The nature of the state in Pakistan (1947-1970), Part-2

Summary

The transcript delves into the political and economic evolution of Pakistan, emphasizing its alliance with the U.S. during the Cold War, the impact of foreign aid, and the overdeveloped state led by military and bureaucracy. It contrasts Pakistan’s capitalist development with India's socialist efforts and highlights the inequalities that emerged, particularly between East and West Pakistan. The speaker discusses the military's dominance, the suppression of democracy, and the rise of a wealthy elite class, ultimately leading to the Bengali independence movement and the fall of Pakistan's centralized power.

Takeaways

• 💼 Pakistan's state structure was shaped by a structural imperative to develop capitalism, heavily influenced by the U.S.
• 🇮🇳 In contrast, India's approach to capitalism incorporated socialist reforms, and it didn't follow the U.S. model as aggressively as Pakistan.
• 🛑 During the Cold War, some nations pursued independent development strategies, but Pakistan aligned closely with the U.S.
• 💰 U.S. foreign aid played a massive role in Pakistan's economic planning, especially during the Second Five-Year Plan (1955-1965).
• 🔫 The military and bureaucracy became dominant in Pakistan after the failure of democratic experiments, especially post-1958 when Ayub Khan imposed martial law.
• 👨‍👩‍👧‍👦 Pakistan saw a rise of capitalist elites, including the '22 families,' and the Green Revolution created a wealthy peasant class in West Pakistan.
• 📉 Capitalist development widened inequality, impoverishing many, particularly in East Pakistan, and led to regional disparities.
• 📢 The state used Islamic solidarity and Muslim nationalism as tools to suppress dissent and maintain control.
• ⚔️ The 1971 Bangladesh independence movement was partly driven by economic and political marginalization of Bengalis in Pakistan.
• 💣 The military's violent response to the independence movement, including genocide, highlighted the unresolved contradictions within the Pakistani state.

Q & A

What is meant by the 'overdeveloped state' in Pakistan?

The 'overdeveloped state' in Pakistan refers to a situation where the state's structures, particularly the military and bureaucracy, are disproportionately powerful and heavily involved in economic development. This creates a state mandate to develop capitalism, influenced strongly by external forces such as the U.S.

How did Pakistan's alignment with the U.S. influence its economic development?

Pakistan's close alliance with the U.S., especially during the Cold War, led to significant U.S. foreign aid, which was pivotal in Pakistan's development plans, particularly during its second Five-Year Plan (1955-1965). The U.S. played a strong role in shaping Pakistan's capitalist development.

What was the non-aligned movement, and how did it contrast with Pakistan's approach?

The non-aligned movement was formed by countries that did not want to align with either the U.S. or the Soviet Union during the Cold War. In contrast, Pakistan chose to align itself firmly with the U.S., seeking economic and military support, rather than pursuing an independent development strategy like some other countries.

How did democracy in Pakistan flounder in the 1950s?

After the assassination of Prime Minister Liaquat Ali Khan in 1951, Pakistan's attempts at democracy struggled. A series of unstable governments followed, with multiple prime ministers removed or replaced, leading to political instability. By 1958, the military imposed martial law, ending democratic governance.

What role did the military and bureaucracy play in Pakistan's governance after 1958?

After martial law was imposed in 1958, the military, supported by the bureaucracy, took control of Pakistan's governance. They ruled directly, sidelining any semblance of democratic processes, and focused on capitalist industrial development.

What was the 'Green Revolution' and how did it affect Pakistan?

The 'Green Revolution' in Pakistan, particularly in West Pakistan, introduced agricultural reforms that created a new rich peasant class. However, it also widened the economic disparity, with poorer peasants suffering. This new wealthy class became supportive of the military and bureaucracy.

What were the economic disparities between East and West Pakistan?

There were significant economic disparities between East and West Pakistan. Surplus resources were extracted from East Pakistan to support the development of West Pakistan, leading to increased impoverishment in the East. Workers in both regions faced declining real wages, but East Pakistanis experienced more severe exploitation.

