Political history of Pakistan

Pakistan, an ideological state, gained independence from the United Kingdom, on August 14th of 1947, when India was partitioned by the United Kingdom, in a region what is commonly refers to as subcontinent. Since her independence, Pakistan has turbulent and disturbing political history with most of it ruled by Pakistan Army and Military aided by corrupt politicians and conservative Islamists.

Pre-Independence Era and democracy

The Pakistan Movement as it came to be known was based on the principal of two-nation theory, the outcome of the desire of Muslims of India to establish a separate homeland for Muslims where they are free to live life according to their own values and belief system. This was a movement against oppression, perceived or real, that living with Hindu majority within combined India will not allow Muslims the opportunities that they rightfully deserve.

Interestingly the Pakistan Movement was staunchly opposed by the majority of Mullahs who one would have thought would be inclined to support a Muslim cause, instead the movement was spearheaded by secularists like Muhammad Ali Jinnah and others less religious like him.

Mohammad Ali Jinnah was a secular leader with modern thoughts. Jinnah wanted Pakistan to be a secular state with equal human rights for the minorities. Jinnah approached to the Bengali leaders and promised them to make Pakistan a secular state.

1953 Anti-Ahmadiyya Riots

The country that was founded in response and in opposition to oppression and religious oppression at that, merely within six years, its politics under the influence of the very Mullahs who were opposed to the very creation of Pakistan took a turn away from its very foundation of non-oppression and tolerance and based on demands for intolerance from Mullahs and some sections of the public caused the first Anti-Ahmadiyya riots resulting in loss of life and property. Ironically Ahmadiyya were at the forefront of Pakistan Movement and one of its members Muhammad Zafrulla Khan acted as the President of Muslim League (1931), participated in the Round Table Conferences held in the years 1930, 1931, and 1932, at the request of Muhammad Ali Jinnah (Quaid-e-Azam; Pakistan's founding father and first leader) represented the Muslim League in July 1947 before the Radcliffe Boundary Commission and finally, as the first foreign minister of the country, presented the case of Pakistan on Kashmir in UN resulting in passage of the famous Kashmir Resolutions, which are still the corner stone of Pakistan's policy on Kashmir.

The First Martial Law

The government in response to the riots eventually asked Military for help and in response Corp Commander of Lahore General Muhammad Azam Khan enacted the first martial law in parts of the country.

This was a turning point in the country's history and even though the riots were eventually quashed by force but the seeds of intolerance were sown in the Pakistani society which only got stronger over time.

1965 Indo-Pak War

1956 war which was fought to liberate Kashmir was lost because Ayub did not want Major General Akhtar Hussain Malik to get the credit for victory and instead replaced him in the middle of the war and gave the command to Yahya Khan who halted the progress to Ikhnor a strategic location in the war for Kashmir..

1971 Political disaster

After the indecisive war of 1965 with India, Pakistani people began to accused Field Marshal Ayub Khan of betraying the cause of Kashmir. Ayub Khan removed Bhutto as his Foreign minister, in a conspiracy planned by Jurist and then-Bhutto's secretary Mushtaq Hussain. In 1967, Bhutto formed People's Party of Pakistan and and tapped a wave of anti-Ayub Khan movement in both West and East Pakistan. Demoralizaed and pressured, Ayub Khan handed over the control of the country to his younger brother and Commander-in-Chief of Pakistan Army General Yahya Khan in 1969. General Khan designated himself as Chief Martial Law Administrator of the country and installed a military government in both East and West-Pakistan. Genera Khan and his military government promised to hold on a general election within 2 years.

