HISTORY AND DEVELOPMENT OF THE PAKISTAN GOVERNMENT

EARLY HISTORY OF THE PAKISTAN GOVERNMENT

Pakistan came into being in August 1947 with the partition of British India intoo India and Pakistan. Pakistan was designed to be the homeland for Muslims living in British India and came into existence as a result of the determination of the Muslim League political party that wanted Muslims in the Indian subcontinent to have a state separate from the Hindu majority after the British left. The partitioning of British India led to a mass migration of Muslims in India to Pakistan and Hindus and Sikhs in Pakistan to India. Hundreds of thousands died. [Source: “Worldmark Encyclopedia of National Economies”, The Gale Group Inc., 2002; “Cities of the World”, The Gale Group Inc., 2002]

The creation of a separate Muslim nation was accomplished largely through the efforts of Mohammed Ali Jinnah, Pakistan's first governor general ---- Pakistan’s first leadership posistion — who is also remembered as "Quaid-e-Azam" (The Great Leader). Between 1947 and 1948, Pakistan and India fought the first of three wars over the Muslim-majority territory of Kashmir, claimed by both states. The conflict ended in a stalemate. Kashmir continues to be a disputed territory and major discussion topic among ordinary within the Pakistani establishment and media.

In its early years, Pakistan faced frequent political crises. Jinnah died in 1948 months after Pakistan was created. That and the 1951 assassination of Prime Minister Liaquat Ali Khan deprived the country of two of its most able leaders. According to From 1951 to 1958, a succession of unstable governments did little to improve internal conditions. According to “Cities of the World”: In 1958, the Army Commander-in-Chief, General Mohammed Ayub Khan, overthrew the civilian government and seized power as president. Ayub governed Pakistan for 10 years, first under martial law, and after 1962 under a constitution that provided strong executive powers and limited representative government. Ayub relinquished the presidency in early 1969 to Commander-in-Chief General Mohammed Yahya Khan, who dismissed the government, abrogated the constitution and ruled under martial law. In December 1970. however, he permitted Pakistan's first free nationwide elections to select members for both the National Assembly and provincial legislatures.

Problems Faced by Pakistan’s Government

Nation building has been a difficult process in Pakistan. But although the country has undergone a succession of traumatic sociopolitical experiences since achieving independence in 1947, it continues to demonstrate its resilience and its capacity to survive and adapt to changing circumstances. Joining the community of nations as a bifurcated state, with its two wings separated by 1,600 kilometers of foreign soil, Pakistan was faced with the immediate task of absorbing large numbers of refugees from India in the months immediately following partition. The new nation struggled with severe economic disadvantages made acutely painful by a shortage of both administrative personnel and the material assets necessary to establish and sustain its fledgling government. With the death of Mohammad Ali Jinnah — the revered Quaid-i-Azam (Great Leader) — only thirteen months after independence, the nation was dealt another severe blow. [Source: Peter Blood, Library of Congress, 1994 *]

Created to provide a homeland for the Muslims of the Indian subcontinent, Pakistan was heir to a government structure and a political tradition that were essentially Western and secular. From its inception, Pakistan has worked to synthesize Islamic principles with the needs of a modern state. The young nation was immediately challenged by a host of other factors affecting national development, including ethnic and provincial tensions, political rivalries, and security considerations. The country subsequently survived civil war and the resultant loss of its East Wing, or East Pakistan, which became the independent nation of Bangladesh in December 1971, and has accommodated an influx of refugees resulting from the Soviet occupation of Afghanistan (December 1979-February 1989), which over the course of the conflict exceeded 3.2 million people. *

Pakistan has had difficulty in establishing stable, effective political institutions. The country has experimented with a variety of political systems, has endured periods of martial law, and has had five constitutions, one inherited from the British and four indigenous creations since independence. Its political parties have suffered from regionalism, factionalism, and lack of vision. Power has shifted between the politicians and the civilmilitary establishment, and regional and ethnic forces have threatened national unity. However, the impulse toward cohesion has been stronger than the impetus toward division, and the process of nation building has continued. The return to democracy in 1988, and the peaceful, constitutional transfer of power to new governments in 1990 and 1993 testify to Pakistan's progress in the quest for political stability. *

