejected each other. The verdict of the
people is very clear that they reject the other part. The political parties of the East were unable to
attract the people of west and vice versa.
Yahiya Khan thought that he has done his job and now it’s the politicians turn to form the
government and serve the country and its people. He was wrong. He did not see the divide and its
impact. Bhutto the leader of PPP said that he has the right to form the government because he was
won seats in four out of five provinces of Pakistan. On the other hand Awami League said that
they have clear majority so they should be asked to form the government.
Yahiya Khan announced that the first session of the national assembly would be conducted in
Dhaka in March 1971. Unfortunately some days earlier this session he postponed it till further
notice.
This proved to be the last nail in the coffin. The people of East Bengal started to agitate against
this decision and full riots started in Bengal. Army was called and suppression on great scale was
launched. Now it was too late the Bengalis were not willing to surrender. Finally on 16th December
the East Pakistan became Bangladesh and the Pakistan lost most of its population.
Bhutto’s era 1971-77:
Introduction:
Bhutto entered into politics of Pakistan during the rule of Ayub Khan. Ayub Khan made young
Bhutto his cabinet member as a foreign minister. During his minister ship he impressed everyone
within and outside Pakistan. All historians agree that Bhutto was the best foreign minister Pakistan
ever had. In 1965 Pakistan entered in war with India which ended Bhutto’s association with Ayub
Khan. He was dismissed by Ayub Khan who blamed the war and its handling on Bhutto. After
leaving government Bhutto started his own political party called Pakistan People’s Party.
He took the support of Marxist ideas and made a very popular slogan ‘roti, kapra aur makan, means
‘bread, clothing and shelter’ for everyone. The major problem of Ayub Khan’s era was
accumulation of money in the hands of 22 business families; Bhutto carefully targeted this problem
and used it in his own favor. He party became popular in very short time. However this popularity
was restricted only in the West Pakistan. He and his Party was the spear head the movement against
Ayub Khan.
In the elections of 1970 his party was able to grab 81 seats out of 132 in West Pakistan however it
failed to win any seat out of 162 seats in East Pakistan. After the separation of Pakistan on 16th
December General Yahiya Khan then President and Chief Martial Law Administrator invited
Bhutto to take charge of the country. On 20th December Yahiya made Bhutto the President and
Chief Martial Law Administrator of the country and backed away.
After becoming President Bhutto started to work towards framing the new constitution of Pakistan.
He formed the national assembly on the basis of the results of 1970 elections. Within a year the
new constitution was completed and it was implemented in 1973. According to the new
constitution the form of government was parliamentary and all the executive powers were in the
hand of Prime Minister. Bhutto became Prime Minister of Pakistan.
1. Constitution of 1973:
i. All the executive power will be in the hands of Prime Minister and he will be the head of the
government.
ii. The legislation would be bi-camera (consisting of two houses). National assembly would be
elected on the basis of population and in senate all the provinces would have equal number of seats
regardless of population.
iii. President and the Prime Minister of Pakistan must be Muslims.
iv. The name of the country would be Islamic Republic of Pakistan.
v. All the people of the country including religious minorities would enjoy full civil liberties.
vi. President of Pakistan would be elected in directly through all the assemblies’ national assembly,
senate and provincial assemblies.
2. Nationalization Policy:
The link of Bhutto’s nationalization policy can be found in Ayub era. This policy was a reaction
of the economic policy of Ayub Khan. Ayub introduced such economic policies which benefited
only a fraction of the population of Pakistan which has been discussed in detail earlier. Since
Bhutto started his political party promised common people of Pakistan to make their economic
conditions better. During his political campaign he used the slogan, “roti, kapra aur makan”,
(bread, clothing and shelter).
After coming to power he followed a socialist plan to fulfill his promise. The plan seemed simple.
All the private industries and businesses would be taken up by the government. He thought this
way the government would open the employment to all and when people will get employment
their living conditions would automatically improve. In other words taking money away from rich
and giving it to poor.
Problem according to Bhutto was that private owners of industries limited the number of
employees due to which less people got the chance. Bhutto after taking all the industries opened
employment. This plan was initially successful but it had long term harmful effects; a) Industries
started to more salaries than they were earning. Therefore government started to face heavy losses.
b) By nationalization Bhutto closed the window for private investors. Local and foreign investors
kept away from Pakistani market because of the fear of losing industries and investments. Due to
this Pakistan did not see industrialization for more than a decade. This affected the economic
growth of Pakistan.
3. Education Policy:
Bhutto also ordered to take over many schools. He opened many new government schools and
colleges across Pakistan. He tried to homogenize education system of Pakistan. He made Primary
education compulsory for every student.
Although Bhutto introduced educational reforms but they were not enough to cope up with the
needs of the country. Even today after 30 years of Bhutto, education is the foremost issue the
government has to face. Unfortunately political parties hardly pay any attention towards these
issues.
4. Health Policy:
a. Bhutto started Rural Health Centers (RHC) to provide health facilities to the population living
in villages. According to the plan there would be one RHC for every 60000 people.
b. He introduced Basic Health Units (BHU) in urban areas. One unit for every 20000 people.
c. Training colleges were setup for the training of medical staff and assistants. Nursing schools
were also started to train nurses to work across the country.
5. Control over army:
Before Bhutto’s rule the politics of Pakistan was dominated by army under the influence of Ayub
Khan. Bhutto took some steps to minimize the role of army and to have a check over them;
a. He ordered the removal 29 important army commanders.
b. He appointed army commanders who were more loyal to him.
c. He established Federal Security Force to assist police in civilian matters. Earlier army used to
be called by government for out of control civilian matters. This way army used to get a chance in
power politics. FSF was also used for political victimization.
6. Downfall of Bhutto:
When Bhutto introduced the constitution of 1973 he formed the government on the basis the results
of 1970 elections. Opposition parties criticized this step of Bhutto. The main argument was that
when those elections were conducted Pakistan included East Pakistan as well and now its new
Pakistan with new boundaries. All opposition political parties started protesting against Bhutto’s
government and demanded him to conduct new elections. Bhutto was confident that he enjoys
popularity in majority of the people so he announced to conduct elections.
On the other hand 9 different political parties joined and formed Pakistan National Alliance (PNA).
These political parties in their political agitation and campaign were able to gather thousands of
people of streets. In the elections PPP won 154 seats out of 200. PNA accused the government of
rigging. They said that we do not accept the results of these elections and the government has
wrongfully turned the results in its favor with the help of state machinery.
The friction between the two parties grew and both were not willing to step aside. Government
ordered to arrest anyone who goes against it. However the protest against the government became
stronger. Thousands of people were arrested but the movement did not die. Army played its role
and tried to end the situation with their way. On 5th July 1977 Zia-ul-Haq the Chief of Army Staff
of Pakistan stepped in and proclaimed martial law in the country. He took all the powers in his
hands and arrested Bhutto. He also suspended the constitution of 1973.

