In August 1955, Major General Iskander Mirza took over as Governor General when Ghulam Muhammad became too ill to continue. He was confirmed as the fourth Governor General of Pakistan on October 4, 1955.
Iskander Mirza was a civil servant and it is widely believed that he lacked the parliamentary spirit. He was of the view that democratic institutions could not flourish in Pakistan due to lack of training in the field of democracy and low literacy rate of the masses. He wanted a controlled democracy for Pakistan with more powers for the civil bureaucracy. He thought that politicians should be given the power to make policy but not allowed to interfere in administration. Iskander Mirza was also a great advocate of the One Unit scheme and it was under his rule that all the four provinces and the states of West Pakistan were merged into one unit in October 1955.
It was during his tenure that Chaudhry Muhammad Ali presented the 1956 Constitution and Iskander Mirza was elected the first President of Pakistan.
This article was last updated on Sunday, June 01, 2003
