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The following are my takeaways from the readings:

1)Ayub khan replaced democracy with controlled rule, he suspended political parties, introduced basic democracies, and gave himself strong powers.

2)Although Fatima Jinnah first supported Ayub, later she opposed him, calling for real democracy.

3)A strong democracy needs responsibility, both leaders and citizens respect rules, rights and laws for it to work well.

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Another surprising thing for me was fatma addressing Ayub Khan as the field marshal of Pakistan beacuse he was the first person to hold this rank.

Tafseer

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Teeham

Fatima Jinnah transitioned from a supporter of the 1958 ayub khan's military coup to the leader of the democratic opposition against ayub khan and Fatima Jinnah's confrontation was not personal it was ideological because she was fighting for the system of democracy not the person Ayub khan as she felt it was her duty to protect her brothers legacy by restoring the democracy.

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Ayub Khan defending his rule by saying Pakistan was not ready for democracy because of politicians being corrupt and the citizens being uneducated , he though imposing martial law was the way to stabilize the country.

on one hand Ayub khans supporters were against women leading an Islamic country and on the other hand people of the country were fully supporting Fatima Jinnah in hopes that she would restore democracy in Pakistan.

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ayub khan is masking the personal attack fallacy like calling her cynical and implying that her attitude should change, covered in a facade of fancy "respect" as mentioned in one of his letters '...you would yourself take note of what i said in ur future utterances u would be good enough to reflect a different attitude'

also i think ayub was desperate to impose his authority as seen in his tone appealing with emotions

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It is surprising that religious group Jamaat-e-Islami, usually opposed to women in leadership, supported Fatima Jinnah’s candidacy against Ayub in 1965.

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1. Ayub's making comments to Fatima like ‘People like you should be making a positive and constructive contribution to our endeavors' but at the same time saying things like, ‘I would beg of you to give me the opportunity to explain things to you’. This in one way or another is Ayub Khan implying that 'explaining something' will justify his actions.

2. It wasn't prominent but one way or another Ayub Khan wanted a capitalistic society for economic growth

3. When Fatima lost the candidacy for President so this raises a question of why did she lose? Was it because she was a woman or was it because Ayub Khan's influence in Pakistan has grown so much that it overshadowed Fatima as a whole.

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One of the things that I found surprising was the ironic contradiction that Ayub claimed that democracy isn't possible because people are uneducated and can be influenced by pirs and faqirs but later it can be seen that the same group of "uneducated and easily influenced" people were the ones supporting Ayub against Fatima during the presidential election campaign.

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The letters between them show two competing visions of Pakistan's future. A controlled system and a democratic state.

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with reference to letters keytakeaways would be as Aub khan said the system was collapsing so it was so he take controll over the state i think that was just to gain power nothing else another thing is that he was afraid to loss power because fatima jinnah was a threat to his dictatorship in the letter ayub khan also concidered himself as a responsible and true leader to pakistan

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1. The people Ayub Khan was against and accused of feudalism were the majority of the basic democrats.

2. Fatima Jinnah was supportive of Ayub Khan at the start of his rule but then was against him when he dismantled democratic structures like 1956 Constitution.

3. The basic Democrats were all influential men. This policy completely ruined any chances of Women having political representation.

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key take aways :

1-the variations in pakistan politics shifted from role of serving the country for the peole to ruling the people being a dictator.this was all beacuse of not having a well-defined framework for the distribution of governmental authority. and all powers were in one hand .

2-the text also mentions the governement of pakistan shaped by the constitutions and the imapcts of abolishments of constitution and promulgation of martial law.

3-the atitude of polititians towards the eachothers role and actions. it specifically included fatima criticizing Ayub's governemental steps.

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One of the general takeaway in context of all the events that took place during late 50's till late 60's, It becomes clear that Pakistan's entire history has been spent in a lack of competent and autonomous leadership... The contradiction between democracy and dictatorship exists in those countries where there is a possibility of implementing democracy... In Countries imprisoned by colonialism since history, the existence of democracy is like a dream whose fulfillment is impossible!