8. Death of Bhutto:
After Bhutto’s arrest after the martial law he was released within few days. Zia knew that if he
want to establish his rule over Pakistan then he need to get rid of Bhutto by any means. Zia found
out that there was a pending case of assassination against Bhutto. He was accused of ordering the
murder of Nawab Muhammad Ahmed Khan father of Ahmed Raza Qasuri. Zia reopened the case
and Lahore high court awarded death sentence to Bhutto.
This sparked and international reaction regarding the politics of Pakistan. Many leaders of the
world asked Zia not to go for this punishment and leave Bhutto. Only Zia had the power to pardon
Bhutto as a president. Bhutto was rearrested in September 1977 and finally was put to death on
4th April 1979.
General Zia’s Era 1977-88
Zia came in power through martial law on 5th July 1977. He suspended the constitution and
promised the people of Pakistan a new government would be formed through elections within three
months. Later he stayed in power for the next 11 years. Zia told people that the country is going
through a very chaotic phase and we need someone to save us from this turmoil. He presented
himself to be that savior and claimed that he would take the country out of all the troubles.
Zia was unable to abrogate the constitution of 1973 because according to it whoever abrogate this
constitution will be considered enemy of the country and should be hanged. The main problem in
front of Zia was to get support for his rule and legitimize it through any means. For this purpose
he took the support of Islam and the religious political parties who were against Bhutto.
Some steps of his Islamization process;
Islamisation by Zia:
i. He made “Dupatta” compulsory for all Muslims women going in public places.
ii. He prohibited the sale of alcohol openly and specially to Muslims. It could be sold by and to
non-Muslims under a license.
iii. He made Islamiat and Pakistan studies compulsory for all students in Pakistan.
iv. He made shariat courts,
v. He introduced and implemented Hudood ordinances. There were four major aspects covered in
; a) offences of wrong allegation b) offences of Zina c) Offences against property and d) prohibition
of drinking alcohol.
vi. He also introduced Zakat and Ushur ordinance.
vii. A council of Islamic ideology was setup to recommend different policies in economics and
other matters.
viii. He introduced the “Ehteram-e-Ramzan” (respect of the holy month of Ramzan) ordinance.
ix. The government issued the orders for the regular observance of Namaz and special
arrangements were made to arrange Zohar in government offices.
x. The degrees granted by the religious institutions were given the equal status to M.A.
Support to Zia’s rule:
Till 1979 the rule of Zia was not stable but some international events became the saviors of Zia.
Russia attacked Afghanistan. This was a great event and was very significant for the Western
World. USA and other Western countries saw it as a spread of socialism which was not acceptable
to them at any cost. Afghanistan became the battle field for the all the great powers.
In this situation Western World wanted someone like Zia (who could be easily manipulated) to
support them in all aspects. Zia was an army man and country was under martial law so whatever
Zia does he can enforce it through power. It was an ideal scenario for the West. They support Zia’s
rule and return they wished that he support them to check the advances of Russia. West fought
whole Afghan War from Pakistan. A new term came in international politics “proxy war” due to
this event. Finally West was able to achieve its goals and Russia lost the war and disintegrated.
Secondly another great event of international importance took place which also indirectly
supported the rule of Zia. In Iran Islamic Revolution took place. In this revolution the more liberal
and modern government was over thrown by Islamic political leader led by Imam Khomeini in
1979. The revolutionaries first attacked US embassy and an international scandal started. In this
scenario as well US needed unconditional support from Pakistan. The reason due to which these
two events affected Pakistan was that it shared borders with both the countries.
For USA a strong rule like military rule of Zia was ideal under the circumstances because he would
do whatever they wished because his rule was illegitimate and USA was a super power. Zia
willingly agreed to the wishes of US and secured a strong position for himself in the politics of
Pakistan. He later stayed in power till 1988 when a tragic air crash took his life near Bahawalpur.
The referendum:
Zia conducted a referendum before conducting elections. He wanted to strengthen his position and
provide legitimacy to his rule. He knew that he might not get popular vote through elections so he
planned a tricky referendum in which he played with his voters. He posted a question which was
very difficult for common people to say no to. Instead of asking people a simple question about
his presidency like, ‘do you want to see Zia as president’ he framed a question, ‘do you agree with
the process of Islamization and do you want to continues or not’.
Most of the population of Pakistan did not take part in this so called referendum. Those who went
to take part were unable to deal with this tricky referendum and fell pray of Zia’s wish.
Elections of 1985:
After securing his position through referendum he went for elections. Again like referendum he
planned to conduct which suited him and his plans to stay in power. He declared that the elections
would be conducted on nonparty basis. This sounds like a joke and mockery of democracy. How
is it possible for people to take part in electoral process without their political orientation and
association?
The elections were conducted under the strict supervision of army. Muhammad Khan Junejo
became the Prime Minister of the so called elections. Even after the elections Zia did not lift
Martial Law. Junejo was pressurized by the parliament to lift the Martial Law. However Zia had
other plans. He said until the parliament accepts all the amendments made by him he will not lift
it. So under the pressure the parliament legalized all the ordinances he made. 59 articles were
amended in this single amendment called 8th amendment. The most famous article is 58 ii b,
through which the president has the power to dissolve national assembly.
Benazir Bhutto Frist Government 1988-1990:
Introduction:
Benazir Bhutto was the eldest daughter of Zulfiqar Ali Bhutto the founding member and first
chairman of Pakistan People’s Party (PPP). She stayed outside of Pakistan throughout her
educational years and received education in Oxford University, England. When her father’s
government was taken over by General Zia ul Haq she with other members of her family was
captured by Zia and sent to jail for several years. After coming out of jail she and her family went
out of Pakistan. She decided to permanently join politics and carry the mission of her father
forward. She was guided by some senior members of PPP and finally decided to come back to
Pakistan in 1986 and take charge of the party. She was married to Asif Ali Zardari in 1986 at
Karachi. In 1988 August General Zia ul Haq died in an air crash near Bahawalpur after which the
army of Pakistan decided to back out from active politics and did not announce another military
president. The military administration announced election in 1988 which were conducted
accordingly.
Formation of Government:
The party position in the elections of 1988 was not very strong however PPP emerged as the single
largest party which did not have enough seats to make government on their own. Consequently a
coalition government was formed with the support of other political parties. Due to the weak
position of Benazir she made some compromises with the army and the caretaker President
Ghulam Ishaq Khan. She agreed to support Ghulam Ishaq Khan in presidential election. Ghulam
Ishaq was a former bureaucrat with illustrious career in terms of holding important government
posts. She even agreed to continue with the foreign minister of Zia’s regime Sahibzada Yaqub
Khan because the establishment could not afford any alteration in the foreign policy during those
trouble years.
