Muhammad Ali Bogra’s CabinetFrom April 1953 to Oct 1954 #Pakistan Hostory @History Of Pakistan

1. Presented by NaeemUllah99
Roll No. 32

2.  In April 1953, the Governor General dismissed the
Government of Kh. Nazimuddin because of prevailing
political instability in the country. There were anti-
Ahmadya Movement and severe famine in the country.
 The Governor General appointed Muhammad Ali
Bogra as Prime Minister of Pakistan. The cabinet of
Bogra was formed by the Governor General himself.
 The new Cabinet was consisted of 10 members amidst
6 were from Nazimuddin’s cabinet. Most of them were
from West Pakistan. These members were ambitious
and dissents in Nazimuddin’s cabinet.

3.  Further, the Bogra’s cabinet was weak. It gave way to
civil-military oligarchy to control the governmental
affairs.
 The new cabinet had had only one minister from East
Pakistan. It ignored Eastern Pakistan majority; again,
it was against the norms of parliamentary form of
government.

4.  The following are my research questions:
 What was the criteria of appointment adopted in
forming the new cabinet?
 Was there any Kitchen Cabinet working in Bogra’s
administration?
 What was the repercussions of Bogra’s foreign policy?
 What was role military-bureaucratic elite in decision-
making process.
 What were the socio-economic policies of Bogra’s
administration?

5.  My argument is that Bogra’s cabinet was formed on the
‘’principle of faithfully’’ which gave way to military-
bureaucratic elite in decision-making. It aligned
Pakistan to western bloc. Furthermore, Bogra’s
administration confronted a panoply of obstacles in its
search for stability including provincialism,
constitutional difficulties, Muslim League
incompetency, political immaturity and vexing
international problems.

6.  I have concerted the secondary sources for this
research paper.

7.  The Cold War on Periphery: The US, India and Pakistan by
Robert J. McMahan
 A Brief History of Pakistan by James Wynbrandt
 State and Politics: a Case Study of Pakistan by Sadiq Salik
 Government and Politic in Pakistan by Mushtaq Ahmad
 The State of martial Rule by Ayesha Jalal
 Democracy and Authoritarianism in South Asia by Ayesha
Jalal
 The Process of Constitution Making in Pakistan by Dr.
Rizwan Malik

8.  Pakistan and West: The First Decade by Farooq Bajwa
 The Federal Cabinet of Pakistan by Naumana Kiran
Imran
 An article, Prospects of One Unit by Khalid Mahmood
Chaudry

9.  The new cabinet was consisted of 11 members. They
are as follow:
 Mr. Muhammad Ali: Commerce, Defence, Information
and broadcasting
 Sir. Zafrullah Khan: Foreign Affairs
 Ch. Muhammad Ali: Finance amd Economic Affairs
 Mr. Mushtaq Ahmad Gurmani: Interior, States and
Frontier Regions
 Sardar Bahadur Khan: Communications
 Dr. A.M Malik: Labour, Health and Works

10.  Dr, Ishtiaq Hussain Qurashi: Education
 Mr. A. K Brohi: Law Minister, Parliamentary Affairs,
Minority Affairs
 Mr. Abdul Qayyum Khan: food, Agriculture and
Industries
 Mr. Shoaib Qurashi: Information, Refugees and
Rehabilitation and Kashmir Affairs.
 Mr. Tafazzal Ali: Commerce

11.  The appointment of cabinet members was made by
the Governor General.
 The basic criteria for appointment was ‘’faithfulness’’
towards the Governor General.
 The philosophy of ‘’personal relationship’’
 Most of portfolios were given to the West Pakistanis.
This deepened the East-West divide.

12.  This cabinet was not different from Kh. Nazimuddin’s
cabinet.
 It was consisted of six members of the previous
cabinet.
 New members were Khan Abdul Qayyum Khan,
Shoaib Qurashi and A.K Brohi.
 There was hardly any contact between the Prime
minister and his cabinet’s members. The Prime
Minister had no role in the selection of the Cabinet
members.

13.  There was a kitchen cabinet was working during the
Kh. Nazimuddin’s cabinet under the Governor
General. This cabinet continued its working during
Muhammad Ali’s cabinet. The kitchen was consisted
of largely outside forces like Ayub Khan (C-in-C) and
Iskindar Mirza (Secretary of Defence).
 It was also consisted of Sir Zafrullah Khan and Ch.
Muhammad Ali.

14.  Bogra Formula:
 One of the reasons of Nazimuddin’s government
dismissal was that he failed to trot out a constitutional
settlement between East and West wings.
 On 7 Oct 1953, Muhammad Ali presented his
constitutional formula known as Bogra formula in
history.
 The main points of it as follow:
1) Federal legislature would comprise of two houses;
the House of Unit, and the House of People

15. 50 members
Equally divided
Each has 10 members
Number of Units were 5
House
of Unit
300 seats
Population basis
Bengal 165
Punjab 75
KPK 13
Sindh 19, Khairpur 1,
Balochistan and Bahwalpur 10
The nine units of West
Pakistan were reduced to 4
units.
House
of
People

16. • For legislature 2/3 majority was required. However,
30 per cent of each unit was necessary for final
legislation.
• The Supreme Court was given the power to decide if
law was in accordance with Quran and Sunnah
• The two houses were electoral college for president
• The president must be Muslim.

