Political Transitions and Instability in Pakistan
The political affairs of Pakistan have constantly been in a state of flux since inception. Our sixty year political history is marred with intrigues, intolerance, illegitimate use of power, and persistent interference in politics by both civil and military establishment. The perpetual disruption of democratic rule and overthrowing of elected governments has enormously weakened the political institutions, marginalized their effectiveness and alienated the masses from the political process. The convenience with which force and illegitimate power has been “successfully” exercised again and again, against democratic forces, has significantly contributed to the formation of corrupt attitudes and assumptions which is now making the above interventions even more effortless and readily acceptable. After all, each illegitimate action is backed by a reservoir of historic precedents, sanctioned LEGITIMATE by gagged judiciary, bureaucracy and other corrupt and at times, irrelevant political entities.
Democratic culture and political maturity do not emerge accidentally. And the kind of environment required to nurture democracy is not the one as characterized in the above description.
To appreciate the volatility of the political process in Pakistan, an analysis of political transitions is presented below which summarizes regime change from Khawaja Nazim-ud-Din in 1948 to General Pervez Musharaf in 1999. The analysis also highlights the share of military in the current affairs of Pakistan, which is too significant to absolve it from corruption and decay of the current political system. A comparative analysis between military and democratic rule clearly demonstrates the limited leverage enjoyed by civil governments as compared to military regimes. Simply put, democratic governments have hardly ever been allowed to complete their constitutional tenure and have never been able to transition “normally” from one democratic government to another. This is a significant factor behind the political mess that has evolved over the past decades and must be addressed in order to have any hope of a mature and healthy political and social order.
A Comparative Summary of Democratic and Military Rule in Pakistan
Note: | In the analysis below, military rule includes periods of pseudo-democracies. Pseudo-democracy may be defined in the Pakistani context as comprising a civil government and elected parliament formed as a result of a controversial and unfair elections (in violation to the principles and parameters defined in the 1973 constitution), and having a military dictator as the de facto center of power. |
Type of Rule | No. of Regimes | Tenure of Regimes in Years | ||||
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Total | Min | Max | Avg | %age | ||
Military Rule | 4 | 32.4 | 2.7 | 11.1 | 8.1 | 53.8% |
Democratic Rule | 19 | 27.9 | 0.1 | 5.5 | 1.5 | 46.2% |
A Summary of Political Transitions in Pakistan
From | To | Dictator / Heads of Govt. | Type of Rule | Total Reign | Remarks | |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Years | Months | |||||
15-Aug-1947 | 16-Oct-1951 | Governor General, M. A. Jinnah (after Jinnah's death Khawaja Nazim-ud-Din) Prime Minister, Liaqat Ali Khan |
Democratic | 4.2 | 50.1 | |
16-Oct-1951 | 17-Apr-1953 | Governor General, Ghulam Muhammad
Prime Minister, Khwaja Nazim-ud-Din |
Democratic | 1.5 | 18.0 | Liaqat Ali Khan Assassinated on Oct 16, 1951 |
17-Apr-1953 | 24-Oct-1954 | Governor General, Ghulam Muhammad
Prime Minister, Muhammad Ali Bogra (the Ambassador to USA) |
Democratic | 1.5 | 18.2 | Khawaja Nazim-ud-Din dismissed on Apr 17, 1953 |
24-Oct-1954 | 06-Aug-1955 | Governor General, Ghulam Muhammad
Prime Minister, Muhammad Ali Bogra |
Democratic | 0.8 | 9.4 | Ghulam Muhammad dissolved the constituent assembly on Oct 24, 1954 and Bogra formed new govt. without parliament |
06-Aug-1955 | 12-Sep-1956 | Governor General, Major General Iskander Mirza
Prime Minister, Chaudhry Muhammad Ali |
Democratic | 1.1 | 13.2 | Iskander Mirza dismissed Muhammad Ali Bogra on Aug 08, 1955
Iskander Mirza sworn-in as the first President under the 1956 Constitution |
12-Sep-1956 | 12-Oct-1957 | President, Iskander Mirza
Prime Minister, Hussain Shaheed Suhrawardy |
Democratic | 1.1 | 13.0 | |
12-Oct-1957 | 16-Dec-1957 | President, Iskander Mirza
Prime Minister, I. I. Chundrigar |
Democratic | 0.2 | 2.1 | Hussain Shaheed Suharwardy loses support of Rupublican Party and resigns on Oct 12, 1957 |
16-Dec-1957 | 07-Oct-1958 | President, Iskander Mirza
Prime Miniser, Malik Feroz Khan Noon |
Democratic | 0.8 | 9.7 | Malik Feroz Khan Noon replaces Prime Minister I. I. Chundrigar on Dec 16, 1957 |
07-Oct-1958 | 25-Mar-1969 | Chief Martial Law Administrator and later the President, General Ayub Khan | Military | 10.5 | 125.7 | Iskander Mirza abrogated the constitution on Oct 07, 1958. General Ayub Khan became the Chief Martial Law Administrator.