The troika:
The term Troika was coined during the first government of Benazir it means the Prime Minister,
President and Army Chief, consult before major important decisions. This was a compromise
Benazir had to make if she wanted to form a government. The political forces were weak and army
backed out of their own decision rather than the wishes of people or political parties. Army could
have taken over again at any time if their role in decision making was challenged.
Friction between Islamabad and Provinces:
According to the constitution of 1973 Pakistan was a federation with four provinces which were
responsible for many things concerning their development for example, education (schools,
colleges, and universities), health (hospitals, clinics, doctors, nursing schools), roads, some taxes,
industrialization etc. However the power to govern these elements was not yet given to provinces
in reality.
The provincial governments wanted autonomy over these things so that do not have to depend
upon Federal Government any more. The major opposition was posted from Punjab where anti
PPP government was ruling under the leadership of Mian Nawaz Sharif. Islamic Democratic Front
(Islami Jamhori Ittehad) was a union of pro-Islamic parties under the central leadership of Nawaz
Sharif. This party was made b army in 1988 to counter the public popularity of PPP. Army although
backed out from politics in 1988 but they did not want any single party to be powerful enough to
make major changes in the government so they preferred a dilute political structure.
The headlines of daily newspapers were occupied by comments and remarks of the leadership of
PPP and IJI against each other. Benazir had control over federal government and Nawaz Sharif
was ruling the largest province of Pakistan with more than 60% population. It was a fight between
two giants and people were suffering.
Benazir made Ghulam Mustafa Khar governor of Punjab who had the power to dissolve the
provincial assembly on the advice of President. IJI reacted strongly against this appointment. A
very shameful incident occurred during 1990 when three FIA (Federal Investigation Agency)
agents were arrested by Punjab Police on the orders of Punjab Government, when they were
investigating tax evasion by a minister of Punjab Government in one of his factories.
The establishment of Punjab Bank in 1989 was seen a rebellion against the federation of Pakistan
by Nawaz Sharif however the constitution provided provisions for such step by provincial
governments. The blame game escalated by passing time and both parties targeted next elections.
IJI wanted midterm elections so they can test their arm in government. IJI targeted Benazir for her
position on Kashmir and relations with India. She was looking forward to defuse tension between
the two countries for their better future. This issue was highlighted by IJI and they twisted it to
such angles which supported them.
This fight between the two largest parties of Pakistan served no purpose to the people perhaps it
served the ambitions of political leadership. There was a debate that democracy could no function
in Pakistan because of incompetent political leadership and the 1988-90 government strengthen
this believe.
Fall from power:
The decline of Benazir started form Karachi. The government in Islamabad was supported by
MQM (Muhajir Quami Movement). The leadership of MQM was facing different challenges than
any other political party in Pakistan because of their political agenda. MQM was established due
to the marginalization of Muhajir community and people supported them because they stood for
them. There were many expectations from MQM due to which the leadership had to work quick.
Before 1988 election a massacre took place in Hyderabad in area of MQM supporters in which
around 120 people lost their lives in spray of firing from cars at several places at one time. MQM
demanded action from PPP their coalition partners on many such issues and they finally left PPP
in 1989 and joined IJI and blamed PPP for turning away from its promises. On the top of it Pucca
Qila operation took place in May 1990 when police raided Pucca Qila an old fort in Hyderabad in
suspension of criminals hiding in it. Police opened fire and killed 31 supporters of MQM along
with women and children. It is reported that women came out with Quran on their heads to stop
the shooting but they were unable to do so.
After this incident violence started in Karachi and Hyderabad. The president of Pakistan Ghulam
Ishaq Khan used his power to dismiss government under the article 58-2,b. He said the government
has failed to control violence, they are corrupt, they introduced nepotism and they are incompetent.
Some achievements of Benazir:
1. First Women Bank was opened by Benazir for giving larger role to women of Pakistan.

2. There was a ban on trade unions during the time period of Zia. Benazir lifted the ban and allowed
worker to make unions and demand their rights from employers.

3. In1971 Bangladesh was created and it became a member of Commonwealth. Since then Pakistan
left commonwealth on protest. In 1988 Benazir government rejoined commonwealth.

4. Women were given job on a greater scale. They were now more government job than ever. They
went into police and judiciary.
Nawaz Sharif 1ST Government 1990-93:

Introduction:
Nawaz Sharif belonged to a well-established business family of Punjab. He started hi politics
during the time of Zia ul Haq, who was responsible for many business favors to Nawaz Sharif.
Even today the sugar mill owned by Sharif in Pakpattan in Punjab has Zia ul Haq’s name on the
founding stone. He was in fact brought into politics by military establishment to counter PPP in
Punjab and later across the country. He became the Chief Minister of Punjab n 1986 due to good
graces of Zia. He became the leader of IJI in 1988 when military establishment founded this party
by bribes given to many leaders. The founder of IJI General Asif Nawaz has now told the story of
its establishment and Mr. Asghar Khan has challenged the founding of IJI in court in a case, which
is still pending in Supreme Court.
In t 1990 elections Nawaz Sharif and his party claimed 105 seats against 45 seats of PPP. IJI
emerged as the single largest party in Pakistan and went to form federal government. After forming
the government he started to works towards his policies which were business friendly.
Economic policies:
Being a business man he believed in free market economy and decided to privatize 89 government
owned organization which included railways, shipping, energy, telecommunication etc.
Uncontrolled privatization was dangerous to Pakistan’s economy and people because it would
allow owners to maximize their profit without giving benefits to their workers. During his time
millions of dollars came in for investment.
He started a yellow cab scheme in which loans were given to people who could become owners of
a taxi and pay the government later through its income. This was a very popular scheme and
thousands of households benefitted with it.
He fixed the minimum wages for workers to be 1500 Rs.. His policies were heavily criticized by
PPP who compared his policies with plundering of Pakistan. His economic efforts generally
benefitted the wealthy due to encouragement private business without governmental control.
Gulf war and Nuclear issue:
In 1990 Gulf War started when Ghulam Mustaf Jatoi was care taker Prime Minister. He supported
USA on its advances on Iraq and also sent Pakistani soldiers to support US. When Nawaz Sharif
became Prime Minister he continued the policy of support. This was not taken as a good move by
many Pakistani’s including many supporters of Nawaz. He face huge criticism but did not change
his stance.
One of the reasons for Pakistan’s support was that US had put some economic and military
sanctions on Pakistan on the doubt that Pakistan is developing it nuclear weapons. US demanded
to immediately stop the nuclear program. Pakistan’s government thought by supporting US in Gulf
war they might get some benefits, however US did not lift the sanctions even after unconditional
support by Pakistan.
Internal disturbances:
During Afghan war Pakistan became a market for illegal weapons and drugs. Thousands of Afghan
Refugees came to Pakistan who had their links back at home. All the weapons used in Afghan war
came to Pakistan which were being bought by criminals and drug dealers.
