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| Former administrative units of Pakistan |
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West Pakistan was the western province ofPakistan between1955 and1970, covering the territory of present-day Pakistan.[1] Its land borders were withAfghanistan,India andIran, with a maritime border withOman in theGulf of Oman in theArabian Sea.
Following its independence fromBritish rule, the newDominion of Pakistan was physically separated into two exclaves, with the western and eastern wings geographically separated from each other byIndia. The western wing of Pakistan comprised threegovernor's provinces (theNorth-West Frontier,West Punjab andSind), onechief commissioner's province (Baluchistan) along with theBaluchistan States Union, severalindependent princely states (notablyBahawalpur,Chitral,Dir,Hunza,Khairpur andSwat), theKarachi Federal Capital Territory, and theautonomous tribal areas adjoining the North-West Frontier Province.[1] The eastern wing of the new country—known asEast Pakistan—comprised the single province ofEast Bengal (which included the formerAssamese district ofSylhet and theChittagong 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 theConstituent Assembly. This administrative inequality between the two wings, coupled with the major geographical distance between them, was believed to be delaying theadoption of a constitution for Pakistan. To aid in diminishing the differences between the two regions, thePakistani government decided to reorganize the country into two distinct provinces under theOne Unit policy announced by thenPakistani Prime MinisterChaudhry Muhammad Ali on 22 November 1954.
In 1970, thePresident of PakistanGeneralYahya Khan enacted a series of territorial, constitutional and military reforms. These established theprovincial assemblies,state parliament, as well as the current provisional borders ofPakistan's four official provinces. On 1 July 1970, West Pakistan was abolished under theLegal Framework Order of 1970, which dissolved the One Unit policy and restored the four provinces.[1] This order had no effect on East Pakistan, which retained the geopolitical position established in 1955.[1] The following year saw amajor civil war erupt between West Pakistan andBengali nationalists in East Pakistan. After a full-scalemilitary intervention by India in support of theBengali freedom fighters and after West Pakistan's subsequent defeat, the exclave of East Pakistanseceded from its union with the Islamic Republic of Pakistan as the newPeople's Republic of Bangladesh.
At the time of thestate establishment in 1947, thefounding fathers of Pakistan participated in theBoundary Commission conference. Headed byCyril 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 andSindh Province), one Chief Commissioner's province (Baluchistan Province), theBaluchistan States Union, several otherprincely states (notablyBahawalpur,Chitral,Dir,Hunza,Khairpur andSwat), the Federal Capital Territory (aroundKarachi) and thetribal areas.[1] The eastern wing of the new country – East Pakistan – formed the single province ofEast Bengal, including the formerAssam district ofSylhet and theHill Tracts.
West Pakistan experienced great problems related to the divisions, including ethnic and racial friction, lack of knowledge, and uncertainty of where to demarcate the permanentborders.[3] East Pakistan, Balochistan, and theNorth-West Frontier Province experienced little difficulty, butSouthern Pakistani Punjab faced considerable problems that had to be fixed.[3] FormerEast Punjab was integrated with theIndian administration and millions of Punjabi Muslims were expelled to be replaced by a Sikh and Hindu population and vice versa.[4] The communal violence spread to all over theIndian subcontinent. Economic rehabilitation efforts needing the attention of Pakistan's founding fathers further escalated the problems.[4]
The division also divided thenatural resources,industries,economic infrastructure,manpower, andmilitary might, with India as the larger share owner.[5] India retained 345 million in population[6] (91%) to Pakistan's 35 million[7] (9%). Land area 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.[8] 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.[8] Fourdivisions were raised in West Pakistan, whilst one division was raised in East Pakistan.[8]
From the time of its establishment, theState 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 thecountry's firstprime minister, withMohammad Ali Jinnah asGovernor-General. West Pakistan claimed theexclusive mandate over all of Pakistan, with the majority of thePakistan Movement's leading figures in West Pakistan. In 1949, theConstituent Assembly passed theObjectives Resolution and theAnnex to the Constitution of Pakistan, paving the road to aWesternizedfederalparliamentary republic. The work on parliamentary reforms was constituted by the constituent assembly the year after, in 1950.
