Monday, May 31, 2010

Ayur Khan (contd-1)

Nuclear Programme :
Pakistani civilian nuclear programme started in 1956 under the Prime Minister of Pakistan H.S.Suhrawardy. When Ayub Khan imposed martial law in Pakistan, Pakistani Civilian Nuclear Programme was freezed until 1972. On Dec., 11, 1965, Presidednt Ayub Khan had a brief meeting with Pakistani nuclear Engineer Mr. Munir Ahmad Khan (late)at the Dorchester Hotel In London. The meeting was arranged by Foreign Minister of Pakistan, Mr. Zulfikar Ali Bhutto. In this meeting Munir Ahmed Khan told President Ayub that Pakistan must acquire the necessary facilities that would give the country a nuclear deterrant capabality, which were available free safeguards and at  an affordable cost. Munir Ahmaed Khan also told President Ayub Khan that there were no restrictions on nuclear technology, that it was freely available, and that India and Israelwere moving forward in deploying it.
Munir Ahmed Khan estimated the cost of technology at that time. Because things were less expensive, were not more than 150 million dollars. President Ayub Khan listened to him patiently, but at the meeting , Ayub Khan was remained unconvinced. Ayub Khan clearly refused it to Munir Ahmed Khan's offer and said that Pakistan was too poor to spend that much of money. Moreover, if we ever need the bomb we will buy it off the shelf.
However, President Ayub khan, being close to Dr. Abdus Salam, established Pakistan's National Space Agency, Space and Upper Atmosphere Research Commission (SUPERCO)on Sep. 1961 and began training of the Pakistanis Scientists and engineersin the Nas's headquarters.
ayub was highly criticised for his dictatorial attitude as he was one of the greatest dictator of the world.
He was succeeded by Yahiya Khan . 

Saturday, May 29, 2010

Indo-Pakistan War, 1965

The second Indo-Pakistan conflict (1965) was also fought over Kashmir and started without a formal declaration of war. The war began in Aug 1965 and was ended in Sept 1965.
The war was initiated by Pakistan, who thought after the defeat of India  by China in 1962, that Indian military would be unable or unwilling to defend against a quick military campaign in Kashmir, and because the Pakistani Govt. was becoming increasingly alarmed by Indian efforts to integrate Kashmir within India. There was also a perception that there was widespread popular support within for pakistani rule and that the Kashmiri people were disatisfied with Indian rule.
After Pakistan was successful in the Rann of Kutch earlier in 1965, Ayub Khan (by nature a cautious person) was presuured by the hawks in his cabinet  (led by Z.A.Bhutto)and the army to infiltrate the ceasefire line in Kashmir.The action was based on incorrect premise that indegenous resistance could be ignited by a few saboteurs. Ayub resisted the idea as he foresaw India csossing the international frontier in retaliation at a point of its choosing. The Bhutto faction, which included some prominent generals , put out canard that Ayub's cowardice stemmed from his desire to protect his nearly acquired wealth, it was boasted at the time that one Pakistani soldier was equal to four Indian soldiers and so on.
On Aug 5, 1965, between 26,000 to 33,000 Pakistani soldiers crossed the line of control dressed as Kashmiri locals headed for various aras within Kashmir. Indian forces, tipped off by the local populace, crossed the ceasefire line on Aug 15, 1965.
       
The initial battles between India and Pakistan were contained within Kashmir involving both infantry and armour units each country's air force playing major roles. It was not until early Sept. when Pakistani forces attacked Ackhnur that the Indians escalated the conflict by attacking targets within Pakistan itself, forcing Pakistani forces to disengage from Ackhnur to counter Indian attacks.