Nawaz Sharif faced the challenge of dealing with this menace with firm hand. He took many steps
towards controlling these elements but did not succeed. He also made Speedy Trial Courts to
conduct and conclude cases related to crimes then and there so more and more cases can be solved.
However criticism was raised against the function of these courts and dealing with innocent
because it had only one chance of appeal.
Reasons for removal from Power:
Bank scandals were the first major blows to the government of Nawaz Sharif. A bank BCCI (bank
of Credits and Commerce International) was started by a Pakistani banker Agha Hasan Abedi in
1972. This bank dealt with most of the prominent politicians and business men of Pakistan
including Sharif family who were major costumer of the bank.
The bank was black listed by England and they closed all operations of the bank on the charges of
frauds, money laundering and criminality. However Pakistan’s government supported the bank
and allowed it to function in Pakistan. US government wanted to arrest Agha Hasan and extradite
him fo America, but Nawaz Sharif refused to hand him over.
On the other hand Nawaz Sharif started a military operation on it coalition partner MQM in
Karachi. Army wasted to conduct this operation against the criminals of Sind. There was a division
of opinion with in Nawaz’s leadership Chaudhry Nisar was of the opinion that it should not target
MQM because it will further deteriorate the situation. However the operation was given green
signal and Karachi became an urban battlefield. According to MQM thousands of it supporters
were killed under the shadow of the operation.
Ghulam Ishaq Khan the president of Pakistan once again decided to use his power to dissolve the
national and provincial assemblies. He did it and framed same allegations against IJI government
as Benazir’s government. Nawaz went Supreme Court against the use of 58-2b by president.
Supreme Court favored Nawaz and ordered the restoration of assemblies calling the act by
president as illegal.
After restoration Nawaz under the pressure of military establishment finally decided to resign and
call for fresh elections. President Ghulam Ishaq Khan was also forced by army to resign as
president.
This term of Nawaz Sharif's Pakistan Muslim League (PML-N) also saw heightened tension in
Sindh province. The President had imposed a ruthless minority government under Jam Sadiq Ali
to keep the PPP (which had an enhanced presence in the Sindh Assembiy) out. In this the Chief
Minister had the enthusiastic support of the MQM. When it was perceived that the MQM was
irrevocably cut from its Sindh moorings, it was subjected by its allies to military action. Although
its fortunes went on fluctuating, the MQM never fully recovered from this blow, and for a long
time Karachi remained a city of insecurity and economic stagnation.
Benazir Bhutto and Nawaz Sharif’s 2nd Government 1993-1999:

Benazir Bhutto won the 6 October 1993 elections by securing eighty-six seats. This time, the
Punjab Assembly as well as the office of the President went to her party members, making her
second term as Prime Minister seemingly more secure. Benazir Bhutto was able to improve the
economy by increasing inward investment and
Foreign Policy of Pakistan
Definition of Foreign Policy The foreign policy is to establish and develop relations with
other countries to watch the national interests by taking appropriate steps at international level.
Foreign policy is a government strategy to deal with other nation. Foreign policy or foreign
relations refers to how a government deals with other countries. We also call it foreign affairs
policy. Foreign policy includes such matters as trade and defence. Pakistan is situated in the south
of the continent of Asia; it is a country of fertile land, mountains, rivers and beautiful valleys. It
shares its eastern border with India, northern border with China, and western border with
Afghanistan and Iran whereas to its south is the Arabian Sea.
OBJECTIVES OF PAKISTAN'S FOREIGN POLICY
When a country establishes relations with other countries, it has to abide by some fundamental
principles and objectives. The policy of a state in this regard is called the foreign policy. Following
are the objectives of the foreign policy of Pakistan:
1. Territorial sovereignty and security:
The main objective of Pakistan’s foreign policy the security of its borders, freedom and
sovereignty. When Pakistan emerged on the world map, it was necessary for it to make
appropriate arrangements for the safety and security. Therefore, Pakistan always gave
importance to the security in its relations with foreign countries. National security is always
the fundamental objective in Pakistan's foreign policy. Pakistan respects the territorial
sovereignty of other countries and expects the same from them. India conducted atomic blasts,
not keeping in view the national safety of Pakistan. Pakistan, in return, also conducted atomic
blasts. It was a show of strength which gave an evidence of Pakistan being an atomic power.
Pakistan follows the United Nations Charter and is a part of the world's struggle against the
use of force.
2. Ideological objectives:
The ideology and foreign policy of Pakistan are linked together. Pakistan is an ideological
nation with the Islamic base. The main objective of Pakistan's foreign policy is to protect the
ideological borders of Pakistan. The stability of Pakistan is linked to the protection of
Pakistan's ideology. It can protect its ideology only by establishing better relations with the
Islamic countries. Therefore, Pakistan has always maintained good relations with them. In its
every constitution, closer relations with the Islamic countries have always been stressed.
Pakistan played an important role in setting up the organisations of the Islamic Conference and
the Economic Cooperation. Wherever the Muslims faced some problems, Pakistan helped them
as much as possible. Conflicts in Palestine, Cyprus, Bosnia, Kashmir, Ethiopia, Afghanistan,
Iraq and Syria are the burning issues of the Muslim world.
3. Development in financial and economic trends:
For the defence of a country, economic aspect has remarkable effects on foreign policy of
a country. Pakistan is a developing country and it wants to progress economically. Pakistan is
wishing to have cordial relations with all those countries which can help Pakistan financially.
Pakistan has made important changes in its foreign policy, keeping in view the recent economic
 trends. It has allowed free trade, free economy and privatization. The main reason for close
contacts with the Western countries is economic aid which has made Pakistan closer to
America and the Western World.
4. Cultural enrichment:
Different cultural factors have always had an effect on Pakistan's foreign policy. The
Pakistani nation also has the right to protect and show its culture like other countries. Its culture
reflects the Islamic values like tolerance, respect for humanity, modesty, self-respect and
courage. Pakistan wants to develop strong relations with those countries which give an
opportunity to promote and preserve Pakistani culture. Cultural relations are further developing
with Islamic states, and cultural troupes are exchanged among them. Pakistani dresses and
other items are liked in other countries. This paves the way to strengthen relations with other
states on cultural level.
FOREIGN POLICY CHALLENGES TO PAKISTAN
No country in the world can live in isolation, hence, in the independent world foreign policy
holds a significance place. A country without Foreign policy is like a ship without radar which
drifts aimlessly in the water. Pakistan is situated on a hot line where world supply line passed.
