POLITICAL INSTABILITY IN PAKISTAN
FINAL PROJECT
MS-343
SUBMITTED TO: DR.HAROON RASHID
AWAIS SHAH
2020094
Introduction
Since independence was achieved in Pakistan on 14 August, 1947, only a small number of
civilian governments have completed their constitutional tenure, and most of those who did
were under the rule of a dictator. The political system in Pakistan has never functioned
efficiently in sixty-four years of independence. During this period, Pakistan’s political system has
faced four military interventions, during which the army chiefs overtook political governments
and imposed martial law. Pakistan still has not found a stable political equilibrium or clear
directions to resolve its fundamental political conflicts. Because of these different types of
government, the people of Pakistan are unsure of whether their government should be secular
or Islamic and democratic or ruled by a military dictator. The main problems faced by political
development are weaknesses among institutions, such as a lack of accountability and the
presence of corruption; a lack of focus on people’s needs; and an emphasis on increasing the
assets of the leaders of the political parties. As stated by Rasul Bakhsh Rais: ―The history of
military dictators is characterized by deceit, institutional decay, political fragmentation, moral
and social rot, (that produced polarization), insurgencies and alliances of the state with violent
ethnic and religious groups. The occurrence of these incidents and events can only be explained
by reviewing the circumstances under which the country was created. When an electoral
political regime is in power, it will seek to prolong its control and satisfy key members by
awarding them critical positions in important institutions. Furthermore, many internal problems
in political parties lead to problems in the political system, such as an undemocratic structure
and a lack of political values and practices. These problems decrease the popularity of political
parties and reduce the trust of the leaders among the people.
Historical background
Although, Democracy in Pakistan has been imperfect but it has never been allowed to function.
Until 2013, Pakistan did not experience even one democratic transfer of power from one
democratically elected government that had completed its tenure, to another. All of its
previous democratic transitions have been aborted by military coups.
Soon after independence, democracy failed very quickly because Pakistan faced many
governing conflicts which it was unable to resolve due to weak and fragmented political paryty.
In the wake of intensifying political instability, the civilian bureaucracy and military assumed
governing power in 1958. Since its independence, Pakistan's democratic system has fluctuated
between civilian and military governments at various times throughout its political history,
mainly due to political instability, civil-military conflicts, political corruption, and the periodic
blows against the state by the military establishment against weak civilian governments. This
resulted in the enforcement of Martial Law across the country multiple times (occurring in
1958, 1977 and 1999, and led by Chief Martial Law Administrator-Generals Ayub Khan, Zia-ul-
Haq and Pervez Musharraf respectively).
Pakistan has been ruled by both democratic and military governments. The first decade was
ruined by political unrest and instability, with frequent collapses of civilian democratic
governments that eventually led to the 1958 military takeover. From 1947 to 1958 as many as
seven Prime Ministers of Pakistan either resigned or were ousted. This political instability paved
the way for Pakistan’s first military take over. On October 7, 1958 Pakistan’s civilian and first
President Iskander Mirza in collaboration with General Mohammad Ayub Khan abrogated
Pakistan’s constitution and declared Martial Law. General Ayub Khan was the president from
1958 to 1969, and General Yahya Khan from 1969 to 1971; while the Chief Justice Habib Khan
Marvath was elected first Chairman Senate of Pakistan.
Civilian yet socialist-oriented autocratic rule continued from 1972 to 1977 under Zulfikar Ali
Bhutto, but he was overthrown by General Zia-Ul-Haq. General Zia was killed in a plane crash in
1988, after which Benazir Bhutto, daughter of Zulfikar Ali Bhutto, was elected as the Prime
Minister of Pakistan. She was the youngest woman ever to be elected the Head of Government
and the first woman to be elected as the Head of Government of a Muslim country. Her
government was followed by that of Nawaz Sharif, and the two leaders alternated until the
military coup by General Pervez Musharraf in 1999. From the resignation of President Rafiq
Tarar in 2001, to his own resignation in 2008, Musharraf was the President of Pakistan. In 2008,
Asif Ali Zardari was elected president and the president was Mamnoon Hussain elected in 2013.
After that, Nawaz sharif again came into power who was forced out of government in 2017 by
the supreme court of Pakistan regarding revelations from the Panama papers case. In 2018,
Imran khan was elected as prime minister, and yet again he was ousted in 2022 without
completing his tenure. He is the first ever prime minister of Pakistan who was ousted through
no-confidence vote.
Officially a federal republic, Pakistan has had a long history of alternating periods of electoral
democracy and authoritarian military government. However, a majority of Pakistan's Heads of
the State and Heads of the Government have been elected civilian leaders. All of this has
caused severe political instability throughout Pakistan’s history.
Causes for political instability
The centralization of power
At present, the issue of political instability has become a matter of grave concern for Pakistan. It
manifests in multiple ways across the country, including widespread political corruption,
nepotism, cronyism and abuse of power. The centralization of power causes the politicians to
indulge into undemocratic practices and focus on their personal gains, while abusing their
power. As a result, it has projected severe consequences on the state’s social, political and
economic peace. For instance, the recent formation of Pakistan Democratic Movement (PDM)
has created great havoc across the state. Moreover, threat of “sit-ins and the march towards
the parliament” has disturbed political peace and economic development. Thus, the
government has to find a way of positive political settlement.
