WHAT WAS ONE UNIT SCHEME OF PAKISTAN – West Pakistan & East Pakistan
Under the
scheme of one unit- four provinces of West Pakistan, states (Kashmir) and
tribal areas were merged as a single province called west Pakistan. The capital
of merged one unit west province was Lahore comprising 12 divisions. The
province of “East Bengal” renamed as “East Pakistan” with provincial capital at Decca.
Purpose of One-Unit Scheme
The purpose
of one-unit scheme was to work on fair electoral reforms, balance of power
sharing and to eliminate the ethnic domination from politics. It was also meant
to reduce the burden on government’s side to administrate the elections. So,
Pakistan’s first constitution was also passed in 1956 under one-unit scheme. A
parliamentary system was adopted. Prime minister was a head of government.
Unicameral Legislature means that National Assembly would comprise 300 members. There will be 150 members from
each East and West Pakistan as a single house.
Pakistan
came into being on 14th August 1947 as a Dominion within the British Commonwealth.
According to Indian Act 1947, British monarch was a head of state in Pakistan.
The representative of British monarch was called Governed General. The time was
given to countries Pakistan & India to establish constitution & sound
government systems in the state. Pakistan Muslim League was a representative
political party that acquired power from British and first President: Muhammad
Ali Jinnah and Prime Minister: Liaquat Ali Khan was selected from PML. The
Monarch was responsible to choose the best person as a Governor General then.
There were
five provinces at the time of independence of Pakistan dominion. The part
comprised four provinces Punjab, Sindh, Khyberpukhtunkhaw (NWFP , old name),
Baluchistan was known as West Pakistan and a fifth Province East Bengal was
mostly known as East Pakistan. East Pakistan was the largest province by
population in Pakistan in 1947.
According to
the results of 1951 census, Dominion of Pakistan (both East and West Pakistan)
had a total population of 75 million or 7.5 crore. West Pakistan had a population of 33.7
million or 3 .3 crore and East Pakistan (now Bangladesh) had a population of 42
million or 4.2 crore. A only political party Muslim League was under pressure
to gain control of power from various political influential groups. There also
started unrest in East Pakistan by early 50’s.
Pakistan government was putting efforts to
draw a constitution for a country that can cater the representatives of all
groups of country. The Pakistan’s government was supposed to set rules to run
government keeping in view the parliamentary election systems like Govt of
India act 1935.
According to Indian act 1935 elections were
conducted in 1936-37 in 11 provinces and elected representatives joined the
assembly. The political party with majority representatives/seats made the
government. Prime Minister is a
representative of people. He has supreme powers and president has de facto
status. To ease the administration, the scheme of one unit was introduced in
1954.
Unfortunately,
not a single election could be held in whole Pakistan until 1970. A musical
chair has been played between politicians and establishment to seek the titles
and power many times.
The concept of ONE-UNIT in Pakistan
The concept
of one unit scheme was first into composed discussions in 1949. Each province of Pakistan was dominated by
different ethnic groups. The Bengalis from East Pakistan was a larger group
with numerical domination on other provinces. It was always feared that in case
of fair General elections, the representatives from Bengal will seek more
seats. It is commonly quoted that to counterbalance East Pakistan influence and
numerical power, the concept of one unit was introduced by government in 1954.
The scheme of one unit was presented by Prime Minister Muhammad Ali Bogra on 22
November 1954. The governor general Sikandar Mirza passed it on 5th October
1955.
Under the
scheme of one unit- four provinces of West Pakistan, states (Kashmir) and
tribal areas were merged as a single province called West Pakistan. The capital
of merged one unit province was Lahore comprising 12 divisions. The province of
East Bengal renamed as East Pakistan.
Things
seemed to settle then but west Pakistan was biggest province with multiple
ethnic groups at one place defied the scheme most. The scheme however couldn’t wipe out the
simmering complaints on both sides of country. A Martial Law was imposed in the
country in 1958 by military chief Ayub Khan. The 1956 constitution was replaced
with a newer constitution in 1962. The country continued to be administrated on
one-unit scheme under Martial Law under chief executive powers of military
president. There were no elections under the scheme until 1970 and head of
state was military chief.
One-unit
scheme faced severe resistance in West Pakistan since its approval. All
political parties, especially from KPK and Baluchistan felt suppression on the
scheme. Punjabi’s think the purpose of scheme was to reduce their
representation in the government. Similarly, military rule, change of federal
administrative capital from Karachi to Islamabad, & India’s attempts to
engage Pakistan on border wars to fabricate instability in Pakistan fired the
simmering situation in East Pakistan.
At last,
another military president General Yahya Khan, who was seated with promise to
conduct general elections in the country, ended one unit scheme on 1st July
1970, upon pressure from political parties. President General Yahya Khan
imposed Legal Framework Order No. 1970 that states end of one unit scheme. The
order reinstated West Pakistan’s provincial status of four provinces as it was
on 14th August 1947.
In 1970, General elections were held on both
sides of country. Humbly, concluding with my own opinion the concept of one
unit eventually led to break the Pakistan into two, just after one year the
scheme was ended. East Pakistan came into being as a new country Bangladesh, on
16th December 1971.