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Aliza Sabir

The surprising thing for me was that in earlier times I always thought society was backward. But seeing how the public sided with Fatima Jinnah despite the gender based comments and meaningless Islamic arguments by clerics, it shows that people did think for themselves and society wasn’t as backward as I had always imagined.

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Jamat e islami supporting Fatima Jinnah

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I saw a contradiction between Dictatorship and democracy ....whereas a country build on democracy was draged towards Dictatorship

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My key takeaways were

1. That establishing democracy was difficult not because of "lack of leadership" as we've been told but because of the self serving politics.

2. Legal and structure mechanisms like EBDO and Basic Democracy was basically to purge the political opposition his regime or he himself faced, his letters I find is also a direct attempt at muting opposition.

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1. Ayub Khan gave only 8000 people the right to vote. This shows that he wanted power. While Fatima Jinnah wanted a state, that his brother dreamed of.

2. This shows how often a dictatorship is shown as a Democracy.

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We always see Benazir Bhutto as first female influencial figure in Pakistani government's history but we often over look Fatima Jinnah's contributions that laid foundation of women in politics in Pakistan.

Additionally, I was also interested that it was primarily the system that made Ayub Khan win. When their was so much support from rural areas, she didn't win because of influence of the landlords and who is selected as a basic democrat nominee

Also it was inspiring to witness the commitment to democracy and participation of normal people's opinions in running the state. Fatima's primary aim to run the election focused on having a representative instead of authoritarian government

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Aliza Sabir

The 3 main takeaway from the text was that how at first Fatima supported Ayub Khan after his coup she was hoping that their wil be positive political outcome. Their relation was on good terms and cooperative.

2: This text demonstrates when Fatima criticized his rule, he turned against her ussing dismissive and gendered comments to turn people against her.

3: The text also revelas that in order to remove Ayub, parties with differing ideologies aligned under Fatima Jinnah.

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Ayub came into power through a coup which meant that in a way his regime was illegitimate and when opposed by Fatima Jinnah, sister of founder of Pakistan, he felt as if the public opinion would favour her hence, the cynicism comment.

The letter exchanges also mentioned that Pakistan was in an "emergency" state and Ayub wanted Fatima's supportive opinions on his government that he deemed was necessary for Pakistan's uplifting. Also calling her remarks irresponsible.

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The 3 key takeaways would be:

Firstly, how fatima jinnah first supported ayub khan thinking of him as a potential leader but actually he was just like those other curropt leaders.

Also, ayub khan said that pakistan wasn't just ready for parliamentary democracy because of the landlords, elites and low literacy rate.

Lastly, ayub khan took control of democratic systems where the Democrats elected him and he reduced women's seats in the constitution.

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One of the most surprising points was that indivisuals who had long opposed women in politics like Jamaat-i-Islam went against their initail ideoligy and ended up supporting Fatima Jinnah’s presidential candidacy in 1964.They justified it as an emergency step to save the country from Ayub Khan’s dictatorship.

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1. Ayub Khan did not trust democracy.

2. Fatima Jinnah from supporting Ayub Khan to opposing him

3. Jamat e islami and Fatima Jinnah forming combined opposition party

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Was was surprising for me was Fatma Jinnah commitment towards democracy against Ayub khan's dictatorship , she stood firmly and bravely despite of being a women against a military man even if she didn't won the 1965 election , this is also because it held under the BD system.

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Only 80, 000 people were allowed to vote in basic democracy.

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1. Suppression and intimidation

2. Criticism of Ayub

3. Electoral manipulation

The tone of Ayub changing frequently was surprising

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Ayub khans dictatorship showed that one-man rule may bring order at first but it weakens democracy and ignores people’s voices.

