Sindhupv at 19:38, 8 April 2026

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{{Short description|Mass uprising in Pakistan}}
{{Infobox civil conflict
| title = 1968–1969 Pakistani protests
| partof = [[Protests of 1968]]
| image = Mass uprising 1969 Dhaka University.jpg
| caption = A student procession at the [[University of Dhaka]] campus during the [[1969 East Pakistan mass uprising]], a part of the 1968–1969 revolution.
| date = 7 November 1968 – 23 March 1969<br/>({{Age in years, months, weeks and days|year1=1968|month1=11|day1=07|year2=1969|month2=03|day2=23}})<br />'''Aftermath:'''<br />23 March 1969–25 March 1969 (two days)
| place = {{flag|Pakistan}}
| coordinates =
| causes = *[[Authoritarianism]]
*[[Indo-Pakistani War of 1965]]
*[[Economic inequality|Inequality]]
*[[Left-wing populism]]
| goals = *[[Ayub Khan (general)|Ayub Khan]]'s resignation
*Withdrawal of [[Agartala Conspiracy Case]]
*[[Free election|Free & fair]] [[1970 Pakistani general election|general election]]
*[[Federalism]]
| methods = [[Occupation (protest)|Occupations]], [[Wildcat strike action|wildcat strike]]s, [[general strike]]s
| status =
| result = Ayub Khan resigned
| side1 = Students
*[[National Students Federation]]
Trade unions
* [[Trade unions in Pakistan]]
Political Parties
* [[Pakistan People's Party]]
* [[Awami League (Pakistan)|Awami League]]
| side2 = {{flagicon|Pakistan}} [[Cabinet of Pakistan|Government of Pakistan]]
*[[Pakistan Armed Forces]]
[[Convention Muslim League]]
| leadfigures1 = ''Non-centralized leadership''
| leadfigures2 = [[Ayub Khan]]
| leadfigures3 =
| howmany1 =
| howmany2 =
| howmany3 =
| casualties1 = 239 deaths
| casualties2 =
| casualties3 =
| injuries =
| fatalities =
| arrests =
| detentions =
| casualties_label =
| notes =
}}
{{Campaignbox Protests of 1968}}
'''The 1968-69 revolution''' in [[Pakistan]] was part of the protest against the [[Government of Pakistan|Government]] of [[President of Pakistan|President]] [[Ayub Khan (general)|Ayub Khan]]. It took the form of a mass uprising of students and workers, attracting people from every profession. The uprising took place from early November 1968, to the end of March 1969 with 10 to 15 million people participating.<ref>{{Cite book|title=The Duel: Pakistan on the Flight Path of American Power|last=Ali|first=Tariq|publisher=Simon & Schuster|year=2008|isbn=978-1-4165-6102-6}}</ref> The protests resulted in President [[Ayub Khan]] resigning from office.<ref>{{Cite news|url=https://www.dawn.com/news/743156|title=REVIEW: Pakistan's Other Story: The Revolution of 1968–1969 by Lal Khan|last=Authors|first=Dawn Books And|date=2012-08-18|work=DAWN.COM|access-date=2018-08-31|language=en-US}}</ref><ref>{{Cite news|url=http://www.struggle.pk/pakistans-other-story/|title=پاکستان کی اصل کہانی|work=The Struggle {{!}} طبقاتی جدوجہد|access-date=2018-09-21|language=en|archive-date=2018-12-26|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20181226144141/http://www.struggle.pk/pakistans-other-story/|url-status=dead}}</ref>