The western section of Pakistan dominated 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 newconstitution. To diminish the differences between the two regions, the government decided to reorganise the country into two distinct provinces.
Under theOne Unit policy announced by Prime MinisterMuhammad 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 was composed of twelvedivisions and the provincial capital was established atKarachi. Later the state capital moved toLahore, and it was finally established inIslamabad in 1965. The province ofEast Bengal was renamedEast Pakistan with the provincialstate capital atDhaka (Dacca).
Clashes between West Pakistan and East Pakistan soon erupted, further destabilising the entire country. The two states had different political ideologies[citation needed] and different lingual cultural aspect. West Pakistan had been founded on the main basis of a parliamentary democracy (and had aparliamentary republic form of government since 1947), with Islam as its state religion. In contrast, East Pakistan had been asocialist state since the1954 elections,[citation needed] withstate secularism proclaimed.[citation needed] West Pakistan sided with the United States and herNATO allies, whilst East Pakistan remained sympathetic to theSoviet Union and herEastern Bloc.[citation needed] Pakistan's1956 constitution validated the parliamentary form of government, with Islam as state religion and Urdu, English and Bengali as state languages. The 1956 constitution also established theParliament of Pakistan as well as theSupreme Court of Pakistan.
Ethnic andreligious violence inLahore, which began in 1953, spread all over the country.Muhammad Ali Bogra, prime minister of Pakistan, declared martial law in Lahore to curb the violence. This inter-communal violence soon spread to India, and aregional 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. Sevenprime ministers,fourgovernors-general, and onepresident were forcefully removed either byconstitutional coup or bymilitary coup. TheOne Unit program was met with harsh opposition, civil unrest, and political disturbance. Support for theMuslim League andPakistan Socialist Party in the upcoming elections threatened Pakistan'stechnocracy. 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 thePresidentIskandar Mirza'sRepublican Party. Relations with the United States deteriorated, with the US assessing that democracy in both states was failing.
A US-backedmilitary coup d'état was launched in 1958 by thePakistan Army command. TheUrdu-speaking class and theBengali nation were forcefully removed from the affairs of West Pakistan. With the imposition of martial law led by then-Army Commander-in-Chief GeneralAyub Khan, thestate capital was moved from Karachi toArmy General Combatant Headquarters (The GHQ) atRawalpindi in 1959, whilst the federal legislature was moved to Dacca. In 1963, Rawalpindi had become in effect 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 the One Unit program strengthened the central government.[9] 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.[10]
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.[9][10] For several weeks, the four provinces worked together and guided the "One Unit Dissolution Committee", towards resolving all outstanding issues in time set by the Yahya government.[9][11] 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, theNorth West Frontier Province, Punjab and Sindh.[9][11]
In the1970 general elections (held in December 1970), the BengaliAwami League underMujibur 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 the region that composes West Pakistan was approximately 29.6 million as per the 1941 census.[g]
According to the 1961 census, the total population ofPakistan was 93 million, with 42.8 million residing inWest Pakistan and 50 million residing inEast Pakistan. East Pakistan hence made up around 55% of Undivided Pakistan's population whilst remaining 45% was in West Pakistan. West Pakistan also had a marginally faster growing population than East Pakistan.[12][13]
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%.[14][15]
The major ethnic groups of West Pakistan was made up of Punjabis (62%), Pashtuns, Sindhis, Muhajirs, and Balochis.
