The National Awami Party (NAP), translated from Urdu to English as National People's Party, was the major

left-wing Left-wing politics describes the range of political ideologies that support and seek to achieve social equality and egalitarianism, often in opposition to social hierarchy. Left-wing politics typically involve a concern for those in soci ...

political party in

East East or Orient is one of the four cardinal directions or points of the compass. It is the opposite direction from west and is the direction from which the Sun rises on the Earth. Etymology As in other languages, the word is formed from the fac ...

and

West West or Occident is one of the four cardinal directions or points of the compass. It is the opposite direction from east and is the direction in which the Sun sets on the Earth. Etymology The word "west" is a Germanic word passed into some ...

Pakistan Pakistan ( ur, ), officially the Islamic Republic of Pakistan ( ur, , label=none), is a country in South Asia. It is the world's List of countries and dependencies by population, fifth-most populous country, with a population of almost 24 ...

. It was founded in 1957 in

Dhaka Dhaka ( or ; bn, ঢাকা, Ḍhākā, ), List of renamed places in Bangladesh, formerly known as Dacca, is the Capital city, capital and List of cities and towns in Bangladesh, largest city of Bangladesh, as well as the world's largest ...

, erstwhile

East Pakistan East Pakistan was a Pakistani province established in 1955 by the One Unit Policy, renaming the province as such from East Bengal, which, in modern times, is split between India and Bangladesh. Its land borders were with India and Myanmar, wit ...

(present-day

Bangladesh Bangladesh (}, ), officially the People's Republic of Bangladesh, is a country in South Asia. It is the eighth-most populous country in the world, with a population exceeding 165 million people in an area of . Bangladesh is among the mo ...

), by

Abdul Hamid Khan Bhashani Abdul Hamid Khan Bhashani (12 December 1880 – 17 November 1976), often shortened as Maulana Bhashani, was a Bengali politician. His political tenure spanned the British colonial India, Pakistan and Bangladesh periods. Maulana Bhashani was po ...

and Yar Mohammad Khan, through the merger of various leftist and progressive political groups in Pakistan. Commonly known as the NAP, it was a major opposition party to Pakistani military regimes for much of the late 1950s and mid-1960s. In 1967 the party split into two factions, one in East Pakistan and another in West Pakistan. Led by Bhashani and other influential progressive leaders, NAP played an instrumental role in the secession of East Pakistan and the

liberation of Bangladesh The Bangladesh Liberation War ( bn, মুক্তিযুদ্ধ, , also known as the Bangladesh War of Independence, or simply the Liberation War in Bangladesh) was a revolution and War, armed conflict sparked by the rise of the Benga ...

. After the death of Bhashani in 1976, the party lost much of its prominence on the Bangladeshi political scene. Many of its leaders became members of the

Bangladesh Nationalist Party The Bangladesh Nationalist Party ( bn, বাংলাদেশ জাতীয়তাবাদী দল, Bangladesh Jātīyotābādī Dol; BNP) is a centre-right to right-wing nationalist, political party in Bangladesh and one of the major ...

. Today, the liberal and progressive faction within the BNP is led by former NAP leaders. After the 1971 war, the Pakistani faction of NAP became the principal opposition party to the

Zulfikar Ali Bhutto Zulfikar (or Zulfiqar) Ali Bhutto ( ur, , sd, ذوالفقار علي ڀٽو; 5 January 1928 – 4 April 1979), also known as Quaid-e-Awam ("the People's Leader"), was a Pakistani barrister, politician and statesman who served as the fourt ...

-led government of the Pakistan People's Party. The NAP was banned after a relentless attack by the then Prime Minister Bhutto, who accused NAP leaders of treason and after a sham trial, the NAP was banned from Pakistani politics. The leaders of the NAP, including Khan Abdul Wali Khan, were only released during the regime of General Zia-ul-Haq.

History

The NAP was founded in

in erstwhile

by 1957.The National Awami Party of Pakistan: Leftist Politics in Crisis M. Rashiduzzaman Pacific Affairs, Vol. 43, No. 3 (Autumn, 1970), pp. 394-409 Published by: Pacific Affairs, University of British Columbia The constituent parties in 1957 and their areas of influence were: *The Bhashani-led faction which broke away from the

Awami League In Urdu language, Awami is the adjectival form for '' Awam'', the Urdu language word for common people. The adjective appears in the following proper names: *Awami Colony, a neighbourhood of Landhi Town in Karachi, Sindh, Pakistan *Awami Front, wa ...

