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130-746: In 1955, the United States Air Force started to survey various locations in West Pakistan for a radio intercept site. At that time, the US was interested in radio transmission intercepts from the Soviet Union. The survey team recommended the site be located near Peshawar in West Pakistan. Its final location was in Badaber, a remote area about 4 miles (6.4 km) south of the city of Peshawar, Pakistan. Creating

260-588: A major civil war erupt between West Pakistan and Bengali nationalists in East Pakistan . After a full-scale military intervention by India in support of the Bengali freedom fighters and after West Pakistan's subsequent defeat, the exclave of East Pakistan seceded from its union with the Islamic Republic of Pakistan as the new People's Republic of Bangladesh . At the time of the state establishment in 1947,

390-535: A Sikh and Hindu population and vice versa. The communal violence spread to all over the Indian subcontinent . Economic rehabilitation efforts needing the attention of Pakistan's founding fathers further escalated the problems. The division also divided the natural resources , industries , economic infrastructure , manpower , and military might , with India as the larger share owner. India retained 345 million in population (91%) to Pakistan's 35 million (9%). Land area

520-501: A block of land so placed independent and perhaps hostile." The Nizam had rejected generous terms for accession brokered by the British. Eventually, when he allowed the power of an extremist organization, the Razakars , to grow within his state, India militarily invaded the state in what was called a "police action," incorporating Hyderabad into its federal structure. The final achievement of

650-555: A combination of threats and inducements, the latter including special privileges and tax-free pensions. Within a few months, all the states that had acceded in August 1947 had been blended in some fashion into a new federal union. Baroda State and Kathiawar were combined to form the new federal unit of Saurashtra ; and the states of Rajputana were united to form Rajasthan . The princely states of Travancore and Cochin became Kerala . Mysore being large in extent and population became

780-661: A continental type of climate without extensive rainfall. Due to its low rainfall, the main crops of West Pakistan were wheat, millets, and cotton and any crop that did not require much water. West Pakistan Province Comprises in 12 divisions, 45 districts and 6 agencies. The administration of West Pakistan Province is given below: During West Pakistan's conflict with India, East Pakistan's military government remained silent and did not send any troops to exert pressure on Eastern India . West Pakistan accused East Pakistan of not taking any action, and their inaction caused West Pakistani resentment against East Pakistan's government. In fact,

910-698: A dispute that has lasted until today. During this time, the new constitution of the Republic of India was drafted. It was based in large part on the Government of India Act 1935 , the last constitution of British India , but also reflected some elements in the Constitution of the United States and the Constitution of Ireland . The new constitution disavowed some aspects of India's past by abolishing untouchability and derecognising caste distinctions. A major effort

1040-504: A division of the land of British India ; it had also involved a division of its assets. Assets whose amounts had been negotiated earlier needed to be transferred from India (where the treasury was) to Pakistan. The Indian government had withheld this payment in order to pressure Pakistan over the burgeoning crisis in Kashmir ; India feared an onslaught from Pakistan during the dreaded winter months. On 12 January 1948, Gandhi, who had turned 78

1170-458: A failure in West Pakistan, and its survival was seen as improbable. However, with the military coup of 1958, trouble loomed for the province when the office of Chief Minister was abolished and the President took over executive powers for West Pakistan. Due to West Pakistan's close relations with the United States and the capitalist states , the influence of socialism had far more deeper roots in

1300-540: A federal unit by itself. Hundreds of small states were absorbed and soon became lost within larger federal units. Some former princes such as those of Mysore and Travancore were given titular leadership roles, called " Raj Pramukh " (lit. "state leader"), in the new federal units, but their former power was absent, and the political structure was invariantly democratic. Other former princes went into public service or private business. After 1950, they survived as historical vestiges but were no longer political determinants in

1430-488: A gym. The operations compound included housing for the specialized listening equipment. Later construction added a bowling alley, golf course, base housing for dependent family members, and a DoDDS school. Staff at the air base grew to about 800 personnel. An additional 500 support personnel provided other services such as mail handling, cooks, chaplains, teachers, etc. In September 1965, the tensions between India and Pakistan peaked. Construction crews built bomb shelters in

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1560-462: A marginally faster growing population than East Pakistan. The literacy rate in Pakistan was 19.2%, in which East Pakistan had a literacy rate of 21.5% while West Pakistan had a literacy rate of 16.9%. The major ethnic groups of West Pakistan was made up of Punjabis (who made up the overall majority of the province), Pashtuns, Sindhis, Muhajirs, and Balochis. During British India's partition, it

1690-632: A maritime border with Oman in the Gulf of Oman in the Arabian Sea . Following its independence from British rule , the new Dominion of Pakistan was physically separated into two exclaves, with the western and eastern wings geographically separated from each other by India . The western wing of Pakistan comprised three governor's provinces (the North-West Frontier , West Punjab and Sind ), one chief commissioner's province ( Baluchistan ) along with

1820-672: A matter of days, Sikhs and Hindus of the East Punjab were suddenly and unexpectedly attacking the Muslims there, and in the West Punjab, Muslims were returning the violence and the ferocity on the Sikhs. Trains taking the refugees to their new lands were stopped, their occupants slaughtered regardless of age and gender. Long lines of humans and oxcarts travelling East and West to their new dominions were intercepted and overwhelmed. The Hindu refugees from

1950-472: A political union with India or Pakistan. For a short time, the Nawab of Bhopal and some British political agents attempted to form a third "political force," but the princes were unable to trust each other. By 15 August, all but three had acceded. Even after accession, there remained the question of deciding the place of the princes in the new political union. Sardar Patel and his assistant V. P. Menon employed

2080-506: A seemingly homogeneous block, but in reality it comprised marked linguistic and ethnic distinctions. The four provinces did not quite fit official definitions of a single nation. The Sindhi and Urdu-speaking class in Sindh Province revolted against the One Unit policy. The violence spread to Balochistan Province , Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa and Punjab Province . The One Unit policy was