How did Islamic ideology play a role in Pakistan's state control?

The state used Islamic ideology and Muslim nationalism to maintain control, asserting that any opposition to the government was akin to being anti-Islamic. This ideology was employed to suppress dissent and maintain the status quo, particularly in the face of economic and political inequality.

What led to the independence of Bangladesh in 1971?

The contradictions between the exploitation of East Pakistan (now Bangladesh) by West Pakistan, along with economic disparity, political marginalization, and cultural suppression, led to an irreconcilable conflict. When West Pakistan refused to accommodate the demands of East Pakistan's political leaders, the situation escalated into a war, ultimately resulting in Bangladesh's independence.

What was the significance of the 1971 genocide in East Pakistan?

The genocide in East Pakistan was the military's last attempt to maintain control over the region, despite the growing movement for independence. The brutality of the military crackdown further fueled the independence movement, and the failure of the military to maintain control led to the creation of Bangladesh.

Outlines

00:00

📜 Pakistan's Structural Imperative to Develop Capitalism

The first paragraph describes Pakistan's alignment with the U.S. during the Cold War and its structural commitment to developing capitalism, as opposed to India's approach, which had socialist tendencies. Pakistan's alliance with the U.S. led to significant foreign aid, especially in its five-year economic plans. This partnership deeply entrenched Pakistan in the U.S. orbit, and the U.S. was even prepared to intervene militarily in Pakistan's favor during the Bangladesh war. The civilian government initially attempted to establish democratic principles, but political instability and the assassination of leaders such as Liaquat Ali Khan led to the increasing involvement of the military and bureaucracy in governance.

05:01

💥 The Rise of Martial Law and the Military Bureaucratic Rule

This paragraph details Pakistan's move towards military rule, highlighting key political events such as the failure of civilian governments and the rise of military leader Ayub Khan in 1958. The military, in collaboration with the bureaucracy, ruled Pakistan directly, sidelining democracy. During this period, capitalist development continued, including the Green Revolution, which created a wealthy class of peasants in West Pakistan. The establishment of 'Basic Democracy' was used to subvert genuine democratic processes, and regional disparities grew between East and West Pakistan, contributing to social and economic inequalities.

10:06

⚖️ Capitalist Development and Its Discontents in East and West Pakistan

The third paragraph focuses on the growing contradictions within Pakistan due to capitalist development. While West Pakistan saw the rise of a wealthy capitalist and peasant class, East Pakistan experienced increasing impoverishment. The exploitation of East Pakistan by West Pakistan created significant regional disparities, with real wages declining for workers and the petty bourgeoisie being blocked from advancing in government or private sector positions. The use of Islamic ideology by the state further alienated Bengalis, leading to mounting tensions that could not be resolved within the framework of Pakistan, particularly regarding linguistic and cultural identity.

15:10

🇧🇩 The Final Break: Genocide and Independence for Bangladesh

This final paragraph explores the culmination of Pakistan's internal contradictions, which led to the genocide in East Pakistan as the military sought to maintain its power. The military’s actions represented a last-ditch effort to prevent the dissolution of Pakistan. However, these antagonistic contradictions ultimately led to the breakup of the country and the creation of Bangladesh. The paragraph reflects on the struggle for independence and the inability of Pakistan to accommodate Bengali aspirations, making it impossible for the region to thrive under the old state structure.

Keywords

💡Overdeveloped State

The 'overdeveloped state' refers to the idea that Pakistan's state apparatus, especially the military and bureaucracy, grew beyond the needs of the society it governed, making it highly interventionist. In the script, this is presented as a structural issue where the state’s primary goal became to foster capitalist development, heavily influenced by external forces like the United States.

💡Capitalism

Capitalism is the economic system where trade and industry are controlled by private owners for profit. In the context of the video, Pakistan's development was aimed at promoting capitalist growth, particularly modeled after the U.S., leading to the rise of wealthy elites and deepening economic inequality.

