The Ayub Khan Regime

The reason that I wrote this research paper was because I was curious about what actually
happened in Ayub Khans era. All we are ever told is that he was the first person to impose
martial law and throw the country in a state of mayhem. So, I thought that this cant be true. No
matter how bad a ruler is there are some positive points to his era. Therefore, I thought that I
would write both negative and positive points, the shortcomings and achievements in an article.

Introduction:
General Ayub Khan was born on May 14, 1907 in Rehana village. He studied at Aligarh Muslim
University and joined the British Colonial powers in 1926. He fought in World War II as a
British Commissioned Officer. Came to Pakistan and attained the rank of Brigadier General in
1947. He also became the armys first Commander-in-Chief in 1950. After the overhaul by the
army in 1958, they appointed General Ayub Khan as the Chief Martial Law Administrator and he
declared himself as President.

Economic Condition and Policies Implemented:

Before the start of Ayub Khans era the country was in disarray and the economic condition was
very poor. There were no economic policies after the death of Quaid-e-Azam. There was no
economic weapon to fight the battle of Pakistans recovery.

After the policies implemented by Ayub Khan the growth rate increased to 6.25% the highest in
the history of Pakistan. The situation became better by encouraging the private sector to invest in
Pakistan. They established medium and small-scale industries. He paid more attention to rapid
industrialization. This would cause a rapid increase in the economic graph. Hence the profits
gained by this industrialization would be passed on to the poor.

He also implemented the five year plans. His plan was to achieve economic stability and to make
Pakistan strong in the eyes of the world and to reduce the amount of aid given to Pakistan. As a
result, the agricultural and industrial capacity of Pakistan would grow. During the year 1959-60
the flow of international resources was huge and many previous polices were removed. During
the Second Five Year Plan (1960-65) the profit gained was Rs. 2.80 Billions. The policies that
were focused on were increasing the national income by 20%. The plan assumed the increase in
population by 1.6% at the end of 1960 and 1.8% at the end of 1965. Around 2.5 million people
were expected to enter the labor market during the course of the Second Plan. The level of the
education was expected to increase and advanced courses were to be taught in school. The size of
the plan was estimated at Rs. 1,900 million. Of this Rs. 9,750 million was to be invested in the
public sector, Rs. 3,250 million was to be invested in the semi-public sector and Rs. 600 million
in the private sector. The bank credit in both the private sector and the public sector increased to
Rs. 1.62 Billions and 4.77 Billions. These steps were aimed at increasing the per capita income,
better agricultural facilities and better performance by both the private and public sector. For the
first time the word semi-public was used. These were the sectors that took loans from
government banks and sometimes private as well. The proposed expenditure of the Second Five
Year Plan was 70% larger than the First. However, the true difference was 50% as the
expenditure was larger than when the first plan was implemented. The Ayub Khan era was
generally known as Decade of Development. The one and major problem with the economic
reforms of Ayub Khan was that the finance of the whole country was being handled by 22
families who were in at that time. People were against this as it would promote those families to
see their own gain and forget about the masses.

Agricultural Reforms:
Ayub Khan also introduced reforms in the field of Agricultural to increase its productivity. There
were two parts to this reforms, land reforms and green revolution. The following are a few points
on the land reforms. According to the reforms no more than 500 acres of irrigated land, no more
than 1000 acres of un-irrigated land or 36000 Produce Index Units was allowed. Pools of water
were also created allowing for the flow of water. The tenants were also protected against
landlords and land mafia. The concept of jagirs was abolished and land was equally divided
amongst the people. A compensation of Rs. 5 / acre were paid to land owners from whom the
land was taken. The land in excess was confiscated by the govt. and redistributed among the
landless farmers. Landowners were forced to find tenants, hence the small farms were run more
efficiently than large farms. The tenants were given tractors and harvesters on easy installments.
Also, the use of fertilizers was encouraged for increased productivity. The rural infrastructure
was increased to improve the overall availability of irrigation water and the amount of cultivated
land. Three major dams were also built. Agriculture Development Bank was setup. Farmers were
given interest free loans.