Bahawalpur was a province of Pakistan for three years before the One Unit.
(On October 7, 1947, the state of Bahawalpur declared its accession to Pakistan. After losing the status of a state, Bahawalpur was first a province and now a district of Punjab. This report was first published on April 1, 2019. It is being republished on the occasion of its affiliation with.)
The history of Bahawalpur as an independent state spans more than two hundred years. Prior to the formation of Pakistan, the foreign affairs, defense and currency of the state of Bahawalpur were entrusted to the rulers of the subcontinent, while other affairs were run by the Nawabs of the Abbasi family, the founders of the state.
Prof. Dr. Muhammad Tahir is the former President of the Department of History at the historic Sadiq Egerton College, Bahawalpur. He is also a visiting professor of history at Bahawalpur University these days and has a particularly keen eye on the history of the state of Bahawalpur.
In a recent interview with the BBC on the greenery of the cricket ground of the historic Dring Stadium in Bahawalpur, Dr Tahir said, "For some time after joining Pakistan, until 1955, Bahawalpur has been a province."
It joined the One Unit as Bahawalpur Province in 1955, but was not restored to the status of Bahawalpur Province when the One Unit was abolished in 1970.
When was Bahawalpur Province formed?
After partition in 1947, the state of Bahawalpur decided to go with Pakistan. According to Dr Tahir, not many people inside Bahawalpur know, but before joining the One Unit in 1955, Bahawalpur was a province for three years.
According to him, Nawab Sadiq Muhammad Khan Khamis, the ruler of Bahawalpur, made several agreements with the government of Pakistan.
"As a result of these agreements, powers were gradually taken away from the state of Bahawalpur and the phase of one state to one province was decided."
Under the 1951 Instrument of Accession, a subsidiary agreement, all central affairs of the state of Bahawalpur were taken over by the Government of Pakistan. "The rest of the provincial affairs that were in the hands of the other provinces were given to Bahawalpur."
Thus Bahawalpur became a separate unit where regular elections were held. Like the rest of Pakistan, the elections in Bahawalpur were held on a one-man-one-vote basis and the people here voted for the then largest party, the Muslim League.
According to Prof Tahir, Syed Hassan Mahmood from Sadiqabad, on behalf of the Muslim League, became the Chief Minister of Bahawalpur. "Thus, from 1952 to 1955, Bahawalpur was a province."
'Bahawalpur's budget was equal to NWFP'
According to Prof Tahir, Bahawalpur had a separate elected assembly and the Chief Minister of Bahawalpur had the same powers as the other provincial chief ministers.
The Chief Minister of Bahawalpur was elected, who sat in the assembly session, there was legislation and the assembly had its own secretariat. It even had its own Public Service Commission.
'Bahawalpur province movement suppressed, shot fired'
In 1955, the government of Prime Minister Chaudhry Muhammad Ali Bogra merged all the provinces of West Pakistan into one unit, namely One Unit and East Pakistan as a separate unit.
Bahawalpur, like the other four provinces, joined the One Unit. One Unit was dissolved in 1970 by the Legal Framework Order.
According to Dr. Tahir, in 1969, when the then dictator General Yahya Khan announced the abolition of the One Unit, the people of Bahawalpur had hoped that it would be restored as a separate unit, but when it was not restored, The people of India launched a great movement.
The center of this movement was the historic Farid Gate of Bahawalpur where meetings were held. The movement lasted for about six months.
"It simply came to our notice then. Shots fired, tear gas used. All those involved in the movement were arrested and imprisoned. However, the first general elections in Pakistan were held in 1970. The demand of Bahawalpur province was also prominent in this.
Mujeeb-ur-Rehman says I will definitely restore Bahawalpur province
According to Prof. Dr. Tahir, the election of 1970 was fought in Bahawalpur on the basis of restoration of the province. With the exception of the Pakistan People's Party, all other parties had formed a united front on this basis. This front included the Muslim League, Tehreek-e-Istiqlal, Jamaat-e-Islami and others.
After winning the election, the United Front met Awami League chief Mujeeb-ur-Rehman in Bengal. It may be recalled that in the 1970 general elections, Mujeeb-ur-Rehman's Awami League won the largest number of seats overall with a clear majority.
In these elections, voting took place for 300 seats and the Awami League won 160 seats while the PPP won 81 seats and 151 seats were required to form a government.
Prof. Dr. Tahir said: 'Mujeeb-ur-Rehman said that I am going to be the Prime Minister, I will definitely restore Bahawalpur as a separate province. I remember studying in a technical school at that time and waving the Awami League flag which was a building next to Farid Gate, Habib Hotel, his office there.
Subsequent events led to the province not being formed. In 1970, Bahawalpur was made a division of the Punjab province.
'Bahawalpur is naturally a separate region'
Bahawalpur Division consists of three districts. It has Bahawalpur in the center, Rahim Yar Khan in the west and Bahawalnagar in the east.
According to Prof. Tahir, the area of Bahawalpur division is 45,588 square kilometers. Cholistan is 20,200 km while the length of this area is 480 km. Its eastern and southern part is bordered by India.
"It's a naturally isolated region. To its north are five rivers that demarcate it and separate it from the Punjab. The desert of India in the east delimits it. Similarly, Sindh province is in the west. So in every way a separate province can be made.
'Bahawalpur had the largest canal system in South Asia'
According to Dr Tahir, the majority of the people of Bahawalpur would like a separate province of Bahawalpur. According to him, both the history of Bahawalpur and its future are related to it.
Bahawalpur was one of the richest states in the subcontinent. The development that he started during the period of the state continued till the period of the province, but then it stopped and is still static.
The state of Bahawalpur was considered the center of education. The first college was established here in 1886. All the major educational and social institutions of the subcontinent turned to Bahawalpur.
Under the Sutlej Valley Project, which began in 1922, a large area of Bahawalpur was "irrigated by the largest canal system in South Asia, which multiplied Bahawalpur's revenue."
In 1906, the largest Bahawal Victoria Hospital in the area was built. The library was established in 1924. The College for Girls was established in 1945. The Dring Stadium was built in Bahawalpur in the early 1950s.
At the time, his hockey ground was the largest in Asia. The cricket ground in it hosted the first Test match in West Pakistan, which was played between India and Pakistan in January 1955.
According to Professor Tahir, the era of the province was an era of development for Bahawalpur. "But the educational and social institutions that were formed at that time are more or less the same today.
There has been no significant increase in them. There is a feeling of deprivation in people.
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