Moreover, the duel of power between the federal and provincial governments has been
destabilizing the country. It has been the dominant reason behind the political riots and
inefficient governing system that always fails to implement laws within the appropriate time.
The trend of family leadership
The trend of family leadership has long prevailed in Pakistan and it is the fundamental reason
why Pakistan has failed to progress in stabilizing the political environment. The trend of family
leadership has distorted the political fabric of the state. For several decades, pakistan has
witnessed the leadership of three major political parties: Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP), Pakistan
Muslim League Nawaz (PML-N), and Pakistan Tehreek e Insaaf (PTI). Despite multiple failures of
the political parties to uplift Pakistan, ruling the country more than once reflects the perpetual
power game played secretly by the nation. Moreover, family-based politics leads towards
mediocrity and the party eventually suffers from declining public support. This is what we
witnessed after the judicial murder of Zulfiqar Ali Bhutto and the tragic assassination of Benazir
Bhutto, when the PPP went on a downhill curve and has been reduced from a national to a rural
party of Sindh.
In the contemporary world, any system where political leaders are not selected through a
genuine, transparent and competitive process is bound to fail sooner rather than later. If
political parties fail to practice democracy and fairness within their parties, how are they
expected to conduct affairs of the state in a principled manner?
Three decades of dictatorship
For around thirty years, the regimes of dictatorship have harmed the political system of
Pakistan. Pakistan is currently recognized as a democratic state because it holds regular
elections under a competitive multiparty political system. In actuality, real power in Pakistan
lies with the military and greater military establishment who have historically been the most
important actors in society.
The military has always been in the backdrop of Pakistan’s domestic and international political
affairs, simply finding new events and actors to take advantage of to fulfill their desire for
strategic parity with India.
Despite the fact that direct military interventions into political affairs or coups are now very
rare, the indirect influence of the military still exists, and it can overshadow and control the
decisions of democratically elected political leaders.
Impacts of political instability in Pakistan
Killing the national integrity
National integration is mainly a sentiment, in which “the community of any state assumes
peaceful living with one another, having the feelings of togetherness, unity, compassion,
without any discrimination of race, ethnicity, regional boundaries, etc. No matter, a nation
bears any caste, belief, region, or lingual issues, they consider themselves that ‘They Are All
One.’ This kind of spirit is indispensable to national integration.”
Ever since the creation of Pakistan, the country has remained entangled with the multiple
challenges: bad governance; socio economic and power disparities; politico-ethnic polarization;
racial and lingual differences; civil-military and of late judicial confrontations; weak political
system and leadership; ideological identities; religious extremism and sectarianism; modernity
confusion; national identity crisis; and threats to territorial integrity from neighboring
countries.
The mistrust between the Centre and the small federating units infused by a sense of
deprivation has piled up the problems being exploited by the hostile exogenous elements.
These challenges have complicated the process of national integration in Pakistan.
Escalating terrorism and extremism
Although the acts of terrorism are visible everywhere in the world, but Pakistan has faced the
problem of terrorism directly and severely as a social and political problem. Pakistan is the front
line state among international community and consequently the people and state of Pakistan
are facing the outrage of the terrorists. Political and Economic deprivations are the main root
causes of terrorism and extremism. When the political and economic rights of the certain
groups are not granted it chooses the suitable method of terrorism to show their anger. This
deprivation encourages the effected groups to adopt the violent ways to get their aspirations
fulfilled or simply to get revenge. So, somehow, political instability has a major hand behind
escalating terrorism. As the political instability prevails in the country, it escalates terrorism and
extremism because the national security gets compromised due to the instability.
Moreover, Pakistan is a pivotal regional player, whose problems affect the security of other
countries in the region, and that of the United States. It has the potential to be either a major
disruptive force or a major source of stability, in assisting end to violence in Afghanistan, in
assisting in the peaceful rise of India, and helping constrain Iran’s bid for Middle Eastern
hegemony. All of this depends on the level of political stability, therefore, not only Pakistan but
other countries are also affected by this ongoing political instability.
At present, Pakistan seems to be on a downward course. Its leadership is not adequately
addressing either the causes of Pakistan's internal violence, or the needs of its people. Its
politics are corrupt and self-serving, and far too many indicators reflect its failure to adopt
policies that serve popular needs or meet popular expectations. It is playing a form of the
“great game” which forces it to confront India on a region-wide basis and into a nuclear arms
race. It has unleashed levels of religious extremism that not only threaten its Shi’ite minorities
but also its moderate Sunni majority. At the same time, it continues a long history of shifting
the blame for its own actions to other states, and relying on political rhetoric as a substitute for
effective action.
Decreasing foreign direct investments (FDI)
Political instability and economic development are deeply interrelated to each other. According
to economists, political instability is harmful for economic development of any Country.