The General parliamentary elections were held on in 1970, with People's Party wining the majority in West-Pakistan and People's League gaining absolute majority in East-Pakistan. Yahya Khan, Chief Martial Law Administrator of Pakistan, held talks with both Zulfikar Ali Bhutto and Sheikh Mujibur Rehman. Negotiation and talks were brutally failed, and Bhutto was famously heard saying "break the legs" if any member of [People's Party] attend the National Assembly inaugural session. However, the capitalization on West-Pakistan, West-Pakistanis feared the East-Pakistani separatism, therefore, Bhutto demanded a coalition government with Mujib. In a meeting, both Mujib and Bhutto agreed upon a coalition government as Bhutto would assumed the Presidency and Mujib as Premier. The Military government and General Yahya Khan was kept unaware of such of these developments. Both Bhutto and Mujib continued a political pressure on Khan's military government. Under pressured by Bhutto, Mujib and his military government, General Khan ordered a military action in East Pakistan. The Military Police arrested Bhutto and put him on house arrest. And, and Mujib was sent to military court where his case was headed by Judge Advocate General Branch's Brigadier-General Rahimuddin Khan.

General Khan ordered Vice-Admiral Mohammad Shariff, Commander of Eastern Naval Command of the Pakistan Navy and Lieutenant-General Amir Abdullah Khan Niazi, Commander of the Eastern Military Command of Pakistan Army, an extreme armed action to curbed and liberate the East-Pakistan from the resistance. Faced with popular unrest and revolt in East-Pakistan, the Army and Navy clamped down through violence. The navy and army crackdown and brutalities during the Operation Searchlight and Operation Barisal and the continued extrajudicial killings throughout the later months resulted in further resentment among the East Pakistanis of East Pakistan. With India assisting the Mukti Bahini, war broke out between the separatist supporters in Bangladesh and Pakistan (Indo-Pakistani War of 1971). During the conflict, the coordination between the armed forces of Pakistan were ineffective and unsupported. On major decision, the army, navy, marines and air force weren't taken on confidence. Each forces had led their own independent operations without notifying or taking on confidence the higher command.

The result was the Pakistan Armed Forces's surrender to the Indian forces upon which 93,000 Pakistan Armed Forces officials and 93,000 soldiers and officers became POWs, the largest since World War II. The official war between India and Pakistan ended in just a fortnight on December 16, 1971, with Pakistan losing East Pakistan which became Bangladesh. The official Bangladesh Government claim puts the number of Bengali civilian fatalities at 3 million.

During this entire disaster, the military government had refused to take any political and reconciliation initiatives despite the calls were made. The coordination between the armed forces were ineffective and unsupported. The Air Force was brutally failed to protect the naval and army assets during the conflict (See Operation Python and Operation Trident.

Aftermath

The military government was collapsed and General Yahya Khan's lost the control over the country. People in West Pakistan weren't mentally prepared for such setback. Amid and spontaneous demonstrations and mass protests erupted on the streets of major cities in West Pakistan. Demoralized and shattered, General Khan handed over the control of the country to Bhutto. Zulfikar Ali Bhutto became the first civilian Chief Martial Law Administrator and first civilian Commander-in-Chief of Pakistan Armed Forces. The 1971 war with India has left a deep scars in Pakistan's civil society. It was a mental and psychological setback that came from a defeat at the hands of intense rival India. As a result of this war, Pakistan lost half its population, significant portion of its economy and its geo-political role in South Asia. The economic influence in South Asia was lost by Pakistan. The military establishment feared that the two-nation theory was disproved and that the Islamic ideology, introduced by conservatives Islamists, had proved insufficient to keep Bengalis part of Pakistan.

Back to democracy

Soon after Bhutto assumed the control of the country, Bhutto released Mujibur Rehman, and put General Khan on house arrest instead. Bhutto also formed the Hamoodur Rahman Commission, to carried out the inquiry and causes of the war, under the Bengali Chief Justice Hamoodur Rahman. Bhutto fired Commander-in-Chief of Pakistan Army, Lieutenant-General Gul Hassan Khan and also deposed Air Marshal Abdul Rahim Khan, Commander-in-Chief of Pakistan Air Force, and Vice-Admiral Muzaffar Hassan, then-Commander-in-Chief of Pakistan Navy. All of these Commander-in-Chiefs led their services during the conflict, and openly blamed each other for their intense failure.