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The things that i found surprising from these readings are how Fatima Jinnah was being critisized clearly by Ayub Khan as seen in the letters between them although she was an ispiration for many people at that time. secondly, the system of basic democrates which caused a complete turn for Ayub Khan at the presidential election because it seemed that Fatima Jinnah would win from all the campaign she did and the support she received back. thirdly, how at the beginning Fatima Jinnah supported Ayub Khan without thinking why would a military person try to run a country wasnt that comcerning from the start?

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After all the hard work , after facing that much pressure and difficulties, and after being a separate nation how the leaders were not in one same page and blaming each other .

This is most surprising for me .

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surprising part was how the sister of Quaid-e-Azam got blamed of cynicism when all her life she worked for the betterment of the people

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I came to know that how election was being rigged by selecting only people who were supporting him

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1) Fatima jinnah was unhappy with Pakistan’s leaders because she felt Ayub Khan played some false democracy by keeping all the powers to himself.

2) Ayub khan changed pakistan from a system where parliament controlled the government to a system where president controlled everything.

3) Ayub khan thinks that politicians at that time were selfish and corrupt so he didn’t trust to give them powers.

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The thing that surprised me was when a group religious people who normally believed women should not be leaders supported Fatima Jinnah, it was interesting how Fatima influenced people

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=> Letter of Ayub Khan "Normally one would not mind these things but the times passing through in Pakistan are not Normal"

What I think regarding this point is that Ayub acts concerned about the political mess in Pakistan that is getting ruined due to the conflicts between Fatima Jinnah and him when he himself is the main cause of creating this menace at first hand by introducing this Basic Democrats regime.

=> Reply of Fatima Jinnah "I have dedicated my life for the cause of Pakistan" This sentence depicts how she really want to wake up the closed eyes of the people who are on the side of Ayub Khan's patriotic, antidemocratic and foreign dependent regime . She wants people to know that they should all see themselves as rightful guardians of democracy instead of depending upon Basic Democrats.

=>The point where Ayub calls Fatima Jinnah's speech as depicting cynicism just bcz she was spitting the true side of his dictorial and unconstitutional regime. Ayub took it as cynicism also bcz it questioned his foreign policy and ties with west.

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The surprising point was that Jamat islami who were against the view that Women should not be allowed to take leadership roles for the first time supported Fatima Jinnah in 1965 because they disliked Ayub khan's dictatorship

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While Ayub’s regime pursued rapid industrialization and urban development, the distribution of these benefits remained heavily concentrated towards West Pakistan and resenting the east pakistan.

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1) Fatima Jinnah's defeat showed that democracy was hard under military dictatorship.

2) Fatima got favor but Ayub Khan declare victory.

3) symbol of dictatorship vs civilian government.

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How Ayub Manipulated Fatima over the course of time was what surprised me more

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The Muslim Family Law Ordinance was somewhat surprising. I was looking at this text through a critical lens, especially at Ayub Khan, but his reform of Muslim Family law ordinance was quite intriguing to read.

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Ayub Khan had different views from Fatima jinnah and he wanted her to support the government instead of criticizing it their clash of ideas is clearly shown

Ayub tried stating that Fatima jinnah's statements we're not realistic and vague causing misguidance and confusion. This showed democracy vs dictatorship.

Ayub Khan respected Fatima jinnah but did not accept her criticism and on the other hand Fatima did not step back from her stance.

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1.ayub khan justified his authoritative rule as a necessary step to stable the country, on the other hand Fatimah Jinnah defended democracy as the founding ideal of pakistan.

2.structural constrains like basic democracy schemes and repression of state denied peoples will, despite strong support for fatima jinnah

3.failure of democracy was due to disunity and self interest of politicians of elite class

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First fatima jinnah trusted ayub khan with that he's the best option for governing the country.

Miss jinnah later realized her mistake that a single person can not govern the country and tried to solve the mess.

Ayub tried to lessen miss jinnah credibility by character assassination.

