Combined Opposition Parties
Combined Opposition Parties | |
|---|---|
| Abbreviation | COP |
| Leader | Fatima Jinnah |
| Founder | Khawaja Nazimuddin |
| Founded | July 21, 1964 |
| Merger of | Council Muslim League Awami League National Awami Party National Awami Party (Wali) Jamaat-e-Islami Pakistan Nizam-e-Islam Party |
| Ideology | Parliamentary democracy Anti-Ayub Khan Minority rights |
| Political position | Big tent |
| Election symbol | |
| Lantern | |
The Combined Opposition Parties (COP) was a Pakistani coalition of 6 to 13 political parties founded on July 21, 1964, to run in the 1965 presidential, and general election against field marshal Ayub Khan and his authoritarian regime
The COP was founded by Khawaja Nazimuddin among other political leaders in an attempt to challenge the military president Ayub Khan, who had imposed martial law since 1958. The group was made up of various political parties with differing ideologies and struggled to pick a single candidate in the 1965 election to run against Ayub, but eventually settled on Fatima Jinnah. The COP followed followed Chaudhri Muhammad Ali’s nine points as its official ideology.
Following the 1965 election results, which came in favor of Ayub, the coalition was divided, and eventually dissolved due to efforts by the Council Muslim League to dominate the group.