Opinion
December 27, 2020
There are mainly two reasons for discussing the One Unit episode in our history in this column. First is that in 2020, it was the 50th anniversary of the dissolution of One Unit, which after 15 years of experimentation was abolished in 1970. The second is the present drive of the government to roll back the 18th Amendment, which will essentially bring back memories of One Unit.
For the uninitiated, just a quick recap. When Pakistan came into being in 1947 it comprised two wings: East Bengal and West Pakistan which had multiple provinces and administrative units. East Bengal had around 55 percent of Pakistan’s population which mostly spoke one language – Bengali or Bangla – whereas the remaining 45 percent population spread over several provinces and states in the western wing spoke Balochi, Punjabi, Pashto, Seraiki, Sindhi, and many other languages. The capital was in Karachi in the western wing, a city which had been severed from Sindh to be made