General Ayub Khan Era (1958-1969)

       

On October 7, 1958, President Iskander Mirza abrogated the constitution and declared the martial law in the country. This was the first of many military regimes to mar Pakistan's history. with this step, the constitution of  1956 was abrogated, ministries were dismissed, central and provisional assemblies were dissolved and political activities were banned. General Muhammad Ayub Khan, the then Commender-in-Cheif of the armed forces, became the Martial law administrator. The Parliamentary system in Pakistan came to end. Within the three, weeks assuming charge on October 27, 1958, Iskandar Mirza was ousted by General Ayub Khan who then declared himself President. This was actually welcomed in Pakistan since the nation had experienced a very unstable political climate since independence, General Ayub Khan gave himself the rank of Field Martial corruption had become so widespread within the national and civic system of administration that Ayub Khan was welcomed as a national hero by the peoples. Soon after coming to power, the new military government promised that they would carry out reforms in the entire government structure and would clean the administration of the rampant corruption. A thorough screening process of all government servants was conducted and service record was closely scrutinized. Public servants were tried for misconduct by tribunals consisting of the retired judges of the Supreme Court or High Court. If charges were an approved action such as dismissal or compulsory retirement of the public servants could take place. A public servant could also be disqualified from holding any public officer for 15 years. About 3000 officials were dismissed and many other were reduced in rank as a result of these measures The rest of government servants were provided with an incentive to work hard. Similarly, a law called the Elective Bodies Disqualified Order, properly known as E.B.D.O, was promulgated for the disqualification of the politicians. Under this law, a person could be a disqualified from being a member of any elective body until December 31, 1966. Under this harsh law, several politicians like Suharwardy and Qayyum Khan were disqualified. The E.B.D.O, particularly its application, severely criticized in him legal and political circles throughout
Pakistan After taking over, Ayub Khan focused on the long-standing questions of land reforms in West Pakistan. Ayub Khan also introduced a comprehensive scheme of local government, properly known as basic Democrises. This scheme was enforced through the basic Democrises order on October 27, 1959. Basic Democrises was a pyramidal plan enabling the peoples to directly elect to Local Council man they knew, who could, in turn, elect the upper tier of the administration. Altogether there were 80000 basic Democrises elected. To lend legitimacy to his rule, Ayub Kahn used the basic Democritus's an electoral college, holding a referendum to seek a mandate to continue in offices as President and to have the authority to frame the future constitution of Pakistan.