During British India's partition, it 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.[16]During the period between 1947 and 1950, 8.6 million Muslims had moved to specially Pakistan'sWest Punjab region and about 6.7 million Hindus and Sikhs had gone the other way to India'sEast Punjab region and thus changing the demography of Pakistan drastically and resulting in overwhelming Muslim majority to this region.[17]
With the exception of theFederally Administered Tribal Areas, alladministrative 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 inAzad Jammu and Kashmir andGilgit–Baltistan, 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.[13]
| Religious group | West Pakistan[g] | Punjab[18]: 42 [h] | Sindh[19][i] | Khyber Pakhtunkhwa[20] | Balochistan[21] | AJK[22][j] | Gilgit– Baltistan[22][k] | |||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Total Population | Percentage | Pop. | % | Pop. | % | Pop. | % | Pop. | % | Pop. | % | Pop. | % | |
Islam | 21,113,214 | 77.43% | 13,022,160 | 75.06% | 3,462,015 | 71.52% | 2,788,797 | 91.8% | 785,181 | 91.53% | 939,460 | 87.54% | 115,601 | 99.62% |
Hinduism [l] | 3,981,565 | 14.6% | 2,373,466 | 13.68% | 1,279,530 | 26.43% | 180,321 | 5.94% | 54,394 | 6.34% | 93,559 | 8.72% | 295 | 0.25% |
Sikhism | 1,672,753 | 6.13% | 1,530,112 | 8.82% | 32,627 | 0.67% | 57,939 | 1.91% | 12,044 | 1.4% | 39,910 | 3.72% | 121 | 0.1% |
Christianity | 432,724 | 1.59% | 395,311 | 2.28% | 20,304 | 0.42% | 10,889 | 0.36% | 6,056 | 0.71% | 136 | 0.01% | 28 | 0.02% |
| Tribal | 37,603 | 0.14% | — | — | 37,598 | 0.78% | — | — | 3 | 0% | 0 | 0% | 2 | 0% |
Jainism | 13,215 | 0.05% | 9,520 | 0.05% | 3,687 | 0.08% | 1 | 0% | 7 | 0% | 0 | 0% | 0 | 0% |
Zoroastrianism | 4,253 | 0.02% | 312 | 0% | 3,841 | 0.08% | 24 | 0% | 76 | 0.01% | 0 | 0% | 0 | 0% |
Judaism | 1,180 | 0.004% | 7 | 0% | 1,082 | 0.02% | 71 | 0% | 20 | 0% | 0 | 0% | 0 | 0% |
Buddhism.svg) | 266 | 0.001% | 87 | 0% | 111 | 0% | 25 | 0% | 43 | 0.01% | 0 | 0% | 0 | 0% |
| Others | 19,228 | 0.07% | 19,128 | 0.11% | 0 | 0% | 0 | 0% | 11 | 0% | 89 | 0.01% | 0 | 0% |
| Total responses | 27,266,001 | 91.98% | 17,340,103 | 100% | 4,840,795 | 100% | 3,038,067[m] | 56.1% | 857,835 | 100% | 1,073,154 | 100% | 116,047 | 100% |
| Total population | 29,643,600 | 100% | 17,340,103 | 100% | 4,840,795 | 100% | 5,415,666[m] | 100% | 857,835 | 100% | 1,073,154 | 100% | 116,047 | 100% |
West Pakistan went through many political changes, and had a multiple political party system. West Pakistan's political system consisted of the popular influentialLeft-wing sphere against eliteRight-wing circles.
Since independence, Pakistan had been afederalparliamentaryconstitutional monarchy (even as of today, the parliamentary system is the official form of government of Pakistan) with a Prime minister as thehead of the government and aMonarch as thehead of state in a ceremonial office.
The1956 Constitution provided the country with Parliamentary form of Government and the office of President was inaugurated the same year. The careercivil service officerMajor-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 appointedarmy commander-in-chief General Ayub Khan asChief Martial Law Administrator; he later turned his back on the President and exiled him to Great Britain after the military government was installed.
TheSupreme Court of Pakistan was a judicial authority, a power broker in country's politics that played a major role in minimising the role ofparliament. The Supreme Court was moved to Islamabad in 1965 andChief JusticeAlvin Robert Cornelius re-located the entire judicial arbiter, personnel and high-profile cases in Islamabad. The Supreme Court building 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 toIslamabad after Ayub Khan built a massive capitol. The assembly was renamed as theParliament 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 wasMushtaq 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 was the chief executive of the state and the leader of the largest party in the provincial assembly. The first Chief Minister wasAbdul Jabbar Khan who had served twice as Chief Minister of theKhyber Pakhtunkhwa Province prior to independence. The office of Chief Minister was abolished in 1958 when Ayub Khan took over the administration of West Pakistan.