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(Mehak) Most surprising part which I was unaware of was, Ayub khan warned fatima jinnah to stay quiet and support him anyway instead of opposing him through letters, he was trying to prove his authoritarian rule just because he was against parliamentary rule in pak as it was influenced by elite groups, landlords and stuff. He also mentioned that for him politicians were thugs and were of no use because they were not matching the level of primary education, a politician should have. Whereas, fatima jinnah was trying to fight for justice of people for which jinnah lived. Additionally, adult voting franchise looked more convincing to me than ayub's only 80,000 basic democrates who were allowed to vote for national leaders only.

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Ayub encouraged fatima to support him whilst denouncing politicians as corrupt.

Fatima refused to be silent and demanded to take away his accusations.

The pirbhai reading had this centralized point about election and how the very landlords played a key role in supporting him.

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The main takeaways from these readings include:

1.Ayub Khan was trying to potray himself as a leader who asked for dialogues among his opposition leaders instead of threatening them directly.

2.Initially,Fatma jinnah was supporting Ayub Khan but later on she was disappointed by his military rule and criticised him.

3.Ayub Khan was considering Fatima jinnah as a threat for his govt,because Fatma jinnah was a symbol of national respect and legitimacy.

Tafseer

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In 1964, nobody expected a woman to run for president in Pakistan as the country was conservative and most people thought only men could lead.

But then Fatima Jinnah stepped forward to run against Ayub Khan.

It was surprising that the ordinary people all over the country stood behind her.

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The Tone of addressing to Fatima Jinnah by Ayub Khan in two different letters

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What surprised me the most was Ayub Khan's mindset of thinking the population as uneducated and not fit to vote or voice their rights. How he thought that voting rights were linked to education level of the population, something which should not be determining a person's right to vote.

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That fatima jinnah was really disappointed anddd all of that era turned into a "ONE MAN SHOW ".

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Fatwas about Fatima Jinnah that it is HARAM for a woman to lead a Islamic country.

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Muhammad Ahsan

I think actually what was surprising for me was initially Fatima Jinnah supported Ayub Khan when she thought he could bring prosperity and stability but later she realized that she was delusioned when he abrogated the constitution. She started giving speeches against him in rallies and joined opposition's party. So as a political leader she should have thought about the consequences of supporting dictatorship. Changing statements over time to time I think actually leaves wrong impression on people. and they find it difficult to trust it again. The people who believe

in Fatima Jinnah initially tehy were with her she supported Ayub Khan now how could they change their statement

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1.Power is power

2. Being judgmental and looking down upon others makes the other person more resolved.

3. Woman are more resolved and incline to follow rules than man

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What I found different in this reading was how fatimah Jinnah initally favored the miliatry coup and the decisions made by Ayub Khan, However, doesnt that make this point counterintutive?

Moreover, the cycle of systematic oppression that Jinnah fought for durign Aub Khans time regarding the state centric capitalism we still see it persisting today. The reading also reminded me the concept of "Banals of evil" how systems coerce exlusion not the person at the top and i do think understanding Jinnahs fight for democracy and equity in the context of today. We see how munane things were weaponized:

Fatima Jinnah was denied foreign currency

Blocked from importing a car

Ostracized by diplomats during travel

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takeaways are that Democracy or Dictatorship Between 1958 and 1967, Ayub Khan built a controlled political system to maintain power, while Fatima Jinnah became the symbol of democracy and resistance. The 1965 elections highlighted the clash between dictatorship and popular will.

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to me, I kind of expected it as military dictators or dictators in general don't really go soft on dissent and opposition, be it the Madar e Millat, the dictators don't care about anything when it comes om oppressing resistance in order to maintain power.

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Audacity of a military general legitimizing his rule under the umbrella of "basic democracies"

It is surprising so-called democracy claimants and who? militaristic generals?

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1. At first fatima was having trust on the military government and ayub khan saying that country is in safe hands.