Azad Pakistan Party The Azad Pakistan Party was a leftist Pakistani party founded in November 1949 by Mian Iftikharuddin, an ex-Congressite and a member of the Muslim League Muslim League may refer to: Political parties Subcontinent ; British India *All-India Musl ...

a party led by Mian Iftikharuddin, Syed Kaswar Gardezi and

Mahmud Ali Kasuri Mian Mahmud Ali Kasuri (1910–1987) was a prominent Pakistani opposition politician, human rights advocate and lawyer who became a Senior Advocate Supreme Court. He joined the He served in the Indian National Congress (INC) Party before Pakistan' ...

. *

Sindh Sindh (; ; ur, , ; historically romanized as Sind) is one of the four provinces of Pakistan. Located in the southeastern region of the country, Sindh is the third-largest province of Pakistan by land area and the second-largest province ...

Mahaz led by

G. M. Syed Ghulam Murtaza Syed (Sindhi) (Sindhi language, Sindhi: غلام مرتضي سيد, z17 January 1904 – 25 April 1995), known as G.M Syed (Sindhi) was a prominent Sindhi politician, who is known for his scholarly work, passing only constitution ...

and Sheikh Abdul Majid Sindhi. *

Sindh Hari Committee The Sindh Hari Committee was a leftist and Sindhi nationalist political organization in Sindh, Pakistan that sought to promote the interests of the ''haris'' (landless peasant farmers) of Sindh. It was founded in 1930 by G. M. Syed. In 1947, Hyder ...

led by Haider Bakhsh Jatoi. *Wrore Pukhtun (Pukhtun Brotherhood) a

Balochistan Balochistan ( ; bal, بلۏچستان; also romanised as Baluchistan and Baluchestan) is a historical region in Western and South Asia, located in the Iranian plateau's far southeast and bordering the Indian Plate and the Arabian Sea coastline. ...

-based party led by Abdul Samad Khan Achakzai and Hashim Khan Ghilzai. * Usthman Gul ( Awam Jamaat) of

led by Ghaus Bakhsh Bizenjo, Gul Khan Nasir and Prince Karim Khan of Kalat (princely state). * Khudai Khidmatgar from

North-West Frontier Province The North-West Frontier Province (NWFP; ps, شمال لویدیځ سرحدي ولایت, ) was a Chief Commissioner's Province of British India, established on 9 November 1901 from the north-western districts of the Punjab Province. Followi ...

led by

Khan Abdul Ghaffar Khan Abdul Ghaffār Khān (; 6 February 1890 – 20 January 1988), also known as Bacha Khan () or Badshah Khan (), and honourably addressed as Fakhr-e-Afghan (), was a Pakistani Pashtun, independence activist, and founder of the Khudai Khidmatgar ...

and Hakeem Mohammad Aslam Sanjari. Ghaffar Khan's son, Khan Abdul Wali Khan, also joined the party. * Ganatantri Dal an East Bengali party led by

Haji Mohammad Danesh Hajee Mohammad Danesh (1900 – 28 June 1986) was a Bangladeshi politician and communist activist born in the British India. Early life Hajee Mohammad Danesh was born to a Bengali Muslim peasant family in the village of Sultanpur in the Dinajp ...

Dinajpur Dinajpur ( bn, দিনাজপুর ) is a city and the District headquarters of Dinajpur district situated in Rangpur Division, Bangladesh. It was founded in 1786. It is located 413 km north-west of Dhaka in Bangladesh. It is bound ...

and Mahmud Ali of

Sylhet Sylhet ( bn, সিলেট) is a metropolitan city in northeastern Bangladesh. It is the administrative seat of the Sylhet Division. Located on the north bank of the Surma River at the eastern tip of Bengal, Sylhet has a subtropical climate ...

. The party President was

Maulana Bhashani Abdul Hamid Khan Bhashani (12 December 1880 – 17 November 1976), often shortened as Maulana Bhashani, was a Bengali politician. His political tenure spanned the British colonial India, Pakistan and Bangladesh periods. Maulana Bhashani was po ...

and the Secretary General was Mahmudul Huq Usmani.