Bhutto also disbanded the Pakistan Marines, a new service in the navy, after producing any effective results during the conflict. Bhutto sought to re-organized the Military of Pakistan and numerous officers who were responsible for Bengal's autocracies were fired from their services. In July of 1972, Bhutto traveled to India to meet the Indian Premier Indira Gandhi where he successfully proceeded the Shimla Agreement, and brought back 93,000 Pakistan Armed Forces personnel, secured 5,000 mile sq area held by India. Under this agreement, Bhutto recognized East-Pakistan as Bangladesh.

Bhutto also disapproved the capitalist policies led by Field Marshal Ayub Khan, and instead introduced the socialist economics policies while working to prevent any further division of the country. On 2nd January of 1972, Bhutto announced the nationalization of all major industries, including iron and steel, heavy engineering, heavy electrical engineering, petrochemicals, cement and public utilities. A new labor policy was announced with more workers rights and the power of trade unions.

In 1974, Parliament of Pakistan gave approval of 1973 Constitution. For the first time in 1958, the country was shifted back to parliamentary democracy with Bhutto as Prime minister of the country. In 1974, Bhutto adopted the recommendation from Hamoodur Rehman Commission, and disbanded the "Commander-in-Chief" title as the head of the Pakistan Armed Forces. Bhutto appointed Chiefs of Staff in Pakistan Armed Forces, reporting directly to the Prime minister. General Tikka Khan, infamous for his role in Bangladesh war, was made the first Chief of Army Staff of Pakistan Army; Admiral Mohammad Shariff was made the first 4-star admiral, and first Chief of Naval Staff of Pakistan Navy, and Air Chief Marshal Zulfikar Ali Khan as first 4-star air force general and Chief of Air Staff of Pakistan Air Force. In 1976, Bhutto also created the office of Joint Chiefs of Staff Committee, and the chairmanship of this important and prestigious tier was given to General Muhammad Sharif, who was also promoted to 4-star rank. The Joint Chiefs of Staff Committee was formed after the careful analysis of Pakistan Armed Forces, and it is the principal body that maintain coordination between the armed forces.

1974 Jamaat-e-Islami Anti-Ahmadiyya Riots

The Jamaat-e-Islami took an aggressive and pro-terrorism approached in order to declared the status of Ahmadis as minority and as 'non-muslim'. The elements of Jamaat-e-Islami under Maududi, burned shops, and looted places of Ahmadis and other cities of Pakistan. A widespread of civil disobedience was spread all around the country as the elements from Jamaat-e-Islami began to use the weapon of terrorism in order declared Ahmadi Muslims as non-Muslims. A wave of mild bombing was spread in all over the country. Bhutto feared another unrest and yet, another coup, and reached an agreement with the Jamaat-e-Islami. Bhutto's government adopted the Second Amendment to the Constitution of Pakistan that declared the status of Ahmadis as minority and as 'non-muslim'.

Nuclear deterrent development

Main articles: Project-706 and Pakistan and weapons of mass destruction

Television screenshot of the first known Pakistani Nuclear Test, 28 May 1998.

Since 1967, Bhutto had been lobbying for the option for the nuclear deterrence in a different occasions. Soon after Bhutto came to assumed the control of Pakistan, Bhutto made his move to established the nuclear weapons development. In January 20th of 1972, Abdus Salam, after being request by Zulfikar Ali Bhutto, arranged and managed secret meeting of academic scientists and engineers, in Multan city, to meet with Zulfikar Ali Bhutto who assumed the control of his country shortly after the Indo-Pakistani war of 1971 and the Bangladesh Liberation War. It was here that Bhutto orchestrated, administrated, and led the scientific research on nuclear weapons as he announced the official nuclear weapons development programme. In 1972, Pakistan's core intelligence service, the ISI, secretly learned that India was close to developing an atomic bomb, under its [India] nuclear programme. Partially in response, defence expenditure and funding of science under then-Prime minister Zulfikar Ali Bhutto increased by 200%. In the initial years and starting years, Dr. Abdus Salam, a Nobel laureate, headed the nuclear weapons program as he was the Science adviser to the Prime minister. He is also credited in bringing hundreds of Pakistani scientists, engineers, and mathematicians who would later go on to develop the nuclear weapons program and later on formed and headed "Theoretical Physics Group" (TPG), the special weapons division of Pakistan Atomic Energy Commission (PAEC) that developed the designs and completed the crucial mathematical and physics calculations of the nuclear weapons.

