Presidency (1971-1973) A
Pakistan International Airlines flight was sent to fetch Bhutto from New York City, where he was presenting Pakistan's case before the
United Nations Security Council on the East Pakistan Crisis. Bhutto returned home on 18 December 1971. On 20 December, he was taken to the President House in Rawalpindi, where he took over two positions from Yahya Khan, one as president and the other as the first civilian Chief Martial Law Administrator. Thus, he was the first civilian Chief Martial Law Administrator of the dismembered Pakistan. By the time Bhutto had assumed control of what remained of Pakistan, the nation was completely isolated, angered, and demoralised. Bhutto addressing the nation through radio and television said:My dear countrymen, my dear friends, my dear students, labourers, peasants... those who fought for Pakistan... We are facing the worst crisis in our country's life, a deadly crisis. We have to pick up the pieces, very small pieces, but we will make a new Pakistan, a prosperous and progressive Pakistan, a Pakistan free of exploitation, a Pakistan envisaged by the
Quaid-e-Azam. and Bhutto in 1973 As president, Bhutto faced mounting challenges on both internal and foreign fronts. The trauma was severe in Pakistan, a psychological setback and emotional breakdown for Pakistan. The
two-nation theory—the theoretical basis for the creation of Pakistan—lay discredited, and Pakistan's foreign policy collapsed when no moral support was found anywhere, including long-standing allies such as the U.S. and China. However, this is disputed even by Bangladeshi academics who insist that the two-nation theory was not discredited. Since her creation, the physical and moral existence of Pakistan was in great danger. On the internal front,
Baloch,
Sindhi,
Punjabi, and
Pashtun nationalisms were at their peak, calling for their independence from Pakistan. Finding it difficult to keep Pakistan united, Bhutto launched full-fledged intelligence and military operations to stamp out any separatist movements. By the end of 1978, these nationalist organisations were brutally quelled by Pakistan Armed Forces. Bhutto immediately placed Yahya Khan under house arrest, brokered a ceasefire, and ordered the release of Mujib, who was being held prisoner by the Pakistan Army. To implement this, Bhutto overturned the verdict of Mujib's earlier court-martial trial, in which Brigadier
Rahimuddin Khan had sentenced him to death. Bhutto aimed to prevent East Pakistan's secession through dialogue and sought to create
a loose confederation within the framework of one Pakistan.
Stanley Wolpert writes that he sent Mujib to a bungalow in
Rawalpindi, where Mujib swore upon the
Quran to retire and hand over the nation to him. Bhutto also offered him 50,000, which Mujib declined. Mujib informed Bhutto that he would make this decision once he arrived in Bangladesh. On 8 January, he was flown to London, from where he was taken to
Delhi, where
Indira Gandhi and her cabinet greeted him. From there, he was taken to
Dhaka, as a direct flight to Bangladesh was not possible. There, he delivered a speech at the
Ramna Racecourse, completely rejecting Bhutto's offer and severing ties with West Pakistan, saying, "You live in peace and let us live in peace." Appointing a new cabinet, Bhutto appointed Lieutenant-General
Gul Hasan as
Commander-in-Chief of the Pakistan Army in 20 December 1971. On 2 January 1972 Bhutto announced the nationalisation of all major industries, including iron and steel, automobiles, heavy engineering, heavy electricals, petrochemicals, cement, and public utilities. Bhutto had named his economic policies
Islamic Socialism or as he called "Mussawat-e Muhammadi". 31 industries across 10 sectors were nationalised including 13 banks, 10 shipping companies, 26 Vegetable Oil Companies, Two petroleum companies and 43 insurance companies which were tied together into
State Life Insurance Corporation of Pakistan. Ayub Khan's
Ghandhara Industries, Sharif owned
Ittefaq Foundry, National Bank of Pakistan and
Habib Bank Limited were also nationalised. This wave of nationalisation didn't effect textile production light and food industries. In addition to foreign owned companies, Such as the British Attock Petroleum Company and American owned Esso Fertilizers. In June 1972, Bhutto visited India to meet Prime Minister
Indira Gandhi and negotiated a formal peace agreement and the release of 93,000 Pakistani
prisoners of war. The two leaders signed the
Simla Agreement, which committed both nations to establish a new-yet-temporary
Line of Control in Kashmir and obligated them to resolve disputes peacefully through bilateral talks. Bhutto established an atomic power development program and inaugurated the first Pakistani
atomic reactor, built in collaboration with Canada in
Karachi on 28 November. On 30 March, 59 military officers were arrested by army troops for allegedly plotting a coup against Bhutto, who appointed then-Brigadier
Muhammad Zia-ul-Haq to head a military tribunal to investigate and try the suspects. The National Assembly approved the
new 1973 Constitution, which Bhutto signed into effect on 12 April. The constitution proclaimed an "
Islamic Republic" in Pakistan with a parliamentary form of government. On 10 August, Bhutto turned over the post of president to
Fazal Ilahi Chaudhry, assuming the office of prime minister instead.
