Sorry for delay!
In the previous chapter, we saw that Ayub khan forced the first president of Pakistan Iskander Mirza to resign from his post and implement martial law in the country and declare General Ayub Khan as Martial law administrator. When Mirza refused to do so, he was taken on gun point by Ayub and his loyal officers. Helpless Iskander Mirza had no option so he signed the agreement and accepted all the terms and conditions. He then made an official radio announcement about martial law and left the Pakistani public shattered. Ayub khan then exiled Mirza to London in an aircraft where he lived with his family until his death. After Mirza's exilataion General Ayub khan arrested the then Prime Minister of Pakistan and all of his ministers and dismissed the National Assembly. All the fundamental rights of the citizens which is very common during Martial Law and at least 1,00,000 officials and politicians were arrested in only 2 months. But, the martial law also played a significant role in increasing the GDP of pakistan. Let's take a glance at the pros and cons of Ayub Khan's regime :-
1) Ayub khan signed the Pak-American pact in which he agreed to hand over a part of military bases and air force camps to the United States during the Cold War. In return,
the United States provided financial funding to the pakistani government for the betterment of their economy.
2) Ayub khan also focused on infrastructural projects. During his regime, large number of infrastructural projects such as, building of dams, roads, government offices, hospitals, etc. were started.
3) It was in his regime that Pakistan surpassed the Indian economy and beacame the fastest developing country of South Asia.
4) The largest airline of Pakistan, which is still operating was also built in the regime of Ayub Khan.
5) The Pak-American pact also played a significant role in the economic development of Pakistan as the United States invested in the Pakistani Market and also motivated many companies to set up their plants in Pakistan.
Cons:-
1) Ayub khan started infrastructural projects but was unable to keep an eye on them because of his busy schedule. This is because the projects started in his regime took a very long time to get completed.
2) The power of executives and military officers also grew which led to corruption and a significant rise in the prices of goods.
3) The most foolish decision that was taken by Ayub khan was to attack India in 1965. This decision of him costed Pakistan a loss of million dollars and lakhs of its youth, ammunition,tanks , etc.
Due to Ayub Khan's disability of monitoring and controlling the corruption and the significant rise in the prices of goods, anger spread among the pakistani masses and they started to demand his resignation.
The protest led by Liaquat Ali Khan started road blocking and riots began to take place on a very large scale. All these things forced him to resign from his post and appoint General Yahya Khan as new martial law administrator .
