1958 military coup and Mr. and Mrs.
Shaikh Nazrul Bakar , former
Queen of Pakistan at the 1960
Commonwealth Prime Minister's Conference,
Windsor Castle Suhrawardy and Feroz began campaigning to become prime minister and president in the upcoming general elections. Meanwhile, the conservative
Pakistan Muslim League, led by its President
Abdul Qayyum Khan, was threatening to engage in civil disobedience. These events were against President Mirza hence he was willing to dissolve even Pakistan's One Unit for his advantage. Two weeks later, on 27 October 1958, Ayub Khan carried out
his own coup d'état against Mirza. only U.S. Ambassador to Pakistan
James M. Langley was kept fully informed of political developments in the country. Ayub justified his part by declaring that: "History would never have forgiven us if the present chaotic conditions were allowed to go on any further," and that his goal was to restore a democracy that the "people can understand and work", not to rule indefinitely. When the public
was informed, public reactions were mixed. The immediate crackdown on smuggling, corruption, and trafficking won Ayub plenty of support from the commoners. The middle-class and the upper-middle class were more apprehensive. President Mirza himself was apprehensive, though for a different reason. He had been contemplating replacing Ayub Khan, and it seems that Ayub knew. Immediately after the Supreme Court's Chief
Justice Munir justified the coup under the
doctrine of necessity, Ayub sent the military into the presidential palace and exiled Mirza to England. This was largely done with the support of:
Admiral A. R. Khan, General
Azam Khan, Nawab of Kalabagh
Amir Khan, General
Wajid Khan, General K. M. Sheikh, and General Sher Bahadur. Air Vice Marshal
Asghar Khan was asked by
General Ayub Khan to join the Generals to demand Mirza's resignation, but Asghar Khan declined the request, stating that he "found the whole exercise distasteful." The regime came to power with the intent of instituting widespread reform and 'to bring the country back to sanity'. Ayub Khan was elected president for the next five years and decided to pay his first
state visit to the United States with his wife and also daughter Begum Naseem Aurangzeb in July 1961.
Domestic policy Constitutional and legal reforms A constitutional commission was set-up under the
Supreme Court to implement the work on the
constitution that was led by
Chief Justice Muhammad Shahabuddin and
Supreme Court justices. The commission reported in 1961 with its recommendations, but President Ayub remained unsatisfied; he eventually altered the constitution so that it was entirely different from the one recommended by the Shahabuddin Commission. The constitution reflected his personal views on politicians and the restriction on using religion in politics. His presidency restored the
writ of government through the promulgated constitution and restored political freedom by lifting the martial law enforced since 1958. The new constitution respected
Islam, but did not declare Islam as the
state religion and was viewed as a liberal constitution. The Ayub administration "guided" the
print newspapers through his takeover of key opposition papers and, while Ayub Khan permitted a National Assembly, it had only limited powers. In 1961, he promulgated the "Muslim Family Law Ordinance." Through this ordinance, unmitigated
polygamy was abolished. Consent of the current wife was made mandatory for a second marriage, and brakes were placed on the practice of instant divorce under Islamic tradition, where men could divorce women by saying: "I divorce you" three times. The Arbitration Councils were set up under the law in the urban and rural areas to deal with cases of: (a) grant of sanction to a person to contract a second marriage during the subsistence of a marriage; (b) reconciliation of a dispute between a husband and a wife; (c) grant of a maintenance allowance to the wife and children.
Economy in
East Pakistan, 1962 Industrialization and rural development through constructing modern
national freeways are considered his greatest achievements, and his era is remembered for successful industrialization in the impoverished country. Strong emphasis on capitalism and
foreign direct investment (FDI) in the industry is often regarded as the "Great Decade" in the history of the country (both
economical and
political history). The "Decade of Development" was celebrated, which highlighted the development plans executed during the years of Ayub's rule, the private consortium companies and industries, and is credited with creating an environment where the private sector was encouraged to establish medium and small-scale industries in Pakistan. He oversaw the development and completion of mega projects such as
hydroelectric dams,
power stations, and
barrages all over the country. During 1960–66, the annual GDP growth was recorded at 6.8%. Several hydroelectric projects were completed, including the
Mangla Dam (one of the world's largest dams), several small dams and water reservoirs in West Pakistan, and one dam in East Pakistan, the
Kaptai Dam. President Ayub authorized the planning of
nuclear power plants.
