West Pakistan

Independence after British colonial period At the time of the state establishment in 1947, the founding fathers of Pakistan participated in the Boundary Commission conference. Headed by Cyril Radcliffe, the commission was tasked with negotiating the arrangement, area division, and future political set up of Pakistan and India. Pakistan was formed from two distinct areas, separated by of India. The western state was composed of three Governor's provinces (North-West Frontier, West-Punjab and Sindh Province), one Chief Commissioner's province (Baluchistan Province), the Baluchistan States Union, several other princely states (notably Bahawalpur, Chitral, Dir, Hunza, Khairpur and Swat), the Federal Capital Territory (around Karachi) and the tribal areas. East Pakistan, Balochistan, and the North-West Frontier Province experienced little difficulty, but Southern Pakistani Punjab faced considerable problems that had to be fixed. The communal violence spread to all over the Indian subcontinent. Economic rehabilitation efforts needing the attention of Pakistan's founding fathers further escalated the problems. India retained 345 million in population (91%) to Pakistan's 35 million (9%). Land area was divided as 78% to India and 22% to Pakistan. Military forces were divided up with a ratio of 64% for India and 36% for Pakistan. Most of the military assets – such as weapons depots and military bases – were located inside India; facilities in Pakistan were mostly obsolete, and they had a dangerously low ammunition reserve of only one week. In West Pakistan, the four provinces also struggled hard for the abolition of One Unit which caused injustices to them as it was imposed on them. The provisional powerful committees pressured the central government through the means of civil disobedience, violence on street, raising slogans against the martial law, and attacks on government machines such as police forces. Finally, the committee's plan went into effect on 1 July 1970, when West Pakistan's "One Unit" was dissolved, and all power was transferred to the provinces of Balochistan, the North West Frontier Province, Punjab and Sindh. In the 1970 general elections (held in December 1970), the Bengali Awami League under Mujibur Rahman won an overall majority of seats in Parliament and all but 2 of the 162 seats allocated to East Pakistan. The Awami League advocated greater autonomy for East Pakistan but the military government did not permit Mujib-ur-Rahman to form a government. East Pakistan became the independent state of Bangladesh on 16 December 1971. The term West Pakistan became redundant. == Demographics ==

The total population of the region that composes West Pakistan was approximately 29.6 million as per the 1941 census. According to the 1961 census, the total population of Pakistan was 93 million, with 42.8 million residing in West Pakistan and 50 million residing in East Pakistan. East Pakistan hence made up around 55% of Undivided Pakistan's population whilst remaining 45% was in West Pakistan. West Pakistan also had a marginally faster growing population than East Pakistan. Literacy rate The literacy rate in Pakistan was 19.2%, in which East Pakistan had a literacy rate of 21.5% while West Pakistan had a literacy rate of 16.9%. Ethnic groups The major ethnic groups of West Pakistan was made up of Punjabis (62%), Pashtuns, Sindhis, Muhajirs, and Balochis. Migration During British India's partition, it was estimated that 15 million were displaced, and nearly more than 2 million consisting of Hindus, Muslims and Sikhs were killed in the deadly riots. During the period between 1947 and 1950, 8.6 million Muslims had moved to specially Pakistan's West Punjab region and about 6.7 million Hindus and Sikhs had gone the other way to India's East Punjab region and thus changing the demography of Pakistan drastically and resulting in overwhelming Muslim majority to this region. Religion With the exception of the Federally Administered Tribal Areas, all administrative divisions in the region that would compose West Pakistan after independence collected religious data, with a combined total population of 27,266,001, for an overall response rate of 92 percent. Similar to the contemporary era, where censuses do not collect religious data in Azad Jammu and Kashmir and Gilgit–Baltistan, the total number of responses for religion is slightly smaller than the total population, as detailed in the table breakdown below. According to the 1961 census, in West Pakistan, Muslims made up 97.2% of the population, Christians 1.4%, and the remaining 1.4% belonging to other religions. ==Government==