Friday, May 28, 2010

Muhammad Ayub Khan (1907-1974)

Muhammad Ayub Khan was the first military ruler in Pakistan and the second President of Pakistan (1958-1969). He became the first native Commander-in-chief in 1951 and was the youngest full general and self appointed Field Marshal in Pakistan's history.
He was born on 14 May, 1907, in Haripur, British India, in the village of Rehana near Haripur Dt. of NWFP.He was a Pathan of the Tareen Tribe.He was the first child of the second wife of  Mir Dad Khan Tareen who was a Resaldar-Major (senior-most non-commissioned rank). After passing school education he enrolled himself in Aligarh Muslim University in 1922 but did not continue, as he was admitted into Royal Mlitary Academy Sandhurst.
He was given an officer 's commission in the British Indian Army on 2 Feb 1928.he was promoted to Brigadier with the local rank of major general and to East Pakistan. He was made commander-in-chief of the Pakistan Army on 17 jan 1951.
He served in the second cabinet of Muhammad Ali Bogra as Defence Minister.and was placed as Chief Marshal Law Administrator by Iskandar Mirza. Both Nawab Amir Mohammad Khan and Sandhurst trained Gen Wazid Ali Khan Burki were instrumental in Ayub Khan's rise to power, until today three families retain adjoining houses in Islamabad. Ayub deposed Mirza on 27 Oct 1958 in a bloodless coup , sending gen. Wazid Burki , Azam, and Sheikh in the middle of the night to pack Mirza off to exile in England which was welcomed by pakistanis since pakistan was having unstable political climate after Independence.
Ayub moved to have a constitution which was cvompleted in 1961. A fairly secular person by nature, Ayub's constitution reflected his personal views of politicians and the use of religion in politics.
in 1962, he pushed through a new constitution taht while it did give due respect t islam , it did not declare Islam the state religion of the country.   
He also provided election for president which was analogous to the electoral college of the United States.
Ayub introduced Muslim Family Laws through an ordinance in March 1961, to abolish polygamy, the consent of the current wife was made mandatory instead of instantanieous Talak system.
he won in a Presidential election contesting with Fatima Jinnah by a margin of 64% of votes.


Thursday, May 27, 2010

Iskandar Mirza, First President of Pakistan

Major-General Sahibzada Iskandar Ali Mirza (1899-1969) was the last Governor-General of the Dominion of Pakistan (6 Oct, 1955-23 March, 1956) and the first president of the Republic of Pakistan (23 March1956 to 27 Oct 1958).
Iskandar Ali Mirza was born at Murshidabad in Bengal on 13 Nov 1899, the eldest son of Sahibzada Sayyid Muhammad Fateh Ali Mirza (1875-1948)and his first wife, Dilshad Begum (1879-1925).Muhammad Fateh Ali Mirza was a prince of the ruling house of Murshibad and grand son of Nawab Mansur Ali Khan, the last Nawab of Bengal. Mirza was a descendant of Mir Zafar.He was Shi'a Muslim. He grew up in Bombay. After completing his early education at Elphinstone College, of the then University of Bombay. he was then educated at Royal Military Academy at Sandhurst, becoming the first graduate from the Indian Sub-continent at the Academy, and was commissioned into the British Indian Army in 1920.
He was attached to the 2nd. Bengal Btn., and served in Khodad Khel operation in 1921, and at Waziristan in 1924. He was transferred to the 17th Poona  Hse (Queen Victoria's Own) later that year, and joined the Indian Political Service in 1926.He was assistant commissioner at Abbottabad in 1926-1928, Bannu 1928-1930, Nowshera 1930-1933, and tonk 19333, a deputy commissioner at hazara in 1933-1936 and at Mardan in 136-1938. he was a political agent of Khyber in 1938-1940, Dep. Comsnr. Peshawar & Political Agent to the Mohmands 1940, Political Agent Orissa States in 1945-46, Jt.defence Sec. of india 1946-1947 and Defence sec.  He served in  the Army for six years and had many responsible positions
Mirza became the defence secretary of the new Nation, Pakistan.In 1954, he was made Governor of East Pakistan and was appointed Minister of Interior and Frontier regions in Muhammad ali Bogra's cabinet.
In 1956, pakistan adopted its first cvonstitution . In 1958, Mirza decided that the 1956 constitution was contributing to Political instability, and on 7 Oct he declared martial law with a view to introducing a new constitution.He appointed Ayub Khan as the martial ;law administrator.
But Ayub Khan declared himself President on 27 Oct after a bloodless coup d'tat.
Mirza lived in exile in London until his death.           