2210-710: A small section of the state. The United Nations was then invited to mediate the quarrel. The UN mission insisted that the opinion of Kashmiris must be ascertained, while India insisted that no referendum could occur until all of the state had been cleared of irregulars. In the last days of 1948, a ceasefire was agreed under UN auspices. However, since the plebiscite demanded by the UN was never conducted, relations between India and Pakistan soured, and eventually led to two more wars over Kashmir in 1965 and 1999 . Some Indians were incensed by Gandhi's last fast and accused him of being too accommodating to both Muslims and Pakistan. Among them

2340-510: Is a terrible blow, not only for me, but for millions and millions in this country. Gandhi was mourned around the world. The British prime minister Clement Attlee said in a radio address to the United Kingdom on the night of 30 January 1948: Everyone will have learnt with profound horror of the brutal murder of Mr. Gandhi, and I know that I am expressing the views of the British people in offering to his fellow-countrymen our deep sympathy in

2470-469: Is one of the most attractive places in Islamabad, yet the most largely beautiful building in the state capital. This provisional parliament had no lasting effects of West Pakistan's affairs but it was a ceremonial legislature where the lawmakers would gather around to discuss non-political matters. In 1965, the legislative parliament was moved to Islamabad after Ayub Khan built a massive capitol. The assembly

2600-613: Is the panchayat or village committees. Untouchability is illegal (Article 17) and caste distinctions are derecognized (Articles 15(2) and 16(2)). The promulgation of the Indian constitution transformed India into a republic within the Commonwealth. India as a free and independent dominion within the British Commonwealth of Nations (its title changed in 1949 to "Commonwealth of Nations") came into existence on 15 August 1947 under

2730-501: The Rajya Sabha , whose members are nominated by the elected representatives in the states. There are also features not to be found in the Act of 1935. The definition of fundamental rights is based on the Constitution of the United States , and the constitutional directives, or goals of endeavor, are based on the Constitution of Ireland . An Indian institution recommended by the constitution

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2860-646: The Baluchistan States Union , several independent princely states (notably Bahawalpur , Chitral , Dir , Hunza , Khairpur and Swat ), the Karachi Federal Capital Territory , and the autonomous tribal areas adjoining the North-West Frontier Province. The eastern wing of the new country—known as East Pakistan —comprised the single province of East Bengal (which included the former Assamese district of Sylhet and

2990-558: The Baluchistan States Union , several other princely states (notably Bahawalpur , Chitral , Dir , Hunza , Khairpur and Swat ), the Federal Capital Territory (around Karachi ) and the tribal areas . The eastern wing of the new country – East Pakistan – formed the single province of East Bengal , including the former Assam district of Sylhet and the Hill Tracts . West Pakistan experienced great problems related to

3120-627: The British Empire . The Congress's vision of an independent India based on religious pluralism was challenged in the early 1940s by a new Muslim nationalism, led by the All-India Muslim League and Muhammad Ali Jinnah , which demanded a separate homeland for the Muslims of British India. In the 1945 general elections in Britain, Labour Party won. A government headed by Clement Attlee , with Stafford Cripps and Lord Pethick-Lawrence in

3250-593: The Chittagong Hill Tracts ). West Pakistan was the politically dominant division of the Pakistani union, despite East Pakistan making up more than half of its population. The eastern wing also had a disproportionately small number of seats in the Constituent Assembly . This administrative inequality between the two wings, coupled with the major geographical distance between them, was believed to be delaying

3380-489: The Indian Air Force Eastern Air Command attacked East Pakistan's Air Force. However, East Pakistan was defended only by the under-strength 14th Infantry Division and sixteen fighter jets; no tanks and no navy were established in East Pakistan. The One Unit policy was regarded as a rational administrative reform that would reduce expenditure and eliminate provincial prejudices. West Pakistan formed

3510-493: The Indian National Congress . Lord Mountbatten , the last Viceroy, stayed on until June 1948 as independent India's first governor-general ; he was replaced by C. Rajagopalachari . The religious violence was soon stemmed in good part by the efforts of Mahatma Gandhi , but not before resentment of him grew among Hindu fundamentalists, eventually costing him his life . To Patel fell the responsibility for integrating

3640-523: The Indian nationalist movement . The Interim Government of India was formed on 2 September 1946 from the newly elected members of the Constituent Assembly. The Indian National Congress secured 69 percent of all of the seats, whereas the Muslim League had a smaller number, but significantly all of the seats that were reserved for Muslims. There were also fewer numbers from other parties, such as

3770-676: The Pakistan Peoples Party in 1967. The socialists tapped a wave of antipathy against the United States-allied president. The socialists integrated in poor and urban provinces of West Pakistan, educating people to cast their vote for their better future, and the importance of democracy was widely sensed in the entire country. The socialists, under Bhutto's guidance and leadership, played a vital role in managing labour strikes and civil disobedience to challenge Khan's authority. The military government responded fiercely after arresting

3900-694: The Purana Qila , or Old Fort —ruins from the Delhi Sultanate —which were milling with Muslims waiting to be expatriated to Pakistan. Religious passions were running high; a pogrom of the remaining Muslims in Delhi was feared. His mission of quelling the violence in Bengal accomplished, Mahatma Gandhi arrived in Delhi in October 1947. His new mission was to bring back the peace in the city, and this entailed standing up for

4030-595: The Raj years: the integration of the princely states and the drawing up of a constitution, and they were addressed in that order. There were 362 princely states in India. The premier 21-gun salute state of Hyderabad had an area of 200,000 km (77,000 sq mi). Its population was 17 million. At the other end of the spectrum, some two hundred states had an area of less than 25 km (10 sq mi). The British had revoked their treaty rights and advised them to join in

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4160-726: The Scheduled Caste Federation , the Communist Party of India , and the Unionist Party . In June 1947, members from the provinces of Sindh , East Bengal , Baluchistan , West Punjab , and the North West Frontier Province withdrew to form the Constituent Assembly of Pakistan , which met in Karachi . On 15 August 1947, all the members of the Constituent Assembly who had not withdrawn to Karachi came to constitute

4290-644: The Union of India , was an independent dominion in the British Commonwealth of Nations existing between 15 August 1947 and 26 January 1950. Until its independence , India had been ruled as an informal empire by the United Kingdom. The empire, also called the British Raj and sometimes the British Indian Empire , consisted of regions, collectively called British India , that were directly administered by