Early Constitution Building in Pakistan

The path to the current constitution and government was often tortuous and accompanied by successive upheavals in the nation's political life. The years between 1947 and 1958 were marked by political chaos moderated by the administrative power and acumen of the CSP. They were also years in which the armed forces, especially the army, expanded its mission and assumed political influence alongside the CSP. Initially, the country was governed by a Constituent Assembly. The Constituent Assembly had dual functions: to draft a constitution and to enact legislation until the constitution came into effect. It was nine years before Pakistan adopted its first constitution in 1956. Major conflicts in the Constituent Assembly included the issues of representation to be given to major regional groups (particularly the East Wing) and religious controversy over what an Islamic state should be. [Source: Peter Blood, Library of Congress, 1994 *]

The first major step in framing a constitution was the passage by the Constituent Assembly of the Objectives Resolution of March 1949, which defined the basic principles of the new state. It provided that Pakistan would be a state "wherein the principles of democracy, freedom, equality, tolerance and social justice, as enunciated by Islam, shall be fully observed; wherein the Muslims shall be enabled to order their lives in the individual and collective spheres in accordance with the teachings and requirements of Islam as set out in the Holy Quran and Sunna; [and] wherein adequate provision shall be made for the minorities freely to progress and practice their religions and develop their cultures." Seven years of debate, however, failed to produce agreement on fundamental issues such as regional representation or the structure of a constitution. This impasse prompted Governor General Ghulam Mohammad to dismiss the Constituent Assembly in 1954. The Supreme Court of Pakistan upheld the action of the governor general, arguing that he had the power to disband the Constituent Assembly and veto legislation it passed. This preeminence of the governor general over the legislature has been referred to as the viceregal tradition in Pakistan's politics.*

The revived Constituent Assembly promulgated Pakistan's first indigenous constitution in 1956 and reconstituted itself as the national legislature — the Legislative Assembly — under the constitution it adopted. Pakistan became an Islamic republic. The governor general was replaced by a president, but despite efforts to create regional parity between the East Wing and the West Wing, the regional tensions remained. Continuing regional rivalry, ethnic dissension, religious debate, and the weakening power of the Muslim League — the national party that spearheaded the country's founding — exacerbated political instability and eventually led President Iskander Mirza to disband the Legislative Assembly on October 7, 1958, and declare martial law. General Mohammad Ayub Khan, Pakistan's first indigenous army commander in chief, assisted Mirza in abrogating the constitution of 1956 and removing the politicians he believed were bringing Pakistan to the point of collapse. Ayub Khan, as Mirza's chief martial law administrator, then staged another coup also in October 1958, forced Mirza out of power, and assumed the presidency, to the relief of large segments of the population tired of the politicians' continued machinations.*

Pakistan Government Under Ayub Khan and Yahya Kha

Although Ayub Khan viewed himself as a reformer, he was predisposed to the benevolent authoritarianism of the Mughal and viceregal traditions. He also relied heavily on the country's civilian bureaucrats, who formed the majority of his advisers and cabinet ministers. Ayub Khan initiated a plan for Basic Democracies, a measure to create a system of local government from the grass roots. The Basic Democracies system consisted of a mulitiered pyramidal hierarchy of interlocking tiers of legislative councils from the village to the provincial level. The lowest but most important tier was composed of union councils, one each for groups of villages having an approximate population of 10,000. The members of these union councils were called Basic Democrats. The union councils were responsible for local government, including agricultural and community development, maintaining law and order through rural police, and trying minor cases in conciliation courts. [Source: Peter Blood, Library of Congress, 1994 *]