Throughout the time, the foundations were laid down to develop a military nuclear capability. This includes the nuclear fuel cycle and nuclear weapons design, development and testing programme. The fuel cycle program included the uranium exploration, mining, refining, conversion and Uranium Hexafluoride (UF6) production, enrichment and fuel fabrication and reprocessing facilities. These facilities were established in the Pakistan Atomic Energy Commission or PAEC by its Chairman Munir Ahmad Khan. He was appointed as Chairman of Pakistan Atomic Energy Commission (PAEC) on January 20, 1972 at the Multan Conference of senior scientists and engineers. Earlier, Munir Ahmad Khan was serving as Director of Nuclear Power and Reactors Division, IAEA. He was credited to be the "technical father" of Pakistan's atom project by a recent International Institute of Strategic Studies, London, (IISS) Dossier on history of the Pakistan's nuclear development, with Zulfikar Ali Bhutto as the father of Pakistan's nuclear developmental programme. Munir Ahmad Khan, an expert in Plutonium technology, had also laid the foundation and groundbreaking work for the Plutonium reprocessing technology. Khan, and Hafeez Qureshi, supervised the construction of the New Laboratories, a plutonium reprocessing plant located in Islamabad.

After Chief Martial Law Administrator (later President) and Chief of Army Staff General Zia-ul-Haq came to power (see Operation Fair Play), further advancements were made to enrich uranium and consolidate the nuclear development programme. On March 11, 1983, PAEC carried out the first successful cold test of a working nuclear device near at the Kirana Hills under codename Kirana-I. The test was led by CERN-physicist Dr. Ishfaq Ahmad, and was witnessed by other senior scientists belonging to Pakistan Armed Forces and the PAEC. It was the reprocessed weapon-grade plutonium that came from the New Labs, and was later tested in a nuclear device on March 1983. By the late 1980s, it was common knowledge that Pakistan had developed nuclear weaponry. To compound further matters, the Soviet Union had withdrawn from Afghanistan and the strategic importance of Pakistan to the United States was gone. Once the full extent of Pakistan's nuclear weapons development was revealed, economic sanctions (see Pressler amendment) were imposed on the country by several other countries, particularly United States. Having been developed under both Bhutto and Zia, the nuclear development programme had fully matured by the late 1980s. Dr. Abdul Qadeer Khan, a metallurgical engineer, greatly contributed to the uranium enrichment programme under both governments. Dr. A.Q. Khan established an administrative proliferation network through Dubai to smuggle URENCO nuclear technology to Khan Research Laboratories. He then established Pakistan's gas-centrifuge program based on the URENCO's Zippe-type centrifuge. Dr. Abdul Qadeer Khan is considered to be the founder of Pakistan's HEU based gas-centrifuge uranium enrichment programme, which was originally launched by PAEC in 1974.

The PAEC also played its part in the success and development of the uranium enrichment programme by producing the uranium hexafluoride gas feedstock for enrichment. PAEC was also responsible for all the pre and post enrichment phases of the nuclear fuel cycle. By 1986 PAEC Chairman Munir Ahmad Khan had begun work on the 50MW plutonium and tritium production reactor at Khushab, known as Khushab Reactor Complex, which became operational by 1998.

