When a military prime minister was appointed in Pakistan for three days

In Pakistan’s political history, the 1950s are remembered for constitutional and legal crisis and administrative instability, as well as the struggle between authoritarian and democratic forces.

By October 1958, the political situation in Pakistan had gone from bad to worse. Collapse of ministries at the center had become a daily routine. A former chief minister and head of the Republican Party in West Pakistan, Dr Khan Sahib, a patwari and deputy speaker of the provincial assembly in East Pakistan, Shahid Ali, were killed by members of the assembly. According to Ayub Khan, “The moment which was awaited for a long time, had finally arrived and it was no longer possible to escape from ‘responsibility’.”

On October 7, 1958, the first President of Pakistan, Major General (retd) Iskandar Mirza, dissolved the Central and Provincial Governments and the National and Provincial Assemblies, abrogated the 1956 Constitution and imposed martial law in the country, handing General Muhammad Ayub Khan his power. The administrator announced the appointment of the chief. However, the presidency of the country remained with Iskandar Mirza.

An example of how close President ‘Republic’ Iskandar Mirza was to democracy and the constitution can be found in the words of his secretary Qudratullah Shahab. Qudratullah Shahab, a well-known civil servant and writer, writes in his Shahra Afaq Aap Beiti ‘Shihab Nama’ that on September 22, 1958, President of Pakistan Iskandar Mirza called him.

He had a copy of the Constitution of Pakistan in his hand. He pointed to the book and said, ‘Have you read this trash?’ Hearing the trash word from his tongue about the constitution under which he was sitting on the chair of the presidency after swearing an oath, my mouth was left open.

The constitution passed on March 23, 1956, which Mirza Sahib called a whip, was drafted by the Constituent Assembly of Pakistan under his passionate leadership. Under this constitution, Pakistan emerged as an independent country from the dominion of Great Britain and this constitution declared Pakistan as an Islamic Republic.

After imposing martial law, Iskandar Mirza soon realized that by suspending the constitution and dissolving the assembly, he had in fact severed the very branch on which he stood. So Iskandar Mirza had a very busy 20 days between October 7 and 27. During this time, he first tried to clear Ayub Khan’s identity by suppressing the anti-Ayub factions within the army.

When this failed, on 24 October Ayub Khan was relieved of the post of Chief Martial Law Administrator and reappointed as ‘Prime Minister’ by Presidential Decree.

On the same day, Ayub Khan took the oath of his new office and announced the names of the new cabinet members. In addition to Prime Minister General Ayub Khan, three military officers Lt. Gen. Azam Khan, Lt. Gen. Wajid Ali Barki, Lt. Gen. KM Shaikh and eight civilian ministers Manzoor Qadir, FM Khan, Habib-ur-Rehman, Abul-Qasim, Hafeez-ur-Rehman, Muhammad Shoaib are in this cabinet. , Maulvi Muhammad Ibrahim and Zulfiqar Ali Bhutto were included.

Ayub Khan kept receiving reports of Iskandar Mirza’s ‘palace conspiracies’ and he also realized that if there is no constitution, then what is the meaning of the office of President? So on the morning of October 27, 1958, Ayub Khan’s cabinet took their oaths of office and that night a military team of ‘Federal Ministers’ consisting of General Barki, General Azam and General Sheikh reached the presidential palace of President Iskandar Mirza. Bahtera said that Sahib is in a state of rest at the moment, but where were the generals on ‘revolutionary mission’ going to avoid so easily.

He took a pre-typed resignation letter from the president, dressed in a sleeping gown, and said, “Pick up your stuff, you have to leave the presidency right now.” Iskandar Mirza tried to declare himself ‘indispensable’ to the country and nation regarding his position, but Begum Naheed proved to be more understanding and she only asked, ‘Dear Generals! What will happen to my cats?’

It should be noted that Iskandar Mirza not only recommended junior officer Ayub Khan as Commander-in-Chief, but also extended his tenure by two years just three months before martial law. The same Ayub Khan took Iskandar Mirza on a plane at gunpoint and sent him to Quetta and then to Britain to run a hotel.

Even for the next 10 years, the date of the dismissal of President Iskandar Mirza was officially celebrated as ‘Revolution Day’ in the country on October 27, and the senior journalist ‘Sabir’, who claimed to do Jihad by saying the word Haq in front of Jabir Sultan, became his newspapers. I continued to felicitate him by printing special appendices on the merits and national services of the ‘Degal’ of Asia.

Elections were scheduled three months after martial law was imposed under the leadership of General Ayub Khan. Apparently, it seemed that the coalition government of the then Prime Minister Malik Feroz Khan Noon would win and it also seemed that its members might not re-elect Iskandar Mirza as President. Therefore, the president of the state saw the prosperity in the fact that the new democracy should be drowned, so that neither the politicians will have new oil nor will the Radha of democracy dance.