== Background ==
Since the nation's birth in 1947, Pakistan had been governed though bureaucracy. In 1958, in response to the unpopular rule of [[President of Pakistan|President]] [[Iskander Mirza]], the [[The Establishment (Pakistan)|Pakistani Establishment]] decided led by the 1st [[Commander-in-Chief of the Pakistan Army]] [[Field Marshal Ayub Khan]]. Under his rule, the country's economy grew at an average yearly rate of more than 5%.<ref name="Woods 2018">{{Cite web|url=https://www.marxist.com/introduction-pakistans-other-story-1968-69-revolution.htm|title=Pakistan's Other Story: 1. Introduction|last=Woods|first=Alan|website=www.marxist.com|date=19 November 2008 |language=en-gb|access-date=2018-08-31}}</ref> However, due to uneven economic growth, Pakistan became a country with extreme wealth inequality. Ayub Khan's policies nourished the capitalist class, whose fortunes amassed, but it oppressed ordinary people with increasing material poverty, as well as intellectual poverty due to rigorous political and cultural censorship.<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://marxistleftreview.org/index.php/no-12-winter-2016/132-the-1968-9-pakistan-revolution-a-students-and-workers-popular-uprising|title=The 1968-9 Pakistan Revolution: a students' and workers' popular uprising|last=Bellingham|first=Justen|website=marxistleftreview.org|language=en-gb|access-date=2018-08-31}}</ref> On April 21, 1968, [[Mahbub ul Haq|Dr. Mahbub ul Haq]], then the Chief Economist of the Planning Commission, identified Pakistan's 22 richest families that controlled 66 percent of the industries and owned 87 percent shares in the country's banking and insurance industry.<ref>{{Cite news|url=https://www.dawn.com/news/279413|title=People who own greatest amount of wealth|last=Hussain|first=Dilawar|date=2007-12-09|work=DAWN.COM|access-date=2018-08-31|language=en-US}}</ref> Similarly, the Ayub regime implemented its own version of land reforms, under which a limit was imposed upon land holding. However, it failed miserably, and over 6,000 landowners exceeded his defined ceilings, owning 7.5 million acres of land.<ref>{{Cite news|url=https://www.dawn.com/news/1293604|title=What they never tell us about Ayub Khan's regime|last=Haider|first=Murtaza|date=2016-11-01|work=DAWN.COM|access-date=2018-08-31|language=en-US}}</ref> The average income in West Pakistan was a mere £35 per year; in East Pakistan, the figure was lower at £15.<ref name="Woods 2018" /> In 1965, [[Elections in Pakistan|presidential elections]] were held. These elections did not extend the franchise to all adults. A few thousand so-called elected representatives of local bodies elected the president. There were wide speculations of election interference which also led to opposition protests.<ref>{{Cite news|url=http://storyofpakistan.com/presidential-election#prettyPhoto|title=Presidential Election {{!}} Elections were held on January 2, 1965|date=2013-10-25|work=Story Of Pakistan|access-date=2018-08-31|language=en-US}}</ref> That same year, Pakistan went to war with [[India]]. The costs of the war put an end to economic growth and saw massive increase in [[Military budget|defence spending]]. Private investment growth in Pakistan saw a 20% decline in the following years.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.pakistantoday.com.pk/2015/09/05/the-flipside-of-the-1965-war/|title=The flipside of the 1965 war|website=www.pakistantoday.com.pk|language=en-GB|access-date=2018-08-31}}</ref>

