One Unit Scheme

The One Unit Scheme (Urdu: ون یونٹ; Bengali: এক ইউনিট ব্যবস্থা) was the reorganisation of the provinces of Pakistan by the central Pakistani government.

The government claimed that the programme would overcome the difficulty of administering the two unequal polities of West and East Pakistan separated from each other by more than a thousand miles.

[1] Following the failure to implement the Bogra Formula, PM Muhammad Ali Bogra began working towards the controversial One Unit program that integrated the Four Provinces into a single province West Pakistan, to equalize the western wing with the eastern wing, East Pakistan.

During this time, Malik Ghulam Muhammad's health began to deteriorate, and paralysis spread through his whole body, forcing him to take a 2 month leave of absence in 1955 to seek treatment in the United Kingdom.

Soon after the appointment, Acting Governor-General Mirza began having confrontations with Prime Minister Bogra on regional disparity though both were Bengali and were from Bengal, and Mirza forced Prime Minister Bogra to resign, appointing him as the Pakistan Ambassador to the United States.

One Unit was conceived by then-Governor-General Malik Ghulam and drafting was completed by then-chief Minister Mumtaz Daultana.

West Pakistan formed a single and united political entity but with marked linguistic and ethnic distinctions.

The One Unit policy was regarded as an administrative reform that would reduce expenditure and help eliminate ethnic and parochial prejudices.

However, with the military coup of 1958, trouble loomed for the province when the office of Chief Minister was abolished and the President claimed executive power over West Pakistan.