4420-618: The adoption of a constitution for Pakistan . To aid in diminishing the differences between the two regions, the Pakistani government decided to reorganize the country into two distinct provinces under the One Unit policy announced by then Pakistani Prime Minister Chaudhry Muhammad Ali on 22 November 1954. In 1970, the President of Pakistan General Yahya Khan enacted a series of territorial, constitutional and military reforms. These established

4550-551: The average annual income of an Indian to be Rs. 260 (or $ 55), with many earning well below that amount. The government faced low levels of literacy among its population, soon to be estimated at 23.54% for men and 7.62% for women in the 1951 Census of India . The government also began plans to improve the status of women. It bore fruit eventually in the passage of the Hindu code bills of the mid-1950s, which outlawed patrilineality , marital desertion and child marriages , though evasion of

4680-587: The founding fathers of Pakistan participated in the Boundary Commission conference. Headed by Cyril Radcliffe , the commission was tasked with negotiating the arrangement, area division, and future political set up of Pakistan and India. Pakistan was formed from two distinct areas, separated by 1,600 kilometres (1,000 miles) of India. The western state was composed of three Governor's provinces ( North-West Frontier , West-Punjab and Sindh Province ), one Chief Commissioner's province ( Baluchistan Province ),

4810-526: The middle and gentry classes of Pakistan. After the Indo-Pakistani war of 1965 , the cultural revolution, resentment, hostility towards the government began to arise when the population felt that "Kashmir cause" was betrayed by President Ayub Khan. Problems further mounted after Foreign minister Zulfikar Ali Bhutto was sacked and vowed to take a revenge. After gathering and uniting the scattered democratic socialist and Marxist masses, Bhutto founded

4940-465: The princely states of the British Indian Empire into the new India. Lasting through the remainder of 1947 and the better part of 1948, integration was accomplished by the means of inducements, and on occasion threats. It went smoothly except in the instances of Junagadh State , Hyderabad State , and, especially, Kashmir and Jammu , the last leading to a war between India and Pakistan and to

5070-488: The provincial assemblies , state parliament , as well as the current provisional borders of Pakistan's four official provinces . On 1   July 1970, West Pakistan was abolished under the Legal Framework Order of 1970 , which dissolved the One Unit policy and restored the four provinces. This order had no effect on East Pakistan, which retained the geopolitical position established in 1955. The following year saw

5200-430: The provisional assemblies of Balochistan , Punjab , Sindh , and Khyber Pakhtunkhwa , Office of Prime minister , and much of the civil institutions were revived and re-established by the decree signed by Yahya Khan. The four provinces and four administrative units retained their current status and local governments were constitutionally established in 1970 to manage and administer the provisional autonomy given to

5330-490: The 1951 censuses of India and Pakistan in both of which citizens were queried about Partition-related migrations. In addition, census data based on comparison of the 1941 and 1951 censuses, showed only long term effects; for example, in Bengal, it proved difficult to separate the effects of the Bengal famine of 1943 and the 1947 Partition. Still, one study by Bharadwaj, Khwaja, and Mian using 1951 census data has suggested that during

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5460-451: The 435 districts in India had Muslim majority populations. These districts were home to 60% of the 94.4 million Muslims. The Muslim population was clustered in two regions: the northwest, which included the Punjab, and the east, which included a large part of Bengal. These Muslim-majority districts were to constitute the western and eastern half of Pakistan that came into being in 1947. But there

5590-561: The Bengali Awami League under Mujibur Rahman won an overall majority of seats in Parliament and all but 2 of the 162 seats allocated to East Pakistan. The Awami League advocated greater autonomy for East Pakistan but the military government did not permit Mujib-ur-Rahman to form a government. East Pakistan became the independent state of Bangladesh on 16 December 1971. The term West Pakistan became redundant. The total population of

5720-863: The British Empire and the issue of Kashmir. In 1965, " Operation Gibraltar " had long-ranging negative effects, outside and inside the country. Foreign minister Zulfikar Ali Bhutto and Defence minister Vice-Admiral Afzal Rahman Khan approached President Ayub Khan for approval of a covert operation to infiltrate Indian-administered Kashmir using airborne troops from the Pakistan Army ( Special Service Group ) and Pakistan Air Force ( Special Service Wing ). During nights in August 1965, airborne troops parachuted into Indian Kashmir whilst ground assault began by Pakistan Army's troops. The airborne troops managed to occupy much of Indian-administered Kashmir and were only 10 kilometres (6 mi) from Srinagar , but this

5850-519: The British government, and regions, called the princely states , that were ruled by Indian rulers under a system of paramountcy , in favor of the British. The Dominion of India was formalised by the passage of the Indian Independence Act 1947 , which also formalised an independent Dominion of Pakistan —comprising the regions of British India that are today Pakistan and Bangladesh . The Dominion of India remained "India" in common parlance but

5980-531: The British monarch's regnal titles, " Emperor of India ," was abandoned. The Dominion of India came into existence on the partition of India and was beset by religious violence. Its creation had been preceded by a pioneering and influential anti-colonial nationalist movement which became a major factor in ending the British Raj. A new government was formed led by Jawaharlal Nehru as prime minister, and Vallabhbhai Patel as deputy prime minister, both members of

6110-653: The Cabinet, was sworn in. Many in the new government, including Attlee, had a long history of supporting the decolonization of India. Late in 1946, the Labour government, its exchequer, and population, moreover, exhausted by the Second World War, decided to end British rule in India, and in early 1947 Britain announced its intention of transferring power no later than June 1948. Earlier in 1946, elections had been called in India. The Congress had won electoral victories in eight of

6240-688: The Captain Isfandyar Ahmad Bukhari Shaheed Vocational Training Centre at the Pakistan Air Force (PAF) Base Badaber on July 14, 2016. The centre is named in the memory of the Pakistan Army officer who was killed in the 2015 attack. West Pakistan West Pakistan was the western province of Pakistan between 1955 and 1970 , covering the territory of present-day Pakistan. Its land borders were with Afghanistan , India and Iran , with

6370-602: The Congress were both shaken by the course of events, a Congress-led interim government was installed in September, with Jawaharlal Nehru as united India's prime minister. By March 1947 when the new viceroy, Lord Louis Mountbatten arrived, the violence between Hindus and Muslims in the provinces of Punjab and Bengal had not abated. With the British Army unprepared for the potential for increased violence, Mountbatten wanted to advance