2. Fatima Ali Jinnah was one of the great leaders who worked hard for the country but still she was not except by many people because she was a women.

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Fighting for power even with their own people was suprising .

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1- Role of democracy over dictorship

2- Dynamic politics of Pakistan from starting

3- Importance of majority rule

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Parties like Jamaat e Islami, that were against women participating in politics & Fatima Jinnah, who used to despise such parties, partnered with each other to stand up against Ayub Khan

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In his reply to Fatima Jinnah Ayub Khan said she was being cynical this was surprising for me

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1.A system was created by the president where a small group of people could vote.

2.Fatimah Jinnah stood for the right of people to vote.

3.Fatima's idea failed because of unfair system, because people were pressured and some were bribed to vote for president

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not surprising, but Ayub was simply a power hungry capitalist who thought he knew better

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The fact that in his auto biography he expresses his clearly and avidly states :How can you run a parliamentary democracy when you have big landlords in the

country who can influence thousands of votes? How can you run a parliamentary

democracy when you have pirs and faqirs [mendicants] who can influence the

people indirectly?.......

this was really surprising for me cause he was indirectly yet openly accepting the fact that he felt pakistan could not be run on the basis of democracy just because of the hierarchical system that exist .....

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The BD system caused decentralization of power , and it deprived the locals to vote directly for the leader they actually want .

The Conversation between Fatma Jinnah and Ayub khan via letter writing was sarcastic ,where Fatma was clearly reluctant to support Ayub Kahn because his govt was not fair and unjust in her eyes.

Fatma Jinnah was strongly in support of democracy, justice after her brother Mohd Ali Jinnah not in favour of dictatorship.

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The fact that the country was taken from the hands of Eighty people and was given to a single person and people were fine with it.

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Three main take aways

1- Ayub khan wanted to establish a capitalist system on the name of democracy. He wanted power over democracy.

2-The establishment of basic democracy by Ayub khan banned all the parties and gave just the power to 80000 men to vote and no women were included there.

3- Fatima Jinnah was the one who wanted a democratic state . She wants the nation to be a democratic state as just her brother, Quiad -e- Azam wanted it to be.

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1- In my opinion there isn’t any single reason for anything happened after partition , the conflicts between leadership’s including military and government may be something that they can be right with their thoughts for making pakistan stronger.

2- The second thing is the consideration of cold war , Cold war was an ongoing international conflict and we have to accept it we are involved in this . No one can blame that the military interference and dealing with US is only for personal power . it can be for pakistan as a country.

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In the letters ayub was being emotional and somewhat manipulative and being defensive asking miss jinnah about how her political stances and statements hurt him and calls it a pain ans asks her to not state such statements that contradict his political stance. One other thing that i found while reading was how ayub khan after being a president and reforming it diminished women representation as much as he could and turned democracy into authoritarianism to be in power

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1. An anti- women leadership like Jamaat-I islami supporting Fatima's candidacy for president against Ayub reflect how discontent people felt about Ayub's rule and their desperation for a Democratic rule.

2. Ayub introducing the basic democracies system to have a controlled setup that gave him more control , taking away people's basic right to elect their government freely.

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All the prominent females out of the country dealing with other foreign affairs

Fatima's alignment with the 5 parties against ayub despite her not seeing eye to eye with leaders like mujib and mualana maudadi

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This text exposed the clash between two models of Pakistan: Ayub’s authoritarian, militarydriven state, VS Fatima’s vision of a democratic, participatory republic with freedom.

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according to Fatima Jinnah the election was not about individual rather it was about system “ a fight between dictatorship and democracy”. she was embraced as the “mother of the nation”

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what was surprising for me was the introduction of basic democrates. that pakistan at that time was not ready for parliamentary democracy because the politician were corrupt. so instead of expanding democratic participation, he established a basic democratic system.

