Re: Destroyed by Z.A Bhutto - the golden economic legacy left by Ayub Khan?
As usual context is important in these kind of discussions.
Firstly, yes ZAB did nationalise the government sector ..and did so in a very brutal fashion.
Secondly, Ayub Khan's economic legacy is very very disputable..the reason I say this is you can divide Pakistan's economic growth during his time in office between 1958-1965 and 1965-1969..
In the first half he had what most dictators in Pakistan have..massive US support, a weakened opposition and carte blanche over Pakistans decision making process by virtue of his total power. the end result was double digit but uneven growth.
In the second half he lost the US support and he started cracking down on opposition far more brutally ..acts which triggered a backlash.
Thirdly, how did the economy grow, wellthere was considerable development but it was a) prioritised towards defence b) uneven..there was a significant increase in across the board deprivation in East Pakistan during the boom period. Similarly in West Pakistan income disparities between the rich and the poor increased significantly..the supposed trickle down effect never happened. The reason was Ayub Khan wanted a constituency of his own in Pakistan. He did that by ensuring people who were on his good side got preferential treatment in terms of loans. This crony capitalism meant not everyone had equal access to loans and other things. That policy and the over concentration of banks and industry in karachi created a lot of resentment.
Unfortunately Ayub Khan did not have a constituency in Karachi either, as the middle class and working class urdu speakers were unhappy with him as well, he had downgraded Karachis importance and used state resources to prop up feudal favourites as well as his own family. So when he was ousted it was not just the PPP but virtually every major political party that won seats advocated some form of redistribution of wealth. The difference between ZAB and the rest was that he actually implemented that policy and did so in a heavy handed extreme way.