The British ruled the Indian subcontinent for
nearly 200 years-from 1756 to 1947. After the Indian
Mutiny of 1857, the British government abolished the
powers of the British East India Company, which had
ruled the sub-continent on behalf of the British
Crown, and took on direct powers of governance.
Political reforms were initiated, allowing the
formation of political parties. The Indian National
Congress, representing the overwhelming majority of
Hindus, was created in 1885. The Muslim League was
formed in 1906 to represent and protect the position
of the Muslim minority. When the British introduced
constitutional reforms in 1909, the Muslims demanded
and acquired separate electoral rolls. This
guaranteed Muslims representation in the provincial
as well as national legislatures until the dawn of
independence in 1947.The idea of a separate Muslim
state in south Asia was raised in 1930 by the poet
and philosopher Sir Muhammad Iqbal.
He suggested that the north-western provinces of
British India and the native state of Jammu and
Kashmir should be joined into such a state. The name
"Pakistan", which came to be used to describe this
grouping, is thought to have originated as a
compound abbreviation made up of letters of the
names of the provinces involved, as follows: Punjab,
Afghania (North West Frontier Province), Kashmir,
Indus-Sindh, and Baluchistan. An alternative
explanation says the name means "Land of the Pure".
By the end of the 1930s, Muhammad Ali Jinnah, leader
of the Muslim League and considered the founding
father of Pakistan, had also decided that the only
way to preserve Indian Muslims from Hindu domination
was to establish a separate Muslim state.
In 1940 the Muslim League formally endorsed the
partitioning of British India and the
creation of Pakistan as a separate Muslim state.
During pre-independence talks in 1946, therefore,
the British government found that the stand of the
Muslim League on separation and that of the Congress
on the territorial unity of India were
irreconcilable. The British then decided on
partition and on August 15, 1947, transferred power
dividedly to India and Pakistan. The latter,
however, came into existence in two parts: West
Pakistan, as Pakistan stands today, and East
Pakistan, now known as Bangladesh. The two were
separated by 1,600 km (1,000 mi) of Indian
territory.
The division of the subcontinent caused
tremendous dislocations of populations.Some 6 million Hindus and Sikhs moved from Pakistan
into India, and about 8 million Muslims migrated
from India to Pakistan.
The demographic shift was accompanied by
considerable inter-ethnic violence, including
massacres, that reinforced bitterness between the
two countries. This bitterness was further
intensified by disputes over the accession of the
former native states of India to either country.
Nearly all of these 562 widely scattered polities
had joined either India or Pakistan; the princes of
Hyderabad, Junagadh, and Kashmir, however, had
chosen to join neither country. On August 15, 1947,
these three states became technically independent,
but when the Muslim ruler of Junagadh, with its
predominantly Hindu population, joined Pakistan a
month later, India annexed his territory.
Hyderabad's Muslim prince, ruling over a mostly
Hindu population, tried to postpone any decision
indefinitely, but in September 1948 India also
settled that issue by pre-emptive annexation. The
Hindu ruler of Jammu and Kashmir, whose subjects
were 85 per cent Muslim, decided to join India.
Pakistan, however, questioned his right to do so,
and a war broke out between India and Pakistan.
Although the UN subsequently resolved that a
plebiscite be held under UN auspices to determine
the future of Kashmir, India continued to occupy
about two thirds of the state and refused to hold a
plebiscite. This deadlock, which still persists, has
intensified suspicion and antagonism between the two
countries.
The first independent government of Pakistan was
headed by Prime Minister Liaquat Ali Khan. Muhammad
Ali Jinnah was Governor-General until his death in
1948. From 1947 to 1951 the country functioned under
unstable conditions. The government endeavored to
create a new national capital to replace Karachi,
organize the bureaucracy and the armed forces,
resettle refugees, and contend with provincial
politicians who often defied its authority. Failing
to offer any programmed of economic and social
reform, however, it did not capture the popular
imagination.
In his foreign policy Liaquat established
friendly relations with the United States, when he
visited President Harry S. Truman in 1950. Liaquat's
United States visit injected bitterness into
Pakistan's elations with the Union of Soviet
Socialist Republics (USSR) because Liaquat had
previously accepted an invitation from Moscow that
never materialized in a visit. The United States
gave no substantial aid to Pakistan until three
years later, but the USSR, Pakistan's close
neighbor, had been alienated.
After Liaquat was assassinated in 1951, Khawaja
Nazimuddin, an East Pakistani who had been
Governor-General since Jinnah's death, became Prime
Minister. Unable to prevent the erosion of the
Muslim League's popularity in East Pakistan,
however, he was forced to yield to another East
Pakistani, Muhammad Ali Bogra, in 1953.
When the Muslim League was routed in East
Pakistani elections in 1954, the Governor-General
dissolved the constituent assembly as no longer
representative. The new assembly that met in 1955
was no longer dominated by the Muslim League.