Balochistan civil unrest

The Baloch rebellion of the 1970s, was the most threatening civil disorder to a United Pakistan since Bangladesh's secession. The Pakistan Armed Forces wanted to establish military garrisons in Balochistan Province which at that time was quite lawless and run by tribal justice. The ethnic Balochis saw this as a violation of their territorial rights. Emboldened by the stand taken by Sheikh Mujibur Rahman in 1971, the Baloch and Pashtun nationalists had also demanded their "provincial rights" from then Prime minister Zulfikar Ali Bhutto in exchange for a consensual approval of the Pakistan Constitution of 1973. But while Bhutto admitted the NWFP and Balochistan to a NAP-JUI coalition, he refused to negotiate with the provincial governments led by chief minister Ataullah Mengal in Quetta and Mufti Mahmud in Peshawar. Tensions erupted and an armed resistance began to take place.

Surveying the political instability, Bhutto's central government sacked two provincial governments within six months, arrested the two chief ministers, two governors and forty-four MNAs and MPAs, obtained an order from the Supreme Court banning the NAP and charged them all with high treason , to be tried by a specially constituted Hyderabad Tribunal of handpicked judges.

In time, the Baloch nationalist insurgency erupted and sucked the armed forces into the province, pitting the Baloch tribal middle classes against Islamabad. The sporadic fighting between the insurgency and the army started in 1973 with the largest confrontation taking place in September 1974 when around 15,000 Balochs fought the Pakistani Army, Navy and the Air Force. Following the successful recovery of the ammunition in the Iraqi embassy, shipped by both Iraq and Soviet Union for the Baluchistan resistance. The Naval Intelligence launched the investigation, and cited that arms were smuggled from the coastal areas of Balochistan. The Navy acted immediately, and jumped in the conflict. Vice-Admiral Patrick Simpson, commander of Southern Naval Command, began to launched the series of operation with also applying the naval blockage.

The Iranian military fearing a spread of the greater Baloch resistance in Iran also aided the Bhutto-sent Pakistan military in brutally putting down the insurrection.[25] After three days of fighting the Baloch tribals were running out of ammunition and so withdrew by 1976. The army had suffered 25 fatalities and around 300 casualties in the fight while the rebels lost 5,000 people as of 1977.

Although major fighting had broken down, ideological schisms caused splinter groups to form and steadily gain momentum. Despite the overthrow of the Bhutto government in 1977 by General Zia-ul-Haque, Chief of Army Staff of Pakistan Army, calls for secession and widespread civil disobedience remained. The military government then appointed General Rahimuddin Khan as Martial Law Administrator over the Balochistan Province. The provincial military government under the famously authoritarian General Rahimuddin began to act as a separate entity and military regime independent of the central government.

This allowed General Rahimuddin Khan to act as a absolute Martial Law Administrator, unanswerable to the central government. Both General Zia-ul-Haq and General Rahimuddin Khan supported the declaration of a general amnesty in Balochistan to those willing to give up arms. General Rahimuddin then purposefully isolated feudal leaders such as Nawab Akbar Khan Bugti and Ataullah Mengal from provincial policy. He also militarily put down all civil disobedience movements, effectively leading to unprecedented social stability within the province. Due to Martial Law, his reign was the longest in the history of Balochistan (1977–1984).

