How 1970 elections led to the break-up
Critics argue that the 1970 elections were the last attempt to keep Pakistan united
The writer is former Dean Faculty of Social Sciences, University of Karachi and can be reached at [email protected]
Dr GW Choudhury, a central minister in the cabinet of president General Yahya Khan, wrote in his book,
The Last Days of United Pakistan, that “elections were held on December 7, 1970, and were by any standard free and fair ironically the first and last genuine election in united Pakistan.” Yet the results of such elections were astonishing: Awami League, which gained 160 out of 162 seats from East Pakistan could not get a single seat from West Pakistan; and Pakistan Peoples Party, which got 81 out of 138 seats from West Pakistan, was unable to secure even a single seat from the country’s Eastern wing. In the absence of a national party representing both the provinces, the die was cast and the disintegration of the country was inevitabl