| Tenure | Governor of West Pakistan[23] | Party Background | Form of Government |
|---|---|---|---|
| 14 October 1955 – 27 August 1957 | Mushtaq Ahmed Gurmani | Muslim League | Democratic government |
| September 1957 – 12 April 1960 | Akhter Husain | Independent | Martial Law |
| 12 April 1960 – 18 September 1966 | Amir Mohammad Khan | Muslim League | Martial Law |
| 18 September 1966 – 20 March 1969 | GeneralMuhammad Musa | Independent | President's Rule |
| 20 March 1969 – 25 March 1969 | Yusuf Haroon | Civilian Government | President's Rule |
| Tenure Term | Martial Law Administrator | Type of Government | Service in effect |
| 25 March 1969 – 29 August 1969 | Lieutenant-GeneralAttiqur Rahman | Martial Law | Pakistan Army |
| 29 August 1969 – 1 September 1969 | Lieutenant-GeneralTikka Khan | Martial Law | Pakistan Army |
| 1 September 1969 – 1 February 1970 | Air MarshalNur Khan | Martial Law | Pakistan Air Force |
| 1 February 1970 – 1 July 1970 | Lieutenant-General Attiqur Rahman | Martial Law | Pakistan Army |
| 1 July 1970 | Province of West Pakistan dissolved |
| Tenure | Chief Minister of West Pakistan[23] | Political Party |
|---|---|---|
| 14 October 1955 – 16 July 1957 | Dr Khan Sahib | Pakistan Muslim League/Republican Party |
| 16 July 1957 – 18 March 1958 | Sardar Abdur Rashid Khan | Republican Party |
| 18 March 1958 – 7 October 1958 | Nawab Muzaffar Ali Khan Qizilbash | Republican Party |
| 7 October 1958 | Office of Chief Minister abolished |
The twelve divisions of West Pakistan province wereBahawalpur,Dera Ismail Khan,Hyderabad,Kalat,Khairpur, Lahore,Malakand,Multan,Peshawar,Quetta, Rawalpindi, andSargodha; all named after their capitals except the capital of Malakand was Saidu, and Rawalpindi was administered from Islamabad. The province also incorporated the formerOmani enclave ofGwadar 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, theprovisional assemblies ofBalochistan,Punjab,Sindh, andKhyber Pakhtunkhwa,Office of Prime minister, and much of the civil institutions were revived and re-established by the decree signed by Yahya Khan. The fourprovinces and fouradministrative units retained their current status andlocal governments were constitutionally established in 1970 to manage and administer the provisional autonomy given to 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 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.[24]
West Pakistan Province Comprises in 12 divisions, 45 districts and 6 agencies.
The administration of West Pakistan Province is given below:
| Division | Districts | Agencies |
|---|---|---|
| Lahore Division | N/A | |
| Rawalpindi Division |
| N/A |
| Multan Division | N/A | |
| Bhawalpur Division |
| N/A |
| Sargodha Division | N/A | |
| Peshawar Division | ||
| Dera Ismail Khan Division |
| |
| Hyderabad Division | N/A | |
| Khairpur Division | N/A | |
| Karachi-Bela Division(Created in 1960) | N/A | |
| Quetta Division | N/A | |
| Kalat Division | N/A |
During West Pakistan's conflict with India, East Pakistan's military government remained silent and did not send any troops to exert pressure onEastern India. West Pakistan accused East Pakistan of not taking any action, and their inaction caused West Pakistani resentment against East Pakistan's government.[citation needed] In fact, theIndian Air ForceEastern 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.[citation needed]
TheOne Unit policy was regarded as a rational administrative reform that would reduce expenditure and eliminate provincial prejudices.[25] West Pakistan formed a seeminglyhomogeneous block, but in reality it comprised marked linguistic and ethnic distinctions. The four provinces did not quite fit official definitions of a single nation.[26]
TheSindhi andUrdu-speaking class inSindh Province revolted against the One Unit policy.[27] The violence spread toBalochistan Province,Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa andPunjab Province. TheOne Unit policy was a failure in West Pakistan, and its survival was seen as improbable.[27] 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.[25]
Due to West Pakistan's close relations with the United States and thecapitalist states, the influence ofsocialism had far more deeper roots in the West Pakistan population. The population favoured socialism but never allied withcommunism.[citation needed] ThePakistan 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 themiddle andgentry classes of Pakistan.