6500-564: The Dominion of India's legislature. Only 28 members of the Muslim League finally joined. Later, 93 members were nominated from the princely states . The Congress secured a majority of 82%. Jawaharlal Nehru took charge as Prime Minister of India on 15 August 1947. Vallabhbhai Patel served as the Deputy Prime Minister . Lord Mountbatten , and later C. Rajagopalachari, served as Governor-General until 26 January 1950, when Rajendra Prasad

6630-593: The Dominion. In the case of the Chief Commissioners' Provinces: the administration was directly by the central government, with the plenary power of legislation belonging to the Dominion legislature. In the case of the Princely States, the areas of legislation which they chose to hand over to the Dominion were expected to be specified in the Instruments of Accession" that were executed by the rulers and accepted

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6760-404: The East Punjab, Sikh) in each provinces in proportion to their population. The representatives from each Governors' Province were elected by the Lower House of the provincial legislature, the voting being by the method of proportional representation with single transferable vote , with the members of the main communities voting in separate constituencies. Of the assembly representatives allotted to

6890-470: The Governor-General through a Chief Commissioner appointed by him. The power to legislate in the Dominion legislature lay with the Constituent Assembly. The allotment of seats to Provinces and Princely States in this assembly were approximately in the ratio of one seat to a million individuals in the population. In the instance of Governors' Provinces, seats were distributed between the main religious communities (General (which included Hindus), Muslims, and in

7020-478: The Governor-General; these areas were limited largely to defence, external affairs and communications. The executive authority of the Dominion was exercised on behalf of King George VI by the Governor-General, who acted on the advice of his Council of Ministers. The cabinet system of responsible government prevailed at the centre. By convention, the cabinet includes members of minority and backward communities. The Chief Commissioners' Provinces were administered by

7150-498: The Gurdaspur district in the Punjab region. However, its population was 77% Muslim, and it shared a border with what would later become Pakistan. A significant portion of its economic activity had taken place down the Jhelum River with the Punjab region of Pakistan. Gulab Singh's descendant, Hari Singh , who was the reigning Maharaja of Kashmir in August 1947, had signed a "standstill agreement" with Pakistan to facilitate trade and communication. According to historian Burton Stein , It

7280-674: The In-Service Education Scheme for mid-career officers was revitalized and replaced with Officers' Military Education (OME) in which the whole officers training programme was brought under the administrative and functional control of the Commandant, PAF Air War College . Thus Basic Staff School (BSS) and Junior Command and Staff School (JC&SS) were merged into one institution named as the JC&SS at Camp Badaber. The camp came under attack by Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan militants on 18 September 2015. 33°57′28″N 71°34′25″E  /  33.9579°N 71.5737°E  / 33.9579; 71.5737 Chief Minister Pervez Khattak inaugurated

7410-471: The Indian Punjab, districts that were 66% Hindu in 1941 became 80% Hindu in 1951; those that were 20% Sikh became 50% Sikh in 1951. In Pakistani Punjab, the districts became exclusively Muslim by 1951. As for mortality, Bharadwaj and his colleagues divide the 3.4 million missing people by assigning 2.1 million to the northwest and 1.3 million to the east. Hill and colleagues suggested a mortality range of 2.3–3.2 million people. However, according to Dyson,

7540-457: The One Unit program strengthened the central government. In West Pakistan, the four provinces also struggled hard for the abolition of One Unit which caused injustices to them as it was imposed on them. The provisional powerful committees pressured the central government through the means of civil disobedience, violence on street, raising slogans against the martial law, and attacks on government machines such as police forces. For several weeks,

7670-468: The Partition occurred in the period immediately before and after August 1947. Although many people did die in the religious violence, many also perished for reasons only indirectly related to violence. According to historical demographer Tim Dyson : It is damning that the British authorities made few preparations to cope with vast numbers of refugees. Many people died from exhaustion, starvation, crowding, and in epidemics. The systems of administration of

7800-460: The President and exiled him to Great Britain after the military government was installed. The Supreme Court of Pakistan was a judicial authority, a power broker in country's politics that played a major role in minimising the role of parliament . The Supreme Court was moved to Islamabad in 1965 and Chief Justice Alvin Robert Cornelius re-located the entire judicial arbiter, personnel and high-profile cases in Islamabad. The Supreme Court building

7930-888: The Princely States, half were elected by the State legislatures (or other representative bodies); the remainder was nominated by the ruler. The plan of the Constituent Assembly of India was drawn up during the British Raj , following negotiations between nationalist leaders and the 1946 Cabinet Mission to India . Its members were elected by the new provincial assemblies formed after the 1946 Indian provincial elections held in January. The Constituent Assembly had 299 representatives consisting of 15 women and 284 men. The female members were: Purnima Banerjee , Kamla Chaudhry , Malati Choudhury , Durgabai Deshmukh , Rajkumari Amrit Kaur , Sucheta Kriplani , Annie Mascarene , Hansa Jivraj Mehta , Sarojini Naidu , Vijaya Lakshmi Pandit , Begum Aizaz Rasul , Renuka Ray , Leela Roy , Ammu Swaminathan and Dakshayani Velayudhan . Most were associated with

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8060-418: The Punjab and Bengal were disrupted not only because of the turmoil but also the boundary changes. As a consequence, the systems in place for the registration of populations in the censuses were affected severely. Analysis of birth statistics in India suggests that most research on the demographic effects of the Partition are based on the 1931 and 1941 censuses of British India and some incomplete information from

8190-544: The Sikh-dominated regions of the Punjab in equal proportion between the two dominions. Sikh groups, which had feared the worst, had been preparing to mount a vigorous opposition to the award. To counter the expected violence, the British Raj government had formed a 50,000-strong Indian Boundary Force . When the violence began, the Force proved ineffectual. Most units, which had been recruited locally, had stronger ties to one or other of Punjab's three religious' groups, rendering them unable to maintain neutrality under stress. In

8320-402: The Soviet Union and the Soviet-supported Democratic Republic of Afghanistan (DRA) in the Soviet–Afghan War , 1979 to 1989. It was the site of the Badaber Uprising of 1985, an armed uprising by Soviet and DRA prisoners of war held captive at the camp. In December 1983 the Pakistan Air Force moved its Basic Staff School to the installation, which became PAF Camp Badaber . In August, 2007,