Pakistan is the member of OIC and Non NATO alliance against terrorism. Pakistan is world’s 42nd
largest GDP and 25th largest purchasing power of the world. To understand the country foreign
policy, we need to start with the circumstance from the beginning. To formulate foreign policy,
Pakistan faces such challenges which are as follow:
Pakistan and India:
An adversary is sometimes more important than a friend. Moreover, the majority of
Pakistan’s population lives in proximity to the border with India. It is also the only country with
which Pakistan has fought wars and it targets Pakistan with its nuclear weaponry. For Pakistan,
India is our only potential nuclear target. The costs for Pakistan of its relations with India exceed
those of its relations with any other country. How to significantly reduce these costs without
compromising Pakistan’s principled stand on major outstanding issues, especially the ‘core issue’
of Jammu and Kashmir, remains a principal challenge for our foreign policy. War of any kind is
not an option for a Kashmir settlement. The United Nations (UN) resolutions must remain the basis
of Pakistan’s Kashmir diplomacy although they cannot in reality deliver a settlement. In fact, there
is no short-term solution for Jammu and Kashmir. The international community, including the UN
and all major powers, will not force any Kashmir settlement upon India that is unacceptable to it.
Pakistan’s nuclear weapons are also irrelevant to the search for a just Kashmir settlement. Pakistan
cannot stay on a transformational economic growth path of an average of 8.9 per cent per annum
over the next three decades in a state of tension and confrontation with India — a country seven
times its size in population, economy and military strength. Accordingly, the search for a broader
and long-term strategy for a Kashmir settlement is inevitable. Any settlement will ultimately entail
a principled compromise and it must pass the test of acceptability to the people of Kashmir. Until
that time, the United Nations resolutions on Jammu and Kashmir must be the basis of Pakistan’s
stand if it is to remain a relevant party to a settlement process. This requires developing a strong
working relationship with India, including a comprehensive and structured dialogue that addresses
the core concerns of both countries. This must include the management of nuclear threats. On this
basis, a whole range of revived and new confidence and security building measures (CSBMs) can
provide a good start, beginning possibly with an invitation to Indian Prime Minister Narendra
Modi and other heads of state or government from the member countries of the South Asian
Association for Regional Cooperation (SAARC), Shanghai Cooperation Organisation (SCO) and
Economic Cooperation Organisation (ECO) to attend the prime minister’s inauguration. Such an
approach will be vehemently opposed by the powers that be inside Pakistan. There is also no
guarantee that India will immediately reciprocate Pakistan’s initiatives. Public opinion can be
deliberately inflamed. Incidents can happen to thwart such initiatives. Caution, consultation and
preparation will be essential to prevent them. Even more so will be leadership.
Afghanistan:
While India is necessarily a longer-term challenge, Afghanistan represents a problem that
should not even exist. Mutual trust can be easily built if Pakistan’s policies towards Afghanistan
are wise, generous and sincere. There is no historical basis for animus and hostility. There is no
reason for Pakistan’s Afghanistan policy to be ‘India-centric’. No Afghan will accept that. The
Taliban can also never be a strategic asset for Pakistan if we are to meet the challenges and
imperatives of the 21st century. Yes, the Americans need to leave Afghanistan and, yes, the Islamic
State is a greater threat to regional stability than the Taliban but the Taliban need to morph into a
credible interlocutor for credible peace in Afghanistan. Pakistan should participate in Afghan
peace talks without holding a brief for the Taliban. Nor should Pakistan allow its territory to be
used to influence the balance of power inside Afghanistan. That only opens the floodgates to
Afghan resentment and Indian influence in Afghanistan. Our Afghanistan policy has been short-
sighted and self-defeating. It has been formulated in the dark by people who know little about
Afghan history and care less about the Afghan people. Imran Khan will have to ensure that no
aspect of Pakistan’s foreign policy remains the preserve of faceless forces. Let Afghanistan choose
its own friends; it will not choose against Pakistan unless Pakistan’s follies force it to, which has
happened ever since the Soviet withdrawal from Afghanistan. Within these parameters, specific
issues, including transit trade, border management and refugees, can be easily addressed and a
detailed strategy to develop substantial and wide-ranging bilateral ties can be devised. Historically
inherited issues, such as the differences over the Durand Line, will lose their salience and
eventually disappear.
United States:
Pakistan also needs to keep in mind that the United States is a global neighbour and will
remain the number one military, economic and technological power for the rest of this century. It
cannot be a strategic partner of Pakistan because it prefers India. Along with India, it targets the
China-Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC). Nevertheless, predictable, substantive and mutually
satisfactory relations with the United States are a priority for Pakistan. The costs of gratuitously
annoying it are considerable. Afghanistan, counterterrorism and Pakistan’s nuclear arsenal remain
issues of concern for the United States. Without having to bend a knee, these are not insuperable
obstacles for Pakistan especially if it rationalises its policies and refrains from playing games
unrelated to its national interest. The US policy dictation does not have to be accepted. Nor should
Pakistan dress up compliance in the guise of defiance to fool its own people. To have an honest
bilateral relationship with the United States should be a sufficient foreign policy goal.
China:
Retaining Chinese confidence in the viability of Pakistan as a strategic partner, however,
is a challenge that should not be underestimated. Without good governance and a credible foreign
policy, Pakistan will not meet this challenge. CPEC is a golden opportunity, not a magic wand or
a free ride. China is shaping up to be the future of Asia. And Pakistan can be a critical part of this
transformation provided Imran Khan overcomes critical impediments and lays the foundation for
a New Pakistan.
Social and Economic Problems of Pakistan
Economic Problems
One of the mainstays of any country around the world for economic development is its
existing reserves of the natural resources and assets base. Pakistan has plenty of natural resources
such as large reserves of oil and gas, great quantity of copper and ore deposits, in addition huge
coal and salt pits, and gemstones. Likewise, it possesses sound manufacturing industries of textiles
and clothing, steel fabricating, cotton ginning factories, sugarcane mills, sports goods and leather
manufacturing etc.
Apart from these mineral resources and industries, Pakistan also has vast tracts of agriculture land.
Out of total geographical area, about 27 percent is cultivated, and of this, 80 percent is irrigated.
Pakistan has one of the most developed irrigation systems in the world, i.e. Indus Basin Irrigation
System. We have rivers and sea. We have harbours to export and import goods. We are blessed
with four seasons and a fit tropical weather in terms of farming and agriculture.
There is no doubt that Pakistan is a resource-rich country and possesses mineral fuels,
manufactured goods and beverage and tobacco (13%). Moreover, the other resources include: food
and live animals (11%), crude materials (11%), chemicals (11%), machinery (8%) and
miscellaneous articles (8%). In addition, we have 175 billion tons of coal reserve. It is up to 618
billion barrels of crude oil. The natural gas reserves are also in abundance, it’s about 885.3 billion
cubic meters.
Despite being blessed with fertile agriculture land, abundance of minerals and sound industrial
base, our economic development is not progressing as it should.
