After growing opposition and hatred against Ayub Khan he handed over power to Agha Muhammad Yahya Khan in 1969, who immediately imposed martial law. Yahya inherited a two decade old constitutional problem and inter-provincial ethnic rivalry between the Punjabi-Pashtun-Mohajir dominated West Pakistan province and the ethnically Bengali Muslim East Pakistan province.
Yahya wanted to address all of these problems but he was incapable of doing so and did not have considerable support in masses. All of his moves were either too late or completely wrong. He tried to increase quota of bengalis in army, a move which was opposed by other army men. It did not brought any good results. He was too much inclined towards Bhutto and kept on fulfilling his demands.
In 1971 elections Awami got almost all seats in East Pakistan but no or very few seats in West Pakistan. Same was true with Pakistan Peoples Party with majority seats in West Pakistan. Awami League of Sheikh Mujib ur Rahman got 162 seats in the National Assembly against 88 of PPP headed by Zulfiqr Ali Bhutto. It was a clear defeat of Bhutto but he refused to accept it. It was the responsibility of Yahya to invite Mujib's party to form a government but he kept on delaying it. At the same time Bhutto was running a campaign against Awami League and refused to accept the result of elections and chanted a notorious slogan of "Udhar tum Idhar ham". Sheikh Mujib was being denied of his legitimate claim to be the Prime Minister of Pakistan. Separatism was a natural consequence of this behaviour.
Yahya, instead of taking action against Bhutto who was creating most of the problems, launched a crackdown on Awami League and political agitation in East Pakistan to suppress separatists by force. Army launched "Operation Searchlight" and killed thousands on his orders, Intellectuals and political activists were his main targets. Sheikh Mujib was arrested on Bhutto's request and was awarded death sentence in a special army tribunal. It was a complete civil war within Pakistan which encouraged India to interfere and to take advantage of the situation. India attacked on East Pakistan. This attack was welcomed in east Pakistan and they got support of separatists. Pakistan army could not defend bengal because bengalis were supporting the enemy. Creation of Bangladesh as an independent country was the end result.
Yahya was blamed for all of this mess but Bhutto and Mujib were equally responsible. They were busy in pulling each others legs instead of fighting against Martial Law. Not accepting election results , crackdown on winning party and Demand of separate Bangladesh were acts of treachery.
On December 20, 1971 Yahya committed another blunder and surrendered his powers to Zulfikar Ali Bhutto. He could have selected some neutral personality but a traitor selected another traitor and Bhutto became civilian martial law administrator and the president.
Traitor Bhutto had close relationship with other two traitors Ayub and Yahya. He worked as cabinet minister under Ayub Khan and was promoted to head the ministries of commerce, information and industries. Bhutto became a close and trusted advisor to Ayub and aided him in negotiating the Indus Water Treaty with India. In 1963 he became foreign minister of Ayub. When Ayub started his down fall his best friend Bhutto betrayed him and joined opposition.
This new civilian martial law administrator , just like military counterparts, was hard on opposition. He dismissed the military chief on March 3 after he refused orders to suppress a major police strike in Punjab. He appointed Gen. Tikka Khan as the new Chief of the Army Staff in March 1972.
Bhutto ended his martial law on April 21, 1972.
Yahya wanted to address all of these problems but he was incapable of doing so and did not have considerable support in masses. All of his moves were either too late or completely wrong. He tried to increase quota of bengalis in army, a move which was opposed by other army men. It did not brought any good results. He was too much inclined towards Bhutto and kept on fulfilling his demands.
In 1971 elections Awami got almost all seats in East Pakistan but no or very few seats in West Pakistan. Same was true with Pakistan Peoples Party with majority seats in West Pakistan. Awami League of Sheikh Mujib ur Rahman got 162 seats in the National Assembly against 88 of PPP headed by Zulfiqr Ali Bhutto. It was a clear defeat of Bhutto but he refused to accept it. It was the responsibility of Yahya to invite Mujib's party to form a government but he kept on delaying it. At the same time Bhutto was running a campaign against Awami League and refused to accept the result of elections and chanted a notorious slogan of "Udhar tum Idhar ham". Sheikh Mujib was being denied of his legitimate claim to be the Prime Minister of Pakistan. Separatism was a natural consequence of this behaviour.
Yahya, instead of taking action against Bhutto who was creating most of the problems, launched a crackdown on Awami League and political agitation in East Pakistan to suppress separatists by force. Army launched "Operation Searchlight" and killed thousands on his orders, Intellectuals and political activists were his main targets. Sheikh Mujib was arrested on Bhutto's request and was awarded death sentence in a special army tribunal. It was a complete civil war within Pakistan which encouraged India to interfere and to take advantage of the situation. India attacked on East Pakistan. This attack was welcomed in east Pakistan and they got support of separatists. Pakistan army could not defend bengal because bengalis were supporting the enemy. Creation of Bangladesh as an independent country was the end result.
Yahya was blamed for all of this mess but Bhutto and Mujib were equally responsible. They were busy in pulling each others legs instead of fighting against Martial Law. Not accepting election results , crackdown on winning party and Demand of separate Bangladesh were acts of treachery.
On December 20, 1971 Yahya committed another blunder and surrendered his powers to Zulfikar Ali Bhutto. He could have selected some neutral personality but a traitor selected another traitor and Bhutto became civilian martial law administrator and the president.
Traitor Bhutto had close relationship with other two traitors Ayub and Yahya. He worked as cabinet minister under Ayub Khan and was promoted to head the ministries of commerce, information and industries. Bhutto became a close and trusted advisor to Ayub and aided him in negotiating the Indus Water Treaty with India. In 1963 he became foreign minister of Ayub. When Ayub started his down fall his best friend Bhutto betrayed him and joined opposition.
This new civilian martial law administrator , just like military counterparts, was hard on opposition. He dismissed the military chief on March 3 after he refused orders to suppress a major police strike in Punjab. He appointed Gen. Tikka Khan as the new Chief of the Army Staff in March 1972.
Bhutto ended his martial law on April 21, 1972.
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