West Pakistan went through many political changes, and had a multiple political party system. West Pakistan's political system consisted of the popular influential Left-wing sphere against elite Right-wing circles. Parliamentary republic Since independence, Pakistan had been a federal parliamentary constitutional monarchy (even as of today, the parliamentary system is the official form of government of Pakistan) with a Prime minister as the head of the government and a Monarch as the head of state in a ceremonial office. The 1956 Constitution provided the country with Parliamentary form of Government and the office of President was inaugurated the same year. The career civil service officer Major-General (retired) Iskander Mirza became the country's first President, but the system did not evolve for more than the three years, when Mirza imposed the martial law in 1958. Mirza appointed army commander-in-chief General Ayub Khan as Chief Martial Law Administrator; he later turned his back on the President and exiled him to Great Britain after the military government was installed. The Supreme Court of Pakistan was a judicial authority, a power broker in country's politics that played a major role in minimising the role of parliament. The Supreme Court was moved to Islamabad in 1965 and Chief Justice Alvin Robert Cornelius re-located the entire judicial arbiter, personnel and high-profile cases in Islamabad. The Supreme Court building is one of the most attractive places in Islamabad, yet the most largely beautiful building in the state capital. This provisional parliament had no lasting effects of West Pakistan's affairs but it was a ceremonial legislature where the lawmakers would gather around to discuss non-political matters. In 1965, the legislative parliament was moved to Islamabad after Ayub Khan built a massive capitol. The assembly was renamed as the Parliament of Pakistan and staffed only with technocrats. Governor and chief minister The office of Governor of West Pakistan was a largely ceremonial position but later Governors wielded some executive powers as well. The first Governor was Mushtaq Ahmed Gurmani, who was also the last Governor of West Punjab. Ayub Khan abolished the Governor's office and instead established the Martial Law Administrator of West Pakistan (MLA West). The office Chief Minister of West Pakistan was the chief executive of the state and the leader of the largest party in the provincial assembly. The first Chief Minister was Abdul Jabbar Khan who had served twice as Chief Minister of the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Province prior to independence. The office of Chief Minister was abolished in 1958 when Ayub Khan took over the administration of West Pakistan. Governors of West Pakistan Chief ministers of West Pakistan Local government The twelve divisions of West Pakistan province were Bahawalpur, Dera Ismail Khan, Hyderabad, Kalat, Khairpur, Lahore, Malakand, Multan, Peshawar, Quetta, Rawalpindi, and Sargodha; all named after their capitals except the capital of Malakand was Saidu, and Rawalpindi was administered from Islamabad. The province also incorporated the former Omani enclave of Gwadar following its purchase in 1958, and the former Federal Capital Territory (Karachi) in 1958; the latter in 1960 forming a new division in its own right. In 1970, the Martial Law Office was dissolved by General Yahya Khan who disestablished the state of West Pakistan. On 1 July 1970, the provisional assemblies of Balochistan, Punjab, Sindh, and Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, Office of Prime minister, and much of the civil institutions were revived and re-established by the decree signed by Yahya Khan. The four provinces and four administrative units retained their current status and local governments were constitutionally established in 1970 to manage and administer the provisional autonomy given to the provinces in 1970. == Geography ==

West Pakistan was extremely diverse in terms of geography, climate, and variety of wildlife. North-Western West Pakistan was mountainous, Punjab and Sindh were semi-arid, and the Baluchistan region in particular was predominantly desert. West Pakistan had a varied relief, consisting as it does of plains, plateaux and mountains watered by the Indus River and its tributaries. Climatically, West Pakistan had a continental type of climate without extensive rainfall. Due to its low rainfall, the main crops of West Pakistan were wheat, millets, and cotton and any crop that did not require much water. == Administration ==

West Pakistan Province Comprises in 12 divisions, 45 districts and 6 agencies. The administration of West Pakistan Province is given below: } ==Domestic affairs==

