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WEEKLY NEWSLETTER
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Pakistan
Index
Although Ayub Khan viewed himself as a reformer, he was
predisposed to the benevolent authoritarianism of the
Mughal and
viceregal traditions. He also relied heavily on the
country's
civilian bureaucrats, who formed the majority of his
advisers and
cabinet ministers. Ayub Khan initiated a plan for Basic
Democracies, a measure to create a system of local
government
from the grass roots
(see Basic Democracies
, ch. 1). The
Basic
Democracies system consisted of a mulitiered pyramidal
hierarchy
of interlocking tiers of legislative councils from the
village to
the provincial level. The lowest but most important tier
was
composed of union councils, one each for groups of
villages
having an approximate population of 10,000. The members of
these
union councils were called Basic Democrats. The union
councils
were responsible for local government, including
agricultural and
community development, maintaining law and order through
rural
police, and trying minor cases in conciliation courts.
In 1960 the Basic Democrats were asked to endorse Ayub
Khan's
presidency and to give him a mandate to frame a new
constitution.
Ayub's constitution, promulgated in 1962, ended martial
law,
established a presidential form of government with a weak
legislature (now called the National Assembly) and gave
the
president augmented executive, legislative, and financial
powers.
Adult franchise was limited to the election of Basic
Democrats,
who constituted an electoral college for the president and
members of the national and provincial assemblies. This
constitution was abrogated in 1969 when Ayub, who by then
had
lost the people's confidence, resigned, handing over the
responsibility for governing to the army commander in
chief
General Agha Mohammad Yahya Khan
(see The Ayub Khan Era
, ch. 1).
Yahya Khan assumed the title of president and also became
chief
martial law administrator.
Data as of April 1994
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