APROPOS the column ‘Evaporating Governance’ appearing in Eos, Dawn (Oct 29). Narrating the post-1970 election events, the writer states that “Mr Z.A. Bhutto’s party had won the majority of seats in West Pakistan in the 1970 election.” This is a misreading of historical facts. There existed no such entity called ‘West Pakistan’ at the time of the 1970 election. This misconception is repeated by many analysts today, hence the necessity for a clarification.
The 1970 elections were held under General Yahya Khan’s Legal Framework Order, popularly known as LFO. After the dissolution by Gen Yahya of the infamous One Unit — the arbitrarily created province of West Pakistan — on July 1, 1970, the state of Pakistan consisted of five provinces namely East Pakistan, Punjab, Sindh, NWFP (present Khyber Pakhtunkhwa) and Balochistan. The allocation of seats was made according to their respective population.
Out of these five provinces, Mr Bhutto’s party won a majority of seats in Sindh and Punjab in the 1970 election. East Pakistan which had the majority of the total seats of the then Pakistan, was swept by the Awami League.
In the NWFP and Balochistan, the National Awami Party and Jamiat Ulema Islam got a majority. Even in the Sindh Assembly, Mr Bhutto could not get an absolute majority. Out of the 80 PA seats his party could win only 28 seats. In the NWFP, the PPP won one NA and three PA seats, while in Balochistan, Mr Bhutto’s party failed to win a single national or provincial assembly seat.
Thus it is a misconception that Mr Z.A. Bhutto represented ‘West Pakistan’. This theory was concocted to counter the absolute majority of Sheikh Mujib’s Awami League.
It was argued that since the Awami League had no representation from ‘West Pakistan’ therefore it had no legitimate right to rule over the whole of Pakistan. Following this line of thought, Mr Bhutto had no representation in Balochistan and a nominal one in the NWFP. Then, how did his party form governments in both these provinces? This is a question awaiting an answer for a long time.
Abdul Khalique Junejo
Islamabad
Published in Dawn, November 1st, 2017