Days of disintegration The One Unit policy was regarded as a rational administrative reform that would reduce expenditure and eliminate provincial prejudices. West Pakistan formed a seemingly homogeneous block, but in reality it comprised marked linguistic and ethnic distinctions. The four provinces did not quite fit official definitions of a single nation. The Sindhi and Urdu-speaking class in Sindh Province revolted against the One Unit policy. The violence spread to Balochistan Province, Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa and Punjab Province. The One Unit policy was a failure in West Pakistan, and its survival was seen as improbable. However, with the military coup of 1958, trouble loomed for the province when the office of Chief Minister was abolished and the President took over executive powers for West Pakistan. Influence of socialism Due to West Pakistan's close relations with the United States and the capitalist states, the influence of socialism had far more deeper roots in the West Pakistan population. The population favoured socialism but never allied with communism. The Pakistan Socialist Party had previously lost support due to its anti-Pakistan clauses during the time of the pre-independence movement. However, despite initiatives to improve the population during the Ayub Khan's government, the poor masses did not enjoy the benefits and reforms that were enjoyed by the middle and gentry classes of Pakistan. After the Indo-Pakistani war of 1965, the cultural revolution, resentment, hostility towards the government began to arise when the population felt that "Kashmir cause" was betrayed by President Ayub Khan. Problems further mounted after Foreign minister Zulfikar Ali Bhutto was sacked and vowed to take a revenge. After gathering and uniting the scattered democratic socialist and Marxist masses, Bhutto founded the Pakistan Peoples Party in 1967. The socialists tapped a wave of antipathy against the United States-allied president. The socialists integrated in poor and urban provinces of West Pakistan, educating people to cast their vote for their better future, and the importance of democracy was widely sensed in the entire country. The socialists, under Bhutto's guidance and leadership, played a vital role in managing labour strikes and civil disobedience to challenge Khan's authority. The military government responded fiercely after arresting the senior socialists' leadership, notably Bhutto, Mubashir Hassan, and Malick Mirage. This sparked gruesome violence in West Pakistan, thereby increasing pressure on Khan that he was unable to endure. Khan called for a Round Table Conference in Rawalpindi, but socialists led by Bhutto refused to accept Ayub's continuation in office and rejected the 6 Point Movement for regional autonomy put forth in 1966 by East Pakistani politician Sheikh Mujibur Rahman. In 1969, Khan handed over power to Army Chief of Staff General Yahya Khan, who promised to hold elections within two years. Meantime, Bhutto extensively worked to gather and unite the country's left-wing organisations, which, under Bhutto's leadership, participated with full force and became vital players in the country's politics. ==Foreign relations==

Afghanistan The long border between West Pakistan and Afghanistan was uneasy. This is due in part to the independent Pashtun tribes that inhabit the area. In addition, the physical boundary is uncertain: the 1893 Durand Line was used by West Pakistan to mark the border between the two countries, but Afghanistan has never recognised that frontier. In 1955, diplomatic relations were severed with the ransacking of Pakistan's embassy. In 1961, the Pakistan Armed Forces and local Pashtun tribes suppressed an Afghan invasion in the Bajaur region of Pakistan. India West Pakistan had hostile relations with India, primarily due to aftermath of the 1947 independence from the British Empire and the issue of Kashmir. People's Republic of China West Pakistan had positive relations with the People's Republic of China, with whom it shared a small northern border. In 1950, Pakistan was among the first countries to end official diplomatic relations with the Taiwanese Republic of China and recognise the PRC. After that, both countries maintained an extremely close and supportive relationship. The PRC provided economic, military and technical assistance to Pakistan during the Cold War, and the two countries considered each other to be close strategic allies. Soviet Union Relations varied from cool to extremely strained between West Pakistan and the Soviet Union. This was during the Cold War, and Pakistan's close ties with the United States came at the expense of relations with the Soviets. Soviet-Pakistan relations were further eroded during the 1960 U-2 incident, when the Soviets shot down a US spyplane; Army Chief-of-Staff Ayub Khan had given the US permission to fly out of Peshawar Air Station on reconnaissance and covert surveillance missions over the Soviet Union. The USSR backed India during the Indo-Pakistani War of 1971. The Soviets were the biggest supplier of military hardware to India at that time. United States The United States was one of the first nations to establish relations with Pakistan upon its independence. Pakistan was allied with the US during the Cold War against the USSR. Pakistan was an integral member of the Southeast Asia Treaty Organization (SEATO) and the Central Treaty Organization (CENTO), both alliances opposed to the Soviet Union and communism. A major factor in Pakistan's decision to ally with the West was their urgent need for aid. In the years that followed, the US supplied extensive economic, scientific, and military assistance to Pakistan. This close relationship continued through Pakistan's years of democracy and military rule. Relations only soured after West Pakistan had dissolved into Pakistan, when the left-oriented Pakistan Peoples Party came to power in 1971. ==See also==