8450-417: The United Kingdom." The princely states were governed by rulers who had ceded power in the areas of defence, external affairs, and communications to the dominion; such states were called "Acceding States." The provinces comprised approximately three-fourths of the dominion's population and three-fifths of the area. Constitutionally, the Dominion was a federation with authority and responsibility devolving in

8580-405: The United Provinces, East Punjab, Bihar, the Central Provinces and Berar, Assam and Orissa; five Chief Commissioners' Provinces, Delhi, Ajmer-Merwara, Coorg, Andaman and Nicobar Islands, and Panth Piploda ; and around 500 princely states . The Statesman's Yearbook (1949) stated, "The Governors' Provinces and the Chief Commissioners' Provinces are under the sovereignty of His Majesty the King of

8710-409: The United States deteriorated, with the US assessing that democracy in both states was failing. A US-backed military coup d'état was launched in 1958 by the Pakistan Army command. The Urdu-speaking class and the Bengali nation were forcefully removed from the affairs of West Pakistan. With the imposition of martial law led by then- Army Commander-in-Chief General Ayub Khan , the state capital

8840-407: The West Pakistan population. The population favoured socialism but never allied with communism . The Pakistan Socialist Party had previously lost support due to its anti-Pakistan clauses during the time of the pre-independence movement. However, despite initiatives to improve the population during the Ayub Khan's government, the poor masses did not enjoy the benefits and reforms that were enjoyed by

8970-472: The back yards of all family housing units for protection. Peshawar Air Station was used as the communication station for the ill-fated May 1, 1960 flight of a Lockheed U-2 spy plane , piloted by Gary Powers , which was shot down over the Soviet Union . The former station was later used as a training camp for Afghan Mujahideen as part of Operation Cyclone , a Central Intelligence Agency -run program to train and arm Afghan Mujahideen to fight against

9100-417: The border between the two countries, but Afghanistan has never recognised that frontier. In 1955, diplomatic relations were severed with the ransacking of Pakistan's embassy. In 1961, the Pakistan Armed Forces and local Pashtun tribes suppressed an Afghan invasion in the Bajaur region of Pakistan. West Pakistan had hostile relations with India, primarily due to aftermath of the 1947 independence from

9230-437: The capital of Malakand was Saidu, and Rawalpindi was administered from Islamabad. The province also incorporated the former Omani enclave of Gwadar following its purchase in 1958, and the former Federal Capital Territory (Karachi) in 1958; the latter in 1960 forming a new division in its own right. In 1970, the Martial Law Office was dissolved by General Yahya Khan who disestablished the state of West Pakistan. On 1 July 1970,

9360-527: The conflict in September 1965 (for fear of escalation), and the month–long war ended with no permanent territorial changes. West Pakistan and India signed the Tashkent Declaration in January 1966, but the ceasefire was criticised both in India and Pakistan, and public resentment against each other grew. In West Pakistan, Ayub Khan deposed Bhutto as his Foreign minister, and Vice-Admiral Khan blamed Bhutto for

9490-399: The country into two distinct provinces. Under the One Unit policy announced by Prime Minister Muhammad Ali Bogra on 22 November 1954, the four provinces and territories of western Pakistan were integrated into one unit to mirror the single province in the east. The state of West Pakistan was established by the merger of the provinces, states, and tribal areas of West Pakistan. The province

9620-455: The country with Parliamentary form of Government and the office of President was inaugurated the same year. The career civil service officer Major-General (retired) Iskander Mirza became the country's first President, but the system did not evolve for more than the three years, when Mirza imposed the martial law in 1958. Mirza appointed army commander-in-chief General Ayub Khan as Chief Martial Law Administrator ; he later turned his back on

9750-410: The country's left-wing organisations, which, under Bhutto 's leadership, participated with full force and became vital players in the country's politics. The long border between West Pakistan and Afghanistan was uneasy. This is due in part to the independent Pashtun tribes that inhabit the area. In addition, the physical boundary is uncertain: the 1893 Durand Line was used by West Pakistan to mark

9880-474: The date for independence and the transfer of power. In June 1947 the nationalist leaders, including Nehru representing the Congress, Jinnah representing the Muslim League, and Baldev Singh representing the Sikhs , agreed to a partition of the country and Mountbatten was able to rush the British withdrawal forward. The predominantly Hindu and Sikh areas were assigned to the new India and predominantly Muslim areas to

10010-711: The defeat of the Sikh empire by the British in the First Anglo-Sikh War . Upon the purchase of the region from the British under the Treaty of Amritsar , the Raja of Jammu, Gulab Singh , became the new ruler of Kashmir. The rule of his descendants, under the paramountcy (or tutelage) of the British Crown , lasted until the Partition of India in 1947. Kashmir was connected to India through

10140-519: The divisions, including ethnic and racial friction, lack of knowledge, and uncertainty of where to demarcate the permanent borders . East Pakistan, Balochistan, and the North-West Frontier Province experienced little difficulty, but Southern Pakistani Punjab faced considerable problems that had to be fixed. Former East Punjab was integrated with the Indian administration and millions of Punjabi Muslims were expelled to be replaced by

10270-586: The eleven provinces. The negotiations between the Congress and the Muslim League, however, stalled over the issue of a division of India. Jinnah proclaimed 16 August 1946 " Direct Action Day " with the stated goal of peacefully highlighting the demand for a Muslim homeland in British India. The following day Hindu-Muslim riots broke out in Calcutta and quickly spread throughout India. Although the Government of India and

10400-577: The embattled Muslims. He chose to direct his activities from the scheduled caste (or "untouchables') "Balmiki Temple" in the Gole Market area of the city. (Eventually, as the temple was requisitioned for sheltering the incoming refugees, Gandhi moved to two rooms in Birla House , a large mansion in central Delhi.) Some groups within the Indian government opposed Gandhi's activities. Soon another issue sprouted up. The partition of India had not just been