Tuesday, May 25, 2010

Malik Ghulam Mohammad,Governor-General of Pakistan


Malik Ghulam Muhammad served as Governor General of Pakistan from 1951 until 1955, shortly before his death in 1956. He is a Kakazai Pathan.
He was born in Lahore, Punjab, British India in 1895, attended Aligarh University, after which he worked in accounting field. He helped during the formation of a company in 1945 known as Mahindra &Mohammad , later  known as Mahindra & Mahindra. He was the first Finance Minister in 1947, when Pakistan became Independent. After Liaquat's assassinationin in 1951, Khawaja Nazimuddin became Prime Minister and Ghulam Mohammad was made the Governor General of Pakistan. He dismissed Khawaja and installed Muhammad Ali Bogra as Prime Minister.
Ghulam Mohammad's health deteriorated and he took leave and died in the next year.

Governor-General of Pakistan

The Governor-General of Pakistan was the resident representative of the British monarch in Pakistan from 1947 to 1956, when Pakistan was proclaimed a Republic-when Pakistan became an Independent state, self Governing Nation in 1947, it continued to use the Government of India Act 1935, until its constitution being prepared. M.A. Jinnah, considered Quaid-i-Azam (great leader) informed Lord Moountbattten, "when I am Governor General the Prime Minister will do what I tell him to". But Jinnah died in 11 Sept.1948.
The office of Governor-General was replaced by the office of President of Pakistan when it became a Republic in 1956. The then Governor-General, Iskandar Mirza, became Pakistan's first president.
      Khawaja Nazimuddin (1894-1964)
After the early death of Muhammad Ali Jinnah, Sir Khawaja succeded him as the Governor General of Pakistan. At this point of time , the position was largely ceremonial , and executive power rested with the Prime Minister.The first Prime Minister of Pakistan, Liaquat Ali Khan was assassinated in 1951  and Sir Khawaja stepped in to replace him.
During his time there was a rift between Punjabis and Bengalees.

Monday, May 24, 2010

Liaquat Ali Khan, (1896-1951)

Liaquat Ali Khan was the first prime Minister and friend of M.A. Jinnah, Quadi-i-Azam or Great Leader. He believed like Jinnah  that Pakistan should be a secular state which many Muslim leaders did not like.
Early Life;
He was born in Karnal, Haryana, India, on 1 Oct, 1896.He belonged to Marhal family, who had come from Iran to India approximately 800 hundred years ago during the reign of Muhammad Sahabuddin Ghori.
His father, Nawab Rustam Ali Khan was honoured by British Govt. by awarding him Nawab Bahadur title. He was one of the few land lords whose property was extended both in Punjab and United Province. After the death of his father he went to England and obtained Master's Degree from Oxford University in 1921. He was graduated in Aligarh  Muslim University in 1918.He joined Inns of Court in London.in 1922.
                        Political Career::  
Returning from Britain in 1923, Khan entered politics. In his early life he believed in Indian Nationalism. But his views gradually changed. He did not join Congress, he joined Muslim League in 1923.Under the leadership of Jinnah Muslim League held its annual session in May, 1924, in Lahore.Khan attended this conference.
Khan began his parliamentary career as an elected member of the United Provinces Legislative Council from the rural Muslim Costituency of Muzzaffarnagar in 1926. In 1932, he was unanimously elected Deputy President of UP Legislative Council. he remained a member of the Legislative Council of UP until 1940, when he was elected to the Central Legislative Assembly. He was one of the members of the Muslim League delegation that attended the National Convention held at Calcutta to discuss the Nehru Reportin Dec. 1928.Khan's second marriage was in Dec. 1932.His wife Begum Ra'ana, was a prominent economist and an educator.She was also an important figure of the movement of Pakistan.
In the open session of 12 April, 1936, Jinnah moved a resolution proposing Khan as the Honourary gen, Secretary of Muslim league. The resolution was unanimously accepted.and he held the post till 1947. in 1940, he became the deputy leader of the Muslim League parliamentary Party. He became the managing director of the news Paper Dawn.
In 1945-46, mass elections were held in India and Khan won the Central Legislature election form the Meerut Constituency and was elected Chairman of the Muslim League's Central legislative Assembly.The Muslim League won 87% of seats  in reserved for Muslims.
After independence in 1947, Khan was appointed the first prime Minister. he took important position in the formation of constitution of Pakistan.
Assassination and death :
On 16 oct, 1951, Khan was shot twice in the chest during a public meeting of the Muslim City League at Company Bagh, Rowalpindi. the exact cause was never been fully revealed.
Criticism
He was criticised by the left parties, specially the Communist party of Pakistan, for his pro-western foreign policy.  