In 1960 the Basic Democrats were asked to endorse Ayub Khan's presidency and to give him a mandate to frame a new constitution. Ayub's constitution, promulgated in 1962, ended martial law, established a presidential form of government with a weak legislature (now called the National Assembly) and gave the president augmented executive, legislative, and financial powers. Adult franchise was limited to the election of Basic Democrats, who constituted an electoral college for the president and members of the national and provincial assemblies. This constitution was abrogated in 1969 when Ayub, who by then had lost the people's confidence, resigned, handing over the responsibility for governing to the army commander in chief General Agha Mohammad Yahya Khan (see Ayub Khan). Yahya Khan assumed the title of president and also became chief martial law administrator.*

Although Yahya Khan established a semimilitary state, he also introduced changes that led to the return of parliamentary democracy. These changes ultimately resulted in the division of the country in two. Yahya held national elections in December 1970 for the purpose of choosing members of the new National Assembly who were to be elected directly by the people. However, the results of these elections, which brought the politicians once more to the fore, led to the secession of East Pakistan and the creation of an independent Bangladesh in 1971. [Source: Peter Blood, Library of Congress, 1994 *]

Yahya accepted the demand of East Pakistan for representation in the new assembly on the basis of population. As a result, Bengali leader Sheikh Mujibur ("Mujib") Rahman's Awami League won all but two of the 162 seats allotted East Pakistan out of the 300 directly elected seats in the assembly (thirteen indirectly elected women were added), and Mujib wanted considerable regional autonomy for East Pakistan.Zulfiqar Ali Bhutto and his Pakistan People's Party (PPP) emerged as the political victors in West Pakistan in the 1970 elections. Bhutto's intransigence — he refused to participate in the discussions to frame the new constitution — led to the continuation of martial law and the eventual political and military confrontation between East Pakistan and West Pakistan, which precipitated civil war and the country's dismemberment in December 1971. With Pakistan's military in disarray, Yahya resigned, and Bhutto was appointed president and civilian chief martial law administrator of a truncated Pakistan.*

East and West Pakistan Problem

“n 1947, Pakistan faced a unique and ultimately unsolvable problem of ethnic and geographic division. Initially, Pakistan consisted of two parts: East Pakistan and West Pakistan, separated by 1,610 kilometers (nearly 1,000 miles) of Indian territory on opposite sides of the Indian subcontinent. Slightly less than half the people inhabited West Pakistan (present-day Pakistan) and the rest occupied East Pakistan (now Bangladesh) in the humid delta region of the lower Ganges in East Bengal. The two halves of the country differed greatly in language, customs, and daily life and were held together only by a common religion and mutual distrust of the Hindu majority in India. [Source: “Cities of the World”, The Gale Group Inc., 2002]

According to the “Worldmark Encyclopedia of National Economies”: “In 1970 general elections resulted in the Awami League sweeping the East Pakistan seats to gain a majority in Pakistan as a whole. The Pakistan People's Party (PPP), founded by Zulfikar Ali Bhutto, won a majority of the seats in West Pakistan. The outcome was a country completely divided, with neither major party having support in the other area. Negotiations to form a coalition government broke down, and a civil war ensued. In 1971, the eastern section declared itself the independent nation of Bangladesh. Leadership of the western part of Pakistan was handed over to Bhutto, who became prime minister and the first civilian chief martial law administrator. [Source: “Worldmark Encyclopedia of National Economies”, The Gale Group Inc., 2002]

“The election results profoundly affected the future of Pakistan. In the West. the Pakistan People's Party (PPP) of Zulfikar Ali Bhutto gained a majority. In the East, The Awami League of Sheikh Mujibur Rahman scored an overwhelming victory, one so great that the party gained a majority of all seats in both East Pakistan and in the National Assembly. A period of intense political maneuvering followed, with the main issue being the degree of autonomy to be accorded East Pakistan. This period ended abruptly in March 1971, when the Army arrested Mujibur Rahman in Dhaka and attempted to suppress his followers. Resulting disorders in East Pakistan grew into a widespread insurrection, during which 10 million refugees fled into neighboring India, Growing tension between Pakistan and India over developments in East Pakistan led to the outbreak of war in December 1971. India invaded East Pakistan and after a short campaign, West Pakistan's forces in the East surrendered. Then the former East Pakistan became the independent nation of Bangladesh.