10530-533: The exception of the Federally Administered Tribal Areas , all administrative divisions in the region that would compose West Pakistan after independence collected religious data, with a combined total population of 27,266,001, for an overall response rate of 92 percent. Similar to the contemporary era, where censuses do not collect religious data in Azad Jammu and Kashmir and Gilgit–Baltistan ,

10660-643: The following manner. In the case of the Governors' Provinces: in the areas of defence, external affairs, currency and coinage, and communications, authority and responsibility lay with the Dominion legislature; in the administration of justice, public health, religious endowments, land and education, among others, authority lay with the provincial legislature; in the criminal law and procedure, marriage and divorce, succession, factories, labor welfare, workmen's compensation, health, insurance and old-age pensions, responsibility lay concurrently with both, with overriding powers to

10790-550: The four provinces worked together and guided the "One Unit Dissolution Committee", towards resolving all outstanding issues in time set by the Yahya government. Finally, the committee's plan went into effect on 1 July 1970, when West Pakistan's "One Unit" was dissolved, and all power was transferred to the provinces of Balochistan, the North West Frontier Province , Punjab and Sindh. In the 1970 general elections (held in December 1970),

10920-522: The law continued for years thereafter. The Dominion of India lasted until 1950, whereupon India became a republic within the Commonwealth with a president as head of state . By the early 1920s, the Indian National Congress had become the principal leader of Indian nationalism . Led by Mahatma Gandhi , the Congress was to lead India to independence from the United Kingdom , and powerfully influence other anti-colonial nationalist movements in

11050-446: The legislatures of the new dominions could "repeal or amend" any existing act of the British parliament; no future act of the British parliament would extend to the dominions unless extended so and enacted by the dominion legislature. Reflecting the changed status, the royal style and titles "Indiae Imperator" and "Emperor of India" was abandoned. In January 1949, India consisted of nine Governors' Provinces, Madras, Bombay, West Bengal,

11180-626: The loss of their greatest citizen. Mahatma Gandhi, as he was known in India, was one of the outstanding figures in the world today, ... For a quarter of a century this one man has been the major factor in every consideration of the Indian problem. After the mourning period was over, the finger of blame was firmly pointed at the Hindu extremists who had plotted the assassination, bringing not only them into disrepute, but Hindu nationalism in general, which did not recover its political reputation until many decades later. The Deputy Prime Minister, Sardar Patel , who

11310-517: The main basis of a parliamentary democracy (and had a parliamentary republic form of government since 1947), with Islam as its state religion. In contrast, East Pakistan had been a socialist state since the 1954 elections , with state secularism proclaimed. West Pakistan sided with the United States and her NATO allies , whilst East Pakistan remained sympathetic to the Soviet Union and her Eastern Bloc . Pakistan's 1956 constitution validated

11440-637: The majority of the Pakistan Movement 's leading figures in West Pakistan. In 1949, the Constituent Assembly passed the Objectives Resolution and the Annex to the Constitution of Pakistan , paving the road to a Westernized federal parliamentary republic . The work on parliamentary reforms was constituted by the constituent assembly the year after, in 1950. The western section of Pakistan dominated

11570-439: The nation by radio: Friends and comrades, the light has gone out of our lives, and there is darkness everywhere, and I do not quite know what to tell you or how to say it. Our beloved leader, Bapu as we called him, the father of the nation, is no more. Perhaps I am wrong to say that; nevertheless, we will not see him again, as we have seen him for these many years, we will not run to him for advice or seek solace from him, and that

11700-515: The new India. Except for Kashmir, where a major military conflict had begun in October 1947, two states, Hyderabad, and Junagadh had remained independent. Junagadh was a small state on the coast of the Kathiawar peninsula , but its land border was with India. It had a majority Hindu population but with a Muslim Nawab. The Nawab acceded to Pakistan after independence. Within a few weeks, Indian troops marched into Junagadh. A plebiscite took place and

11830-582: The new nation of Pakistan ; the plan included a partition of the Muslim-majority provinces of Punjab and Bengal. On 14 August 1947, the new Dominion of Pakistan came into being, with Muhammad Ali Jinnah sworn in as its first Governor-General in Karachi . The following day, 15 August 1947, the Dominion of India (officially the Union of India ), became an independent country with official ceremonies taking place in New Delhi , and with Jawaharlal Nehru assuming

11960-417: The office of the prime minister , and the viceroy, Louis Mountbatten, staying on as its first Governor General . Mountbatten's decision to hasten the transfer of power has received both praise and criticism over the years. Supporters feel that an early transfer had the effect of forcing Indian politicians into abandoning petty quarrels and accepting their obligations in stopping an outrage that Great Britain

12090-537: The operation's failure. As an aftermath, Bhutto tapped into an anti-Ayub Khan movement and kicked off a storm of civil disobedience. Protests and spontaneous demonstrations broke out around the country, and Ayub Khan lost the control. In 1967, another martial law was imposed by another Army Commander-in-Chief, General Yahya Khan, who designated himself as the Chief Martial Law Administrator. Dominion of India The Dominion of India , officially

12220-451: The order of five and a half million travelling each way across the new border. From Sind, some 400,000 Hindus migrated to India, as did a million Hindus from East Pakistan (now Bangladesh) to West Bengal province in India. Migrations coming in the wake of the massacres severely taxed the strength of the new government. The religious killings had abated by the Autumn of 1947, but the government

12350-618: The parliamentary form of government, with Islam as state religion and Urdu, English and Bengali as state languages. The 1956 constitution also established the Parliament of Pakistan as well as the Supreme Court of Pakistan . Ethnic and religious violence in Lahore , which began in 1953, spread all over the country. Muhammad Ali Bogra , prime minister of Pakistan, declared martial law in Lahore to curb

12480-580: The period 1947–1951 the Partition caused approximately 14.5 million people to migrate into (i.e. arrived in) India or Pakistan. The authors also estimated that during the same period 17.9 million people left India to go to Pakistan or vice versa, suggesting a figure of 3.4 million missing people. Refugee movement across the border in Bengal was a third of that in the northwest. 25% of Pakistani Punjab's population had come from India; 16% of Indian Punjab's population had come from Pakistan. In contrast, only 2% of

12610-408: The period of transition was the new constitution. It was drafted by the Constituent Assembly with uncommon speed and absence of irregularities between 1946 and 1949. The Government of India Act 1935 was used as a model and framework. Long passages from the Act were included. The constitution describes a federal state with a parliamentary system of democracy. The federal structure is conspicuous for