Mirza Mehdy Ispahani Mirza Mehdy Ispahani (also known as Sadri Ispahani; 1923–2004), son of Mirza Ahmad Ispahani, was Chairman of M.M. Ispahani from 1949 until 2004. Mirza Ali Behrouze Ispahani, son of Mirza Mehdy Ispahani was elected as the Chairman of M.M. Ispaha ...

(aka Sadri Ispahani) was the treasurer. Afzal Bangash was the NAP's General Secretary in NWFP. The National Awami Party was along with the

expected to easily win the 1959 planned general elections. Its primary target was the disbanding of the

One Unit The One Unit Scheme ( ur, ; bn, এক ইউনিট ব্যবস্থা) was a geopolitical programme launched by the Government of Pakistan led by Prime Minister Muhammad Ali Bogra on 22 November 1954 and passed on 30 September 1955 ...

scheme in West Pakistan and a fair deal for the increasingly discontented people of East Pakistan.

1958 ban

In 1958

Ayub Khan Ayub Khan is a compound masculine name; Ayub is the Arabic version of the name of the Biblical figure Job, while Khan or Khaan is taken from the title used first by the Mongol rulers and then, in particular, their Islamic and Persian-influenced s ...

came to power and all political parties were banned. The NAP was regarded by some as a front organization of the

Communist Party of Pakistan The Communist Party of Pakistan (abbr. CPP; ur, کمیونسٹ پارٹی آف پاکستان) is a communist party in Pakistan. History Founding The CPP was founded in Calcutta, India, soon after the establishment of Pakistan on 6 March 194 ...

(CPP) and it faced a harsh crackdown from the Ayub government. Hasan Nasir, NAP Office Secretary and card-carrying member of the CPP, was tortured to death in custody.

Revival

When Ayub allowed political parties again in 1962, the NAP was revived with all of its old components except the G.M. Sayed group and Ganatantri Dal.

Party split

At the end of 1967, a growing rift developed within the party, allegedly because Maulana Bhashani told his supporters to support

in the 1965 elections against the joint opposition nominee

Fatima Jinnah Fatima Jinnah ( ur, ; 31 July 1893 – 9 July 1967), widely known as Māder-e Millat ("Mother of the Nation"), was a Pakistani stateswoman, politician, dental surgeon and one of the leading founders of Pakistan. She was the younger sister of ...

. In return he was supposed to have received payoffs and favours, a fact which he never contradicted. On 30. November 1967, after a council session of the party in Rangpur, the NAP formally split into two factions: *A pro-Chinese Bhashani faction in East Pakistan eventually formed part of the Bangladesh Nationalist Party (BNP) *A pro-Soviet Wali Khan faction in West Pakistan now part of ANP and PPP-P.

Political ideology

The NAP set the following as its main aims: #Defence of the sovereignty, integrity, and independence of Pakistan. # Non-aligned, independent foreign policy. #Ending of exploitation of Pakistan externally and its people internally. #Abolition of

and reorganisation of provinces on a linguistic basis. #Right of adult franchise. In July 1965, as the manifesto was amended after the party's re-emergence, the NAP declared that the system of government in the country should be based on the concept of people's sovereignty. The Party advocated the maximum provincial autonomy in a

confederal A confederation (also known as a confederacy or league) is a union of sovereign groups or states united for purposes of common action. Usually created by a treaty, confederations of states tend to be established for dealing with critical issu ...

structure. Only Defence and Foreign Affairs were to be left with the 'Federal' government, while other powers were to rest with the autonomous units. One-Unit in West Pakistan had to be replaced by a "regional confederation where provinces would be created on linguistic lines". In foreign affairs the Manifesto asked for non-alignment and withdrawal from the military pacts SEATO and CENTO.National Awami Party (NAP), The Manifesto of National Awami Party of Pakistan. Karachi: Anjuman Press, nd, p. 5.

References

External links

Progressive Movements in Pakistan collection
{{Bangladeshi political parties 1957 establishments in East Pakistan 1958 disestablishments in Pakistan 1962 establishments in Pakistan 1967 disestablishments in Pakistan Defunct political parties in Bangladesh Defunct political parties in Pakistan Left-wing parties Political parties disestablished in 1958 Political parties disestablished in 1967 Political parties established in 1957 Political parties established in 1962