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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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