1951 in Pakistan

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1951 in Pakistan
««« 1950 1949 1948 1947 1946	1951 in Pakistan	»»» 1952 1953 1954 1955 1956
Decades: 1940s • 1950s • 1960s • 1970s Centuries: 19th • 20th • 21st See also: Other events of 1951 List of years in Pakistan

Events

January

First Native General

• January 17. General Ayub Khan, who replaces General Gracey as commander-in-chief today is the first non-British military chief of the army.

February

February, Lahore. Jigar Muradabadi is in town again. The immense popularity of mushairas seems to be a feature of our cultural life that has remained untouched by the upheaval of 1947. Poets who can sing their ghazals usually gain more populairty since Iqbal introduced singing in mushairas at the end of the last century. Women poets are still not very common, but the young and beautiful Zehra Nigah, who made her debut a few years ago, is a noticeable exception.

Census 1951

• February 28, First population census since Independence, which began February 9 with GG Nazimuddin’s family, completes today.

Demography 1951 General population East Pakistan: 4,42,63,000(55.6%) West Pakistan: 3,37,79,000 (44.4%) Total: 7,58,42,000 Literacy rate: 13.8% Muslims: 85.9% Upper caste Hindus: 5.7% Lower caste Hindus: 7.2% Christians: 0.6% Other religions: 0.5%

Quota system for government jobs East Pakistan 40% Punjab 23% Sindh & Balochistan 9% NWFP 6% Karachi 2% Merit 20%

March

• Marh 9 Lahore. Prime Minister Liaquat Ali Khan has revealed a conspiracy against democracy in Pakistan. The conspiracy was aimed at creating anarchy and destroying solidarity of the army in a bid to install a socialist dictatorship. He demands support from the people although full details of the conspiracy cannot be revealed at the moment.

Maj. Gen Akbar Khan & Brig. M.A. Lateef , accused, have been dismissed. More imprisonments are likely to follow. The inquiries are being carried out under special supervision of Gen. Ayub Khan and Defence Secretary Iskander Mirza.

• The Rawalpindi conspiracy, an attempted coup d'état initiated by Major General Akbar Khan against the government of Liaquat Ali Khan, is exposed.

• Mar 25 Following Chief Court acquittal from corruption charges, Ayub Khuro gets Sindh Cabinet dissolved, for the 7th time since Independence, to become CM once again

• Mar 10-Mar20

Punjab provincial assembly Elections. Serious rigging by PML suspected

• Mar 19-Apr 16 Constituent Assembly sessions (22 sittings)

April

• April 5 Muslim League leader Mumtaz Daultana takes oath as Chief Minister, Punjab, amid allegations of rigging. Iftikhar Mamdot leads the opposition.
• April 9. Hashim Khan emerges as world champion by winning British Squash Open Championship by defeating Mahmoodul Karim (Egypt).
• April 29 Chan Way, released today is the first Pakistani film to be directed by a woman, Madam Noor Jahan; starring her along with Santosh Kumar, Jahangir, Ghulam Muhammad; produced by her husband Shaukat Hussain Rizvi for their own Shahnur Films; music by Feroz Nizami (his 2nd undertaking); script Imtiaz Ali Taj.

June

• Jun Defense expenditure lowers down to 52% (as compared with 60% last year) of the total, although the absolute defense expenditure continues to rise.

• June 15 The accused of Rawalpindi Conspiracy Case, the first bid in Pakistan to thwart democracy and install a dictatorship, were put on trial today inside Hyderabad Jail. They include Maj. Gen. Akbar Khan, Begum Naseem Akbar Khan, Maj. Ishaque, Faiz Ahmad Faiz (editor Pakistan Times), Syed Sajjad Zaheer (Secretary, Communist Party of Pakistan) and others.

A. K. Brohi and his colleagues plead guilty for the accused who are being defended by Husain Shaheed Suhrawardy before tribunal headed by Justice Abdur Rahman from the Federal Court

July

• Jul 16 PM inaugurates new building of Karachi radio station on M.A.Jinnah Rd
• July 27 Addressing a Defence Day procession led by the Pakistan Muslim League outside his Karachi residence, the Prime Minister Liaquat waved his fist as a symbolic reply to India over the Kashmir issue.