After theIndo-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 afterForeign ministerZulfikar Ali Bhutto was sacked and vowed to take a revenge. After gathering and uniting the scattereddemocratic socialist andMarxist masses, Bhutto founded thePakistan 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 managinglabour strikes andcivil disobedience to challenge Khan's authority. The military government responded fiercely after arresting the senior socialists' leadership, notably Bhutto,Mubashir Hassan, andMalick Mirage. This sparked gruesome violence in West Pakistan, thereby increasing pressure on Khan that he was unable to endure. Khan called for aRound Table Conference in Rawalpindi, but socialists led by Bhutto refused to accept Ayub's continuation in office and rejected the6 Point Movement for regional autonomy put forth in 1966 by East Pakistani politicianSheikh Mujibur Rahman.
In 1969, Khan handed over power to Army Chief of Staff GeneralYahya Khan, who promised to hold elections within two years. Meantime, Bhutto extensively worked to gather and unite the country'sleft-wing organisations, which, underBhutto'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 independentPashtun tribes that inhabit the area. In addition, the physical boundary is uncertain: the 1893Durand Line was used by West Pakistan to mark the border between the two countries, but Afghanistan has never recognised that frontier.[28]
In 1955, diplomatic relations were severed with the ransacking of Pakistan's embassy. In 1961, thePakistan Armed Forces and local Pashtun tribessuppressed an Afghan invasion in theBajaur region of Pakistan.
West Pakistan had hostile relations with India, primarily due to aftermath of the 1947independence from the British Empire and theissue of Kashmir.
In 1965, "Operation Gibraltar" had long-ranging negative effects, outside and inside the country. Foreign ministerZulfikar Ali Bhutto andDefence ministerVice-AdmiralAfzal Rahman Khan approached President Ayub Khan for approval of a covert operation to infiltrate Indian-administeredKashmir using airborne troops from thePakistan Army (Special Service Group) andPakistan 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) fromSrinagar, but this 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 todayAzad Kashmir. Indian forces also crossed the ceasefire line into Azad Kashmir and captured the Haji Pir pass.
Subsequently, Pakistan launchedOperation 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. TheSoviet Union intervened in 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 theTashkent 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 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.
West Pakistan had positive relations with the People's Republic of China, with whom it shared a small northern border.
In 1950, Pakistan was among the first countries to end official diplomatic relations with the TaiwaneseRepublic of China and recognise thePRC. After that, both countries maintained an extremely close and supportive relationship.[29][30] The PRC provided economic, military and technical assistance to Pakistan during theCold War, and the two countries considered each other to be close strategicallies.[31]
Relations varied from cool to extremely strained between West Pakistan and the Soviet Union. This was during theCold War, and Pakistan's close ties with the United States came at the expense of relations with the Soviets.
Soviet-Pakistan relations were further eroded during the1960 U-2 incident, when the Soviets shot down a US spyplane;Army Chief-of-StaffAyub Khan had given the US permission to fly out ofPeshawar Air Station on reconnaissance and covert surveillance missions over the Soviet Union.
The USSR backed India during theIndo-Pakistani War of 1971. The Soviets were the biggest supplier of military hardware to India at that time.[32]
The United States was one of the first nations to establish relations with Pakistan upon its independence.[33]
Pakistan was allied with the US during theCold War against theUSSR. Pakistan was an integral member of theSoutheast Asia Treaty Organization (SEATO) and theCentral Treaty Organization (CENTO), both alliances opposed to theSoviet Union andcommunism.
A major factor in Pakistan's decision to ally with theWest was their urgent need for aid.[34] In the years that followed, the US supplied extensive economic, scientific, and military assistance to Pakistan.[35]
This close relationship continued through Pakistan's years of democracy and military rule. Relations only soured after West Pakistan had dissolved into Pakistan, when theleft-orientedPakistan Peoples Party came to power in 1971.
![Location of West Pakistan (dark green)[a], the rest of Pakistan (light green)[b] and territories claimed by the federal government (pink)[c]](/mt/?noimg=&dark=on&url=http%3a%2f%2fwww.wikipedia.org%2fwiki%2fFile%3aWest_Pakistan_(orthographic_projection).png)
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