- Books Name
- Education Vision Political Science Book
- Publication
- PathSet Publications
- Course
- CBSE Class 12
- Subject
- Political Science
The Military and Democracy in Pakistan
- Sequence of Rule:
- General Ayub Khan
- General Yahya Khan
- Elected Government of Zulfikar Ali Bhutto (1971-77)
- General Zia-ul-Haq
- Benazir Bhutto
- Nawaz Sharif
- 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:
- Social dominance of the military, clergy, and landowning aristocracy.
- Conflicts with India made pro-military groups more powerful.
- Some think that Pakistan’s security would be harmed by selfish-minded people/parties so therefore army’s stay in power is justified.
- The lack of genuine international support for democratic rule, has further encouraged the military dominance in Pakistan.
- The United Stated and other Western countries have encouraged military rule for their own reasons.
- 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.
- 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.