Pakistan Government Under Zulfiqar Ali Bhutto

Zulfiqar Ali Bhutto, the father of Benazir Bhutto, was in power from 1971 to 1977, first as president, and then as prime minister in a parliamentary system following the creation of a new constitution that he presided over in 1973, After national election, in early 1977, showdown between Bhutto's PPP government and a multi-party coalition called the Pakistan National Alliance (PNA) emerged. Bhutto was ousted in a bloodless coup led by Chief of Army Staff, General Zia-ul-Haq. Bhutto was eventually convicted of conspiracy to commit murder and hanged. [Source: “Cities of the World”, The Gale Group Inc., 2002]

Bhutto lifted martial law within several months, and after an "interim constitution" granting him broad powers as president, a new constitution was promulgated in April 1973 and came into effect on August 14 of that year, the twenty-sixth anniversary of the country's independence. This constitution represented a consensus on three issues: the role of Islam; the sharing of power between the federal government and the provinces; and the division of responsibility between the president and the prime minister, with a greatly strengthened position for the latter. Bhutto stepped down as president and became prime minister. In order to allay fears of the smaller provinces concerning domination by Punjab, the constitution established a bicameral legislature with a Senate, providing equal provincial representation, and a National Assembly, allocating seats according to population. Islam was declared the state religion of Pakistan. [Source: Peter Blood, Library of Congress, 1994 *]

Bhutto had the opportunity to resolve many of Pakistan's political problems. But although the country finally seemed to be on a democratic course, Bhutto lost this opportunity because of series of repressive actions against the political opposition that made it appear he was working to establish a one-party state. In a final step, he suddenly called national elections in March 1977, hoping to catch the opposition unprepared and give his party total control of the National Assembly. When Bhutto's party overwhelmingly won the election, the opposition charged voting irregularities and launched mass disturbances requiring action by the army to restore law and order. Bhutto was ousted by the military, which again took control. This action resulted not solely from sheer political ambition but from the military's belief that the law and order situation had dangerously deteriorated.*

Pakistan Government Under Zia ul-Haq

Pakistan was under martial law under General Zia ul-Haq from from 1977 to 1985 with Zia serving both as President and as Chief Martial Law Administrator. Finally, he bowed to domestic and international pressures and allowed a return to democracy. Non-party elections to the National and Provincial Assemblies were held in 1985. The new government. led by Prime Minister Mohammed Khan Junejo was supported by legislators associated with the Pakistan Muslim League (PML) and the National and Provincial Assemblies. Groups of independents and opposition forces were formed. Local elections were held in 1987. Under Zia, the government of Pakistan became increasingly Islamized and received lots of international aid to support mujahideen (holy warriors) fight against the Soviet invasion force in Afghanistan. [Source: “Cities of the World”, The Gale Group Inc., 2002]

Zia was the chief of the army staff when he seized power . He, became chief martial law administrator in July 1977 and president in September 1978. He suspended the constitution, with the army's stated objective being to create an environment in which fair elections could be held. However, Bhutto, his primary opponent, was tried and sentenced to death in 1978 on the charge of conspiring to murder a political opponent. The Supreme Court upheld the sentence, and Bhutto was hanged in April 1979. Zia cancelled the elections that had been promised and kept the country under martial law until 1985. During this time, Zia pressed the policy that Pakistan's survival and progress were dependent on building an Islamic state. A number of measures were taken to implement this policy, including the introduction of the Federal Shariat Court. A referendum held in 1984 confirmed Zia's policy of Islamization. In this referendum, a "yes" vote agreeing with Zia's Islamization policy was also to be interpreted as a vote for Zia to remain in office as president for another five years. According to the results reported by the government but contested by the opposition, Zia obtained 98 percent of total votes cast. [Source: Peter Blood, Library of Congress, 1994 *]

Zia's government also adapted Ayub's Basic Democracies structure to institute a new system of local government. Local councils were organized into tiers with union councils at the base, tehsil (subdistrict) councils above them, and zilla (district) councils at the apex. The system also included municipal committees and municipal corporations in the larger metropolitan centers. Councillors were elected for fouryear terms and could stand for reelection. The councils were designed to meet a need for grass-roots expression. Elections were conducted without formal political party affiliation or involvement. The councils were to concentrate on improving local development, including agricultural production, education, health, roads, and water supply.*