== Movement '68 ==
In the early months of 1968, Ayub Khan celebrated what was called the "Decade of Development", but outraged citizens erupted in protest. In response to the "Decade of Development" in the early weeks of October 1968 the [[National Students Federation]], associated with the [[Maoism|Maoist]] faction of the [[Communist Party of Pakistan]], started holding "Demands Week" protests and a campaign to expose the growing divide between rich and poor. Demands Week started on 7 October 1968 and the first demonstration took place in front of the Board of Secondary Education in Karachi. The movement spread across the country when later in November a group of students from [[Rawalpindi]] were heading back from [[Landi Kotal]], and were stopped at customs checkpoints near [[Attock]]. They were aggressively searched by customs officials and charged with smuggling.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Raghavan |first=Srinath |url=https://archive.org/details/1971-a-global-history-of-the-creation-of-bangladesh |title=1971: A Global History of the Creation of Bangladesh |year=2013}}</ref> On returning to Rawalpindi, they staged a protest against their mishandling by police as result of their experience. Protests grew to a sizeable amount, resulting in the police trying to dismantle the protests and shots being fired.<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://www.thefridaytimes.com/tft/tribal-tales/|title=Tribal tales ‹ The Friday Times|website=www.thefridaytimes.com|language=en-US|access-date=2018-08-31}}</ref> A student of Rawalpindi Polytechnic College, Abdul Hameed, was shot dead. Already, outraged citizens were protesting against a rise in the price of sugar; the death of Hameed sparked the whole of society and many workers to join.<ref name="Pakistan Labor Party 2005">{{Cite journal|last=Pakistan Labor Party|first=Party|date=19 September 2005|title=Past, Present and Future of Left Movement in Pakistan|url=http://www.europe-solidaire.org/spip.php?page=spipdf&spipdf=spipdf_article&id_article=406&nom_fichier=ESSF_article-406|journal=Europe Solidaire Sans Frontières}}</ref> The activist and writer [[Tariq Ali]] narrated the incident in the following words; {{History of Pakistan}}<blockquote>Without any physical provocation the police, who were fully armed with rifles, batons, and tear-gas bombs, opened fire. One bullet hit Abdul Hamid, a first-year student aged seventeen, who died on the spot. Enraged, the students fought back with bricks and paving stones, and there were casualties on both sides.<ref>{{Cite book|title=Pakistan: Military Rule or People's Power|last=Ali|first=Tariq|publisher=William Morrow and Company|year=1970|isbn=978-0-224-61864-9}}</ref></blockquote>In February and March 1968, a wave of [[Strike action|strikes]] erupted in the country. On February 13, for the first time in ten years, the red flag was hauled up in [[Lahore]], as more than 25,000 rail workers marched along the main street chanting: "Solidarity with the Chinese people: Destroy capitalism." However, there was no mass Marxist party to provide leadership.<ref name="Woods 2018" /> In the industrial district of [[Lyallpur]], the district administration had to seek the permission of a local labor leader named [[Mukhtar Rana]] to secure the passage of trucks carrying supplies. All attempts at censorship failed. Trains carried word of the revolution and its messages across the country. Workers invented new methods of communication. It was the industrialisation, exploitation, and oppression widening the gulf between rich and poor which brought this change.<ref name="Pakistan Labor Party 2005" /> In an interview for the book, ''Pakistan's Other Story-The 1968–69 Revolution'', [[Munnu Bhai]] revealed some anecdotes from the upsurge. "At a public meeting in Ichra, [[Lahore]], [[Jamaat-e-Islami]] leader [[Abul A'la Maududi|Abul A'la Mawdudi]] held a piece of bread in his one hand and the Holy [[Quran|Koran]] in the other. He asked the crowd, 'Do you want roti (bread) or the Koran?' The people had replied, 'We have the Koran in our homes, but we don't have bread.' "<ref>{{Cite news|url=http://leadpakistan.com.pk/news/munnoo-bhai-a-friend-and-comrade/|title=Munnoo Bhai — a friend and comrade|date=2018-01-22|work=Daily Lead Pakistan|access-date=2018-08-31|language=en-US|archive-date=2018-12-26|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20181226144130/http://leadpakistan.com.pk/news/munnoo-bhai-a-friend-and-comrade/|url-status=dead}}</ref>

According to Mubashar Hasan's book, ''The crises of Pakistan and their solution'',<blockquote>"In this movement, a total of 239 people were killed, 196 in East Pakistan and 43 in West Pakistan. According to details police firing killed 41 in West Pakistan and 88 in East Pakistan. Most of them were students. In East Pakistan, they included Asad, Matiur, Anwar, Rostom, Dr. Shamsuzzoha and Sergeant Zahrul Huq".<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.marxist.com/pakistans-other-story-6.htm|title=Pakistan's Other Story: 6. Witness to Revolution – Veterans of the 1968–69 upheaval|last=Khan|first=Lal|website=www.marxist.com|date=22 May 2009 |language=en-gb|access-date=2018-08-31}}</ref></blockquote>By early 1969, peasant committees and organisations in the country's rural areas joined the movement. In March 1969, a group of senior military men advised Ayub to step down, fearing the eruption of a full-scale civil war in [[East Pakistan]] and the political and social [[anarchy]] in the country's [[West Pakistan|west wing]].<ref>{{Cite news|url=https://www.dawn.com/news/1128832|title=Exit stage left: the movement against Ayub Khan|last=InpaperMagazine|first=From|date=2014-08-31|work=DAWN.COM|access-date=2018-08-31|language=en-US}}</ref> Ayub Khan himself conceded that the movement had paralyzed the functioning of the state and society.<blockquote>"The civilian labor force in [[Port of Karachi|Karachi dockyards]] had struck and stopped work. No loading or unloading of ships was being done. In one case a ship went back empty as it could not be loaded with cotton. [[Abdul Hamid Khan Bhashani|Bhashani]] has been in Karachi and elsewhere spreading disaffection. Expectations were that the situation was likely to deteriorate".<ref>{{Cite book|title=Diaries of Field Marshal Mohammad Ayub Khan, 1966–1972|last=Khan|first=Ayub|publisher=Oxford|year=2008|pages=Sunday, 9 March 1969 p.305}}</ref></blockquote>