Pakistan is also facing the problem of political instability, since political instability causes a
decrease in investment and rapidity of economic development process. Due to political
instability, uncertainty comes in an economy and as a result investment decreases and
economic development is also affected. Because of reduction in investment, the level of output
correspondingly decreases. The powerless political society, instability of government and
carelessness of political parties create the situation for a politically instable state. For economic
development of any country political stability is required. Political stability has direct effect on
the process of economic development and the progress level of a state. Foreign direct
investment affects economic growth and development process because it supplies capital for
developing nations for investment purpose. Foreign direct investment also helps in creating job
opportunities which finally leads to a rise in economic growth. Pakistan considered foreign
direct investment as significant source of funding to meet tasks of resources gap. In developing
countries, foreign direct investment (FDI) is found to raise the productivity level and build a
competition among producers which results in a production of quality products. Thus,
consistent political instability throughout its history has robbed Pakistan of significant economic
growth.
Declining the healthy political environment
The political instability has led to a volatile political environment in the state on the basis of
undemocratic practices. It has significantly slowed down Pakistan’s progress socially, politically
and economically. With the rise of political instability, political polarization has prevailed
intensely amongst the political parties. In fact, when various parties with different slogans step
into politics for their personal interests, the concept of national integrity also starts to vanish.
The political environment has somehow become toxic due to political instability in Pakistan.
The non-stop war of words between the government and the opposition and a dysfunctional
parliament that is more a political battleground than a forum for oversight and serious
legislation, raises serious concerns. Politicians involve in undemocratic practices for their
personal gain. They are more of playing politics in the hunger for power rather than thinking for
the nation’s best interests. As a result, the citizens have to pay the prices. Therefore, it is
necessary to maintain healthy political environment in order to ensure political stability.
Recommendations
To fix the issue of political instability, Pakistan must ensure a transparent election system. By
implementing transparency, the true elected political party could get a chance to serve the
country. Moreover, this may also help to end the trend of family leadership. Additionally,
building unity and national integrity concepts amongst the public may help set aside ethnic and
linguistic differences so that the political leaders don’t further exploit the nation for their
political interests. National integrity in the state would push the political parties to work in
favor of the state. Moreover, the enforcement of constitutional laws in the true spirit and
adequately working government can turn the tide and put the country on the right track.
Similarly, encouraging public participation may help pluck the country out of the political
darkness. The active role of the public in politics would hold the politicians accountable for each
immature and self-interest policy. As a result, the political parties would restrain themselves
from skipping the pro-state attitude. Thus, the implementation of the abovementioned
solutions are crucial to help Pakistan eradicate political instability.
Problems encountered that hinder effective implementation of solutions
The implementation of solutions to overcome the impacts of political instability are easier said
than done. There are many problems encountered throughout the history of Pakistan that
hinder effective implementation of the solutions. This political system is more complex than it
seems at first. There are too many forces that pushes the stabilization of the state to lack
behind. The main force that halts the state progress is the bad working relationship between
the government in power and opposition parties. This has been a problem for Pakistan since its
independence. The opposition, rather than playing a constructive role in pushing the
government in power to take measures that are best in interest of the state, look for
opportunities to destabilize the sitting government. This has led to governments being changed
before completing their tenures. Everyone is after the power rather than actually doing
something for the betterment of the state. Rather than learning from the political history of
Pakistan, politicians have always repeated the history.
Another problem that is faced by Pakistan that hinder the state’s growth and effectiveness is
the prevalence of corruption. From the top elected representatives to the bureaucrats,
everyone is corrupt. Even corruption in general public sectors is highly prevalent in Pakistan
that hinders the effective implementation of the solutions. Constitutional laws are not
effectively implemented and justice is not served where power comes.
Moreover, Pakistan has a weak electorate system where elections are very easy to rig. It is done
deliberately by the people in power to leave loopholes for their self-interest. Every elections,
cases of election rigging comes to surface, yet nobody do anything to change the system or
implement digital electorate system to prevent this issue.
Political parties play a significant role in dividing the nation which has resulted in deteriorating
the concept of national integrity. The damage has been done so deeply that it has become very
difficult for Pakistan to overcome. It would require several decades to overcome this issue and
form unity. Lack oif education is also a grave concern for Pakistan that has fueled all of these
problems and is hindering the growth of Pakistan.
Conclusion
Nothing hurts a country’s socio-economic fabric the way political instability does.
Unfortunately, Pakistan being a democratic country, has witnessed a large number of events of
political instability. As a matter of fact, the country has perceived the martial-law for around
three decades. This has given a huge blow to the democratic system of the polity. Moreover,
the inadequate and vulnerable civil-military relationship has led the country to political
instability. Thus, political instability is one of the factors behind the stagnant growth of Pakistan
in the social, political, and economic arenas.
Distorting the national integrity, escalating terrorism and extremism, decreasing foreign direct
investment and declining the political health of the state are some disturbing impacts of
political instability in Pakistan. Moreover, it has robbed the nation’s bright future and has
pushed the state to the brink of collapsing and falling into default.
However, conducting transparent and unbiased elections, building the concept of national
integrity, enforcing constitutional laws in a true sense and encouraging public participation may
turn helpful for controlling the issue. Moreover, it is very important that each political party
must follow a positive and pro-state attitude while dealing with the country’s political matters.
