Abstract
Drawing from the fresh archival resource material, this study reveals the political
intrigues and faction infights were the bane of politics in Pakistan in the period
immediately after independence. This exposes firstly the Punjab-Centre tensions
arising from dealing of partition-related refugee crisis; secondly the extent to
which the scramble for resources and competition over new government positions
intensified the existing factionalism and indiscipline in the Muslim League and
blighted good governance, which goes some way towards explaining the Nawab
Iftikhar Hussain Mamdot government’s dismissal and the imposition of Governor
rule in the Punjab in January 1949. The study enquires to what extent the refugee
question undermined centre-province relations and hindered national
consolidation and weakness of democracy. The essay also argues the mishandling
of refugee resettlement and scramble for resources, especially epitomised by the
politicians, fostered a ‘corruption’ discourse in which the ruling elite from the
start were increasingly seen as corrupt and ‘provincialist’ in outlooks. In the final
analysis, I argue the political legacy of the first provincial government’s dismissal
impacted greatly on the evolution of democratic process, rendering a precedent
for overriding provincial politicians to executive power and for strengthening the
encroaching power of the centre and bureaucracy in the provincial matters in the
earliest period of independence.
Ilyas Chattha. (2019) Refugee Resettlement and Centre— Province Relations in Pakistan, 1947-49, Journal of the Punjab University Historical Society, Volume 32, Issue 2.
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