== Aftermath ==
On the 25th of March, Ayub Khan resigned as President of Pakistan and announced he was turning over the government of the nation to the Army Chief of Staff, General [[Yahya Khan]].<ref>{{Cite news|url=https://cdnc.ucr.edu/cgi-bin/cdnc?a=d&d=DS19690325.2.8|title=President of Pakistan Out, Army Chief In|last=UPI|date=25 March 1969|work=Desert Sun|access-date=30 August 2018}}</ref> Two days later, Ayub highlighted the reasons for his resignation in letter to Yahya in the following words;<blockquote>I am left with no option but to step aside and leave it to the Defence Forces of Pakistan, which today represent the only effective and legal instrument, to take full control of the country. They are by the grace of God in a position to retrieve the situation and to save the country from utter chaos and total destruction. They alone can restore sanity and put the country back on the road to progress in a civil and constitutional manner.<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://pakistanspace.tripod.com/archives/69ayub24.htm|title=ARCHIVES|website=pakistanspace.tripod.com|access-date=2018-08-31}}</ref></blockquote>The [[Police Service of Pakistan]] was unable to control the situation and [[Law and order in Pakistan|law and order]] began to deteriorate in the country, especially in the East where the most serious [[1969 uprising in East Pakistan|uprising and riots]] were quelled in 1969. Unrest became so serious that at one point, [[Interior Minister of Pakistan|Home]] and [[Defence Minister of Pakistan|Defence Minister]] Vice-Admiral Rahman told the journalists that the "country was under the mob rule and that police were not strong enough to tackle the situation.<ref>{{Cite book|title=Conflict, Crisis and War in Pakistan|last=Siddiqui|first=Kalim|publisher=Palgrave Macmillan UK|year=1972}}</ref>" According to the demands of the protesters, the [[One Unit Scheme|One Unit scheme]] was disbanded & the 4 provinces - [[Punjab, Pakistan|Punjab]], [[Sindh]], [[North-West Frontier Province|North West Frontier Province]] & [[Balochistan, Pakistan|Baluchistan]] were recreated out of West Pakistan. In the [[1970 Pakistani general election]], the [[Awami League (Pakistan)|Awami League]] won 98 percent of the allotted national and provincial assembly seats in East Pakistan, whereas in West Pakistan, the [[Pakistan People's Party]] swept the polls in the region's two largest provinces, Punjab and Sindh. The [[National Awami Party]] performed well in the former NWFP and [[Balochistan]]. Most of the "status quo parties" (such as the many [[List of Muslim League breakaway groups|Muslim League factions]]) and most religious outfits (except Jamaat-e-Islami & [[Jamiat Ulema-e-Islam (F)|Jamiat Ulema Islam]]) were decimated.<ref>{{Cite news|url=https://www.dawn.com/news/686541|title=1970 polls: When election results created a storm|last=InpaperMagazine|first=From|date=2012-01-08|work=DAWN.COM|access-date=2018-08-31|language=en-US}}</ref>

== References ==
<references />

{{1968 protests}}
{{Revwave}}
{{Marxist and communist phraseology}}
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{{DEFAULTSORT:Pakistan movement, 1968}}
[[Category:1968 in Pakistan]]
[[Category:1968 protests]]
[[Category:Protests in Pakistan]]
[[Category:1968 in international relations]]
[[Category:Causes and prelude of the Bangladesh Liberation War]]
[[Category:Political history of Pakistan]]
[[Category:Labour disputes in Pakistan]]
[[Category:Anti-fascism in Pakistan]]

1968 69 Pakistan revolution - Revision history

Sindhupv at 19:38, 8 April 2026