Ayub Khan arrested Iskander Mirza on Oct 27, 1958 and exiled him to Britain |
25-Mar-1969 | 20-Dec-1971 | Chief Martial Law Administrator, General Agha Muhammad Yahya Khan | Military | 2.7 | 32.9 | Ayub Khan transfers power to Yahya Khan |
20-Dec-1971 | 05-Jul-1977 | President and later Prime Minister, Zulfiqar Ali Bhutto
President Fazal Ilahi |
Democratic | 5.5 | 66.5 | Bhutto takes over power from Yahya Khan and becomes the civilian Chief Martial Law Administrator and the President of Pakistan
Bhutto is elected Prime Minister on August 14, 1973, under the 1973 constitution and Fazal Ilahi becomes the new President |
05-Jul-1977 | 17-Aug-1988 | General Muhammad Zia-ul-Haq | Military | 11.1 | 133.5 | General Zia overthrows Bhutto's Govt. and imposes Martial Law |
17-Aug-1988 | 02-Dec-1988 | President, Ghulam Ishaq Khan | Democratic | 0.3 | 3.5 | Interim govt. |
02-Dec-1988 | 06-Aug-1990 | President, Ghulam Ishaq Khan
Prime Minister, Benazir Bhutto |
Democratic | 1.7 | 20.1 | Benazir is elected as Prime Minister |
06-Aug-1990 | 01-Nov-1990 | President, Ghulam Ishaq Khan
Prime Minister, Ghulam Mustafa Jatoi |
Democratic | 0.2 | 2.9 | Ghulam Ishaq Khan dissolved the Assemblies on August 6, 1990 and formed a caretaker Government |
01-Nov-1990 | 19-Apr-1993 | President, Ghulam Ishaq Khan
Prime Minister, Mian Muhammad Nawaz Sharif |
Democratic | 2.5 | 29.6 | Mian Nawaz Sharif is elected as Prime Minister |
19-Apr-1993 | 26-May-1993 | President Ghulam Ishaq Khan
Prime Minister, Mir Balakh Sher Khan Mazari |
Democratic | 0.1 | 1.2 | Ghulam Ishaq Khan dissolved the Assemblies on April 19, 1993 and formed a caretaker government |
26-May-1993 | 18-Jul-1993 | President, Ghulam Ishaq Khan
Prime Minister, Mian Muhammad Nawaz Sharif |
Democratic | 0.1 | 1.7 | On May 26, 1993, the Supreme Court revoked the Presidential Order and reinstated Nawaz Sharif as the Prime Minister |
18-Jul-1993 | 19-Oct-1993 | President, Wasim Sajjad
Prime Minister, Moin Qureshi |
Democratic | 0.3 | 3.1 | Nawaz Sharif and Ghulam Ishaq Khan were "forced to" resign on July 18, 1993. Moin Qureshi a World Bank official, was an unknown entity in Pakistan |
19-Oct-1993 | 05-Nov-1996 | President, Farooq Ahmad Khan Leghari
Prime Minister, Benazir Bhutto |
Democratic | 3.0 | 36.6 | Farooq Leghari becomes President on Nov 13, 1993 |
05-Nov-1996 | 17-Feb-1997 | President, Farooq Ahmad Khan Leghari
Prime Minister, Malik Meraj Khalid |
Democratic | 0.3 | 3.4 | Farooq Leghari dismissed Benazir Bhutto's Government in Nov 1996 |
18-Feb-1997 | 12-Oct-1999 | President Farooq Ahmad Khan Leghari and later Rafiq Tarar
Mian Muhammad Nawaz Sharif |
Democratic | 2.6 | 31.8 | Farooq Leghari resigned on Dec 02, 1997. Rafiq Tarar becomes President on Jan 01, 1998 |
12-Oct-1999 | 28-Oct-2007 | Self-proclaimed "Chief Executive", General Pervez Musharaf | Military | 8.0 | 96.6 | General Pervez Musharaf overthrows Nawaz Sharif |
References:
- Main Nay Dhaka Doobtay Daikha by Siddique Salik
- Story of Pakistan
- http://www.wikipedia.org
- http://banglapedia.search.com.bd
- http://www.ppp.org.pk