Sunday, May 23, 2010

Pakistan after Independence


After Independence Jinnah became the first Governor-General. The newly established country ended up with few natural resources, little manufacturing capability and relatively little of the Raj's (British) old administrative-commercial infrustructure. Since the time of Maurya dynasty the  modern civilisation was developed outside the regions, presently known as Pakistan. Though Pakistan was the centre of Ancient civilisation, such as Mehrgarh, Harappa and Mohenjo-daro, Vedic and Arya, but  the modern infrustructure was developed after the time of Asoke and all the Capitals of different King's in different times were located in the regions specified as India. The main ptroblem the pakistan had to face was simply that there were two Pakistans, separated by 1600 km of Hostile (?) India.
The West Pakistan ( which is now the actual Pakistan) , consisted of  Baluchistan,Sindh, West Punjab (including what is now NWFP) and -pending a Kashmir settlement-so-called Azad (Free) Kashmir and Northern Areas, while Bengal  and part of Sylhet district made up east Pakistan. Though the west was militarily dominant, Bengalis made up slightly more than half the population, and their tea and jute supplied most of the countries export earnings. The language issue had added more to their differences which caused an ultimate separation though they had a common Religion, Muslim. Language is one of the important factor determining one nation's identity which disowned the Two Nation theory enunciated by Jinnah.
In Sept. 1948, barely a year of Independence and in the midst of the war with India, Jinnah died of Tuberculosis.His death was a great set back for the country struggling for survival.
Funeral of Jinnah :

Friday, May 21, 2010

Northern Areas (Gilgit-Baltistan)

The North-Western areas of Kashmir known as Northern Areas is the political entity within the Pakistani controlled part of the former princely state of Jammu and Kashmir. It borders pakistan's Khyber Pukhtunkhwa province to the west, Afghanistan's Wakhan Corridor to the north, China to the north-West,Pakistani-Administered state of Azad jammu and Kashmir (AZK).and the Indian administered state Jammu and Kashmir to the south east.In 1970, it became the single administrative unit under t6he name Northern Areas. it has an area of 72,971 km. sq.
There are more than 20,000 pieces of rock art and petroglyphs all along the Karakoram Highways in Gilgit-Baltistan, concentrated at ten major cites  between Hunza and Shatial.
Before the independence of Pakistan and India in 1947,Maharaja Hari Singh extended his rule to Gilgit and Baltistan.After the partition, Jammu and Kashmir, in its entirety,The Pakistani parts of Kashmir to the north and west of the ceasefire line  established at the end of the Indo-Pakistani War,1947,were divided Jammu and Kashmir into three parts, two of which were controlled by Pakishtan and the other belonged to India Union.

Thursday, May 20, 2010

Azad Kashmir

and the tribal areas feared that Hari Singh might join the Indian Union. In Oct 1947, supported by the Pakistani army, they attacked Kashmir. Initially Hari Singh tried to resist their progress but failed. Then he requested the Indian Union for help. India on the other hand sent troops to Kashmir after the accession papers were signed..The fighting between the two countries ended after a cease fire agreement under the supervision of UN in 1949.
Pakistan in the mean time occupied some portions of Kashmir, which was administered by Pakistan in two ways.
1. Azad Jammu and Kashmir (AJK)- the narrow southern part 250 meters long and 10-40 miles width,
2. Gilgit-Baltistan formerly called Federally Administered Northern Area (FANA)- is the much larger area to the north of AJK. It was directly administered by Pakistan as a de facto dependent  i.e., a non-self-governing territory. However it was officially given full autonomy on Aug 2009.