Muhammad Ali Bogra was then replaced by Chaudhuri
Muhammad Ali, a West Pakistani. At the same time,
Iskander Mirza became the Governor-General of the
country. The new constituent assembly enacted a
bill, which became effective in October 1955,
integrating the four West Pakistani provinces into
one political and administrative unit.
The assembly also produced a new constitution,
which was adopted on March 2, 1956. It declared
Pakistan an Islamic republic. Mirza was elected
Provisional President.
The new constitution notwithstanding, political
instability continued because no stable majority
party emerged in the National Assembly. Prime
Minister Ali remained in office only until September
1956, when he was succeeded by Hussein Shaheed
Suhrawardy, leader of the Awami League of East
Pakistan. His tenure lasted for slightly more than a
year. When President Mirza discovered that
Suhrawardy was planning an alliance between East and
West Pakistani political forces by supporting the
presidential aspirations of Firoz Khan Noon, leader
of the Republican Party, he forced the prime
minister to resign. The succeeding coalition
government, headed by Ismail Ibrahim Chundrigar,
lasted only two months before it was replaced by a
Republican Party Cabinet under Noon. President Mirza,
however, found that his influence among the
Republicans was diminishing and that the new prime
minister had come to an understanding with
Suhrawardy. Against such a coalition Mirza had no
chance of being re-elected president. He proclaimed
martial law on October 7, 1958, dismissed Noon's
government, and dissolved the national assembly.
The president was supported by General Muhammad
Ayub Khan, Commander-in-Chief of the armed forces,
who was named chief martial-law administrator.
Twenty days later Ayub forced the president to
resign and assumed the presidency himself.
Indian
Mutiny of 1857, the British government abolished the
powers of the British East India Company, which had
ruled the sub-continent on behalf of the British
Crown, and took on direct powers of governance.
Political reforms were initiated, allowing the
formation of political parties. The Indian National
Congress, representing the overwhelming majority of
Hindus, was created in 1885. The Muslim League was
formed in 1906 to represent and protect the position
of the Muslim minority. When the British introduced
constitutional reforms in 1909, the Muslims demanded
and acquired separate electoral rolls. This
guaranteed Muslims representation in the provincial
as well as national legislatures until the dawn of
independence in 1947.The idea of a separate Muslim
state in south Asia was raised in 1930 by the poet
and philosopher Sir Muhammad Iqbal
Pakistan as a separate Muslim state.
During pre-independence talks in 1946, therefore,
the British government found that the stand of the
Muslim League on separation and that of the Congress
on the territorial unity of India were
irreconcilable. The British then decided on
partition and on August 15, 1947, transferred power
dividedly to India and Pakistan. The latter,
however, came into existence in two parts: West
Pakistan, as Pakistan stands today, and East
Pakistan, now known as Bangladesh. The two were
separated by 1,600 km (1,000 mi) of Indian
territory.
massacres, that reinforced bitterness between the
two countries. This bitterness was further
intensified by disputes over the accession of the
former native states of India to either country.
Nearly all of these 562 widely scattered polities
had joined either India or Pakistan; the princes of
Hyderabad, Junagadh, and Kashmir, however, had
chosen to join neither country. On August 15, 1947,
these three states became technically independent,
but when the Muslim ruler of Junagadh, with its
predominantly Hindu population, joined Pakistan a
month later, India annexed his territory.
Hyderabad's Muslim prince, ruling over a mostly
Hindu population, tried to postpone any decision
indefinitely, but in September 1948 India also
settled that issue by pre-emptive annexation. The
Hindu ruler of Jammu and Kashmir, whose subjects
were 85 per cent Muslim, decided to join India.
Pakistan, however, questioned his right to do so,
and a war broke out between India and Pakistan.
Although the UN subsequently resolved that a
plebiscite be held under UN auspices to determine
the future of Kashmir, India continued to occupy
about two thirds of the state and refused to hold a
plebiscite. This deadlock, which still persists, has
intensified suspicion and antagonism between the two
countries.
The first independent government of Pakistan was
headed by Prime Minister Liaquat Ali Khan. Muhammad
Ali Jinnah was Governor-General until his death in
1948. From 1947 to 1951 the country functioned under
unstable conditions. The government endeavored to
create a new national capital to replace Karachi,
organize the bureaucracy and the armed forces,
resettle refugees, and contend with provincial
politicians who often defied its authority. Failing
to offer any programmed of economic and social
reform, however, it did not capture the popular
imagination.
After Liaquat was assassinated in 1951, Khawaja
Nazimuddin, an East Pakistani who had been
Governor-General since Jinnah's death, became Prime
Minister. Unable to prevent the erosion of the
Muslim League's popularity in East Pakistan,
however, he was forced to yield to another East
Pakistani, Muhammad Ali Bogra, in 1953. 