The major challenges in achieving economic development are:
Energy crisis:
The constant leading power cut-off challenge has troubled the economy. Since the year
2000 this curse has wreaked havoc on the overall economy. As admitted by Federal Minister for
Water and Power Khawaja Muhammad Asif during a National Assembly session a few days ago
that the power shortfall has exceeded up to 5,000MW. Until energy lingering crisis is not resolved
the determined economic development is a far-off dream.
Terrorism:
It is a huge stumbling-block for economic generation in Pakistan. Since 2002 we are a war-
torn country. The State Bank of Pakistan report (2016) says that war on terrorism has cost $118
billion. According to Global Terrorism Index (2016), out of 163 countries, Pakistan stands 4th
worst hit. This has long been a reason for Pakistan’s negative international image which has limited
the foreign investment in the country.
Wealth Concentration:
In Pakistan wealth is concentered among a few rich families. The rest of the population is
dependent on them. Due to wealth concentration, around 35 percent people spend their lives under
poverty line. According to Multidimensional Poverty Index (2016) 39 percent population of
Pakistan lives in poverty, which means that 4 out of 10 people in Pakistan live in poverty.
Corruption:
Since 1947, the ongoing corruption has steadily planted its roots. In current circumstances,
it has become a highly political debate as even the prime ministers of the country are accused of
it. The corruption has proven to be a menace for institutions. According to corruption perception
index (CPI 2016) out of 175 countries Pakistan stands at 116.
Youth unemployment:
We are blessed in having about 63 percent of youth population. Half of them are
unemployed. According to Asian Development Bank (ADB) 50.7 percent of the population aged
15 years and above is employed. Of it, the female ratio is very less. The rest are struggling for
survival. On an average, Pakistan needs to create 20 million job annually for young people alone.
Lack in quality education:
Education is a key component for economic progress. Unfortunately, our current literacy
is 60 percent, least in South Asian countries. About 25 million children in are out of school. More
importantly, on grass root level, thousands of schools are lacking very basic facilities such of
sanitation, water, electricity, boundary walls etc.
Poor health facilities:
The public hospitals depict bleak pictures where we find lack of proper medicines, beds,
equipment and etc. Due to absence of basic health facilities, 170 women die from pregnancy for
every 100,000 births. For every 1,000 babies born, 66 die before their first birthday. In addition,
approximately 44 percent children in Pakistan are stunted. Every day, due to malnutrition and
poverty children are dying in Thar.
Tax evasion:
Regressive tax system collects about 90 percent tax revenue from common men. Big
corporations, landlords, businessmen, politicians do not pay their due share of taxes. They earn lot
but pay less tax; on the other hand poor earn less but are taxed more. Each year billion rupees are
evaded through tax havens established in foreign counties. The incidences of tax evasion have
hampered Pakistan’s economic progress.
Lack of good governance:
We lag good governance and pro-poor fiscal policies.
What should be done to overcome the above challenges?
Government should improve relations with neighboring countries like India, Iran, and
Afghanistan. For economic information, communication and technology sectors among others
should be given more preference and government should improve ICTs system. Because in
forthcoming years, all the economies will be measured through technologies. India earns lots of
money through its IT industry.
The employment zones for youth should be opened so as two-third of youth could contribute for
the economy of Pakistan. They could use their potentials and skills for better Pakistan. The
alarming education system should be improved. The quality education from primary to university
should be ensured. Proper school monitoring mechanism should be designed. New and upgraded
curriculum need to be introduced. Instead of investing lot of budget on defense side, more budgets
should be allocated for education.
Quality vocational training zones should be established in each district for youth as they could
learn technical skills in different cadres and trades. Government should ensure those vocational
zones that how they are operating and functioning. One of the primary ways of enhancing economy
is to support entrepreneurship and to create new avenues for growth by guiding the youth. Before
everything else, the government ought to overcome the lingering energy crisis.
Pakistan should enhance export competitiveness by reducing cost of doing business. Pakistan
should adopt strategic approach to increase its export in neighbouring markets and underline the
need of holding single country. As a result of overall economy dilemma, the common men and
women in the country are facing economic deficiency and deprivation.
Social Problems
Although Pakistan is rich in resources but there are many problems faced by Pakistan since
independence and has undergone a variety of crisis. These issues could easily be solved but due to
the lack of attention from our government these problems are rising day by day. Given below are
some of the major social problems faced by Pakistan, which are highly neglected by our
government.
1.Poverty:
survey shows that Poverty rate of Pakistan has increased 30% to 40% during the past ten
years. It means that about 40% of Pakistani population lacks even the basic needs of life such as
food, shelter etc.
2.Illiteracy:
Unfortunately about half of the Pakistani population is illiterate and this rate is expected to
increase a lot in future. Government should pay attention towards this issue because a country
cannot progress without providing basic education to its people. Poor education rises negative
perceptions.
3. Health Issues:
Our country is facing severe health crisis. The rate of diseases among poor families is
increasing noticeably. Government should pay a heed to this life threatening issue and build new
hospitals and work for the betterment of the existing ones. The first step to resolve this issue is to
create basic awareness of health and nutrition.
4. Corruption:
Pakistan is suffering from a fatal problem known as Corruption. Instead of eliminating this
problem our leaders itself are involved in it. We need to remove corruption from its root if we want
our country to progress. Corruption should be investigated powerfully without favoritism. Pakistan
rank is 117 out 180 countries in corruption.
5. Life security:
Today in Pakistan, there is no security of our lives. We continuously live under the threat
of getting killed in a blast or by a target killer. While leaving the house, people are not sure whether
they will return safely or not. Our rulers should make our country secure for a common man so
that he lives his life peacefully.
 6. Justice:
Unfortunately, Pakistan has a very poor judiciary system. It works on money. Wealthy
people don’t get caught even after committing major crimes however the poor ones face
punishments, not because of their crime but because of lack of money due to which they could not
bribe the judiciary. Government should work on this because a country cannot survive without a
fair judicial system.
7. Human rights:
Major parts of our country are rural, where most people are illiterate. These people don’t
know their rights. Especially women are deprived of their rights because of lack of awareness.
Living in a country where not even basic rights are given to people sucks. Our rulers should make
efforts to provide the basic human rights to all people.
8. Unemployment:
Unemployment is another major problem in Pakistan which must be considered by the
government. According to a survey about 6% of our population is unemployed. Unemployment
gives rise to many other major problems such as illiteracy and poverty.
9. Energy crisis:
Another major problem in Pakistan is of load shedding. This situation is due to lack of
electricity. So instead of building roads and fly overs, government should first build new dams and
turbines for the generation of electricity.
10. Refugees:
A huge number of Afghan refugees are staying in Pakistan. They live in slums and have
no jobs. This way they are increasing poverty and unemployment rate in our country. Government
should provide these people with the opportunity to work and to involve in the betterment of the
country. Also the government should evaluate its political implications.