12740-401: The politics of the new country. Although East Pakistan had over half of the population, it had a disproportionately small number of seats in the Constituent Assembly. This inequality of the two wings and the geographical distance between them was believed to be holding up the adoption of a new constitution . To diminish the differences between the two regions, the government decided to reorganise

12870-416: The popular influential Left-wing sphere against elite Right-wing circles . Since independence, Pakistan had been a federal parliamentary constitutional monarchy (even as of today, the parliamentary system is the official form of government of Pakistan) with a Prime minister as the head of the government and a Monarch as the head of state in a ceremonial office. The 1956 Constitution provided

13000-436: The population of East Pakistan (as recorded in the 1951 census) had migrated from India. The disparity was chalked to the greater perception of the threat of violence in the Punjab. Another study by Hill and colleagues suggested that migrants preferred to settle in districts with a high proportion of co-religionists, leading to more religiously homogeneous populations on either side of the newly drawn borders after Partition. In

13130-408: The previous October, undertook several hunger strike to stop the religious violence. On 15 January, the government took the decision to release assets it owed to Pakistan. On 18 January Gandhi broke his fast only after significant politicians and leaders of communal bodies showed their commitment to a joint plan for restoration of peace. The princely state of Kashmir was created in 1846, after

13260-426: The prime minister ship. It was thought he might assert his claim now, but Gandhi's loss had affected him equally deeply, and although there was still some discord between him and Nehru, he buried himself resolutely in his work on the integration of the princely states. By the year's end, this was complete. Patel died in 1950, and thereafter, Nehru ruled without any opposition. Two matters had been left unsettled from

13390-541: The provinces in 1970. West Pakistan was extremely diverse in terms of geography, climate, and variety of wildlife. North-Western West Pakistan was mountainous, Punjab and Sindh were semi-arid, and the Baluchistan region in particular was predominantly desert. West Pakistan had a varied relief, consisting as it does of plains, plateaux and mountains watered by the Indus River and its tributaries. Climatically, West Pakistan had

13520-504: The provisions of the Indian Independence Act 1947 which had received royal assent on 18 July 1947. This act, along with the Government of India Act 1935 ( text here ) the latter to be suitably amended to the changed context, served as the constitution of the dominion. Under the Indian Independence Act, the British government relinquished all responsibility of governing the territories that formerly constituted British India ;

13650-537: The region that composes West Pakistan was approximately 29.6 million as per the 1941 census. According to the 1961 census, the total population of Pakistan was 93 million, with 42.8 million residing in West Pakistan and 50 million residing in East Pakistan . East Pakistan hence made up around 55% of Undivided Pakistan's population whilst remaining 45% was in West Pakistan. West Pakistan also had

13780-707: The senior socialists' leadership, notably Bhutto, Mubashir Hassan , and Malick Mirage . This sparked gruesome violence in West Pakistan, thereby increasing pressure on Khan that he was unable to endure. Khan called for a Round Table Conference in Rawalpindi, but socialists led by Bhutto refused to accept Ayub's continuation in office and rejected the 6 Point Movement for regional autonomy put forth in 1966 by East Pakistani politician Sheikh Mujibur Rahman . In 1969, Khan handed over power to Army Chief of Staff General Yahya Khan , who promised to hold elections within two years. Meantime, Bhutto extensively worked to gather and unite

13910-464: The site would be known as project Sand Bag. The United States established permission from Ayub Khan the President of the Pakistan government with the establishment of a 10-year lease of the property. Construction of the Peshawar Air Station started in 1958. Known as "Little USA", The air station was divided into two areas: the administration buildings, barracks, dining hall, movie theater, and

14040-463: The strength of the central government, which has exclusively exercised control of defence, foreign affairs, railways, ports, and currency. The President, the constitutional head of government, has reserve powers for taking over the administration of a state. The central legislature has two houses, the Lok Sabha whose delegates are directly elected by the people in general elections every five years, and

14170-435: The total number of responses for religion is slightly smaller than the total population, as detailed in the table breakdown below. According to the 1961 census, in West Pakistan, Muslims made up 97.2% of the population, Christians 1.4%, and the remaining 1.4% belonging to other religions. West Pakistan went through many political changes, and had a multiple political party system. West Pakistan's political system consisted of

14300-467: The violence. This inter-communal violence soon spread to India, and a regional conflict put West Pakistan and India in a war-threatening situation. The prime ministers of Pakistan and India held an emergency meeting in Lahore. From 1947 to 1959, the government was only partially stable. Seven prime ministers , four governors-general , and one president were forcefully removed either by constitutional coup or by military coup . The One Unit program

14430-555: The west Punjab arriving in Delhi ended up tearing away the Muslim community there from their established cultural patterns and values, and temporarily destabilized the new government. The death toll in the partition violence may never be known, but Judge G. D. Khosla, in Stern Reckoning thought it to be about 500,000. In addition, there was what historian Percival Spear has called "an involuntary exchange of population," which might be of

14560-496: Was Nathuram Godse , a Hindu nationalist, a member of the political party Hindu Mahasabha as well as a former member of the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS), a right-wing Hindu paramilitary volunteer organization. On 30 January 1948, Godse assassinated Gandhi in Birla House as Gandhi was on his way to his evening prayer meeting there, shooting Gandhi in the chest three times. Later that evening, Nehru addressed

14690-430: Was also a fairly large and spatially spread out minority population of Muslims in India, and a minority of Hindus in Pakistan. It was therefore inevitable that there would be an exchange of the populations involving migration of Muslims into West and East Pakistan and migrations of non-Muslims (mainly Hindus, but also Sikhs in the northwest) from Pakistan into India. The majority of the population movement associated with

14820-555: Was also the Home Minister, was reproached for inadequate security arrangements. Gandhi's loss had the effect of giving Nehru more power. According to historian Percival Spear, "The government was really a duumvirate between him (Nehru), who represented the idealism and left-wing tendencies of the party, and Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel, the realist and party boss from Gujarat who leaned to authoritarianism, orthodoxy, and big business." At Gandhi's pressing, Patel had twice put off claiming

