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Pakistanis reacted positively to General Ayub Khan's takeover, and his tenure was marked by rapid economic growth.
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In October 1958, President Iskander Mirza nullified the 1956 constitution and declared martial law, but within the same month he was toppled in a bloodless coup by the army commander-in-chief, General Ayub Khan, who then assumed the presidency. In the first years of martial law, he purged the government of corrupt politicians, instituted land reforms, and introduced a new system of government (Basic Democracies) -- a multitiered plan of elected and government-nominated officials, with villagers electing members to a local council, which then elected members to the next tier, and so on until the highest tier, a provincial council. Using this system, General Ayub Khan won another five-year term as president in 1960 and the right to engineer a new constitution.
Martial law ended with the enactment of this new constitution in 1962. It created a presidential form of government, with the chief executive vested with vast powers, and a national legislature (the National Assembly) of 156 members. The president was the head of state (the Islamic Republic of Pakistan) and the government as well as the commander of the armed forces, and had the right to dissolve the National Assembly and veto legislation that it had passed by a two-thirds majority. The ban on political parties was removed later in the year.
Discontent with the military regime grew steadily after the 1965 war with India over Kashmir, as did agitation for more democracy. In the wake of civil unrest in East Pakistan, where the main political party (the Awami League) was calling for autonomy, General Ayub Khan resigned and handed power over to General Yahya Khan, the head of the Pakistani army, on March 25, 1969. He declared martial law and scheduled elections for 1970.
photo: UN Photo
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