Nuclear weapons program Farah Pahlavi, 1972 Bhutto, the founder of Pakistan's atomic bomb program, earned the title "Father of Nuclear Deterrence" due to his administration and aggressive leadership of this program. Bhutto's interest in nuclear technology began during his college years in the United States, attending a political science course discussing the political impact of the U.S.'s first nuclear test,
Trinity, on global politics. Despite Pakistan's limited financial resources, Bhutto was so enthusiastic about the nuclear energy project that he is reported to have said "Pakistanis will eat grass but make a nuclear bomb". The militarisation of the Pakistan Atomic Energy Commission was initiated on 20 January 1972 and, in its initial years, was implemented by Pakistan Army's
Chief of Army Staff General
Tikka Khan. The
Karachi Nuclear Power Plant (KANUPP-I) was inaugurated by Bhutto during his role as the president of Pakistan at the end of 1972. The nuclear weapons program was set up loosely based on the Manhattan Project of the 1940s under the administrative control of Bhutto. Senior academic scientists had direct access to Bhutto, who kept him informed about every inch of the development. Bhutto's Science Advisor,
Abdus Salam's office was also set up in Bhutto's prime minister secretariat. On Bhutto's request, Salam had established and led the Theoretical Physics Group (TPG) that marked the beginning of the nuclear deterrent program. The TPG designed and developed the nuclear weapons as well as the entire program. Instead, in January 1972, Bhutto chose a U.S.-trained
nuclear engineer, Munir Khan, as chairman of the Pakistan Atomic Energy Commission (PAEC). Bhutto realised he wanted an administrator who understood the scientific and economic needs of this technologically ambitious program. Since 1965, Munir Khan had developed an extremely close and trusted relationship with Bhutto, and even after his death, Benazir and Murtaza Bhutto were instructed by their father to keep in touch with Munir Khan. In the spring of 1976,
Kahuta Research Facility, then known as
Engineering Research Laboratories (ERL), as part of codename
Project-706, was also established by Bhutto and brought under nuclear scientist
Abdul Qadeer Khan and the
Pakistan Army Corps of Engineers'
Lieutenant-General Zahid Ali Akbar. It was on the advice of A. Q. Khan that no fuel existed to reprocess and urged Bhutto to follow his pursuit of uranium enrichment. During this pressure, Aziz Ahmed played a significant role by convincing the consortium industries to sell and export sensitive electronic components before the United States could approach them and try to prevent the consortium industries from exporting such equipment and components. The Indian Air Force would not face adverse reactions from the world community as long as civilian casualties could be minimised. This strategy aimed to lead India to defeat Pakistan, compel its armed forces into a humiliating surrender, and annex the
Northern Areas of Pakistan and
Azad Kashmir. Subsequently, India would partition Pakistan into smaller states based on ethnic divisions, marking the resolution of the "Pakistan problem" once and for all. During his five years of government, the Bhutto administration implemented extensive reforms at every level of governance. Capital and Western reforms initiated and built in 1947 were transformed and replaced with a
socialist system throughout the 1970s. Bhutto's policies were perceived as people-friendly but failed to yield long-lasting effects, and civil disorder against Bhutto began to escalate in 1977. One of the major achievements in Bhutto's life was the drafting of Pakistan's first-ever consensus constitution for the country. The First Amendment led to Pakistan's recognition of and diplomatic ties with Bangladesh. The rights of the detained were limited under the Third Amendment, while the powers and jurisdiction of the courts for providing relief to political opponents were curtailed under the Fourth Amendment. The Fifth Amendment, passed on 15 September 1976, focused on curtailing the power and jurisdiction of the Judiciary. This amendment was highly criticised by lawyers and political leaders. The main provision of the Sixth Amendment extended the term of the Chief Justices of the Supreme Court and the High Courts beyond the age of retirement. This amendment was made in the Constitution to favour the then Chief Justice of the Supreme Court, who was supposed to be a friend of Bhutto. The initial phase, in 1972, involved the nationalisation of basic industries such as steel, chemical, and cement. In 1974, with Abdus Salam's assistance, Bhutto authorised the
