FOLLOWING Liaquat Ali Khan’s assassination in 1951, Pakistan witnessed a carousel of prime ministers, with six leaders in seven years, each serving an average term of 14 months. The wobbly start not only destabilised governance, but also paved the way for Gen Ayub Khan’s first military coup. The constituent assemblies floundered, and could not agree on a constitution until 1956; the document was abrogated within two years once martial law was imposed in 1958. This contrasts with India’s experience under Jawaharlal Nehru, whose leadership and enforcement of the constitution as early as January 1950 laid the groundwork for democracy.
What happened in the first 11 years set a pattern that repeated itself in the later years of Pakistan’s political life. The 1962 constitution introduced by the Ayub regime was abrogated by Gen Yahya Khan, whose mishandling of the post-1970 election events led to the dismemberment of the country. Gen Ziaul Haq focused on the so-called Islamisation process and Afghan jihad while easy money flowed in from the US. The 1990s was a lost decade because four democratically elected governments took turns to rule — with none completing its term. It was a time when globalisation had set in and many countries were registering remarkable economic growth. Following 9/11, Gen Pervez Musharraf’s term was consumed by the domestic and global fight against terrorism.