A deep state is a type of governance made up of potentially secret and unauthorized people of power operating independently of a state’s political leadership. It is done in pursuit of its own agenda and goals. In popular usage, the term carries overwhelmingly negative connotations. Here I am going to discuss how the deep state effect Pakistan and how it is dangerous for the future of the country.
Bangladesh came into existence on 16 December 1971. East Pakistan disappeared from the world map, the former East Pakistan was a backward region. Now Bangladesh is counted among the emerging industries of Asia. The All-India Muslim League was established in Dhaka, the capital of East Bengal.
In the founding meeting of the All India Muslim League held in Lahore on 22nd and 23rd March 1940, Maulvi Fazlul Haq, the leader of Bengal, presented the resolution on the basis of which Pakistan was established. It was written in this resolution that Pakistan will be a confederation of Muslim-majority provinces. This was the reason why the Bengal Assembly first passed a resolution in support of Pakistan.
The struggle of the All India Muslim League was for small provinces but the situation changed in the country formed after the partition of India. On August 10, 1947, the session of the Constituent Assembly began in Karachi.
Jagannath Mandal, a minority member from East Pakistan, was appointed as the Chairman of the Assembly, but the Bengali members demanded that he be allowed to move the resolution in the Bengali language. It was rejected as contradictory and refused to make Bengali the national language.
The Constituent Assembly did not succeed in making the constitution for a long time. According to the research researchers, many members of the assembly were not ready to implement the broad concept of provincial autonomy.
After the death of the first Governor General, Barrister Muhammad Ali Jinnah, East Bengal leader Khwaja Nazimuddin became the Governor General, he was the first Governor General who did not interfere in the affairs of the parliamentary government. United Bengal Premier Hussain Shaheed Suhrawardy, after consulting barrister Muhammad Ali Jinnah, stopped efforts to quell the riots in Calcutta.
When they came to Pakistan, the government refused to accept them as Pakistani citizens. Hussain Shaheed Suhrawardy was one of the famous lawyers, but the association refused to give him a license to practice many times due to the pressure of the government.
Later, the bar association of the small town of Montgomery (now Sahiwal) in Punjab granted him a lawyer’s license, thus Hussain Shaheed Suhrawardy’s advocacy began. After the assassination of the first Prime Minister Liaquat Ali Khan, Khawaja Nazimuddin assumed the post of Prime Minister.
There were constant conspiracies against the government of Khwaja Nazimuddin and the Nazimuddin government was accused of failing to stop the smuggling of grain from East Bengal to West Bengal. It is alleged that Mian Mumtaz Daultana instigated religious riots in Punjab as part of a plan to weaken the government of Khawaja Nazimuddin. Governor General Ghulam Muhammad dismissed the government of Khwaja Nazimuddin.
Another Bengali bureaucrat, Muhammad Ali Bogra, was made Prime Minister for a few days. When Muhammad Ali Bogra tried to pass legislation to curtail the powers of the Governor-General, his government was again dismissed, and the new government was replaced by Muhammad Ali. Bogra was forced to accept the post of Foreign Minister.
Governor General Ghulam Muhammad dissolved the first Constituent Assembly. National Assembly Speaker Maulvi Tamizuddin managed to file a petition against this decision in the Sindh Chief Court after much difficulty. The Sindh Chief Court annulled the Governor General’s decision.
The Governor General then Supreme Court headed by Justice Munir upheld the Governor General’s decision under the doctrine of necessity.
In order to eliminate the majority of East Bengal, the three provinces of the western part, Sindh, Sarhad, and Balochistan, were forcibly merged into one unit. On the basis of equality between the two provinces, the majority of East Bengal was abolished and East Bengal was renamed as East Pakistan.
In the provincial assembly elections in East Pakistan in the 1950s, all political parties, including the Communist Party, Awami League, and other nationalist parties participated in the elections under the Jagto Front.
Jagto Front leaders prepared a 26-point manifesto to improve the conditions in East Pakistan. Jagto Front won with a huge majority. AK Fazlul Haq became the Chief Minister but after some time his government was dismissed as anti-national and Governor’s rule was imposed.
The 1956 constitution established a parliamentary system but limited provincial autonomy and Iskandar Mirza became president. He imposed martial law to prevent elections in 1958 because there was a strong possibility that the Awami League and the National Awami Party from East Pakistan would have won those elections.
Iskandar Mirza abolished the constitution and imposed martial law. General Ayub Khan was appointed Martial Law Administrator.
Ayub Khan arrested Iskandar Mirza in the dark of night and exiled him to London and assumed the office of the president himself. General Ayub Khan made the presidential constitution in 1962, in which the axis of all powers was the president’s caste.
When Fatima Jinnah, sister of Barrister Muhammad Ali Jinnah, contested the presidential election against Ayub Khan, the people of East Pakistan strongly supported Fatima Jinnah. Sheikh Mujibur Rahman, the founder of Bangladesh, was in charge of Fatima Jinnah’s election campaign in East Pakistan.
In East Pakistan, due to the large participation of people in Fatima Jinnah’s meetings, it was believed that she would win the elections, but the government rigged the elections and Fatima Jinnah was defeated.
From the results of the 1965 war, the Bengali intellectuals concluded that East Pakistan could not be defended from West Pakistan, but Islamabad was being settled with the wealth of East Pakistan.
In the 60s, young people from East Pakistan, including Rehman Subhan, Dr. Kamal Hussain, etc., who were engaged in research at the London School of Economics and other renowned universities, formulated 6 points. The 26 points of the Jagto Front were merged into these 6 points.
Awami League made 6 points in its manifesto. The political parties of West Pakistan did not realize the depth of the 6 points. These 6 points would be the way to rid East Pakistan of the exploitative mafia.
Ayub Khan continuously detained Sheikh Mujibur Rahman and other political leaders of East Pakistan. Sheikh Mujibur Rahman was in jail for two years in the Tala conspiracy case.
As a result of the Awami Tehreek, Ayub Khan left and General Yahya Khan took over. In the 1970 elections, the Awami League from East Pakistan, the People’s Party from Punjab and Sindh, the Awami National Party from Balochistan and the border, and the Jamiat Ulema-e-Islam won with a majority, but General Yahya Khan did not give power to the Awami League.
Thus, from March to December 1971, East Pakistan was a victim of civil war. Awami League’s struggle was successful with the help of the Indian Army. On December 16, 1971, General Niazi surrendered to General Arora at the Race Course Ground, Dhaka.
Bangladesh has progressed towards development while Pakistan is suffering from continuous crises. General Yahya Khan’s policies failed in East Pakistan.
The question is, can the Deep State run the country?
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