January, 1965
Ayub Khan is elected President for a second five-year term, this time defeating Fatema Jinnah, the sister of M. A. Jinnah.
Category Archives: Time line of Events
Martial Law ends, national assembly elected
1962
Martial Law ends with the enactment of a new constitution designed by Ayub Khan. The ban on political parties is lifted. A new National Assembly is elected through a multi-tiered system of “Basic Democracy”.
Ayub Khan is elected President for a five-year term
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1960 Ayub Khan is elected President for a five-year term.
How General Ayub Khan assumed power
1958
With the support of General Mohammad Ayub Khan, President Iskander Mirza abrogates the Constitution, dismisses the Central and Provincial governments, dissolves the Assemblies, and proclaims Martial Law in the country. All meetings and demonstrations are forbidden and political parties banned. Popular politicians are either imprisoned — including Sheikh Mujib, Maulana Bhashani, and Khan Abdul Gaffar Khan (the latter a progressive leader from NWFP and a close associate of Mahatma Gandhi) — or their activities are restricted.
Within the same month, General Ayub Khan exiles Iskander Mirza to the Great Britain before assuming all powers, along with the rank of Field Marshal.
“Democracy without education is hypocrisy without limitation.” —Iskander Mirza: Proclamation on abolition of the Assemblies: Time, October 20, 1958
Source: Uttorshuri
New constitution adopted
February, 1956
The first constitution of Pakistan is adopted. Pakistan becomes an Islamic Republic, with a President replacing the position of the Governor General. Bangla is adopted as a state language along with Urdu. Nonetheless, East Pakistanis are prevented from any share of power in the central government through sufficient provisions in the new constitution.
The West Pakistan Bill had been passed, East Bengal is renamed East Pakistan
October, 1955
The west wing provinces of the Punjab, Baluchistan, Sindh, and NWFP are grouped into one unit called West Pakistan. The West Pakistan Bill had been passed, a fortnight earlier, to give a rational basis of equality between the two wings. East Bengal is renamed East Pakistan.
The United Front wins most of the seats
March 8-11, 1954
In the first ever election since Pakistan’s independence, the United Front, comprised of the Awami League and the Krishak Sramik Party, wins most of the seats in the East Bengal Legislative Assembly. The Muslim League, which had earlier played a significant role in the pre-Partition politics along with the Indian Congress Party, wins only 9 of the 310 seats in the Provincial Assembly.
Source: Uttorshuri
United Front Government dismissed
March – October, 1954:
The Bengali dominated United Front Government is dismissed by the Governor General of Pakistan because of apparently seditious remarks made by its Chief Minister A. K. Fazlul Huq. The Governor General imposes his direct rule in East Pakistan. Later the Constituent Assembly of Pakistan is also dissolved, and Mohammed Ali Bogra forms a government without a parliament. The Army’s Chief of Staff Ayub Khan becomes the Defense Minister.
Source: Uttorshuri
Sher-e-Bangla forms Krishak Sramik Party
September, 1953
Abul Kasem Fazlul Huq, also known as the “Tiger of Bengal,” who had in 1940 moved the Lahore Resolution calling for a separate land for the Indian Muslims about to gain independence from the British Raj, forms his own Krishak Sramik Party (the Peasant and Labor Party).
A biography of Sher-e-Bangla A. K. Fazlul Huq
Ekushey February – The International Mother Language Day
Sahid Minar, image courtesy: Wikipedia
1952
January:
The Basic Principles Committee of the Constituent Assembly of Pakistan announces its recommendations that Urdu should be the only state language. It sparks off a wide wave of resentment in East Bengal where the people spoke Bangla.
Politicians and students join their forces for a broader movement under the leadership of Maulana Bhashani of Awami League.
As demonstrations and unrests seem to get out of control, the Government cracks down by imposing a curfew in Dhaka; a number of demonstrators are killed in front of the Dhaka Medical College over a period of one week (February 21-27, 1952).
21 February:
The Language Martyrs Day:
The First Martyrs to die for their native language: Rafiq, Salam, Jabbar, Barkat, and Salauddin. More die in police shootings in the following days. A makeshift memorial is dedicated to these martyrs at the spot of killings: the Shaheed Minar becomes an icon of the Bengalees’ pride in their culture and history, and of their resistance against imposition of all things foreign. The Shaheed Minar also becomes a place where many future movements for the basic rights of the Bangalees are born.
Bangla was recognised as the second official language of Pakistan on 29 February 1956, and article 214(1) of the constitution of Pakistan was reworded to “The state language of Pakistan shall be Urdu and Bengali.”
21 February was proclaimed the International Mother Language Day by UNESCO on 17 November 1999.
Click here for details on the movement.
Source: Uttorshuri, Wikipedia