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Pakistan's Early Challenges Post-1947

Pakistan faced numerous initial challenges after its creation on August 14, 1947, including injustices from the Radcliffe Award, administrative difficulties, and the resettlement of millions of refugees. The country struggled with asset distribution, water rights, and a lack of trained government personnel, compounded by India's hostility and economic hardships. Additionally, geographical divisions and the early death of its leader, Quaid-e-Azam, further complicated the nation's efforts to establish stability and governance.

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7 views5 pages

Pakistan's Early Challenges Post-1947

Pakistan faced numerous initial challenges after its creation on August 14, 1947, including injustices from the Radcliffe Award, administrative difficulties, and the resettlement of millions of refugees. The country struggled with asset distribution, water rights, and a lack of trained government personnel, compounded by India's hostility and economic hardships. Additionally, geographical divisions and the early death of its leader, Quaid-e-Azam, further complicated the nation's efforts to establish stability and governance.

Uploaded by

fatimakhan242527
Copyright
© All Rights Reserved
We take content rights seriously. If you suspect this is your content, claim it here.
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Download as DOCX, PDF, TXT or read online on Scribd

Chapter:_Pakistan's Initial Problems

Pakistan came into existence on 14 August 1947. The difficult and long
journey that the Muslims of India had embarked on to gain their beloved
homeland was finally over. The British and the Hindus were not in favor of
the establishment of Pakistan. Therefore, the British, together with the
Hindus, created countless problems for Pakistan from the very beginning
so that this country could not maintain its independence and Pakistan
once again became a part of India.

The initial problems of Pakistan were as follows:

1 - Injustices of Radcliffe Award:

Under the plan of June 3, 1947, the Muslim and non-Muslim majority areas
of Punjab and Bengal were to be included in Pakistan and the non-Muslim
majority areas were to be included in India. For this purpose, the
responsibility of dividing the provinces was entrusted to an English lawyer
and jurist Sir Cyril. Sir Radcliffe, under pressure from Sir Cyril, did not
make much difference in the division of the provinces. The three Muslim
majority areas of Gurdaspur district Tehsils Gurdaspur, Pathankot and
Batala, as well as Tehsil Sabzira of Ferozepur district and some other
Muslim majority areas were added to India. In a similar blatant Bengal
boundary award, the city and port of Calcutta, Murshidabad and Nadia
districts were given to India after a unanimous decision. The purpose of
giving Gurdaspur to India was only to give India a way to usurp Kashmir. If
the division of the Punjab province had been correct, the Kashmir issue
would never have arisen, over which three Indo-Pakistani wars have been
fought. Quaid-e-Azam was a very principled man since he had partitioned
Radcliffe as an arbitrator. Therefore, he was compelled to accept its
decision in principle. He said:

“This award is unjust, incomprehensible and even unreasonable. Since I


have taken an oath to implement it, it is obligatory on us to abide by it.
Whatever difficulties may arise, we will bear with it”

2 - Administrative difficulties:

Initially, Pakistan faced immense difficulties in foreign administration. Most


of the people working in high positions in the offices were Hindus. They
took office equipment and even typewriters with them while leaving. They
often deliberately destroyed old records. Karachi was made the capital of
Pakistan, and many central government offices were built in districts due
to lack of space.
There was a huge shortage of experienced staff in every department.
Machinery was missing in the offices. Many offices were forced to work
under the open sky and some Britishers were recruited to start the work.
The work of common pins was taken up with the help of kakar's forks. The
beginning of the work was extremely difficult, but the nation was
determined, and the people had a spirit of construction. Therefore, they
soon overcame the difficulties.

3 - The problem of resettlement of refugees:

As soon as the creation of Pakistan was announced, the Hindus, under a


well-thought-out plan, killed Muslim children, youth and the elderly
without mercy and started degrading women like wild beasts. Every day,
millions of refugees started arriving in Pakistan, millions of weak, orphans
and children were martyred on the way. However, the refugees who
managed to come to Pakistan. Their number was also more than 12.5
million and this is a world record. It was an Indian conspiracy to put such a
heavy burden of these poor and helpless orphans and refugees on
Pakistan that its economy could not stand on its own feet. But the
celebrations of the Quaid-e-Azam encouraged the refugees. The
government kept them in temporary camps.

4- The problem of distribution of assets:

After the partition of the subcontinent, the fair distribution of assets


between Pakistan and India was a requirement of justice, but here too the
Hindus showed their traditional narrow-mindedness and kept avoiding
giving Pakistan its share under pretexts. When the formation of Pakistan
was announced, there were four billion (four billion) deposited in the
Reserve Bank of India, of which Pakistan should have received seventy-
five crore (750 million) rupees in proportion. India was constantly delaying
in giving these assets to destroy the Pakistani economy.