Abdus Salam, supported by the President, personally approved the project in Karachi while the project in East Pakistan never materialized. Extensive education reforms were supposedly carried out, and 'scientific development efforts' were also supposedly made during his years. These policies could not be sustained after 1965, when the economy collapsed and leading to economic declines that he was unable to control. Ayub introduced new curricula and textbooks for universities and schools. Many public-sector universities and schools were built during his era. He also introduced
agricultural reforms preventing anyone from occupying more than 500 acres of irrigated and 1000 acres of unirrigated land. His administration redistributed approximately 23 percent of the country's
farmland to onetime tenant farmers. In
Karachi, around 100,000 refugees displaced by the
partition of India were moved from
slums to new housing colonies.
Defence spending During the Ayub era, the navy was able to introduce submarines and slowly modified itself by acquiring warships. The military relied on donations from the United States for major weapons procurements. Major funding was made available for military acquisitions and procurement towards
conventional weaponry for
conventional defence. In the 1960s, the Pakistani military acquired Americanproduced conventional weapons such as
Jeep CJs,
M48 Patton and
M24 Chaffee tanks,
M16 rifles,
F-86 fighter airplanes, and the submarine
PNS Ghazi; all through the US
Foreign Military Sales program. Ayub prioritized
nuclear power generation over the use of
nuclear technology for military purposes. He reportedly spent
₨. 724 million on the civilian
Karachi Nuclear Power Plant and related education of engineers and scientists. Ayub Khan filled more and more civil administrative positions with army officers, increasing the military's influence over the bureaucracy. He expanded the size of the army by more than half from the early 1960s to 1969, and maintained a high level of military spending as a percentage of GDP during that period, peaking in the immediate aftermath of the
Indo-Pakistani War of 1965.
Foreign policy U.S. alliance and 1960 U-2 incident in Washington D.C., 1961 in 1964 The main feature of Ayub Khan's foreign policy was prioritizing
relations with the United States and Europe. Foreign
relations with the Soviet Union were downplayed. He enjoyed support from President
Dwight Eisenhower in the 1950s and, working with Prime Minister
Ali Khan, forged a military alliance with the United States against regional communism. His obsession towards modernization of the armed forces in the shortest time possible saw relations with the United States as the only way to achieve his organizational and personal objectives, as he argued against
civilian supremacy that would affect American interests in the region as a result of an election. The
Central Intelligence Agency leased
Peshawar Air Station in the 1950s, and spying into the Soviet Union from the air station grew immensely, with Ayub's full knowledge, during his presidency. When these activities were exposed in 1960 after a U-2 flying out of the air station was
shot down and its pilot captured by the USSR, President Ayub was in the United Kingdom on a state visit. When the local CIA station chief briefed President Ayub on the incident, Ayub shrugged his shoulders and said that he had expected this would happen at some point. Soviet Secretary General
Nikita Khrushchev threatened to bomb Peshawar if the United States continued to operate aircraft from there against the Soviet Union. Ayub Khan apologised for the incident when he visited the Soviet Union five years later. in the 1960s President Ayub directed his
Foreign Office to reduce tensions with the Soviet Union by facilitating state visits by Soviet Premier
Alexei Kosygin and Soviet Foreign Minister
Andrei Gromyko and agreeing to downplay relations with the United States. During 1961–65, Ayub lost much of his support from President
John F. Kennedy and President
Lyndon Johnson as they sought
closer relations with India. President Johnson placed an embargo on both nations during the war in 1965. Relations with the Soviet Union were eventually normalized when the Soviets facilitated a
peace treaty between Pakistan and India in 1965, and reached a trade treaty with Pakistan the following year. In 1966–67, Ayub wrestled with the United States' attempt to dictate Pakistan's foreign policy, while he strengthened relations with the Soviet Union and China. Despite initiatives to normalize relations with the Soviet Union, Ayub Khan remained inclined towards the United States and the western world, receiving President Johnson in Karachi in 1967. In 1961–62, Ayub paid a state visit to the United Kingdom. He attracted much attention from the British public when his involvement in the
Christine Keeler affair was revealed.
