Ayub Khan’s blunders

On October 27, 1958, General M. Ayub Khan moved into the presidency, and thus the drama that started in April 1953, with the General appointed as the Defence Minister in uniform, came to its logical conclusion.

He stayed in power for over a decade, which is considered as the golden era of development in Pakistan. During that time, a number of significant developments with far-reaching consequences took place on the positive side. The foundations were laid for the country’s industrial sector, while the agricultural sector markedly improved. Friendship with China was initiated and nurtured during this period. Pakistan joined the American sponsored defence pacts SEATO and CENTO, and as a result a free-flow of economic aid and military hardware poured into the country improving its economic conditions and equipping its armed forces with modern and sophisticated weapons.

It was all very well, but Ayub had a lot to account for on the negative side. He committed many blunders, with disastrous and everlasting consequences from which the country suffered and will continue to suffer till eternity. Here are some of his misadventures.

Imposition of martial law: Ayub’s first misadventure was the imposition of the martial law in 1958 that derailed democracy and destroyed all its allied institutions that were beginning to take root. His assuming of power through a military coup encouraged military adventurers and showed the way for the use of military guns to grab power in the future.

The Indus Waters Treaty (1960): The point of reference here is the one-sided Indus Waters Treaty that he signed with Pundit Nehru when he visited Pakistan in September 1960, ceding to India the water of the three Punjab rivers just for a song. Whether it was his ignorance or lack of foresight, perhaps both, that these rivers on the Pakistan side have almost gone dry and millions of acres of once fertile land is now turning into a desert.

Jeopardised Pakistan’s security: Pakistan allowed the USA to establish a top secret base at Badaber, near Peshawar, and provided all the logistic€ support to operate the America’s spy plane U2 to fly over Russia to gather intelligence. Pakistan, thus, invited Khrushchev’s wrath when in anger he made a red circle around Peshawar that attracted worldwide attention.

Refused to start the nuclear programme: Bhutto arranged a meeting on December 11, 1965, in the Dorchester Hotel, London, between President Ayub Khan and Munir Ahmed Khan, the Pakistani nuclear scientist. In this meeting, Khan stressed to the President the need to acquire nuclear technology that would give the country a deterrent capability. He informed the Ayub that India and Israel were moving rapidly in this direction. Khan estimated that the cost of nuclear technology at that time was not more than $150 million. But Ayub refused to accept the scientist’s proposal and said: “Pakistan was too poor to spend so much money. Moreover, if we ever need the bomb, we will buy it off the shelf.”