Second Martial Law

During the 1977 parliamentary elections, the Pakistan National Alliance (PNA) under the hardline Islamist Maulana Maududi began to advocate the overthrow the government of Bhutto. The hardline Islamists had always seen Bhutto's policies autocratic and more of secular than being under Islamic system. Maududi began to call for Bhutto's overthrow and end his regime as he grabbed support from Pakistan's conservative Islamist parties. Despite of these serious movement, Zulfikar Ali Bhutto held talks with the PNA and Islamist leaders. An agreement was eventually reached in June 1977 and Bhutto was to sign it on July 5. However despite the enthusiasm of the negotiating team other PNA leaders had reservations about the agreement. However, Maududi showed to Army that no agreement was taken place, and Maududi encouraged General Zia-ul-Haq, then-Chief of Army Staff who was recently appointed by Bhutto after Bhutto forced to retire 17 senior generals inorder to bring Zia as Chief of Army Staff. Maududi encouraged General Zia-ul-Haq to stage a coup against Bhutto, and convinced him that a new Islamic, but a military coup needed against [B]hutto in order to maintain law and order in the country. Encouraged and supported by Maududi and other hardline religious leaders, General Zia staged a coup against his own loyal supporter [Bhutto] in July 1977 (See Operation Fair Play). Maududi and other hardline religious groups supported the martial law government, and remained loyal to General Zia entire his regime.

General Zia appointed Mushtaq Hussain, chief jurist for Bhutto's case. Mushtaq Hussain was famously known in the public as extreme hater of Bhutto, and played an controversial role in Bhutto's removal as Foreign minister in 1965. Mushtaq Hussain, now judge, disrespected Bhutto and his hometown, and further denied any appeals. Under Zia's direction and Mushtaq's order, Bhutto was controversially executed in 1979 after the Supreme Court upheld the High Court's death sentence on charges of authorizing the murder of a political opponent.[27] Under Zia's Martial Law military dictatorship (which was declared legal under the Doctrine of Necessity by the Supreme Court in 1978) the following initiatives were taken:

• Strict Islamic law was introduced into the country's legal system by 1978, contributing to current-day sectarianism and religious fundamentalism, as well as instilling a sense of religious purpose within the youth.
• Pakistan fought a war by proxy against the Communists in Afghanistan in the Soviet-Afghan War, greatly contributing to the eventual withdrawal of Soviet forces from Afghanistan.
• Secessionist uprisings in Balochistan were put down by the province's authoritarian Martial Law ruler, General Rahimuddin Khan, who ruled for an unprecedented seven years under Martial Law.
• The socialist economic policies of the previous civilian government, which also included aggressive nationalisation, were gradually reversed; and Pakistan's Gross National Product rose greatly.

General Zia lifted Martial Law in 1985, holding party-less elections and handpicking Muhammad Khan Junejo to be the Prime Minister of Pakistan, who in turn rubber-stamped Zia remaining Chief of Army Staff until 1990. Junejo however gradually fell out with Zia as his political and administrative independence grew. Junejo also signed the Geneva Accord, which Zia greatly disliked. After a large-scale explosion at a munitions store in Ojhri, Junejo vowed to bring those responsible for the significant damage caused to justice, implicating several times the Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI) Director-General Akhtar Abdur Rahman.

President Zia, infuriated, dismissed the Junejo government on several charges in May 1988. He then called for the holding of fresh elections in November. General Zia-ul-Haq never saw the elections materialize however, as he died in a plane crash on August 17, 1988, which was later proven to be highly sophisticated sabotage by unknown perpetrators.

Under Zia, real defence spending increased on average by 9 percent per annum during 1977-88 while development spending rose 3 percent per annum; by 1987-88 defence spending had overtaken development spending. For 1980s as a whole, defence spending averaged 6.5 percent of GDP. This contributed strongly to large fiscal deficits and a rapid build up of public debt.

External links

• Maulana Ihtesham ul Haq Thanvi on History of Pakistani Politics - Part I
• Maulana Ihtesham ul Haq Thanvi on History of Pakistani Politics - Part II
• Justice Munir Enquiry Report on Anti-Ahmadiyya riots of 1953 (Urdu)
• Justice Munir Enquiry Report on Anti-Ahmadiyya riots of 1953 (English)
• Video - President of the seventeenth session of UN General Assembly
• Video - First Foreign Minister of Pakistan in UN
• Round Table Conferences [1930-33]
• J Salik laments the lot of minorities in a ‘land of extremes’
• 5 Ahmadis killed over faith in ’07
• Air Commodore Syed Sajjad Haider on 1965 war and surrounding events