Finally, on Pakistan's constant demand and to maintain its international


reputation, it gave Pakistan twenty crores. For the payment of the
remaining assets, Indian Minister Sardar Patel made it a condition that
Pakistan should recognize India's usurped control over Kashmir. How could
Pakistan be willing to make this cruel bargain? Finally, to avoid
international embarrassment, the Indian government handed over another
installment of 50 crore rupees to Pakistan at the behest of Gandhi.
Instead, India also passed on to Pakistan a percentage of the external debt
of a united India, which was reduced to seventeen and a half percent after
negotiations at the Delhi meeting.

6 - River water issue:


Punjab is irrigated by five tributaries of Sindh, namely Sutlej, Ravi,
Chenab, Beas and Jhelum. Radcliffe committed a misdeed at the time of
partition by handing over the Madhupur headworks of the Ravi River and
the Ferozepur headworks of the Sutlej River to India, although the canals
flowing from these headworks were the only source of irrigation for vast
areas of Pakistan. In April 1948, when our wheat crop was ready, India
blocked the flow of water to our rivers. Also, when India decided to build a
dam on the Sutlej River, Pakistan strongly protested against it and
informed the international community about India's excesses and
irregularities. Finally, with the help of the World Bank, the "Indus Waters
Treaty" was signed between Pakistan and India in 1960, according to
which India's rights over the three eastern rivers Ravi, Sutlej and Beas
were recognized. Chenab and Sindh Jhelum were given to Pakistan, thus
Pakistan's canal water problem was solved to a large extent.

7 - Problems in Constitution-making:

When Pakistan was established, the task of making a constitution was


entrusted to the Constituent Assembly that came into existence under the
1946 elections. It was neither familiar with the Islamic constitution nor
was it elected on this basis. Moreover, the majority of the assembly
members did not want the implementation of the Islamic constitution.
Therefore, the Indian Act of 1935 was temporarily implemented with
necessary changes, but due to the un-Islamic mindset and negative
attitude of some members of the Constituent Assembly, there was an
extraordinary delay in making a constitution. Thus, for a long time, many
constitutional problems arose in Pakistan.

8- India's hostility towards Pakistan:

Hindus never accepted Pakistan wholeheartedly and this newborn state


would not survive for more than a few months in the eyes of the whole
world. Congress President Acharya Karpalani, while commenting on the
partition of India, said:

The effort will continue. The Congress's motto was a united India and it is
still working for it through peaceful means.

Pandit Nehru said:

"Our plan is that we will let Jinnah create Pakistan at this time and then
create such conditions through economic or other means that the Muslims
will be forced to kneel down and beg us to include them in India again."

With such statements, the Hindus tried to create disappointment and ill-
will in the hearts of the Muslims, but the Pakistani nation did not lose
heart and under the guidance of its great leader, it became engaged in
the construction of the homeland.

9- Transfer of government employees to Pakistan:

After the partition of India, all the Hindus of Punjab, NWFP and Sindh were
elected It was a difficult task, so the British were forced to retain some
important civil and military positions. Transferring Muslim government
employees from India to Pakistan was also a big problem for the
government. Special trains were run for this purpose. But the Hindus and
Sikhs, they attacked these vehicles and started the massacre of Muslims.
Indian airlines refused to rent planes. In these circumstances, Pakistan
acquired forty planes from the British government, which worked to
transport a large number of government employees to Pakistan. In fact,
the aim of the Indian government was that in the absence of trained
officers, business and the government would be ruined and ruined.

10- Economic difficulties:

Before the partition, there were about 400 textile factories in India, out of
which only fourteen came to Pakistan. Cotton was produced in East
Bengal, but all its factories were in West Bengal. There were also large
reserves of iron ore and other minerals in India. All the major ports came
to India, only the ports of Karachi and Chittagong went to Pakistan. It
seemed that an attempt had been made to destroy Pakistan economically
under a well-thought-out conspiracy.

11 - Geographical difficulties:

At the time of partition, Pakistan consisted of two parts, West Pakistan and
East Pakistan, separated by 1750 km of Indian territory. Apart from the
common bond of Islam, there were great differences in the conditions of
the people of both parts. Their ways of life, culture, languages and scripts
were different. For the enemy, the distance between the two states and
the presence of foreign territory made the problem of defense very
complicated.