17.  It is parity formula.
 As Muhammad Ali claimed that it would not only bring
parity between provinces but it would make them inter-
dependent.
 He claimed that the formula would cripple down any
tendency towards provincialism.
 It paved the way for enactment of national feelings.
 The formula was welcomed by various leaders such as
Fazlul Rehman, Sardar Amir khan, D.N Dutta and Abdus
Sattar Pirzada
 Urdu and Bengali were given the status of national
languages.

18.  Foreign minister was Sir. Zafrullah Khan. He was pro-west.
The pro-US policy was adopted by the cabinet. Sir Zafrullah
visited Washington in Sep. 1953. Dulles also visited
Pakistan in May 1953. The cabinet also allowed C-in-C to
meet with Dulles.
 Muhammad Ali’s cabinet abandoned the policy of
neutrality of predecessors.
 It aligned Pakistan into western orbit. The following pacts
were made with the US:
 The Mutual Defence Assistance Agreement between
Pakistan and the US. Pakistan also signed SEATO in
September 1954.
 Pakistan also signed defence assistance agreement with
Turkey in March 1954.

19.  There was two groups in Pakistan regarding Pakistan’s
foreign policy; one was pro-west, other was insisted in
neutrality.
 But, deriving principle behind the country’s foreign
policy was military and economic assistance as well as
diplomatic cooperation against Indian Aggression. The
economic assistance was the dire need of the hour for
the country. The political troubles were exceeded
by economic difficulties of the country.
 The nature of economic and military assistance,
committed by the US, was vague. The cabinet wanted
clear assurances regarding aid.

20. SEATO:
In Manila Conference, Pakistan for aid
The signing of SEATO was criticised by the cabinet.
• Pakistan as a party of it was subject to final ratification of the
cabinet.
• Sir. Zafrullah resigned from the ministry.

21.  The cabinet met on several occasions to discuss
Kashmir issue.
 Muhammad Ali made an impassioned appeal to
Pandit Nehru to settle all outstanding issues between
two countries.
 Meetings between two leaders were held in London
and Karachi in 1953.
 They agreed on plebiscite in Kashmir. But, it could
occur due Pakistan’s aligned towards western bloc.

22.  One of the reasons of Nazimuddin’s dismissal was food
crisis and economic disparity in the country.
 The government succeeded in gaining aid from the US. The
president, Eisenhower ordered thousands of tons of wheat
shipped to Pakistan.
 The administration was also remained successful in
attaining 105 million dollars economic assistance from the
US.
 The government did not attempt to improve the economic
situation of the country. It adopted the price controlled
policy. This experiment proved a complete flop.

23.  The commodities were not sold at costs within easy
reach of the people. There were anti-social activities.
The black-market was continued to expand. The
smuggled goods assumed an alarming portion. The
value of smuggled goods was Rs. 30 crore in 1953-54.
 Over all, Muhammad Ali’s cabinet adhered to
bargaining leverage with the US.

24.  The ministry of parliamentary affairs existed during
the Government of Muhammad Ali. It was headed by
A.K Brohi. He was also law minister. It is tasked with
handling affairs relating to parliament. It acts as
coordination agency between cabinet member and
others.

25.  Muhammad Ali could not emerge as powerful head of his
cabinet.
 The members had no royalty towards him. They, unlike
parliamentary spirit, were faithful to Governor General.
 There was a Kitchen working under Governor general. Ch.
Muhammad Ali and Sir. Zafrullah Khan had always
conflicted with PM. Moreover, Mushtaq Ahmad Gurmani
(Minister of Kashmir Affairs), Sardar Bahadur ( Minister for
communication) and khan Abdul Qayyum khan (Mister
for Kashmir Affairs)
 Furthermore, the issues were settled down before the
cabinet meetings. They were presented just for approval in
it.

26.  To conclude, it is crystal clear that the appointment of
Muhammad Ali’s cabinet was not in accordance with
parliamentary norms. There was hardly any say of the
PM in final selection of his team. The philosophy of
faithfulness towards the Governor General was
adopted. This very basic principle gave way to military-
bureaucratic elite in governmental affairs.
 The Cabinet of Muhammad Ali aligned Pakistan to
western bloc. The cabinet was enthusiastic to see
Pakistan being part of Northern Tier. This alignment
based on Tolerable Risk and Bargaining Leaverage.

27.  The only reason of the alignment to west bloc was
socio-economic and political troubles of the country.
As Hildreth says, the inclination of Pakistan towards
western bloc was answer to its myriad problems. The
impacts of the alignment were imperishable. The
cabinet could not formulate any productive policy
relating to its economics grievances.