The Military and Democracy in Pakistan

  • Sequence of Rule:
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  1. General Ayub Khan
  2. General Yahya Khan
  3. Elected Government of Zulfikar Ali Bhutto (1971-77)
  4. General Zia-ul-Haq
  5. Benazir Bhutto
  6. Nawaz Sharif
  7. General Musharraf
  • After first constitution was formed general Ayub Khan, got himself elected.
  • Dissatisfaction with his rule, there was military took over by General Yahya Khan.
  • During Yahya’s rule Pakistan faced Bangladesh crisis, and after a war with India in 1971, East Pakistan broke away and emerged as an independent country called Bangladesh.
  • After this, elected government of Zulfikar Ali Bhutto was in power in Pakistan from 1971 to 1977.
  • Bhutto government was removed by General Zia-ul-Haq in 1977.
  • In 1982, there was pro-democracy movement by people and again an elected government took over in 1988 under leadership of Benazir Bhutto.
  • Benazir Bhutto was daughter of Zulfikar Ali Bhutto.
  • After she became the P.M. in 1988 political system prevailed in Pakistan just like Indian democracy.
  • There were two parties in total namely the Pakistan People’s Party and the Muslim League.
  • Benazir Bhutto was of Pak istan People’s Party.
  • The democracy lasted till 1999. And General Pervez Musharraf removed the current P.M. Nawaz Sharif.
  • In 2001, General Musharraf got himself elected as President.
  • It continued to be ruled by army, yet rulers have held elections to give their rule a democratic image.
  • Since 2008, democratically elected rulers have been ruling Pakistan.
  • Factors responsible for failure of stable democracy building in Pakistan:
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  1. Social dominance of the military, clergy, and landowning aristocracy.
  2. Conflicts with India made pro-military groups more powerful.
  3. Some think that Pakistan’s security would be harmed by selfish-minded people/parties so therefore army’s stay in power is justified.
  4. The lack of genuine international support for democratic rule, has further encouraged the military dominance in Pakistan.
  5. The United Stated and other Western countries have encouraged military rule for their own reasons.
  6. Other countries also feared from the threat of ‘global Islamic terrorism’ and the apprehension that Pakistan’s nuclear arsenal might fall into the hands of terrorist groups.
  7. The military regime in Pakistan has been seen as the protector of the Western interests in West Asia and South Asia.
  • Pakistan population has a pro-democracy sentiment and there is free press and a strong human rights movement.