east pakistan separated from west pakistan in 1971.
east pakistan separated from west pakistan in 1971.
when did east pakistan separate from west pakistan?
1971
on 27 october 1958 general muhammad ayub khan took over as second president of pakistan. one of the first major steps taken by general ayub khan was the appointment of a constitution commission on 17 february 1960. the objective of this commission was to submit proposals, as to how best democracy can be strengthened and molded according to the country’s socio-political environment and islamic principles of justice. the commission submitted its report to the government on 29 april 1961. on the basis of this report a new constitution was framed and given to the nation on 1 march 1962. general elections under the new constitution were held on 28 march 1962 and elections to the special seats reserved for women were held on 29 may 1962. the first session of the third national assembly was held on 8 june 1962 at ayub hall, rawalpindi. the constitution of 1962 envisaged a federal state with presidential form of government, with the national assembly at the centre and the provincial assemblies in the provinces. the legislatures, both at center and in provinces were unicameral. the federal system had been curtailed by allowing the provincial governors to be appointed directly by the president. all executive authority of the republic of pakistan, under the constitution, vested in the office of the president. the president appointed his cabinet members who were directly responsible to him. the electoral system was made indirect, and the `basic democrats', for both wings were declared electoral college for the purpose of electing the assemblies and the president. basic democrats were 80,000 in number (40,000 from each east and west pakistan). the total membership of the national assembly was 156, one half of whom were to be elected from east pakistan and other half from west pakistan, also three seats were reserved for women from each province. the term of this assembly was three years. the norm was established that if the president was from west pakistan, the speaker was to be from east pakistan and "vice versa". one of the major achievements of this assembly was the passage of political parities act, 1962. on 25 march 1969 the second martial law was imposed and general agha muhammad yahya khan took over as the president of pakistan and chief martial law administrator (cmla). he later issued a legal framework order (lfo), under which the first ever general elections were held on 7 december 1970. this was the first assembly elected on the adult franchise and population basis. it consist of 313 members, 169 from east pakistan and 144 from west pakistan including 13 reserved seats for women (6 were from west pakistan and 7 from east pakistan). soon after the elections, due to grave political differences, the province of east pakistan seceded from west pakistan and became bangladesh. on 20 december 1971 mr. zulfiqar ali bhutto took over as the president of pakistan as well as the first civil chief martial law administrator.
parliament of pakistan
the central government of pakistan deprived east pakistan from economic development, distribution of foreign exchange, recruitment in civil administration and armed forces leading to wide disparities between two parts of pakistan. the investment of insurance premium income was one of the factors that created a gulf of difference between east and west pakistan. from 1947, the government of pakistan neglected investment in east pakistan. in 1964, out of a total investment of rs. 280 million in insurance premiums, less than 5% was invested in east pakistan, whereas more than 50 percent of the total insurance underwritten in pakistan, came from east pakistan. the lack of capital in east pakistan became a stumbling block to the development of industries there. premium income funds were mostly invested in west pakistan, and as a result, west pakistan's gain was east pakistan's loss. president ayub khan was aware of discrepancies between east and west pakistan. he attempted to achieve a power balance between the two wings of country. when he was looking for a suitable candidate for the highly prestigious position as federal minister of commerce, the name of khuda buksh was recommended to him. buksh met ayub khan at rawalpindi and thanked him for the offer but declined to accept the job as he thought that ministerial job was a temporary job. however, he recommended the name of waheduzzaman, one of his friends from his home district. ayub khan accepted buksh's recommendation and appointed waheduzzaman as federal minister of commerce.
khuda buksh