12 – Problem of Pakhtunistan:

The people of the border were to decide through a referendum whether


they wanted to join Pakistan or India. The border Gandhi Khan Abdul
Ghaffar Khan tried his best to bring the referendum in favour of India, but
the brave people of the border decided in favour of Pakistan.
Disappointed, they abandoned the idea of an independent state
"Pakhtunistan" along with Afghanistan.

13 - Early death of Quaid-e-Azam:


Quaid-e-Azam was a great visionary and selfless national leader. He
brought the nation out of many crises thanks to his political strategy. But
Pakistan had not yet fully stood on its feet when Quaid-e-Azam became
dear to Allah on September 11, 1948. After Quaid-e-Azam, Liaquat Ali
Khan gave great encouragement to the nation, but he was also martyred
under a conspiracy.

Common questions

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India's control over crucial headworks of the Ravi and Sutlej rivers allowed it to block water flows, threatening Pakistan's agriculture dependent on these water sources, especially highlighted during the wheat harvest of April 1948. India's subsequent actions, like deciding unilaterally to build dams, exacerbated tensions. The Indus Waters Treaty of 1960, facilitated by the World Bank, ultimately allocated control and rights to different rivers, reducing water conflicts to some extent .

The Radcliffe Award played a significant role in territorial disputes between India and Pakistan by making contentious decisions that favored India regarding the allocation of specific areas. It assigned key Muslim-majority areas such as Gurdaspur, Pathankot, and Batala to India, facilitating India's access to Kashmir. This unjust decision contributed directly to the Kashmir dispute, a focal point for multiple Indo-Pakistani wars. Despite Quaid-e-Azam's dissatisfaction with the award, he felt compelled to accept it due to his oath of upholding its decisions .

The partition embittered Indo-Pakistani relations as India perceived Pakistan as an unstable temporary entity. Statements from Indian leaders indicated a desire to see Pakistan reunite with India through economic leverage or provocations. This fundamental lack of acceptance fueled distrust, hostility, and continued conflict over territorial and political issues like Kashmir, economic disputes over assets, and control over shared water resources, embedding deep-seated animosity between the two states .

Pakistan's initial administrative challenges included a severe shortage of experienced staff and resources, as most skilled personnel were Hindus who vacated their positions and took vital equipment, often destroying records. This caused many offices to operate under open skies, highlighting the drastic lack of infrastructure. Despite these issues, the determination of the Pakistani people enabled the gradual overcoming of such early administrative hurdles .

The influx of over 12.5 million refugees posed a grave challenge to Pakistan’s economy and social structure. The arrival of destitute and orphaned refugees placed an immense burden on the nascent state's resources. India is described as having plotted this situation in an effort to destabilize Pakistan's economy. The government managed to provide temporary shelter in camps, but the massive scale of displacement and resource allocation strained Pakistan's limited economic capacity .

The geographic division of East and West Pakistan, separated by 1,750 km of Indian territory, posed significant challenges to political and defense strategies. The two regions differed considerably in culture, language, and economic conditions, which complicated centralized governance and defense coordination. This division also made responding to defense threats across the vast and separated territories expensive and logistically challenging .

Pakistan's initial economic stability was significantly compromised by the unfair distribution of assets, as India delayed and conditioned the release of financial dues to Pakistan. Out of the four billion rupees in the Reserve Bank of India, Pakistan struggled to receive its rightful share, severely straining the country's finances. The partial and delayed fulfillment of financial transfers hindered Pakistan’s ability to stabilize its economy and meet the sudden, enormous need for reconstruction and refugee resettlement efforts .

Post-independence, Pakistan faced significant economic challenges, including a mere 14 out of about 400 textile factories from unified India, despite being a major cotton producer. Additionally, critical resources such as major ports were located in India, with only Karachi and Chittagong belonging to Pakistan. The geographic division compounded economic difficulties, creating challenges in resource distribution and industrial development within Pakistan's separated territories .

Quaid-e-Azam's early death in 1948 deprived Pakistan of a visionary and unifying leader during its formative years, critically impacting political stability and direction. His absence left a leadership vacuum that his successor, Liaquat Ali Khan, struggled to fill before his assassination, complicating governance amidst internal and external pressures. This leadership instability likely delayed resolution of critical issues and development initiatives needed to stabilize the nascent state .

The delay in establishing Pakistan’s constitution was due to the Constituent Assembly's lack of consensus on adopting an Islamic constitution, and the members being elected under parameters that did not prioritize Islamic governance. Additionally, many members possessed a negative attitude towards implementing such a constitution. Consequently, the Government of India Act 1935 had to be modified and used as a provisional legal framework, contributing heavily to delays and complications in constitutional progress .

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