Talk:Combined Opposition Parties

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Addition to the article

Latest comment: 10 months ago2 comments2 people in discussion

Hello @Titan2456 Thank you for creating the article. Could you please add the following to the section which you find appropriate? I'd do it myself but I am very busy. Thanks once again.

"In 1964, the Combined Opposition Parties (C.O.P.) considered nominating Azam Khan to run against President Ayub Khan in the 1965 Pakistani presidential election, due to Azam's widespread popularity.^[1] However, Maulana Bhashani, a founding member of the Awami League, convinced the opposition to nominate Fatima Jinnah instead. Some speculate that Bhashani believed Fatima would be a weaker candidate and suggested her candidacy to ensure Ayub Khan's victory, as he was favoured by the Chinese.^[2]

Earlier, when the C.O.P. agreed to unite behind a single candidate, they required that the candidate must have unanimous support from all member parties. Bhashani reportedly added another condition: that no one associated with the Martial Law administration, would be acceptable. Several sources indicate that Ayub Khan's foreign minister, Zulfikar Ali Bhutto, orchestrated the entire strategy to block Azam Khan's candidacy. He did so through Masihur Rahman, a mutual friend of both Bhutto and Bhashani, by providing Masihur Rahman with 500,000 rupees to pass on to Bhashani, all in an effort to ensure Ayub’s victory by having a weaker opponent, Fatima Jinnah, run against him.^[3]^[4] Days before the election, Bhashani and his group withdrew their support for Fatima.^[5]^[6] Nevertheless, Azam supported Fatima Jinnah and actively campaigned for her and was noted as having contributed to her success in East Pakistan.^[7]" WikiEnthusiast1001 (talk) 04:10, 27 September 2025 (UTC)Reply

Done Titan2456 (talk) 00:51, 28 September 2025 (UTC)Reply

↑ Shahid Javed Burki (2015). "Azam Khan, Lieutenant General Muhammad (1908-1994)". Historical Dictionary of Pakistan. p. 90.
↑ Ali, Asad; Ali, Kamran Asdar, eds. (2023). Towards Peoples' Histories in Pakistan: (In)audible Voices, Forgotten Pasts. Bloomsbury Publishing.
↑ Herbert Feldman (1972). From crisis to crisis: Pakistan 1962-1969. p. 71.
↑ Hamid Yusuf (1980). Pakistan in Search of Democracy, 1947-77. Afrasia Publications. p. 71. The elimination of General Azam Khan as a likely C. O. P. candidate had been secured through a condition laid down by Maulana Bhashani that the C. O. P. would not accept any one as a candidate who had been associated with the Martial Law of October 1958. This stratagem is said to have been engineered by Ayub Khan's foreign minister Zulfikar Ali Bhutto. A sum of money is reported to have been passed on to the Maulana through Bhutto's friend Masih-ur-Rehman, a lieutenant of the Maulana. General Azam Khan no doubt would have been a strong rival. He could count on solid support from East Pakistan and a fair measure of sympathy in the west wing.
↑ The Herald. Vol. 28. Pakistan Herald Publications. 1997. p. 126.
↑ The Herald. Vol. 28. Pakistan Herald Publications. 1997. p. 126. The combined opposition, a coalition of both left and right wing parties, wanted to field a retired general with populist leanings, Azam Khan, against Ayub. But on the insistence of Bhashani, Mohammad Ali Jinnah's sister, Fatima Jinnah, was nominated instead. Just before the election, however, Zulfikar Ali Bhutto (then a member of Ayub Khan's cabinet) informed the pro-Beijing Bhashani that the military ruler has established strong ties with China and that, displeased with this move, the US had decided to support Fatima Jinnah's candidacy. As such, Bhutto advised the comrades to support Ayub, not Ms. Jinnah. Just days before the polls, the Bhashani group withdrew its support for Fatima Jinnah. During the tug of war between China and the Soviet Union , Bhashani had always openly supported the former, generating bitter conflict among the various factions within leftist politics. Consequently, the entire movement, along with its labour, peasant and student wings, was split into pro-Moscow and pro-Beijing groups. Only the Pakistan Federal Union of Meraj his successor. But many of those idealistic comrades committed a disastrous political blunder by not contesting the 1970 elections themselves. Instead, they proudly claimed that "inqalab parchi se nahin barchi se ata hai" (revolution comes not through the ballot but the bullet). Meanwhile, in East Pakistan, Bhashani boycotted the 1970 elections, paving the way for Sheikh Mujibur Rehman's Awami League to win a landslide victory. Later, during the Yahya-Bhutto-Mujib talks of 1971, he closed off all options for the Bengali nationalist leader by declaring East Pakistan's independence.
↑ A Challenger for Ayub. Vol. 213. The Economist Newspaper Limited. 17 October 1964. p. 249. Yet when General Azam Khan, a former governor of the east wing and now a partisan of Miss Jinnah, returned to Dacca this week, he was received in triumph.

