National Awami Party (Wali) - 1970 Elections and Aftermath

1970 Elections and Aftermath

Further information: Bangladesh Liberation War and war Further information: Pakistani general election, 1970

The party contested the 1970 elections from Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa (K-P), Balochistan, Sindh and East Pakistan. It did not field any candidates in the Punjab, Nationally it fielded 16 candidates from K-P, three of whom got elected, securing 18.4% of the vote, in Balochistan three out of four candidates were elected but it failed to win any seats from Sindh.

In 1971, in an attempt to avert a possible showdown between the Military and the people of East Pakistan, on March 23, 1971, Khan, along with other Pakistani politicians, jointly met Sheikh Mujibur Rahman. They offered support to Mujeeb in the formation of a government, but it was already too late to break the impasse as Yahya Khan had already decided on a full scale military crackdown. Pakistan's increasing vulnerability and widespread international outrage against the military crackdown eventually created a situation that led to war between Pakistan and India. This war proved disastrous and culminated in Pakistan's armed forces being defeated in East Pakistan and the creation of the new state of Bangladesh. Shocked by the defeat, Yahya Khan resigned from office and the military. Under General Gul Hassan Khan, Zulfikar Ali Bhutto was brought back from America and appointed President.

During the martial law crackdown against East Pakistan, the National Awami Party under Wali Khan was one of a handful of parties that protested the military operation. In one case, Khan helped a senior East Pakistani diplomat's son escape to Afghanistan from possible internment in West Pakistan. The military government, in retaliation against the protests, banned the party and launched mass arrests of party activists.