International Nathiagali Summer College on Contemporary Physics (INSC) at Nathiagali. To this day, the INSC conference continues to be held in Pakistan, attracting thousands of scientists worldwide to interact with Pakistan's academic community. In 1976, Bhutto established the
Engineering Council,
Institute of Theoretical Physics,
Pakistan Academy of Letters, and Cadet College Razmak in North Waziristan. Additionally, he inaugurated four new universities in Multan, Bahawalpur, and Khairpur. The People's Open University, another innovative venture, commenced operations in Islamabad. The government's Education Policy included fee remission and the provision of numerous scholarships for higher education to the children of low-paid employees. After the 1977 election, plans were in place to add seven thousand new hostel seats to the existing accommodation. In 1975, Bhutto acknowledged the challenges and shortcomings faced by college students in many existing hostels. Consequently, he directed the provision of fans, water coolers, and pay telephones in each hostel as quickly as physically possible. Bhutto later went on to upgrade a number of dams and barrages built in
Sindh Province. Bhutto strongly advocated empowering small farmers, asserting that a weak and demoralised farming community would jeopardise Pakistan's agricultural strength. He believed that farmers needed to feel psychologically secure for the country to achieve self-sufficiency in food. Bhutto's government increased control over rice hulling, sugar mills, and wheat husking factories, initially believing that public sector involvement would diminish the influence of multinational corporations and prevent monopolies. The government sponsored schemes to address waterlogging and salinity issues. The land reform programme provided increased economic support to landless tenants, and development spending was substantially increased, particularly on health and education, in both rural and urban areas, and provided "material support" to rural wage workers, landless peasants, and urban wage workers. Bhutto's nationalisation policies aimed to empower workers, giving them control over the means of production and protecting small businesses. Conservative critics believed the nationalisation policies damaged investor confidence, and
government corruption in nationalised industries grew, although no serious corruption cases were ever proven against Bhutto by the military junta. Commenting on his policies in 1973, Bhutto told a group of investors from the Lahore Chamber of Commerce and Industry (LCCI) that "activity of the public sector or state sector prevents the concentration of economic power in a few hands and protects small and medium entrepreneurs from the clutches of giant enterprises and vested interests." Bhutto's departure from certain socialist policies greatly displeased his democratic socialist alliance and many in the
Pakistan Peoples Party. Notably,
Malik Meraj Khalid and other colleagues, resigned from Bhutto and left for the Soviet Union. Ongoing disagreements eventually led to the collapse of the government's socialist alliance, which later united with the secular
Independence Movement led by
Asghar Khan. By the end of Bhutto's government, the concentration of wealth had declined compared to the height of the Ayub Khan era when 22 families owned 66% of industrial capital and controlled banking and 97% of insurance. In January 1973, Bhutto ordered the Pakistan Armed Forces to suppress a rising insurgency in the province of Balochistan. He dismissed the governments in Balochistan and the
North-West Frontier Province once more. Among Iran's contributions were 30
Huey cobra attack helicopters and $200 million in aid.
