Pakistan differs from most other Asian states which attained independence after the Second World War in that it is not merely a colonial successor state but the portion of a colonial successor state. Other countries, like India, Burma, Ceylon and Indonesia inherited the whole apparatu s of government and had a continuity of thought and traditions. In the case of Pakistan, it was torn from the colonial successor state, and launched with little administrative or · official inheritance. It was born in fact from what was really a revolu tionary movement within the state. Its strength had therefore to come from the inner dynamic or consciousness of that movement at the time of its birth. Unique in the regions . of modern Asia, rather in the whole world, its limits were defined explicitly by religious criteria. Britain's Indian �mpire was partitiond in such a way that the Muslim majority areas in and contiguous to Punjab and Bengal were joined together . in one political entity, Pakistan. In some ways, this was a strange match. West Pakistan and East Pakistan, apart from Islam, had very little in common with each other; as one observer put it, "the only bonds between the diverse and distant wings of their Moslem nation were the Islamic faith and Pakistan International Airlines."37 There were major ethnic and cultural differences
between the two regions. "Indeed only modern communications, wireless, power-driven ship and aeroplanes had made possible the
political unification of two such widely separated tracts as the .
"38 West and East wings of the Islamic state of Pakistan.
Grievances of East Pakistan: The union be.tween the two parts was an uneasy one from the beginning. Unfortu nately, the fou nder of Pakistan, Mohammad Ali J in nah, died _ one year after the
I ' --
creation of the state, and Prime Minister Liaqu at Ali Khan. was also killed two years later. The loss of these two leaders left a serious void and contributed to the declining popularity of the Muslim League that .had provided a semblance of unity throughou t Pakistan . The East Pakistanis had complaints about the unequal distribu tion of economic resou rces between the two wings of Pakistan. They accused the West Pakistanis of exploitation . . The capi tal of the cou ntry was in the western part. Most government officials came from the west. The army was made up of West Pakistanis, the major portion comprised of the Punjabis.39 Yet
a majority of Pakistanis
(
55 percent ) lived in the East.The civil-military bureaucracy and other professions were dominated by the Punjabis and the migrants from northern and western India. Though ethnically and linguistically a minority, t,hey became the national elite of Pakistan from the start. ·Bengalis found themselves left far behind in the process of state bu ilding and economic development, and felt that they were not adequ ately
- 40
represented.
The language jssue came as a blow to - the unity of .tire
nation and deeply alienated East Pakistanis. Proud of their language and its rich literary heritage, they were greatly shocked when the Pakistani policy makers initial ly rejected Bengali 's claim for recognition as a national language and attempted to make 'Urdu a minority language-- the only national language. This decision aroused �n intense resentment in East -Pakistan. 4 1 S tudents came out on the streets and demonstrated against this decision. There
was rioting, pol ice firing, and bloodshed. Subsequently, the
govern ment of Pakistan revised its decision and both Bengali and Urdu were recogni zed as national langu ages. But the two languages hardly gained any substantial acceptance in the other wing.
Indo-Pak Relations 2 5 Economical ly, West Pakistan appeared better off in compa rison to the eastern part. From the American military and econom ic aid, the west rem ained the main beneficiary. Initially, :the Bengali jute and tea supplied between 50 and 70 percent of the nation's foreign exchange earnings, · but the Bengalis received only 25 to 30 percent of Pakistan's total income. 42 The west had a virtual monopoly of Pakistan's power elite:· 85 percent of all
positions were h-eld by West Pakistanis; two-thirds of the nation 's
industry arid fOur:... fifths of its "
tJa
nking and insurance assets werecontrol led by West Pakistan. 43
Even the religious tie couldn't keep the two parts together. Not all East Pakistanis were Muslims; about 1 0 mil lion out of 80 million were Hindus. To some extent the two parts of Pakistan
w
e
re held together by a com mon fear of India. But this fear wasnot so great in the east. The Bengalis were less concerned with the Kashmir issue; they seemed more willing to seek a peaceful settlement with India. In part, Bengalis felt this way because large num bers of ethnically similar Indian citizens lived across the border from East Pakistan in the Indian state of Bengal. Sharing language and cul ture; they found it hard to see each other as perm anent enem ies.
Despite these differences, the fragile union continued until 1 969 when the government · of General Ayub Khan col lapsed as a result of a m ass movement seeking his overthrow and restoration of democracy. Ayub Khan handed over power to another military . general, Yahya Khan.
General elections in Pakistan: Yahya Khan got power in a· situatim in which he could not maintain the status quo without granting concessions to the counter elite. For that he had to seek a new political order. Knowing the mood of the people and sensing the volatile political situation · he first tried to placate the angry masses by announcing n�w educational and wage policies for meeting the dem ands · of students and labour. He emphasi zed the transitional nature of his regime and promised the transfer of power to the P 3ople's representatives elected freely and impartially on the basis of adult franchise. 44 In preparation for the election, full-
scale political activities in Pakistan--including the lifting of all
restrict ions oo p.ili l ic rreet ings and process ions--\\ere resllTEd oo january 1 ,
1 970. Yahya Khan returned West Pakistan to its former 'four provinces and decreed that West and East Pakistan would be ' represented in the future National Assembly on the basis of population, thus ensuring East Pakistan's majority. 45 The measure of provincial autonomy that East Pakistan might have was left for people 's representatives to decide.
The autonomy for the federating units was · a very important and controversial political issue which needed serious consideration as maximum legislative, administrative and financial powers wer.e demanded for the provinces. · Provinces were promised the maximum legislation, administrative and financial powers, but the point was made clear that the federal government also should have adequate powers to discharge its responsibilities in relation to external affairs and to preserve the independence and territorial integrity of the country.
The 1 970 general elections were the first ever held in Pakistan on the basis of universal adult franchise. These elections showed that none of the political parties was popular in both wings of Pakistan. The Awami League ha<;l mass support in East Pakistan and the Pakistan People 's Party had strong support in the west. Both were regional parties. The elections also showed the clear.,-cut confrontation of the east and west. In the National Assembly, the Awami League emerged as a majority party by getting all the seats from East Pakistan and the Pakistan People's Party got the majority in the Punjab and Sind provinces.