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A bit of surprise for me would be that even when ayun khan himself admitted that Pakistan’s democracy amd leadership is weak and it needed strengthening. However ayub khan instead of strengthening the leadership brought the concept of dictatorship.

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when I read the passage pirbhai the first thing I encounter was how our leaders of that time used Islam as a power weapon or a Sheild. Moving forward during the election campaign Ayub khan was using a dominion by highlighting miss Fatima s age a barrier of her leadership skill and in this context, I like the answer by miss Fatima to Ayub khan where she stated that 'It has been said that I am old and that my age is 74. I would like to say that even at this age, I possess shoulders which are stronger than those of a Field Marshal."

and last not least how the gender was used an icon of capability to lead a country.

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Three main takeaways:

1. Ayub asserted that Pakistan was not prepared for parliamentary democracy.

2. Ayub's regime launched several reforms (e.g., the Muslim Family Laws Ordinance (1961)).

3. Fatima Jinnah, initially supporting Ayub, swiftly became his most prominent critic.

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1) the concept of democracy has always been ambiguous in Pakistan even in past it was something used in different context .

2) most of the problem we faced today are because things have been rooted such a way in the past e.g army involvement in every sector ,vote ragging and gender discrimination and sector based divisions .

3) this couser demonstrated how citizen have always been used by higher authorities .

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What was surprising about the letter from Ayub khan was that why he was so sure about his system that it was perfect and there is no room for objection and disagreements from the opposition or people who are not in power like Fatima Jinnah

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1 The fact that Ayub Khan was adamant to impose military rule. Imposing martial law 11 years after Pakistan came to being shows how he really wanted to push away the the politicians and impose his authoritative rule.

2 In his letters, Ayub's tone can be seen as an over ruling one. It felt as if he tried to silence Fatima Jinnah saying that she should stop giving an 'impression of cynicism'. He tries to give her a warning saying 'it was no pleasant task to have to publicly contradict her'

3 How Fatima Jinnah held her ground and stood steadfast was an act of bravery and determination. She wasn't intimidated by Ayub and gained public support by the educated class who understood their rights of democracy. Her message was a powerful one and her campaign gained popularity.

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1.Ayub Khan had a saviour complex but in actuality he was a toxic, manipulative,power hungry and control obsessed person.

1.Got Fatima ali's support by presenting his regime as an escape from the corruption and as a initiative for better future,but showed his true colors later.

2.Became the kind of unjust leader he claimed others in Pakistan were .

3. Pro women talks.

2.Fatima Jinnah was the most competent person after Jinnah who could lead the nation.

3.Misinterpretation of religion and patriarchy was the reason Pakistan could not succeed as nation.

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Ayubs land reform thing, 5 million acre taken for tenants yet given to military officials and bureaucrat.

Fatima aloofness from APWA her being more of a symbol than involved in direct politics

Quaids mausoleum built in 1970

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1. pirbhai reading: during Ayub's era, the women mentioned in the text who played a role in gov were shipped off to embassies in different countries, keeping them away from the main political scene.

2. Fatima jinnah also felt the need to step down from her role in politics because she was depending on Ayub to bring reform to the nation

3. The Letter's :However, in a public gathering, she said that subtle attempts are being made to attack Pakistan's sovereignty.

She was foreshadowing Ayub's regime through this dialogue.

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What surprised me was the way Ayub Khan managed to exclude women in politics in a diplomatic and essentially manipulative way. I falsely assumed that there was no role for women in politics at the time, yet it is evident that roles were in fact given however not in a generous manner. The whole point was to exclude women from domestic politics but still show the world that progression comes in the forms of international positions. Creating this narrative of progression while reversing it instead, mirrors society as a whole today.

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What surprises me is that Ayub Khan thinks that Fatima Ali Jinnah is a threat to him, while she was only highlighting the major issues that haven't been addressed.

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A surprising and turning point was when fatima jinnab went against ayub khan even though she was a supporter initially. But it also made sense because Fatima supported him thinking he would bring peace into the country but with his power in military he started to silence people. Pakistan was supposed to be a country with freedom of speech.

