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Pakistan
Yahya Khan, 1969-71
Although Yahya Khan established a semimilitary state, he also
introduced changes that led to the return of parliamentary democracy.
These changes ultimately resulted in the division of the country
in two. Yahya held national elections in December 1970 for the
purpose of choosing members of the new National Assembly who were
to be elected directly by the people. However, the results of
these elections, which brought the politicians once more to the
fore, led to the secession of East Pakistan and the creation of
an independent Bangladesh in 1971.
Yahya accepted the demand of East Pakistan for representation
in the new assembly on the basis of population. As a result, Bengali
leader Sheikh Mujibur ("Mujib") Rahman's Awami League won all
but two of the 162 seats allotted East Pakistan out of the 300
directly elected seats in the assembly (thirteen indirectly elected
women were added), and Mujib wanted considerable regional autonomy
for East Pakistan. Zulfiqar Ali Bhutto and his Pakistan People's
Party (PPP) emerged as the political victors in West Pakistan
in the 1970 elections. Bhutto's intransigence--he refused to participate
in the discussions to frame the new constitution--led to the continuation
of martial law and the eventual political and military confrontation
between East Pakistan and West Pakistan, which precipitated civil
war and the country's dismemberment in December 1971. With Pakistan's
military in disarray, Yahya resigned, and Bhutto was appointed
president and civilian chief martial law administrator of a truncated
Pakistan.
Data as of April 1994
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