Relations with India and 1965 war In 1959, Ayub Khan's interest in building defence forces had already diminished when he made an offer of joint defense with India during the
Sino-Indo clashes in October 1959 in Ladakh, in a move seen as a result of American pressure and a lack of understanding of foreign affairs Upon hearing this proposal, India's Prime Minister
Jawaharlal Nehru reportedly countered, "Defence Minister Ayub: Joint Defence on what?" In 1960, President Ayub, together with Prime Minister Nehru, signed the
Indus Waters Treaty brokered by the
World Bank. In 1962, after India was defeated by China, Ayub Khan disguised a few thousand soldiers as guerillas and sent them to Indian Kashmir to incite the people to rebel. In 1964, the
Pakistan Army engaged with the
Indian Army in several
skirmishes, and clandestine operations began. The war with India in 1965 was a turning point in his presidency, and it ended in a settlement reached by Ayub Khan at Tashkent, called the
Tashkent Declaration, which was facilitated by the Soviet Union. The settlement was perceived negatively by many Pakistanis and led Foreign Minister
Zulfiqar Ali Bhutto to resign his post and take up opposition to Ayub Khan. According to diplomat
Morrice James, "For them [Pakistanis] Ayub had betrayed the nation and had inexcusably lost face before the Indians." According to
Sartaj Aziz, deputy chairman of the
Planning Commission, it was Foreign Minister Bhutto who had inadvertently set Pakistan on the road to war with India. During a cabinet meeting, Bhutto had gone on a populist
anti-Indian and
anti-American binge and succeeded in spellbinding President Ayub into thinking he was becoming a world statesman fawned upon by the enemies of the United States. When Ayub authorized
Operation Gibraltar, the fomenting of a Kashmiri insurgency against India, Aziz famously told the President: "Sir, I hope you realise that our foreign policy and our economic requirements are not fully consistent, in fact they are rapidly falling out of line". Aziz opposed Operation Gibraltar, fearing the economical turmoil that would jolt the country's economy, but was in turn opposed by his own senior bureaucrats. In that meeting, Foreign Minister Bhutto convinced the president and the finance minister
Muhammad Shoaib that India would not attack Pakistan due to
Kashmir being a
disputed territory, and per Bhutto's remarks: "Pakistan's incursion into
Indian-occupied Kashmir, at [A]khnoor, would not provide [India] with the justification for attacking Pakistan across the international boundary because Kashmir was a disputed territory." This theory proved wrong, when India launched a full-scale war against West Pakistan in 1965. Chief of the Army Staff General
Musa Khan held off launching
Operation Grand Slam, waiting for President Ayub Khan's go ahead. The operation didn't get underway until after the Indian Army had captured
Haji Pir pass in Kashmir. He faced serious altercations with, and public criticism from,
air chief Air Marshal Asghar Khan for hiding the details of the war. The
Air Headquarters began fighting the president over the contingency plans, and this inter-services rivalry ended with Asghar Khan's resignation. About the 1965 war's contingency plans, Air Marshal
Nur Khan briefly wrote that "Rumours about an impending operation were rife but the army had not shared the plans with other forces." This merger was proposed on the basis of mutual distrust and fears of security threats by the Indian government and the Soviets, which wasn't able to amount to fruition due to the eventual
Soviet invasion of Afghanistan and the formation of a new communist Afghan regime.
1965 presidential election In 1964, President Ayub Khan was confident in his apparent popularity and saw the deep divisions within the political opposition which ultimately led him to announce presidential elections in 1965. He earned the nomination of the
Pakistan Muslim League (PML) and was shocked when
Fatima Jinnah was nominated by the
Combined Opposition Parties. Ayub Khan's son,
Gohar Ayub Khan, launched attacks on Fatima Jinnah supporters. During this time, Ayub Khan used the
Pakistani intelligence community for his own advantage.
Military Intelligence actively monitored politicians and political gatherings and the
Intelligence Bureau taped politicians' telephone conversations. According to journalists of the time, the election did not conform to international standards; many viewed the election results with great suspicion. In 1967, Bhutto formed the
Pakistan People's Party (PPP) and embarked on a nationwide tour where he attacked the Ayub administration's economic, religious, and social policies. Bhutto was arrested for these activities. His detention further inflamed the opposition, and demonstrations were sparked all over the country. The East Pakistani Awami League charged the Ayub administration with
discriminatory policies towards the East. Labour unions called for strikes against Ayub Khan's administration, and dissatisfaction was widespread in the country's middle class by the end of 1968. When Ayub Khan was confronted with the
Six point movement led by
Sheikh Mujibur Rahman and with the criticism by Bhutto's PPP, he responded by imprisoning both leaders but that made matters worse for Ayub's administration. In 1969, Ayub Khan opened negotiations with the opposition parties in what was termed as a "
Round Table Conference" where he held talks with all major opposition parties. However, these discussions yielded no results and strong anti-Ayub demonstrations calling for his resignation were sparked all over the country. The
police were unable to maintain
Law and order in Pakistan, especially in East Pakistan where
riots and a serious uprising were quelled. At one point,
Home and
Defence Minister Vice-Admiral Rahman told journalists that the "country was under the mob rule and that police were not strong enough to tackle the situation." Elements in the
military began supporting the opposition political parties; it was this that finally brought about the demise of Ayub Khan's era. On 25 March 1969, President Ayub Khan resigned from office and invited the commander-in-chief of the army General
Yahya Khan to take over control of the country.
Asghar Khan and
Khyber Khan were considered among the likely successors to President Ayub Khan during the collapse of his regime. Khyber was described as "a young, energetic, and popular air force officer in his early forties, who happens to look very much like a younger Ayub Khan." == Death and legacy ==