The contest of Military rule against Political Parties

Pakistani history has been plagued by Military dictatorship time and again. The swift exchange of power has been done amid political turmoil when one rule fails and the other steps up to take its place. The battle between the militia and political parties has been in place since former General Iskandar Mirza took up position of power and left it to Ayub Khan, who was also a man of belonging to the military sector. Iskandar Mirza not only abrogated the constitution but was the first one to declare martial law in the country. Pakistan received its first constitution in 1956, 9 years after its creation. Several leaders threw the country in to an abyss of darkness in order to consolidate their own power rather than develop the country from within.

After Ayub Khan’s policies supporting the elite and promoting the bureaucracy and military, Pakistan’s civilians fall in to discontentment and turn against the government. The impending dissatisfaction of East Pakistan with the West Pakistani Military rulers became apparent with the hint of war. West Pakistani bureaucracy saw themselves as a beacon of enlightenment and refused any interference in East Pakistan by any East Pakistani political party. And this mentality led to the war with India for the third time which liberated East Pakistan, turning it into Bangladesh. This turn of events defamed the military rulers such as Ayub Khan and General Yahya Khan.

The rising amount of dissatisfaction led to the election of Zulfikar Ali Bhutto which discredited the Pakistani military and chose to put into action socialist policies which crippled the elitist bureaucracy. This move enabled the civil military to rise against him in an underground movement. By this time, Pakistan has been refaced by a new constitution of 1973. While the country was settling down with Bhutto’s reforms which failed to reach the masses, another military coup under General Zia-Ul-Haq was carried out which made him President of Pakistan. So the military re-established their power with martial law in Pakistan. And thus history repeated itself till present day.