💡Cold War

The Cold War was the period of geopolitical tension between the United States and the Soviet Union and their respective allies. Pakistan aligned itself with the U.S. during this period, which significantly influenced its economic and political trajectory, including receiving substantial foreign aid for its development plans.

💡Non-Aligned Movement

The Non-Aligned Movement was a group of states that sought to remain independent from the influence of both the U.S. and the Soviet Union during the Cold War. While many countries chose this path, Pakistan firmly aligned with the U.S., which shaped its political alliances and development strategies.

💡Military-Bureaucratic State

This term describes a form of governance where the military and bureaucracy dominate the political system, sidelining democratic processes. In Pakistan, especially after 1958, the military became the dominant force in governance, directly ruling the country and controlling its development policies.

💡Green Revolution

The Green Revolution refers to a series of agricultural reforms that increased food production through modern techniques. In Pakistan, this mainly benefitted West Pakistan by creating a wealthy peasant class, while exacerbating rural poverty, particularly in East Pakistan.

💡Islamic Solidarity

Islamic solidarity was used by the Pakistani state as a political ideology to justify its actions and suppress dissent. The government framed criticism of the state as being anti-Islam, using religious nationalism to maintain control, especially over regions like East Pakistan.

💡East Pakistan

East Pakistan, now Bangladesh, was the eastern part of Pakistan until its independence in 1971. The script highlights the economic and political exploitation of East Pakistan by West Pakistan, leading to widespread dissatisfaction and eventually the independence movement.

💡22 Families

The term '22 families' refers to the small group of wealthy elites in Pakistan who dominated the country’s economy during the early years of its development. These families benefitted from capitalist policies, while the majority of the population, particularly in rural areas, faced increasing poverty.

💡Six-Point Plan

The Six-Point Plan was a proposal by Sheikh Mujibur Rahman, a leader from East Pakistan, aimed at granting autonomy to the region within Pakistan. The refusal to implement this plan deepened the divide between East and West Pakistan, eventually leading to the Bangladesh Liberation War and the independence of East Pakistan.

Highlights

The overdeveloped state of Pakistan had a structural imperative to develop capitalism, influenced strongly by the United States.

In contrast, India's capitalist development was different, with socialist elements introduced into the economy.

During the 1950s and 1960s, the US played a crucial role in Pakistan's economic planning, providing massive foreign aid, which accounted for 50% of the funding for Pakistan's second five-year plan (1955-1965).

Pakistan chose to align itself firmly with the US during the Cold War, while some other nations pursued independent development strategies.

The military and bureaucracy in Pakistan increasingly took control, leading to martial law in 1958 under Ayub Khan, marking the failure of initial democratic attempts.

From 1958 to 1971, Pakistan saw no democracy as the military-bureaucratic state controlled the government, promoting capitalist industrial development.

The Green Revolution in West Pakistan led to the creation of a rich peasant class, further supporting the military and the state while impoverishing the poorer peasants.

Pakistan's government used the ideology of Islamic solidarity and Muslim nationalism to maintain control and suppress dissent, claiming opposition was anti-Islamic.

East Pakistanis were severely underrepresented in the military, holding only 1.5% of officer positions and 8.6% in the air force, reflecting regional disparities.

The rise of capitalism in Pakistan increased poverty among rural peasants and widened the gap between the wealthy capitalist class and the impoverished majority.

Bengali workers in East Pakistan faced wage declines, while non-Bengali factory owners profited, exacerbating economic inequality.

The Islamic ideology propagated by the Pakistan state also attacked Bengali linguistic and cultural heritage, deepening the resentment among East Pakistanis.

The contradictions between capitalist development and the economic exploitation of East Pakistan could not be resolved within the framework of Pakistan.

The military's response to the growing tensions was the 1971 genocide in East Pakistan, which was a final attempt to maintain control over the region.

These unresolved contradictions ultimately led to the breakup of Pakistan and the independence of Bangladesh, which could not have achieved true freedom under Pakistan's rule.