In 1985 elections were held for both the national and the provincial assemblies, an amended version of the 1973 constitution was reinstated, and martial law was ended. Zia remained president, and the amended constitution, including the controversial Eighth Amendment passed by the National Assembly in November 1985, gave predominant political authority to the president. The president could appoint and dismiss the prime minister and the provincial governors and could dissolve both the national and the provincial assemblies. A significant feature of the 1973 constitution as amended in 1985, insofar as the Islamization process was concerned, was that the Objectives Resolution, adopted by the first Constituent Assembly in 1949 and made a preamble to the 1956, 1962, and 1973 constitutions, was incorporated as a substantive part (Article 2- A) of this restored constitution. The Objectives Resolution provided, in part, that Pakistan would be a state "wherein the Muslims shall be enabled to order their lives in the individual and collective spheres in accordance with the teachings and requirements of Islam as set out in the Holy Quran and the Sunna."

Political parties were not allowed to participate in the 1985 elections, and the PPP, led by Benazir Bhutto (Zulfiqar's daughter), boycotted them. After the elections, Zia picked Mohammad Khan Junejo, a politician from Sindh and a minister in one of his earlier cabinets, as his prime minister. The ZiaJunejo period lasted three years until Zia dismissed the prime minister and dissolved the National Assembly and the four provincial assemblies. Zia cited incompetence, corruption, and failure to further the Islamization process as reasons for his actions. In addition, Zia came to regard Junejo as too independent, and the two men clashed on a number of issues including differences on policy relating to Afghanistan and promotions in the armed services. Zia also announced that new elections would be held. Zia died in a mysterious a airplane crash in August 1988 near Bahawalpur, a town in central Punjab.

Pakistan Government Under Benazir Bhutto

Zia's sudden death in a airplane crash in August 1988 left Pakistan without a president, prime minister, or national or provincial assemblies. In a demonstration of the country's resilience, Ghulam Ishaq Khan, the chairman of the Senate — which had not been dissolved by Zia — and next in the constitutional line of succession, became interim president in December.. [Source: Peter Blood, Library of Congress, 1994]

General elections were held in November 1988. Benazir Bhutto, daughter of the late prime minister, became prime minister, and Ishaq Khan was subsequently elected president According to “Worldmark Encyclopedia of National Economies”: The PPP headed by Bhutto, won a majority of seats in parliament and formed a coalition government. In August 1990, President Ghulam Ishaq Khan exercised his right under the constitution to dissolve the National Assembly, dismiss the prime minister, and call for new elections. In the general election held in October 1990, the Islamic Democratic Alliance won the largest number of seats, and Mian Nawaz Sharif, leader of its largest component party, the Pakistan Muslim League (PML), became prime minister. Nawaz Sharif, the first industrialist to lead Pakistan, continued a trend toward liberalization of the economy and promotion of private sector growth, though largely unsuccessfully. [Source: “Worldmark Encyclopedia of National Economies”, The Gale Group Inc., 2002]

According to “Cities of the World”: “In August 1988, growing tensions between President Zia and PM Junejo led Zia to dismiss Junejo's government and call for new non-party elections. Zia's death in a plane crash, later that month, however, altered the political environment. Senate Chairman Ghulam Ishaq Khan assumed the presidency and guided the nation through the elections in November of that year. [Source: “Cities of the World”, The Gale Group Inc., 2002]

“Although the largest party in Parliament, the PPP lacked a majority. Bhutto's administration struggled for most of its tenure and on August 6, 1990, the President, acting under the constitution, removed the Bhutto government. A caretaker regime held national and provincial elections in October 1990 which brought a coalition to power under the leadership of Nawaz Sharif, who became Prime Minister in November 1990.