14950-550: Was anticipated that he would accede to Pakistan when the British paramountcy ended. When he hesitated to do this, Pakistan launched a guerrilla onslaught meant to frighten its ruler into submission. Instead, the Maharaja appealed to Mountbatten for assistance, and the governor-general agreed on the condition that the ruler accede to India. Indian soldiers entered Kashmir and drove the Pakistani-sponsored irregulars from all but

15080-584: Was composed of twelve divisions and the provincial capital was established at Karachi . Later the state capital moved to Lahore , and it was finally established in Islamabad in 1965. The province of East Bengal was renamed East Pakistan with the provincial state capital at Dhaka (Dacca). Clashes between West Pakistan and East Pakistan soon erupted, further destabilising the entire country. The two states had different political ideologies and different lingual cultural aspect. West Pakistan had been founded on

15210-510: Was declared for India. Although Pakistan protested, it took no further action. Hyderabad was in a different class. Although it had an 85%-Hindu population, its Muslim rule had begun during the Mughal period . The ruling Nizams had proclaimed themselves to be equal allies of the British rather than subordinates . But the state was landlocked, surrounded on all sides by India. "No Indian government," according to Percival Spear, "could afford to have

15340-415: Was divided as 78% to India and 22% to Pakistan. Military forces were divided up with a ratio of 64% for India and 36% for Pakistan. Most of the military assets – such as weapons depots and military bases – were located inside India; facilities in Pakistan were mostly obsolete, and they had a dangerously low ammunition reserve of only one week. Four divisions were raised in West Pakistan, whilst one division

15470-442: Was elected as the first President of India . Nehru's cabinet of 15 included one woman. The major demographic effort in the period was directed at measuring the effects of the Partition of India. The creation of Pakistan decisively depended on the proportionally high percentages of Muslims in certain geographical areas of the subcontinent. In the 1941 census, 24.3% of pre-independent India was recorded to be Muslim. In addition, 76 of

15600-487: Was estimated that 15 million were displaced, and nearly more than 2 million consisting of Hindus, Muslims and Sikhs were killed in the deadly riots. During the period between 1947 and 1950, 8.6 million Muslims had moved to specially Pakistan's West Punjab region and about 6.7 million Hindus and Sikhs had gone the other way to India's East Punjab region and thus changing the demography of Pakistan drastically and resulting in overwhelming Muslim majority to this region. With

15730-463: Was geographically reduced by the lands that went to Pakistan, as a separate dominion. Under the Act, the King remained the monarch of India but the British government relinquished all responsibility for administering its former territories. The government also revoked its treaty rights with the rulers of the princely states and advised them to join in a political union with India or Pakistan. Accordingly, one of

15860-415: Was made during this period to document the demographic changes accompanying the partition of British India. According to most demographers, between 14 and 18 million people moved between India and Pakistan as refugees of the partition, and upwards of one million people were killed. A major effort was also made to document the poverty prevalent in India. A committee appointed by the government in 1949, estimated

15990-665: Was met with harsh opposition, civil unrest, and political disturbance. Support for the Muslim League and Pakistan Socialist Party in the upcoming elections threatened Pakistan's technocracy . The Muslim League and Socialist Party gained momentum after the League's defeat in the 1954 elections, and the Socialist Party were challenging for the constituencies of the President Iskandar Mirza 's Republican Party . Relations with

16120-431: Was moved from Karachi to Army Generals Combatant Headquarters (The GHQ) at Rawalpindi in 1959, whilst the federal legislature was moved to Dacca. In 1963, Rawalpindi had become ineffective as a federal capital; a new city was planned and constructed, finally completing in 1965. In 1965, the state capital was finally re-located in Islamabad. On contrary perception, the provinces did not benefit from economic progress, but

16250-412: Was no longer able to control. Critics feel that if the British had stayed on for another year, had institutions in place for a transition, had the army readied in troublesome areas, a less violent transfer might have resulted. The Radcliffe Commission , tasked with assigning each district to either Pakistan or India, announced its award on 17 August 1947, two days after the transfer of power. It divided

16380-470: Was raised in East Pakistan. From the time of its establishment, the State of Pakistan had the vision of a federal parliamentary democratic republic form of government. With the founding fathers remaining in West Pakistan, Liaquat Ali Khan was appointed the country's first prime minister , with Mohammad Ali Jinnah as Governor-General . West Pakistan claimed the exclusive mandate over all of Pakistan, with

16510-597: Was renamed as the Parliament of Pakistan and staffed only with technocrats. The office of Governor of West Pakistan was a largely ceremonial position but later Governors wielded some executive powers as well. The first Governor was Mushtaq Ahmed Gurmani , who was also the last Governor of West Punjab. Ayub Khan abolished the Governor's office and instead established the Martial Law Administrator of West Pakistan (MLA West). The office Chief Minister of West Pakistan

16640-670: Was the chief executive of the state and the leader of the largest party in the provincial assembly. The first Chief Minister was Abdul Jabbar Khan who had served twice as Chief Minister of the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Province prior to independence. The office of Chief Minister was abolished in 1958 when Ayub Khan took over the administration of West Pakistan. The twelve divisions of West Pakistan province were Bahawalpur , Dera Ismail Khan , Hyderabad , Kalat , Khairpur , Lahore, Malakand , Multan , Peshawar , Quetta , Rawalpindi, and Sargodha ; all named after their capitals except

16770-591: Was the closest Pakistani troops ever got to capturing the city. In September 1965, India launched a counter-attack and the airborne troops were pushed back to what is today Azad Kashmir . Indian forces also crossed the ceasefire line into Azad Kashmir and captured the Haji Pir pass. Subsequently, Pakistan launched Operation Grand Slam , which gained significant momentum. Grand Slam was aborted after India launched an all out attack on West Pakistan, for which Pakistani troops had to be diverted. The Soviet Union intervened in

16900-463: Was weighed down with the responsibility of settling the refugees. In the Punjab, there was land available recently vacated by the Muslims; in Delhi, there was a glut of incoming Hindu and Sikh refugees: many more were arriving there than were Muslims departing for Pakistan. The refugees were settled in several enclosed areas on the outskirts of Delhi. But they had soon overflowed into the streets and even occupied mosques. They attempted to take possession

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