Other social problems are:
• child labour
• Child marriage
• The low status of women
• Gender inequality at work
• Dowry system
• Sanitation and cleanliness
• Religious conflicts
• Beggary
Proposed Solutions
There are many organisations and NGOs and even government institutes that are dealing with most
of the problems mentioned above. Each social issue has its own cause and needs to be resolved on
immediate grounds. Some pragmatic solutions to overcome these social issues are given below:
Social Cures
• Awareness by media
• Financial security
• Social justice
• Fulfilment of basic needs
• Providing food, cloth, shelter and education
• Reforming schools as well as madrasahs education
• Role of NGOs
• The positive role of scholars and educationists and women
• Development programs
Economic Cures
• Business-friendly tax culture
• The consistency of economic policies
• Maximum incentives to local and foreign investors
• Construction of dams
• Exploring natural resources
• Equal distribution of income
• Strict accountability on fund utilisation
• Technical and research-based education (more budget for education)
• Search for new markets
• Seeking peace to lower down defence budget
We have listed most of the social issues in the country along with proposed solutions. However,
all of these problems and their solutions are directly and indirectly attached to the governance
system that is very poor in the country. If we are really interested in solving all of these issues,
then the country must have good governance system then these issues can easily be resolved.
Current and Contemporary Issues of Pakistan
The contemporary issues of Pakistan are the institutional, economic, and cultural transformation
if the Pakistan state is to survive future population pressures, with shortage of food, water, and
power. In a worst- case scenario, Pakistan could within the next couple of decades have a
population of around 220 million people, with a water shortage equivalent to over two-thirds of
the present flow of the Indus, 6 million of its youth unemployed, and close on 30 million of its
citizens out of school. Both an under-employed youth bulge and provincial conflicts over
diminishing water resources could present even greater threats to Pakistan’s survival.
THE DEMOGRAPHIC TIME BOMB AND YOUTH:
The phrase ‘demographic time bomb’ has been used to dramatize Pakistan’s expanding
population problem. The present population is predicted to rise to 335 million by 2050, making
Pakistan the fourth largest country in the world. Pakistan is ill-prepared to meet the challenges of
one of the largest youth bulges in the world which is set to increase until the mid-2022s.
Improvements in the provision and quality of education will enable Pakistan to benefit from the
youth bulge, rather than suffer from its consequences.
WATER AND ENERGY CRISIS:
Alongside a demographic time, bomb, Pakistan is facing possibly future shortfalls in
energy and water supply. These are obviously linked with growing demands because of population
increase, but are also impacted by climate change and failures of governance and management.
Pakistan’s current energy crisis also doesn’t mean that its long-term prospects are necessarily as
depressing as they may initially appear. The country possesses vast potential energy supplies; it
contains as much future energy as is available from Saudi Arabia’s existing oil reserves. There is
great potential also for extending hydroelectricity supply.
THE NEED FOR NATIONAL CONSENSUS:
Pakistan’s different regime path from India has resulted in part from not just weak political
institutionalization inherited from the freedom movement, but a lack of ideational strength. Aside
from a vague commitment to Islam, the Pakistan movement was marked by ‘negative nationalism’
with no vision for the future. Certainly, Pakistan requires a sense of national purpose in the coming
years if it is to achieve the uphill tasks of educating, feeding, employing, and providing social
justice for a rapidly growing population. This requires coordination and cooperation on a vast scale
in a country which has historically been marked by confrontation and short-term thinking. There
has been no consistency of policy except resistance to Indian military domination. Pressure of
events may nudge Pakistan’s leaders and its people in the direction of a national consensus, as was
seen in the widespread commitment to tackle militancy in 2009 following the TTP’s excesses in
Swat. The media explosion of recent years can perhaps play a role here, but this is not guaranteed.
THE REQUIREMENT FOR IMPROVED GOVERNANCE:
The governance reforms must include the improvements in delivery of services, tax-rising
capabilities, along with reform to key institutions including the bureaucracy, the military, the
police, state-run corporations, political parties, and electoral processes. To these might be added
greater transparency in economic life, especially with respect to the privatization of loss-making
state enterprises. The direction of the changes would be to empower citizens at the expense of rent-
seeking political elites, and increase the resources available for education and health provision.
The military intervention has undermined political development, national unity, and sustainable
economic growth. Democratic consolidation will only become irreversible with civilian control
over the army and with its expenditures becoming transparent and open for political debate. The
reining in of the military influence can only occur within the context of the kind of national
reappraisal of Pakistan’s future security environment.
Conclusion:
Pakistan faces massive future problems arising from population and environmental
pressures. They present potentially greater challenges to the state. It seems unlikely that Pakistan
will be able to muddle through in the future, as it has done throughout much of its troubled history.
During the next two decades, a major turnaround of national policy direction is required in order
to avoid future catastrophe. The responsibility for this will lie with Pakistan’s leader and people,
although external well-wishers can assist the process through financial and technical expertise. A
future stable and sustainable Pakistan state will bring immense benefits to tis population. It will
enable the South Asia region to fulfil its economic potential. Failure of a nuclear weapons state
would have global as well as regional repercussions. Until Pakistan has moved towards economic
sustainability and democratic consolidation, it will continue to be the focus of heightened
international concern.
Issues of Human Rights in Pakistan
The term “Human Rights” contains a set of legal and moral rights that can be claimed by
any person as human being. These rights come with birth and applicable to all people throughout
the world irrespective of their race, color, sex, language, political or other opinion. Human rights
therefore characterize as universal, inalienable, inherent and indivisible that have a common focus
of protecting life of human being with dignity. The concept of human rights firstly revealed in the
Universal Declaration of Human Rights (UDHR) in 1948 by UNO where 30 articles about human
rights are declared.
Human rights are stipulated in the Constitution of Pakistan, written in 1973 provides for
fundamental rights, which include freedom of speech, freedom of thought, freedom of information,
freedom of religion, freedom of association, freedom of the press, freedom of assembly etc.
Therefore, the Constitutional obligations made a platform for Pakistan government to ratify the
core international human rights conventions and treaties for the protection and promotion of human
rights. It enables Government of Pakistan to translate international agreements into domestic law.
It obliges all branches (i.e. Executive, Legislative and Judiciary) of government to respect and
ensure the rights it enunciates.
HUMAN RIGHTS AS PER THE CONSTITUTION OF PAKISTAN:
Fundamental rights are the basic rights of the citizens. Fundamental rights are those natural
rights which are personal to the individual as a citizen of a free and civilized country and belongs
alike to every man, woman and child.
According to the constitution(1973) of Pakistan, all citizens are equal before law and are entitled
to equal protection of law. To fulfill this objective, constitution of Pakistan has provided some
fundamental rights and freedom to Pakistanis. Part-II of the constitution has rights for every citizen
of Pakistan. The Constitution contains 25 rights in all, which are mentioned in chapter 1 & 2.
