One Unit and Sindh: Part - I

There are mainly two reasons for discussing the One Unit episode in our history in this column. First is that in 2020, it was the 50th anniversary of the dissolution of One Unit, which after 15 years of experimentation was abolished in 1970. The second is the present drive of the government to roll back the 18th Amendment, which will essentially bring back memories of One Unit.

For the uninitiated, just a quick recap. When Pakistan came into being in 1947 it comprised two wings: East Pakistan and West Pakistan which had multiple provinces and administrative units. East Pakistan had around 55 percent of Pakistan’s population which mostly spoke one language – Bengali or Bangla – whereas the remaining 45 percent population spread over several provinces and states in the western wing spoke Balochi, Punjabi, Pashto, Seraiki, Sindhi, and many other languages. The capital was in Karachi in the western wing, a city which had been severed from Sindh to be made the federal capital.

A majority of the new ruling elite consisted of Punjabis and Urdu-speaking immigrants who were mostly known as Mohajirs. One of the challenges they faced was to deal with Bengalis, who were in majority and lived thousands of kilometres away across India and across the Bay of Bengal. Any new constitution based on democratic principles would have inevitably seen Bengalis coming to power and that would have allowed them to legislate as they wished, with or without being in consonance with the then ruling elite from the western wing which was more feudal and tribal compared to East Pakistan/East Bengal.

One Unit was formed in 1955 when the western wing dissolved its provinces and most states, to create one unified administrative unit with its capital at Lahore. Right from its inception to its dissolution, the 15-year history of the One Unit scheme is an example of how an authoritarian elite used state machinery to trample all the democratic and ethnic aspirations of the people of Pakistan. Smaller provinces suffered the most and their people resisted valiantly, but many of their leaders became collaborators and facilitated the One Unit plan. Sadly, our history textbooks are devoid of any substantive material on this subject. So, what are our sources?

Perhaps the best and most comprehensive book is ‘One Unit aur Sindh’ (One Unit and Sindh) by Prof Aijaz Qureshi, first published in Sindhi and then beautifully translated into Urdu by Aslam Khatyan published in 2018. This book deserves a detailed treatment here, but before that I must share with my readers some other sources that may be useful for a serious discussion. First, you may consult a book titled ‘One Unit ki tareekh’ (History of One Unit) by Pir Ali Muhammad (PAM) Rashidi who was a bureaucrat, journalist, and politician from Larkana.

PAM Rashidi played an active role in the execution of the One Unit plan with his older comrade in arms Ayub Khuhro. Both have drawn a lot of flak for their role in crystalizing the One Unit scheme. Rashidi’s book, written after the dissolution of One Unit, was an attempt to clarify his position and project himself as someone who had tried to get maximum benefits for Sindh out of the inevitable One Unit. His controversial role remains a point of discussion as he occupied not only ministerial positions but also held diplomatic posts in the 1950s and 1960s, first in the Philippines and then in China.

‘One Unit ki tareekh’ starts by lamenting the distortion of history during the dictatorship of General Ayub Khan. Then Rashidi tries to excuse himself by saying that he had not written anything on One Unit because he did not want to shatter the dreams of those who wanted to get particular advantages by misrepresenting facts. Rashidi tries to clarify that as revenue minister of Sindh he did not conspire to abduct the Sindh Assembly speaker, Mir Ghulam Ali Talpur, who was opposed to One Unit. According to Rashidi, he had no role in the alleged abduction and anyway after the formation of One Unit Talpur did accept ministerial positions.

Rashidi quotes extensively from General Ayub Khan’s biography to prove that the federal cabinet initiated the One Unit scheme at the behest of Commander-in-chief General Ayub Khan. In October 1954, the second cabinet of Bogra was sworn in, which for the first time included a serving general and commander-in-chief as a minister. This was the same cabinet of ministers that ordered provincial governors to dismiss provincial governments if they did not support the One Unit plan. The cabinet also prepared the legal draft for the One Unit scheme.

Rashidi claims that federal ministers such as Dr Khan Saheb, H S Suhrawardy, and G A Talpur were all involved in the plan. In December 1954, when the Sindh Assembly passed the resolution for One Unit, G A Talpur retained his ministerial post that continued till March 1955. Over 100 members of the Sindh Assembly were present, of which 98 voted for One Unit. Even in the Constituent Assembly when the final voting was done in September 1955, G A Talpur voted for the resolution. Rashidi even quotes from Talpur’s speech in the Assembly in which he wholeheartedly supported the One Unit plan.

The focus of Rashidi’s book is to prove that an overwhelming majority of Sindhi leaders in the assembly ended up supporting the One Unit plan sooner or later, just to retain their seats and claim or reclaim a ministerial position. They included not only the much-maligned Khuhro and Rashidi but also Abdul Sattar Peerzada and G A Talpur. He also says that the four members who voted against One Unit were safe and sound, and nobody did any harm to them. According to Rashidi, the Sindh police registered a case against G A Talpur in March 1955 to prevent agitation in the upcoming budget session in Hyderabad.

The next book I can recommend on One Unit is a marvelous MPhil dissertation by Rizwan Malik published in book form in 1988 by the Pakistan Study Centre, University of Punjab. The level of MPhil, and even PhD dissertations has declined tremendously during the past 20 years in Pakistan. Rizwan Malik’s book is proof that our universities could produce almost flawless research thesis in social sciences in the 20th century when there was more breathing space at our education institutions. The book is an in-depth analysis of the political process which led to the formation of One Unit.

There are not many books exclusively dealing with One Unit but some books have detailed chapters on it. Even Soviet scholars such as Y V Gankovsky took keen interest in this period and wrote about it. His book ‘A History of Pakistan’ first published in 1964 has a chapter titled ‘The amalgamation of West Pakistan into one province’. He looks at the history of that period through the prism of left-wing politics in Pakistan. He writes:

“On July 24, 1954, the Communist Party was banned in West Pakistan. This was a signal for new mass arrests. Firozeuddin Mansoor, the acting General Secretary of the Communist Party of Pakistan and leader of the Peasant Union, Mirza Ibrahim and M Afzal, leaders of the Pakistan Trade Union Federation, together with many other members of the peace movement and progressive journalists were imprisoned. Altogether more than 1,300 persons were arrested.” (Page 207-8).

Most left-wing activists and leaders were against the One Unit scheme and advocated against it. Gankovsky places One Unit as an elitist and feudal agenda that was an essentially anti-democratic and authoritarian plan.

To be continued

Email: mnazir1964@yahoo.co.uk