Abstract
Throughout the freedom movement All-India Muslim League advocated
for Federal form of Government in British India, with maximum
provincial autonomy. Even when they demanded a separate state for
the Muslims of South Asia, they clearly declared that because of the
presence of diverse ethnic, linguistic and cultural groups in the
provinces of future Pakistan, they would prefer Federalism, with more
powers for the federating units. However, after the creation of Pakistan
centralization of power became the order of the day and interference
of central government in the provincial matters turned out to be the
normal practice. In this paper an attempt has been made to trace the
beginning of this trend by focusing on the developments that took
place during the tenure of the first Prime Minister of the county,
Liaquat Ali Khan. Selection of Punjab as a case study has been made as
it clearly highlights all the three major factors responsible, i.e. a)
internal rifts between the provincial leadership and their invitation to
center for interference; b) role of the colonial mind-set, which in this
case was represented by the British Governor of the province; c) both
compulsions and intensions of the central leadership to dominate the
affairs even at the lowest level .
