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Shaikh Aziz looks back at Ayub Khan’s project to strengthen his grip on power
Till about 1960 many in Pakistan did not know where they were heading. The drumbeating of official machinery created an aura that a new system called Basic Democracy (BD) was being introduced which will eliminate feudal lords and monopolists, and empower small landholders, village nobles and social workers to run their own affairs.
When in January 1960, elections to BD system were held, very few could predict that their representatives were going to act as ‘pawns’ in the new game that was to be unfolded. A month later Ayub Khan held a ‘referendum’ seeking BD members’ vote for him as president. Almost all (defunct) politicians, feudal lords, Sardars, Waderas and Chowdharies were asked to ensure the vote of 80,000 BD members. These people, in a bid to gain Ayub’s favour, raced against one another to facilitate the BD members.
The referendum was held on February 15, 1960. It was only a formality; government agencies made the whole exercise easier as envisioned by Ayub. After sunset the results started pouring in. Without quicker means of communications as we have today, the speed of the results was astonishing. With the first result, a trend was set.
Ayub bagged 75,283 of the 80,000 votes. When complete results were compiled Ayub Khan had gone to sleep, therefore the secretary took the results to him at breakfast. How eager he was can be judged from the fact that as he heard the figure he took out a pencil, calculated and said: “… why don’t you say that 4,717 voted against me?”
On February 17, 1960 he took oath as an ‘elected’ president.
He had been claiming that he was giving a new direction to politics. Ayub’s administration was flooded with rightist writers and poets who began portraying him as a redeemer while the progressives and supporters of personal freedom did not approve of it.
Intelligence agencies, however, filed reports that the people were ‘very happy’ with the system and that they were considering him a ‘saviour’. Obsequiousness rose to the highest and people such as Chowdhary Khaleequz Zaman launched a move pressing that Ayub be made president for life.
Ayub Khan really began thinking on that course. But there were more active players in the game. Pir Ali Mohammad Rashdi (1905-87), one of a very witty and intellectual politicians, moved a little ahead than the rest. After returning from his diplomatic assignment as a counsel-general in the Philippines in 1961, he came up with a novel idea. He suggested that Ayub Khan declare himself king, and establish a monarchy.
Ayub knew that democracy was taking root in the world and new nations were emerging after breaking the shackles of colonialism. In that situation it was difficult to keep Pakistan without democracy, in whatever form. At the same time some politicians also became active. Nawab Mushtaq Ahmad Gurmani, Hoseyn Shaheed Suhrawardy, G. M. Syed, Nawabzadah Nasrullah Khan and many more held meetings to arrive at a common ground.
Ayub Khan knew that one day these activities might become dangerous for his regime, so he announced elections to the national and provincial assemblies, to be held in April and May, 1962, respectively. Leaders had thought that Ayub Khan would restore political parties but he knew that it could only mean his end.
He formed an election commission with Akhtar Hussain as its head. Assemblies came into being having been elected on non-polity basis. Ayub followed the advice of his cronies but forgot that society was deeply rooted in the past with a strong feudal base. It was, therefore, not astounding to see feudal lords, the Khans, Sardars, Pirs and the moneyed people elected.
Finally, Ayub Khan felt that the political atmosphere had been sanitised. On June 8, 1962, he convened a session of the National Assembly, lifted martial law and took oath under the new constitution that he had authored. Members had begun forming groups and most wanted to join Ayub Khan’s group. Therefore Ayub restored the political parties. On June 18, 1962.
Now Ayub Khan was advised to form a ‘king’s party’. Pir Sahib Pagaro hosted a sumptuous dinner for him on September 2, 1962 but Ayub wanted to carve his own way. On September 4, 1962 Chowdhary Khaleequz Zaman convened a convention of Muslim League in Rawalpindi. It was expected that he would join the party but Ayub remained undecided. He kept many of his buddies guessing.
In May 1963, he saw many political activities, therefore he too decided to join the Muslim League. Almost all those who wanted to be in power rushed. Ayub Khan became a two-anna (12 paisa) member of the party followed by a long line of political orphans.
The membership seekers were not interested in political stability; nor did they have the urge to serve the people. An army of ministers was appointed; the rest were made parliamentary secretaries. All members wanted import licences and such favours. The economy was in tatters but importing commodities had become a money-spinning business turning the trade and industry ministry into a mint. Corruption soared to get a lucrative assignment from that ministry.
The media was another field which Ayub had marked for quite some time. The civil service officers made things easier for him. Already on April 18, 1959, Ayub Khan had taken over Progressive Papers Limited, a vociferous voice in the shape of Pakistan Times. More stringent measures were being cooked, which came later in the form of the National Press Trust. All levers to control the press were pulled. Even the issuing of a passport to journalists was subject to the approval of the president.
Ayub made tireless efforts to convince the people that he was their liberator and should be elected as president for life. However this was not to be.
