Causes for the Downfall of Ayub Khan

General Muhammed Ayub Khan was appointed as Cheief Martial Law Administrator (CMLA) by President Iskander Mirza on October 7, 1958. Khan receives tremendous support from the people of the country as they were frustrated by the ill political situation in Pakistan.

Ayub Khan announced the new constitution of Pakistan in 1962. In this constitution it was laid down that the future form of Government would be Presidential. This form of Government gives most of the powers to the president for running the affairs of the state. Also the president was to be elected through an electoral college that consists of 80,000 basic democrats. The constitution was severely criticized for the form of government and basic basic democratic (BD) system of election.

Ayub started to interfere in the religion by making some laws that were highly criticized in the religious circles. But the step that primarily takes him off the ground is the death sentence given to Maulana Maududi (Ameer Jamaat-e-Islami Pakistan). The supporters of the part along with the people who have sympathy with the religious leader started a campaign against Ayub Khan. Although, later death sentence was taken back due to the intense pressure from the public but this action from the government gave a death blow to Khan's popularity in the religious circles.

Ayub Khan made many economic reforms that latter caused his downfall. His policies gave rise to discrimination. These reforms caused dis-satisfaction among the people of East Pakistan. He also made some agricultural reforms. Accordinbg to these reforms the landowners were not allowed to keep land beyond the limits set by the government. The excesss of land was taken over by the government and a reasonable compensation was offeref to them. The big landowners were not happy with the step taken by Ayub Khan. The peasants who were given the lands were also dissatisfied because the land they were given was not fertile. The combined uprising of upper and lower classes of agricultural sector caused unpopularity of Ayub Khan on a large scale.

Likewise in other fields Ayub Khan made many reforms in industrial sector. Tax holidays were given to the investors. This step had a negative effect because investors did not invest in new projects. People invested in ongoing and profitable businesses that caused the industrialists to get richer. The dearth of new projects and industry set up caused unrest in civil population. People started to agitate severely against the situation.

Several reforms were also introduced in the education sector but these reforms also fail to give Ayub Khan a positive impact. Students began riots in which some of the students were also killed. This aggravated the situation and a movement against Ayub Khan started on a national level by student unions.

Everything was moving just in the right direction for Ayub Khan till the start of the Indo-Pakistan War of 1965. The performance of the