Transcripts

all right

so we already described

the overdeveloped state in pakistan

that had us structural imperative

i say structural because the structure

of the

state is such that it this is its

mandate

structural imperative to develop

capitalism

that's the state in pakistan

now because the whole purpose the whole

mission is to develop capitalism in

india it was very different

of course it was capitalist but it

wasn't quite

the same with the same fervor it wasn't

following the us example of capitalism

they also was a socialist

and he tried to bring in some socialist

reforms within the economy

so for pakistan the u.s played an

extremely strong role

in fact 1950s and 60s was

the height of the cold war you've heard

of the cold war

basically where the world was divided up

between

the united states and between soviet

union

and their allies but

behind that a lot of countries said

we don't belong we don't want to be part

of the soviet camp we don't want to be

part of the

united states camp what we want to do

is have an independent development

strategy

and that is how the non-aligned

movement started we are not aligned

to the soviet union or to the united

states

and non-aligned leaders

indonesia a lot of leaders that wanted

their own national park to development

didn't want to be part of the us or the

soviet

the pakistan decided no

pakistan said we want to be firmly

entrenched in the u.s orbit

remember in the last class when we were

talking about economics

economic systems and pakistan's economic

planning

we talked about how strongly the u.s

influenced it

and because of that because pakistan

being a part of

the u.s work the u.s sent

massive aid to pakistan

foreign aid accounted for in the second

five-year plan

55 to 65

mistaken uh fifty percent of the foreign

aid

a rather uh foreign aid and primary u.s

foreign

accounted for fifty percent of all the

funding for the five year plans

and as we said last time the hybrid

advisory group

led the planning for pakistan's

development so pakistan became fairly

entrenched

here i wanted to tell you something it

was because of that

close alliance not available the u.s

government

still felt strongly that because of

pakistan's alliance with them

they should be supporting pakistan until

the end

remember they were ready to send in the

seventh

fleet to fight in favor of pakistan to

save

pakistan army in bangladesh anyway

so far and it played up huge cold war

politics

played a huge role in

the development of the pakistan state

and in where pakistan's stood

this we discussed in the past just for

you to know

how the civilian government

so the state is their military

bureaucracy right

and initially they tried to work through

them through democratic principles

but seeing how democracy floundered

in pakistan

51 assassinated

interestingly the person

who shot ali khan was taken to the

police station and the police chief

he took out his gun and he shot him dead

so there was no

questioning or anything and the plane

taking all the papers

to be investigated that plane suddenly

blew up

there was nothing there to follow up on

[Music]

