One Unit
The One Unit (Urdu: ون یونٹ) was a geopolitical program launched by the government of Pakistan led by then-Prime Minister Muhammad Bogra on 22 November 1954. The program was believed to be enacted after the government faced difficulty of administrating the two unequal polities of Pakistan separated from each other by more than a thousand miles.[1] To diminish the differences between two regions, the program merged the four provinces of West Pakistan into one province, as a counterbalance against the numerical domination of the ethnic Bengalis of East Pakistan (now Bangladesh).[2]
The Pakistan scholars and researchers debated and maintain to fact that the One Unit program was viewed as a counterbalance against the political and population domination of the ethnic Bengali population of East Pakistan.[2] The One Unit program was met with great resistance and grievances from the Four Provinces since its establishment, and it remains in effect until 1970.[1] Finally, President General Yahya Khan imposed the LFO No. 1970 to end the One Unit program and rehabilitated the provisional status of Four Provinces as of August 1947.[1]
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History [edit]
Pakistan was established on 14 August 1947, after resulting a successful Pakistan Movement led by Muhammad Ali Jinnah, also Founder of Pakistan. Since then, the country had been without the constitution and all state's affairs had been run under the 1935 Act of British Indian Empire. The Government had prolong difficulty of running administration in East Bengal (border with Eastern India) and four provinces. The Bengali Prime Minister Mohammad Ali Bogra implemented the framework of the One Unit program made the first official announcement on November 22, 1954. Rationalizing the framework, Bogra enumerated the benefits of having one unit or province before enacting the One Unit program on 14 October 1955. After the 1954 general election, the four provinces and Tribal Areas were merged in the western wing. The province was composed of twelve divisions and the provincial capital was established at Lahore. The province of East Bengal (now Bangladesh) was renamed East Pakistan with the provincial capital at Dacca. The federal government moved the country's capital in 1959 from Karachi to Rawalpindi (serving as provisional capital until Islamabad was ready), whilst the federal legislature moved to Dacca.
West Pakistan formed a single and united political entity but with marked linguistic and ethnic distinctions. The One Unit policy was regarded as an administrative reform that would reduce expenditure and help eliminate ethnic and parochial prejudices. However, with the military coup of 1958, trouble loomed for the province when the office of Chief Minister was abolished and the President claimed executive power over West Pakistan. The province of West Pakistan was dissolved on 1 July 1970 by President General Yahya Khan.
Criticisms [edit]
Ethno-nationalists were against the unity and amalgamation of the federating units (the many princely states and provinces of the western wing) as West Pakistan. The actual author of the plan is alleged to be General (and later President) Ayub Khan.
See also [edit]
References [edit]
- ^ a b c et al. "One Unit". Story of Pakistan. Retrieved 16 May 2013.
- ^ a b "One Unit Program". Urdu Wikipedia:. Retrieved 16 May 2013.