September

• September 15. Following the findings of mathematician Prof. Mahmood Anwar, Pakistan standard time from Oct 1 will drop 30 min from Indian standard time, which had been followed so far

Fatima Jinnah's speech censored 

• September 11. Fatima Jinnah’s broadcast speech on the 2nd death anniversary of the Quaid-i-Azam was censored.

Two passages, criticizing the Liaquat Govt for not being able to take effective measures on the issue of Kashmir, are censored by Z.A.Bukhari, the Controller of Broadcasting, in view of the already widespread anxiety over the issue.

• September 24. In view of public outcry against censorship, Miss Jinnah’s original speech was re-broadcast today on directive from the Ministry of Information.

October

• Oct 10 Natural gas discovered at Sui (Bugti, Balochistan)

• October 16, Rawalpindi. Liaquat Ali Khan was shot dead today by one Said Akber, only moments after he rose to address a huge public meeting at Company Bagh, Rawalpindi.

Following the radio broadcast of the news, all public and commercial activities are shut down, as the nation prepares to mourn the death of its first PM.

Assassin Said Akbar, killed on the spot. Some observers are concerned about the identity of those who might really have backed Said Akber (seen dead here), who was killed by the 'angry crowd' just after he had fired the bullets. Anxieties also lurk about the contents of the PM's last speech which he could never deliver, and which has not been released to the press.

• October 17. Governor-General Khwaja Nazimuddin has assumed the responsibilities of premiership, hence holding the dual offices of the Governor-General and Prime Minister - an unusual situation in parliamentary practice.

Addressing the nation, he has declared: "The Cabinet has today given me the onerous responsibility of being Pakistan's Prime Minister." This, again is an unusual statement: a Cabinet remains in office only in the presence of the Prime Minister who had chosen it, and hence the so-called cabinet whom Nazimuddin is referring to may be, in fact, no cabinet at all.

New Government takes over

Finance Minister Malik Ghulam Muhammad has stepped in to replace Nazimuddin as the new Governor-General. He will be sworn in soon, after the formal approval by His Majesty George VI. Veteran civil servant, Secretary General of Pakistan Chaudhri Mohammad Ali will replace Ghulam Muhammad as Finance Minister. Nobody has been chosen as the new Secretary General.

No matter what his limitations, Liaquat Ali Khan was a widely respected politician with a popular following. The new government seems to be lacking in that. The promotion of Malik Ghulam Muhammad to the position of Governor-General is rather steep, but it is not the only curiosity offered by the shady new set-up.

Likewise, the abrupt resignation of Secretary General Chaudhri Muhammad Ali from the senior most position in the bureacracy, merely to rush for a position in the cabinet with no previous experience of politics is also without a precedent.

• Oct 24 Entire central cabinet swears in again, with the exception of the Prime Minister; Chaudri Mohammad Ali and Sirdar Nishter included on nomination by Nazimuddin

November

• Nov 8 The National Bank Ordinance passed to launch a commercial bank for extending loans to jute and cotton traders

Azad Pakistan Party

• November 10. Mian Iftikharuddin the progressive politician has launched the leftist Azad Pakistan Party along with other like-minded PML dissidents from the West Punjab.

• Nov 15- 23 Constituent Assembly sessions (7 sittings)

December

• Dec 6 UN GA elects Pakistan non-permanet member of SC

• Dec 28 Wah Cantt. Paksitan Ordinance Factory inaugurated by PM Nazimuddin

• Dec 29 GG Ghulam Muhammad dissolves Sindh Assembly, which had failed to resolve the crisis beginning with CM Khuro’s resignation on Dec 18

Two Year Plan

A thorough review of the Six-Year Plan devised last year has resulted in a Two-Year Priority Program costing Rs 500 million. As compared to the original Six-Year Plan, the emphasis has considerably shifted to industry and mining, which has now been allocated 48% (raised from 19% in the original plan), 25% on transport and communications, 25% on fuel and power and leaves a very small amount for agriculture.

October

• 16 October, Prime Minister of Pakistan Liaquat Ali Khan was assassinated in Rawalpindi, Punjab.
• 17 October, the Governor-General of Pakistan, Khawaja Nazimuddin became the second Prime Minister of Pakistan.

See also

• 1950 in Pakistan
• Other events of 1951
• 1952 in Pakistan
• Timeline of Pakistani history

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