FROM AYUB TO YAHYA

 In the normal course of events the third election for Basic Democrats would have been held during 1969, followed by another round of indirect polling for president and legislators. The course of events, however, was anything but normal.6 Strong anti-Ayub rioting began in West Pakistan in late 1968 and spread quickly to East Pakistan, growing to the extent that at times in early 1969 it appeared that the law and order situation in the country had gotten out of hand. Ayub tried to control the situation and maintain his position. He called for a Round Table Conference in Rawalpindi in March 1969, at which all principal political parties would be represented. The meeting was convened but broke up without reaching an agreed solution to the political problems of the country. Earlier on February 22, Ayub sought to blunt the tide against the system by announcing that he would not be a candidate for re-election to the presidency. It seems likely he would have also conceded the almost unanimous demand that future elections be on a direct basis and that the electoral powers of the Basic Democrats be withdrawn. The East Pakistanis, led by Sheikh Mujibur Rahman of the Awami League who himself had just been released from prison, asserted their claim to "one-man, one-vote" representation which would have given East Pakistan a majority in the new assembly. The break-up of the Round Table Conference was the penultimate step. On March 25, Ayub told the country that he could no longer carry on as President and that "the whole nation demands that General Yahya Khan, the Commander-in-Chief of the Pakistan Army, should fulfill his constitutional responsibilities."7 This is not the place to enumerate the causes of the downfall of Ayub. Many reasons have been put forward ranging from his own faltering health to the consequences of the 1965 conflict with India and encompassing charges of corruption in his regime and favoritism in his family.8 These and other causes can be debated, but one shortcoming pertinent to a dis- cussion of elections was the failure of the Ayub regime to respond to the growing political awareness in the country and the unhappiness with a system that concentrated political-and to an important extent, economic-power in the hands of a relatively small number of persons. Furthermore, the Bengali complaints of unequal treatment were heightened under a constitu- tion which limited them to parity in the legislative branch of government. The new president moved quickly to restore order and to address funda- mental problems facing the nation. The mere announcement of martial law had a sobering effect on those who were still demonstrating. Two urban groups had spearheaded the demonstrations, labor and students. New labor and educational policies were announced. Charges of corruption in the Ayub regime were met with the suspension of 303 civil servants and the subse- quent expulsion from the service of the majority of them when their cases were decided. New measures aimed at closer control of the industrial sector by the government were announced. Throughout the martial law period, Yahya maintained touch with the people through four monthly addresses to the nation, generally on the 28th day of the month, which were remarkably frank and more reminiscent of the fireside chats of Roosevelt than the broadcasts of Ayub. The Martial Law Administration did not ban political parties as in 1958 nor did it introduce restrictive orders similar to EBDO. Open and public political activity was temporarily barred, but was resumed on January 1, 1970 following Yahya's announcement on November 28, 1969, that elections would be held on October 5, 1970.9 In the same speech Yahya announced two other key decisions. First, the One-Unit government of West Pakistan would be dissolved and divided into four provinces-Punjab, Sind, Baluchi- stan and the Northwest Frontier, i.e., the restoration of the situation prior to 1955 (except that the former princely states would be amalgamated with the neighboring provinces). Second, the new parliamentary body would be based on population and not on parity between the two wings, thereby giving East Pakistan a majority of the seats. He also decreed that elections would be direct and on universal suffrage "one man, one vote." Prior to assuming governing and legislative functions the assembly would be given a period of 120 days to draft a constitution; if it failed to complete this task it would stand dissolved and new elections held. Although in the Novem- ber 28 speech Yahya said provincial elections would follow the promulga- tion of the Constitution, he later decided that provincial elections would follow soon after the national elections and would take place before the constitution drafting work began. By these decisions Yahya went a long way toward meeting some of the existing political grievances. The end of One Unit and of parity took these two questions out of the political debate and instead has brought to the fore the more difficult task of defining the meaning and extent of provincial autonomy.