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WEEKLY NEWSLETTER
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Pakistan
Index
The parliamentary system outlined in the 1956
constitution
required disciplined political parties, which did not
exist. The
Muslim League--the one political party that had appeared
capable
of developing into a national democratic party--continued
to
decline in prestige. In West Pakistan, Sindh and the
North-West
Frontier Province resented the political and economic
dominance
accorded Punjab and were hostile to the "One Unit Plan"
introduced by the Constituent Assembly the year before.
The One
Unit Plan merged the western provinces of Balochistan, the
NorthWest Frontier Province, Punjab, and Sindh into a single
administrative unit named West Pakistan, which in the new
Legislative Assembly was to have parity with the more
populous
province of East Pakistan.
In 1956 Suhrawardy formed a coalition cabinet at the
center
that included the Awami League and the newly formed
Republican
Party of the West Wing, which had broken off from the
Muslim
League. Suhrawardy was highly respected in East Pakistan,
but he
had no measurable political strength in West Pakistan. By
taking
a strong position in favor of the One Unit Plan, he lost
support
in Sindh, the North-West Frontier Province, and
Balochistan.
Societal violence and ethnic unrest further complicated
the
growth and functioning of parliamentary government. In
West
Pakistan, chief minister Khan Sahib was assassinated. In
the
North-West Frontier Province, Khan Sahib's brother, Khan
Abdul
Ghaffar Khan, of the National Awami Party, turned his back
on
national politics and said he would work for the
attainment of a
separate homeland for the Pakhtuns. And in Balochistan,
the khan
of Kalat again declared his independence, but the Pakistan
Army
restored Pakistani control.
On October 7, 1958, President Mirza, with the support
of the
army, suspended the 1956 constitution, imposed martial
law, and
canceled the elections scheduled for January 1959. Mirza
was also
supported by the civil service bureaucracy, which harbored
deep
suspicions of politicians. Nonetheless, on October 27
Mirza was
ousted and sent into lifetime exile in London. General
Ayub Khan,
the army commander in chief, assumed control of a military
government.
Data as of April 1994
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