Iraqi intervention Iraq under Sunni President
Saddam Hussein sent Iraqi-made weapons to Pakistan's warm water ports. Pakistan's navy mounted an effective blockade. Saddam's government provided support for Baloch separatists in Pakistan, hoping their conflict would spread to rival Iran. The remittances from overseas Pakistanis, now totaling around $US25 billion per annum, constitute a dependable source of foreign exchange for Pakistan. Bhutto believed in an independent Foreign Policy, distinct from Western influence, particularly the United States'
sphere of influence. With Bhutto as foreign minister and prime minister, Pakistan and Iran formed a special relationship, as Iran provided military assistance. Bhutto was a strong advocate of Afro-Asian Solidarity and had cemented ties with Afro-Asian and Islamic countries and by 1976 had emerged as the Leader of the Third World. , 1973 Bhutto pursued a peace agreement, the
Simla Agreement, with
Indira Gandhi, the premier of India. He successfully brought back 93,000
P.O.Ws to Pakistan and secured held by India without compromising on the Kashmir stance or recognising Bangladesh, which were key Indian demands. Before the conference, Bhutto and his colleagues thoroughly prepared, considering that the
Arabs had not succeeded in regaining
territory lost in the
1967 war with Israel. Soon after assuming office, Bhutto took a lengthy foreign trip to Southeast Asia, seeking closer relations with
Vietnam, Thailand,
Laos, Burma, and
North Korea. His policy largely followed tight relations with China, normalised relationships with the Soviet Union, built an Islamic bloc, and advocated the creation of a new economic alliance benefiting third and second world countries. In Bhutto's view, Japan had been under the United States' influence, and a much bigger role of Japan in Asia would only benefit American interests in the region.
Colonel Gaddafi of former
Socialist Libya considered Bhutto one of his greatest inspirations and was said to be very fond of Bhutto's intellectualism. Pakistan established full diplomatic relations with Bangladesh on 18 January 1976, and relations improved in the following decades.
United States and Soviet Union In 1974, India carried out a nuclear test, codenamed
Smiling Buddha, near Pakistan's eastern border. Bhutto unsuccessfully lobbied for the United States to impose economic sanctions on India. However, at the request of Bhutto, Pakistan's ambassador to the United States convened a meeting with Secretary of State
Henry Kissinger. Kissinger told Pakistan's ambassador to Washington that the test is "
a fait accompli and that Pakistan would have to learn to live with it", although he was aware this was "a little rough" on the Pakistanis. In 1976, ties were further strained as Bhutto had continued to administer the research on weapons, and in 1976, in a meeting with Bhutto and Kissinger, Kissinger had told Bhutto, "that if you [Bhutto] do not cancel, modify, or postpone the Reprocessing Plant Agreement, we will make a horrible example of you". After this meeting, Bhutto intensified Pakistan's foreign policy towards a more neutral stance, aligning with the
Movement of Non-Aligned Countries, and sought to develop relations with both the Soviet Union and the United States. Bhutto was keenly aware of
Great Britain's policy of "
divide and rule" and
American policy of "unite and rule." Prime Minister Bhutto deliberately worked to improve relations with the Soviet Union and the
Communist bloc. The foundation stone for
Pakistan Steel Mills was laid on 30 December 1973 by Bhutto. The Soviet Union sent advisors and experts to supervise the construction of the mega-project. Though
Richard Nixon maintained amicable relations with Bhutto,
Pakistan's ties with the United States soured during Jimmy Carter's presidency as the US opposed Pakistan's nuclear program. Carter intensified the embargo on Pakistan and exerted pressure through the
United States Ambassador to Pakistan, Brigadier-General
Henry Byroade. The ISI highlighted President Daud's support for anti-Pakistan militants, including backing Baloch separatists in the
conflict. Consequently, Bhutto's government opted to retaliate, launching a covert counter-operation in 1974 under Major-General
Naseerullah Babar, then Director-General of the
M.I. Directorate-General for Western Fronts (DGWI). By the end of 1974, Bhutto had given final authorisation for a covert operation to train Afghan mujaheddin, ultimately proving successful. By 1976, Daud grew concerned about his country's overdependence on the Soviet Union and the rising insurgency. Bhutto's three-day state visit to Afghanistan in June 1976 was followed by Daud Khan's five-day visit to Pakistan in August 1976. An agreement on the resumption of air communications between Afghanistan and Pakistan was reached on 2 March 1977, signaling improved relations. Bhutto and Daud exchanged official visits to pressure Afghanistan to accept the
Durand Line as the permanent border. However, these developments were interrupted by Bhutto's removal and Daud Khan's overthrow in a military coup shortly after. Western experts considered Bhutto's policy astute in addressing the border question, increasing pressure on Afghanistan and likely contributing to the Afghan government's move towards accommodation. Deputy Afghan Foreign Minister Abdul Samad Ghaus also admitted that, before the compromise, Afghanistan had been heavily involved inside Pakistan. == Downfall and overthrow ==