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I came to know about the word cynicism and how ayub khan was cynical

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1. Ayub khan's government was centralized and authoritarian, heavily reliant on bureaucrats rather than elected representatives.

2.He defended his dictatorial rule by claiming that Pakistan could not handle parliamentary democracy yet, because most people were uneducated, landlords and clerics controlled the masses, and politicians were corrupt and self-serving.

3. He introduced the Basic Democracies system, where 80,000 local “Basic Democrats” acted as an electoral college instead of adult franchise .

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I was surprised by how Ayub Khan dismissed Fatima Jinnah’s push for democracy as jealousy instead of recognizing her true commitment. It showed me how politics often turns into power struggles, where leaders twist the truth and real democratic efforts get blocked by ego as much as by systems.

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After reading the letters a part of me is sort of convinced that Ayoub Khan was also right. The country was going through a rough patch and maybe the Political powers needed to take a step back and think for the country's future.

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the surprising thing for me was how Fatima Jinnah who was bravely speaking up for the people rights, was tortured instead of protected.

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What surprised me was the sudden change of ayubs tone with fatima jinnah. As in the first letter he is more concerning and shows an enormous amount of respect towards miss jinnah. He even says that if she feels bad about anything any policies can explain her the background in order to clear her mind. But after miss jinnahs reply his tone changes from nice to crule as he warns her not to pass such statements in public and if she does so he can reply them in public. More over he's no longer a nice guy but a much more dominating dictator

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The most surprising things for me were Firstly,the basic democracy system(80k basic Democrats who could vote for the presidency),Secondly,Ayub Khan used a soft tone to address Fatima jinnah in her first letter calling her a symbol of national respect and legitimacy but later on his tone was totally shifted towards a harsh one.Thirdly,Ayub Khan was saying that Pakistan wasn't ready for a full parliamentary democracy due to the influence of land Lords, religious figures and he was simply trying to justify some thing that was put of the constitutional framework.

-Tafseer

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It was evident from the text that ayub Khan and his followers were practically threatening Fatima Jinnah it is mentioned that they made it difficult form her to travel internationally.

They also tried to manipulate people by connected Fatima's leadership to religion they argued that a women can not lead a state.

Also ayub Khan in the first place tried to win Fatima's support but later on he showed his true colors.

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In the 1964 elections, Fatima accepted the nomination of the COP to run against Ayub. Surprisingly, the coalition included parties like the far-right Jamaat-i-Islami, which had previously argued against a woman heading an Islamic state.

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I wasn't aware of the fact that the relationship between ayub khan and Fatima Jinnah was alot more cordial prior to their differences because all we were taught they had political rivalry and they didn't agree on many things and fatimah Jinnah was framed in sinister way later

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What really stood out to me from Fatima Jinnah’s letters is how clearly she criticized Ayub Khan’s system of government. She pointed out that Ayub concentrated power in the hands of one person, sidelined democracy, and built a system that favored the wealthy elite instead of ordinary people. What’s surprising is how relevant her warnings still feel today because the same cycle keeps repeating in Pakistan. Power continues to be centralized, the rich benefit the most, and democratic voices often get silenced. It’s striking that the issues she raised decades ago are still the same struggles we see now. - alesha

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Ayub to Fatima Jinnah letters:

demonstrated the widening gap between Fatima Jinnah and Ayub Khan.

Ayub: encouraged Fatima to support him, defended martial law, and denounced politicians as corrupt.

Fatima: Supported Jinnah's democratic principles and asserted her right to criticism. The sharp change in tone, showed her frustration with the dictatorship and her courage to oppose a powerful general.

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the surprising moment for me was that Ayub Khan’s reforms and systems like basic democracy were not really about helping people but mainly about keeping himself in power. he wanted democracy but only a controlled democracy that kept him safe.