Pakistan, a country located in South Asia, has a rich and complex history of politics. The country was established in 1947, when British-India was divided into two independent states: India and Pakistan. The partition of India was based on religious lines, with Pakistan becoming a Muslim-majority country and India remaining a Hindu-majority country.
In the early years after the death of Quaid-e-Azam, Pakistan was ruled by political instability and lack of strong leadership. The first Prime Minister Liaquat Ali Khan was assassinated in 1951 and General Ayub Khan took over in 1958.
Pakistan saw economic growth and modernization under General Ayub Khan, but political opponents were suppressed. In the 1970s, with the rise of the PPP and the right-wing party Muslim League, linguistics began to emerge in Pakistan’s politics.
The PPP under the leadership of Zulfikar Ali Bhutto advocated socialism and redistribution of wealth while the PML-N under the leadership of Zia-ul-Haq promoted Islamic fundamentalism. In 1977, General Zia-ul-Haq seized power and became the President.
During the reign of former President Zia-ul-Haq, Islamization of Pakistan took place and Sharia laws were implemented. Suppression of political opposition continued and human rights violations also occurred. In 1988, General Zia-ul-Haq was martyred and overthrown.
After the martyrdom of Zia-ul-Haq, Pakistan’s politics returned to the democratic system and many civilian governments continued to occupy power one after the other, but due to frequent changes and lack of strong leadership, political stability continued to increase.
In the late nineties, the military authorities led by General Pervez Musharraf again took over the country. During this period, economic development and modernization came forward, but political opponents were suppressed again. In 2008, General Musharraf resigned as President.
Once again, Pakistan returned to democracy and since 2008 several civilian rulers have emerged in the country, however deep divisions in politics are evident due to ethnic groups and political parties.
The struggle for power between the status quo parties i.e. People’s Party and PML-N is in its place, but in 2018, PTI also came to power. Imran Khan could not fulfill the promises of accountability and he claims that he was removed by American conspiracy before completing 5 years and Shahbaz Sharif became the Prime Minister.
Today, Pakistan is facing major challenges including terrorism and economy. As a nation of Pakistan, we have a complex and turbulent history that is marked by military rule, political instability and lack of strong leadership.
Although Pakistan has returned to democracy in recent years, we are still facing many challenges that need time to be addressed.
