Chants of protest are heard across the nation of Pakistan:

In Karachi: "Bring back elected government! Fresh elections now!"

In Hyderabad: "Say no to rule from Lahore! Say no to One Unit!"

In Multan: "Punjabi for Punjab! Sindhi for Sindh! Down with Urdu!"

In Lahore: "Government by Punjabis for Punjab speaking Punjabi!"

In Rawalpindi: "The People of Punjab demand a say! Send the dictatorship away!"

In Khuzdar: "We threw out the Khan of Kalat! We can thrown out the new Khan too!"

In Turbat: "The Baloch people will not assimilate!"

In Dakha: "We demand democracy! Call back parliament!"

In Chittagong: "The federation is broken! Freedome for Bengal!"

After the last election, it had become clear that the political status quo in Pakistan was not working. Parliament was hung. The established political parties were unwilling or unable to negotiate. People began to lose faith in politicians. The populace was generally in favour of the President's Coup.

However, the same cannot be said of the General's Coup. While the military was prominent in Pakistani society, especially after the wars in Kalat and Hyderabad and the threat of war in Kashmir, it was not universally liked. While the leaders of the establishment political parties were under house arrest, the vast majority of the politically active populace was not. The Movement for Democratic Renewal (MDR) was soon formed by citizens opposed to military rule across party lines.

It was the declaration of the One Unit policy that would give the MDR popular support. With Urdu being spoken only by a small minority of the population of West Pakistan, the integration of the separate provincial administrations into a single (presumably Urdu-speaking) West Pakistan administration threatened to alienate the common people of West Pakistan from their government. The people of Punjab wanted a Punjabi-speaking government, the people of Sindh a Sindhi-speaking government, and the people of Balochistan a Baloch-speaking government. The MDR has latched onto and amplified this popular opposition to One Unit, and has used it to boost their movement's appeal.

While the MDR is not yet armed or well-enough organized to pose a military threat to the Pakistani government, this could change if Afghanistan or India got involved. Akbar Khan's rule is not yet secure. He needs to address this discontent if his military dictatorship is to last....