“Sharif's government was dismissed in April 1993 by President Ghulam Ishaq Khan, but it was later restored by the Supreme Court. The resulting constitutional crisis was resolved by the resignation of both the Prime Minister and the President. In elections held in October 1993, the PPP-led coalition won and Benazir Bhutto became Prime Minister again. In November 1996, President Farooq Leghari dismissed Bhutto's government on the grounds of corruption and abuse of power. In the February 1997 elections, the PML won a two-thirds majority in the National Assembly and Nawaz Sharif once again became Prime Minister.

Pakistan Government Under Pervez Musharraf

According to the “Worldmark Encyclopedia of National Economies”: “In 1997, Nawaz Sharif was re-elected prime minister with a substantial majority, but on 12 October 1999 his government was removed in a bloodless military coup. The chief of army staff, General Pervez Musharraf, took over as "chief executive," suspended the constitution, established a military-dominated National Security Council as the country's supreme decision-making body, and named a mostly civilian cabinet. Many western countries, led by the United States — Pakistan's Cold War ally and partner in the jihad (holy war) of the 1980s that expelled the Soviets from neighboring Afghanistan — tolerated the coup, even though it seemed a throwback to a pre-Cold War era. After the nuclear standoff with India over the Kashmir dispute, it seemed favorable to have the army in command rather than have Islamists take over the country from a run-down civilian government. [Source: “Worldmark Encyclopedia of National Economies”, The Gale Group Inc., 2002]

“Upon assuming power, General Musharraf set an ambitious reform agenda, which included fighting corruption, devolving power to the local level, and fighting sectarianism. In May 2000, the supreme court validated the coup, but gave General Musharraf 3 years from 12 October to return to a civilian government. Musharraf agreed to this time frame. Tensions with India, religious sectarianism, corruption, and political uncertainty are among the many challenges his government faces.

“Plans have been put forward to implement well-designed and comprehensive civil service reforms. These reforms, as favored by the World Bank, could foster economic growth and sustained poverty reduction by reducing the obstacles to private sector development that the poorly performing public sector now creates. They are also designed to expand access of the poor to good-quality basic social services, and address serious problems of governance, such as corruption. The country's civil service is largely unchanged since the days of British colonial rule and is characterized by rigid, often irrelevant, and unevenly enforced rules and mismanagement. The erosion of real wages even of high-level officials (which is the consequence of high rates of inflation without attendant pay raises in the civil service) add to the factors that have eroded accountability and transparency, and led to widespread corruption. At the same time, the government is burdened by wage costs and rising pension costs, which are making important non-wage expenditures impossible.

“An economic team, headed by the finance minister, has identified tax reform as the single most urgent measure needed to hold Pakistan together. Without a rise in tax revenues the state will simply not have the money to tackle any of the major problems facing the country. Economists warn that Pakistan must eventually raise its annual tax collection to 20 percent of GDP, up from a range of 10.7 to 15.5 percent in the past decade, to begin balancing its budget. At the moment, annual tax revenues just about pay for debt servicing and national defense, leaving other crucial areas to be financed through more loans. Only about 1 percent of the country's population of nearly 140 million pay income tax .

Image Sources: Wikimedia Commons

Text Sources: New York Times, Washington Post, Los Angeles Times, Lonely Planet Guides, Library of Congress, Pakistan Tourism Development Corporation (tourism.gov.pk), Official Gateway to the Government of Pakistan (pakistan.gov.pk), The Guardian, National Geographic, Smithsonian magazine, The New Yorker, Time, Reuters, Associated Press, AFP, Wikipedia and various books, websites and other publications.

Last updated February 2022


This site contains copyrighted material the use of which has not always been authorized by the copyright owner. Such material is made available in an effort to advance understanding of country or topic discussed in the article. This constitutes 'fair use' of any such copyrighted material as provided for in section 107 of the US Copyright Law. In accordance with Title 17 U.S.C. Section 107, the material on this site is distributed without profit. If you wish to use copyrighted material from this site for purposes of your own that go beyond 'fair use', you must obtain permission from the copyright owner. If you are the copyright owner and would like this content removed from factsanddetails.com, please contact me.