BACKGROUND

Pakistan was created in 1947 after India‘s Independence from the British rule and its partition. In the last 65 years; the country has remained under military

rule for approximately 33 years with intermittent periods of democracy. The

checkered political dispensation first led to cessation of East Pakistan followed

by a short interlude of parliamentary democracy. This however, was followed

by a decade long military rule from 1977 to 1988 and then again from 1999 to

2007. Interestingly both these 10 years long authoritarian/ quasi-military rules

had support of western powers especially USA initially in the background of the

Soviet war in Afghanistan and second time in the context of ‗war on terror‘. This is a fact that Pakistan has had the military rules for over 35 years of its

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General Zia UL Haq‘s4 _{repressive martial law and Pakistan‘s frontal role in the}

Afghan war through ‗Jehadism‘ sow the seeds of extremism in the country and in fact this period has been a major turning point in changing the cultural ethos

of the country.

Subsequent to the 1998 military take over followed by a quasi military

government under General Pervaiz Musharraf; the country limped back to

democracy in 2008. Since then there are signs of transformation of the state

and its institutions through robust participation by multiple players including

political, judicial, media and civil society. Pakistan has suffered greatly over the past decade and a half in the post 9/11 world. The ‗‗war on terror‘ has cost the country lives of more than 35,000 citizens, 3500 security personnel, destruction

of infrastructure, internal migration of millions of people from parts of

northwestern Pakistan, erosion of investment climate, nose diving of production

and growing unemployment and above all it has brought economic activity to a

virtual standstill in many parts of the country (Economic Survey of Pakistan

2010-11).

Having born out of highly contested partition of India, Pakistan faced a

tremendous amount of political instability in the initial years especially on account of India‘s aggressive posture; fiscal and administrative challenges and most significantly on account of crisis of leadership. The father of the nation,

Quaid-e-Azam Mohammad Ali Jinnah who had led the struggle for Pakistan,

died within a year of Pakistan‘s creation, and this was followed by the assassination of the country‘s first Prime Minister, Liaquat Ali Khan. This political vacuum led to the first Martial Law in 1958 which was soon followed by

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a military takeover by General Ayub Khan, which lasted for over 12 years. This

dictatorship was weakened after the 1965 war with India leading to the breakup

of East Pakistan, which was followed by a brief democratic period led by

Zulfiqar Ali Bhutto‘s populist rule from 1972 to 1977 in the remaining Pakistan. Mr. Bhutto‘s populist policies transformed the political culture of Pakistan to a large extent. Political and social mobilization by his Pakistan Peoples‘ Party (PPP) and other political parties reached new heights. Nationalization of banks

and key institutions is believed to have retarded the economic growth however,

PPP‘s pro- people policies and creation of mega projects like the Pakistan Steel Mills; an international port at Karachi and many other economic assets

created big employment opportunities leading to a marked decrease in

unemployment and poverty. Mr. Bhutto was removed by General Zia-Ul-Haq in

a military coup and he was subsequently executed through a highly

controversial court case.

The Zia-Ul-Haq‘s regime followed a liberal economic policy framework with active support of western powers, however on the political front this is

considered to be the most vindictive and brutal martial law in Pakistan. The

army took control of large parts of the state apparatus including public

enterprises. Most significantly, this was the time when Pakistan formally got

engaged as a frontline state in the armed conflict in Afghanistan against the

USSR supported intervention. This frontline war was fought through state

sponsored Islamic militancy and through an official declaration of ―Jehad‖ against military aggression in Afghanistan. This particular era is considered to

be economically a high growth period when the economy grew at an average

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Many economists like Bengali5 and others have put across forceful arguments showing that much of the growth during the 1980s was an offshoot of the

investments undertaken during the 1970s. The Pakistan Steel Mills came into

operation in 1983 and the foreign remittances in this period were because of

the liberal export of labor initiated during the 1970s.

Benazir Bhutto, the daughter of Zulfiqar Ali Bhutto returned from her exile

abroad and led a popular political movement against General Zia Ul Haq‘s regime which, came to an end after his death in an aircraft crash. She got

elected as the Prime Minister of Pakistan in 1988 and was the first Muslim

women prime minister of an Islamic State. It was a short rule of about 18

months; cut short once gain by a military coup. The 1990 elections returned

Nawaz Sharif in power in Pakistan. These musical chairs of short political

tenures between the two major political parties continued throughout the 1990s. This decade is often referred to as being a ―failed decade‖ due to low economic growth and political instability which remained a hallmark of this period.

Continuous power struggles between elected governments on the one hand

and the presidents and the army chiefs on the other, as well as the spillover of

the civil war in neighboring Afghanistan, made these governments inwardly

focused and preoccupied with the law and order problems. This democratic transition was disrupted by General Musharraf‘s military takeover in 1998. General Musharraf got himself elected as the President of Pakistan and

remained Chief of Army Staff from 2002 till 2008. General Musharraf,

incidentally again found himself on the right side of western powers. The post

9/11 world made Pakistan once again a strategic requirement for the western

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allies especially USA in its hunt for ‗war against terror‘. General Musharraf‘s complete support of US and allied forces brought forward many economic

dividends with debt write- offs, liberal lending programs. These together with a

slightly more disciplined economic management took the country towards a

third cycle of high growth; averaging 5.5% in this period.

General Musharraf‘s long 9- year rule was rocked by country wide protests by the lawyers, political parties, and the civil society at large in the background of his confrontation with the judiciary and imposition of ‗Emergency‘ in the country. Benazir Bhutto returned from her second round of exile and once again her

return met with an unprecedented public support in the political history of

Pakistan. This time, the country faced yet another heavy political blow; when

the leader of one of the biggest political party, Ms. Bhutto was assassinated in

a targeted firing and a bomb blast incident in December 2007 in Rawalpindi,

Pakistan. The earlier announced elections were postponed and were held in

February 2008 and the PPP emerged as the majority party all over Pakistan.

This PPP led coalition government completed its 5- year tenure on March 16,

2013.