Fifteen of them relate to civil and political rights whereas the rest of the ten are social and economic
rights.
Challenges in context of Pakistan:
There are a number of challenges prevailing in Pakistan, which is denying the national
image and rights of a person as a human being. Some of these challenges are given bellow:
o Extra Judicial Killing:
The “extra judicial killing” is a severe form of human rights violation that often denying
justice. It has become as an integral part of law enforcement system in Pakistan. Through the
Constitution of Pakistan and UN’s Universal Declaration of Human Rights strongly defined this
act as violation of human rights, it is still continues in Pakistan. The government is failing to keep
its commitment to end extra judicial killings, torture and other by the Counter Terrorism
Department and Police towards assuring their accountability. In spite of High Courts ruling’s, extra
judicial killings are continued that violates the rule of law of the country. After becoming
independent, Pakistan inherited a more than 80 years old police system from British India, the one
that was designed just to keep check and balance on the people of colonized subcontinent. It was
not created for fair and just enforcement of law. The main problem in our police department is that
it still operates like colonial police rather than the police meant for a free democratic state.
o Custodial Torture and Deaths:
Custodial torture and death are strongly prohibited by the national and international laws.
But in Pakistan it has seen as a routine procedure to extract information from the accused persons
in detention. In some cases, the victims simply ‘disappear’. In several of the cases of death in
custody allegedly due to torture, the police said that the detained person committed suicide or that
the victim died of natural causes. In some of them, there is evidence that the police tried to cover
up the commission of crimes, sometimes by interfering with police records or by ensuring that the
text of the post mortem or medical reports reflected the police version of the detainee’s death. In
several cases, relatives were threatened with reprisal if they tried to bring the police officers
concerned to justice.
o Political Violence:
The political violence is another form of human rights violation in Pakistan like other third
world countries. It has been observed that political domination, lack of democratic culture among
political parties, mistrust, and un-law full exercise of power are the main contributing factors in
the political violence in Pakistan.
o Corruption:
Corruption is another restricting force in advancing rule of law and human rights in
Pakistan. It is often denying the enforcement of law against the powerful perpetrators and limiting
the hope of justice for the mass people. Due to corrupt officials in the border security agencies,
children and women are trafficked to other countries and are brought to Pakistan. Such as in 2011,
about 300 disabled children were reported to be trafficked to Iran for forced begging; which means
these people are exploited, abused and tortured and sometimes killed. In result of corrupt police
officials, criminals are walking free and killing people incessantly; the police in Pakistan is the
most corrupt agency which is one of the major source of unrest in the society and deprivation from
basic human rights. Due to corrupt judicial officials which has been highlighted by various high
or apex court judges, common people do not get justice on time or deprived of justice and their
rights.
o Freedom of Media:
Qaid-e-Azam, the founder of Pakistan says “I expect press for complete fearless.”
Regrettably, press in Pakistan has been unsuccessful to appreciate the goal of Qaid-e- Azam. The
constitution provides for freedom of speech and press, but government frequently failed to respect
these rights in practice. In recent time, the attack on journalists has come out as a concern. There
was an increase in individuals affiliated with the government or ruling party harassing, arresting
and assaulting journalists. At least 61 journalists have been killed since 2010 with at least 14
journalists killed in 2014 alone. In 2018 Press Freedom Index and Reporters without border ranked
Pakistan number 139 out of 180 countries based on freedom of the press.
o Border Killing:
Border killing by border forces is another miserable issue for the border lying people in
Pakistan. The poor and marginalized people in border lying areas are often crossing the border for
serving works and commence. While some of those killed are engaged in smuggling goods and
contraband, border force systematically use lethal force without justification. In spite of repeated
complain of Pakistan Government, the border killing is still continued.
o Violence against Women:
Violence against women is alarming in context of traditional socio-legal structures in
Pakistan. It is observed that the women and girls are mainly becoming the victim of violence.
Violence against women is occurring in public and private places, it has many forms, ranging from
domestic and intimate partner violence to sexual harassment and assault, trafficking and sexual
violence and gender related killing. Its impact spams from immediate to long-term multiple
physical, sexual and mental consequences for women and girls, including death.
o Freedom of peaceful Assembly and Association:
In spite of the constitutional provisions for freedom of assembly and association, the law
enforcing agencies to some extend making some restriction in certain areas in the name of traffic
and security concern. The restriction is ultimately blaming to the government as violation of
freedom of assembly.
o Rights Violation of Garments Workers:
It is frequently reported that the rights of garments workers are violated in term of
minimum wage for their labor and safe working environment. The leader of the garments workers
are often claiming their rights issues and often declaring strikes to achieve it. The process is often
creating mistrust between the garments owners and the workers that turns into a conflicting
situation. In September 2012, a fire at the Ali Enterprises garment factory in Karachi killed at least
255 workers and injured more than 100.
Conclusion:
Human Rights are simply a theoretical perspective in context of recent Pakistan, in
practical its violation is seen in every spheres of lives that restricting the rule of law and
advancement of the country as a civilized nation. A variety of social, economic, cultural and
political factors are contributing to the violation of human rights.
The present reality of Pakistan proves again that while a representative government is essential for
democratic practice, is not enough if the Executive, Judiciary and the Legislative fail to play their
respective roles to ensure constitutional and international norms of human rights. In such situation
an undemocratic and dictatorial nature of power manifests in different ways and abuses the state
machinery for partisan and narrow political gain. We need to minimize the inequality in resource
allocations (between rich and poor and even men and women), decentralization of power, uphold
the rule of law, removal of political biasness, reinforce the functionality of state institutions and
assure transparency and accountably in all functions. Though it is dream for current state of human
rights in Pakistan, the days will come to Pakistan with the leadership of committed generation who
will be able to ensure everyone’s rights and respect as frame of a civilized nation.
Recommendations:
The analytical findings have led to the development of a recommended actions that may
be affected in attaining equality in all spheres of lives in context of Pakistan.
1. The government should have to practice democratic culture in all forms of decision making
process (in national interest), establish respect on other’s opinions and remove political biasness
in the state functionaries, unethical influence in the judiciary and reinforce the political
representation with committed and corruption free leadership.
2. Pakistan government should take all necessary measures to end extra judicial killings, torture
and other human rights violations. It should ensure that all allegations of human rights violations
by any official are thoroughly investigated and prosecute all those responsible, regardless of rank
or position.
3. Pakistan is required more efforts for strengthening and consolidating the institutional structures,
including National Human Rights Commission, the National Accountability Bureau, the Election
Commission and the local government institutions, which promote good governance, democracy,
human rights and the rule of law.
4. Pakistan should have to maintain its obligations under the international treaties and conventions
to which it is a party, and to invest more efforts in effective implementation of relevant national
programs.
5. Pakistan should have to strengthen the partnership between public and private institutions
(including CSO, NGO and Media) in the promotion and protection of human rights for all.