[1] Shahid Javed Burki (2015). "Azam Khan, Lieutenant General Muhammad (1908-1994)". Historical Dictionary of Pakistan. p. 90.

[2] Ali, Asad; Ali, Kamran Asdar, eds. (2023). Towards Peoples' Histories in Pakistan: (In)audible Voices, Forgotten Pasts. Bloomsbury Publishing.

[3] Herbert Feldman (1972). From crisis to crisis: Pakistan 1962-1969. p. 71.

[4] Hamid Yusuf (1980). Pakistan in Search of Democracy, 1947-77. Afrasia Publications. p. 71. The elimination of General Azam Khan as a likely C. O. P. candidate had been secured through a condition laid down by Maulana Bhashani that the C. O. P. would not accept any one as a candidate who had been associated with the Martial Law of October 1958. This stratagem is said to have been engineered by Ayub Khan's foreign minister Zulfikar Ali Bhutto. A sum of money is reported to have been passed on to the Maulana through Bhutto's friend Masih-ur-Rehman, a lieutenant of the Maulana. General Azam Khan no doubt would have been a strong rival. He could count on solid support from East Pakistan and a fair measure of sympathy in the west wing.

[5] The Herald. Vol. 28. Pakistan Herald Publications. 1997. p. 126.

[6] The Herald. Vol. 28. Pakistan Herald Publications. 1997. p. 126. The combined opposition, a coalition of both left and right wing parties, wanted to field a retired general with populist leanings, Azam Khan, against Ayub. But on the insistence of Bhashani, Mohammad Ali Jinnah's sister, Fatima Jinnah, was nominated instead. Just before the election, however, Zulfikar Ali Bhutto (then a member of Ayub Khan's cabinet) informed the pro-Beijing Bhashani that the military ruler has established strong ties with China and that, displeased with this move, the US had decided to support Fatima Jinnah's candidacy. As such, Bhutto advised the comrades to support Ayub, not Ms. Jinnah. Just days before the polls, the Bhashani group withdrew its support for Fatima Jinnah. During the tug of war between China and the Soviet Union , Bhashani had always openly supported the former, generating bitter conflict among the various factions within leftist politics. Consequently, the entire movement, along with its labour, peasant and student wings, was split into pro-Moscow and pro-Beijing groups. Only the Pakistan Federal Union of Meraj his successor. But many of those idealistic comrades committed a disastrous political blunder by not contesting the 1970 elections themselves. Instead, they proudly claimed that "inqalab parchi se nahin barchi se ata hai" (revolution comes not through the ballot but the bullet). Meanwhile, in East Pakistan, Bhashani boycotted the 1970 elections, paving the way for Sheikh Mujibur Rehman's Awami League to win a landslide victory. Later, during the Yahya-Bhutto-Mujib talks of 1971, he closed off all options for the Bengali nationalist leader by declaring East Pakistan's independence.

[7] A Challenger for Ayub. Vol. 213. The Economist Newspaper Limited. 17 October 1964. p. 249. Yet when General Azam Khan, a former governor of the east wing and now a partisan of Miss Jinnah, returned to Dacca this week, he was received in triumph.

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