killing assassination do you have that

starting from there wrong

it says look 51 khaja najib zazi wadeen

becomes prime minister 53

uh despises prime minister khanjang

54 first constituent assembly this

is resolved 55 second constitutional

assembly convened

55 another prime minister

generalist country means that

general new constitution somebody

becomes prime minister

several the potential removed as prime

minister

istanbul imposes martial law and then

finally

in 58 ayub han

becomes the martial administrator

and the president of pakistan so

initially the state was trying to create

some semblance of a democratic civilian

room

but just look at the results of that

it totally failed and ultimately then

the state

came into the forefront the military

came into the forefront and

introduced martial law and started

ruling directly

the military with aid of the bureaucracy

started ruling directly

there was no semblance of democracy

anymore

and what happened 58 onwards

the assault on democracy

you have continued promotion of

capitalist industrial development

remember we talked about that about 22

families and others

in the last class we talked about how

capitalist development took place

it was also a green revolution primarily

in west pakistan

where they created a rich peasant class

the poor person suffered

but the green revolution brought in

agricultural reforms

and created the new rich present class

who would then be supportive of the

military and the bureaucracy and the

state

and you have basic democracy which we

talked about in the past

and how basic democracy was a way to

subvert

democracy

so what we have from 58 to 71

is no democracy military bureaucrats

bureaucracy

completely ruling and that is what the

state

looked like in pakistan a military

bureaucratic stick there is this

because you'll have to understand in

1971

a big reason for our independence

movement that was that we wanted to get

out of that

but remember what happened in 1975

the military came back into power and

you'll have to ask yourself

was did we go back to a military

bureaucratic state

in 1975 away from

what the promise of the war of

independence was

anyway so in pakistan

military bureaucracy what do they end up

doing the new class formations

capitalist development 32 families green

revolution

wealthy class desert class in west

pakistan

and some not really wealthy but better

off peasant classes who supported

the muslim league at that time state

funding contracting giving rise to a

group of wealthy

urban people

industrialization created working class

and here the working class

that was created primarily in west

pakistan and to some extent in east

pakistan regional

disparity that emerged it was

income inequality also because

working class people in both east and

west pakistan

earned in real wages earned less and

less

present popularization in east pakistan

surplus was extracted from

east pakistan to provide to west

pakistanis and

for capital formation and so you have

increasing importance so once again

capitalist development extremely wealthy

capitalist class

some rich middle class

but for the great majority of the people

it was increasing

impoverishment and to maintain this

the ideology that the state used

was islamic solidarity and muslim

nationalism

do not speak against our state because

our state is an islamic state

and if we say anything against the state

then you must be

anti-islam this was the logic

that they used this was the ideology

that they used

in addition we talked about this in a

couple of classes earlier

there was a general consideration in

west pakistan

that has started with the english the

bengals were weak

we were lazy we were inferior and in

addition

we were less muslim than they were

because we were far closer to the

hillbills

all right so

we'll have far more discussions further

discussions on this

when we meet in our small discussions

groups in class but just a couple of

things

when we talk about the military

bureaucracy we already talked about the

bureaucracy in last classes

but just to give you another idea

another little

uh matrix on the representation in the

army

see for the most part army

east pakistanis terms of total

percentage of officers only 1.5

maybe only 1.2 their force a little

better

but only 8.6 these pakistanis

were not in the military at all that's

another good indication

so because of all this the development

of capitalism

there were real contradictions that

emerged

contradictions that could not be

resolved

within the framework of pakistan anymore

the rise of capitalism

in pakistan led to

increased poverty amongst the rural

presence cannot be reconciled

if you're getting capitalists more and

more money

peasantry will become poorer and poorer

there's no way out of that

declining way we real wages for

working class and especially

in east pakistan if

the non-bengali factory owners are going

to make more and more profits

then the bengali workers will get less

and less

for bengali petty bourgeois

people the pretty bourgeoisie people in

government employment

in private sector higher echelons of

these

were closed bengalis could not get into

higher levels of government employment

or even into top management positions in

the private sector

some did but very few so

that blocked us from any improvements

in addition the islamic ideology that

they were trying to propagate

and i'm not saying islamic ideology as

such but the islamic ideology that

pakistan was propagating

really lashed out at our linguistic

and cultural heritage so we too started

resenting that too it was an attack on

our

economy it was an attack on our

political participation it was attacked

on our

culture and so those were the

contradictions

that could not be resolved there was

very little way in which

and the pakistan army and the pakistan

realized that

there was little very little in the way

of accommodating bengalis according to

the six point plan

without giving up the power of the west

pakistanis

so either was pakistanis or the pakistan

state was in a conundrum do we hand over

power to mujeeb

and the rights of bengalis if we do

we can't be maintaining the exploitation

that we are doing

and if we can't maintain this

exploitation why do you be

why do we even want pakistan so what

they did was

they realized these contradictions and i

refer to that

as antagonistic contradictions

it could not be resolved within the

framework of pakistan

so if it could not be resolved within

the framework work of pakistan

what would happen if there were nice

people which there weren't and i'm not

talking about common people in

pakistan the common people of west

[Music]

could have handed pakistan power to us

but then again they

really couldn't so that is why

the military

answer the genocide in east pakistan

was their last attempt at holding on

to their power so these antagonistic

contradictions

led to the explosion

that destroyed pakistan and for us

finally

we were able to have our own independent

country

we could not and i'm not talking about

even independence as

a new country we could not

have been a country

or even a region with full freedom

if we had been part of pakistan so

[Music]

our fight for freedom that

could not be accommodated in the old

pakistan

state

a struggle for independence thank you

very much

let's have further discussions in class

[Music]

you