After the failure of the military coup and the execution of General Akbar Khan, the army generals and commanders of pakistan learnt a lesson that they cannot impose martial law in the country in the presence of Liaquat Ali Khan as the Prime Minister. In these circumstances, Ayub Lhan was appointed as the Army Chief. He was more ambitious and intelligent than his predecessors. Ayb khan thought that it is very necessary to remove Liaquat from the post of Prime Minister if they wanted to take over the administration of pakistan. Since, Liaquat was very popular among the pakistani masses so, it was very difficult to pass no-confidence motion against him or his government. Therefore, Ayub Khan created a planning to kill him in a public meeting. For this purpose, he hired an Afghan refugee named Said Akbar Khan. And, the planning of ayub and his companions proved successful. Said khan assassinated Liaquat in Company Bagh ( now Liaquat Bagh ) in Rawalpindi during a political conference. After Liaquat's assassination, his own appointed Governor-General Khwaja Nazimuddin was appointed as the prime minister, and Iskander Mirza was given the post of Governor-general.
But, khwaja nazimuddin and his cabinet proved unsuccessful in leading the country and took some wtong decisions. Let's take a glance at their wrong decisions :-
1) The most incorrect decision was to declare pakistan as an Islamic republic.This decision was strongly opposed by the Bengali public and politicians of East Pakistan.
2) Nazimuddin's government continued the military funding which was started by Muhammad Ali Jinnah in order to empower the military and the generals were also given their powers.
3) The chief of army staff was given the responsibility of implementing the American funding which was received from the White House under the Agreement of Goodwill.
The continuation of military funding resulted in the increasing of unemployment and the downfall of the Gross Domestic Production ( GDP ) of Pakistan. After the accessment to the American funding, the
army chiefs and generals started on going foreign trips for military deals and the promotion of their country's interests which helped in building their image as a global leader. Under these circumstances, the Constitution of Pakistan was enforced, under which General Iskander Mirza was scorned in as the President.
The increasing unemployment resulted in communal riots and protests by the pakistani public and the demand of Nazimmudin's resignation was also raised.
This situation favoured the interests of General Ayub Khan. In the year 1954, Ayub khan and his loyal military commanders reached the president house to meet Iskander Mirza. When Ayub Khan reached Mirza's office, he was carrying an agreement with him. On meeting Iskander Mirza, Ayub khan handed over the agreement to him. After reading the agreement, Mirza was left completely shocked because it was written in the agreement that Iskaner Mirza is resigning from his post and introducing Martial law in the country and appointed general Ayub Khan as the martial law administrator.
Ayub Khan and his officials forced Mirza to sign the agreement. When Mirza opposed to this, he was taken on a gun point.
In the next chapter, we will know how Ayub khan successfully led the first martial law of Pakistan.
