Pakistan needs a completely new set of people at the center!!

[PeaceForAll]

4 military dictators among 14 heads of state so far
By Hasan Ali
Source: Daily Times
August 19, 2008

LAHORE: In its 61 years’ history, Pakistan has witnessed 14 heads of state including four governors general and ten presidents, out of whom four were military dictators and ten civilians.

Pakistan has remained under military rule for 33 years, and civilian rule for 28 years.

The first governor general of Pakistan was Muhammad Ali Jinnah. Following his death on September 11, 1948, Khawaja Nazimuddin became the second governor general of the country on September 14, 1948. After the assassination of then prime minister Liaqat Ali Khan he resigned from the post of president in October 1951 and became the new prime minister of Pakistan.

On October 19, 1951, the third governor general of Pakistan Malik Ghulam Muhammad took oath as head of state. He forced Nazimuddin to resign from office and when the latter refused to do so he dismissed him from his post in 1953. Ghulam Muhammad appointed Muhammad Ali Bogra as the new PM, but in 1954 he dismissed Bogra as well, citing his unsatisfactory performance.

Ghulam Muhammad took leave of absence on August 7, 1955. The acting governor general Iskander Mirza dismissed him. Mirza took oath as the fourth governor general of Pakistan on October 7, 1955. In 1956, Pakistan promulgated its first constitution. The president replaced the governor general as head of state. Mirza was elected as president.

In 1958, army chief General Ayub Khan declared the first martial law in the country on October 7, 1958. Ayub took oath as president on October 27, 1958. On June 8, 1962, martial law was lifted and a new constitution was introduced.

On March 25, 1969, he resigned and handed over power to the commander-in-chief of Pakistan Army, General Yahya Khan, who became president of Pakistan on the same day. In 1970 he held general elections, but just after the elections India attacked Pakistan. Bangladesh was established as an independent republic. Most of the blame was heaped on Yahya and on December 20, 1971 he hastily surrendered his powers to Zulfikar Ali Bhutto. Bhutto took oath as president of Pakistan on December 20, 1971 and remained the head of the state till August 14, 1973. The military took control of government under General Muhammad Ziaul Haq in 1978.

Zia took the president’s oath on September 16, 1978. He later had Bhutto executed. Zia initially ruled for a year as martial law administrator, and later assumed the post of president of Pakistan. He died in an aircraft crash near Bahawalpur on August 17, 1988.

Chairman of Senate Ghulam Ishaq Khan became the acting president and was formally elected to the position in December 1988. He remained president until 1993. In 1993, with the support of the Pakistan People’s Party, Farooq Leghari won the presidential election against Wasim Sajjad. In November 1996, utilising his powers under Article 58(2b) of the constitution of Pakistan, Leghari dismissed the PPP government of Benazir Bhutto. He remained president till December 2, 1997.

Justice (r) Muhammad Rafiq Tarar took oath as the 11th president of Pakistan on January 1, 1998. Tarar was mostly a figurehead. He was not removed from office when General Pervez Musharraf seized control of government in 1999.

In 1999, General Pervez Musharraf deposed the then prime minister Nawaz Sharif and served the country as chief executive till 2001. He formally became the president on June 20, 2001 as a result of a referendum. On November 3, 2007, Musharraf declared emergency in the country. However, he retired from the military on November 28, 2007. Musharraf remained the president of Pakistan for nine months after taking off his uniform. He resigned on August 18, 2008 after the ruling coalition decided to impeach him.



in spite of all this, Pak has prospered. Imagine what we could achieve if we had a stable center!! It is sometimes very humiliating to read this. But its the truth!! this is the reason why I prefer settling away from my homeland

I am hoping someday we can have a much stabler system. Even a stable military rule is fine!!

note: To my indian friends in this forum, pls refrain from making any kind of fun of this, this is intended for a healthy debate.

 

[Smooth Operator]

A stable military rule is also not a recipe for political stability or economic prosperity.A long succession of military junta in Argentina effectively reduced a country once counted among the richest in the world to third word destitution.

The most significant challenge before Pakistan's civil society would be to help evolve institutions that will perpetuate faith and respect to the democratic process of national governance.toppling governments through ballot must be the only way to regime change.unfortunately despite having a robust civil rights group,who have been able to muster enough public support to pressurize military junta's,they have had problems sustaining this process.

When Banazir Bhutto led the PPP to power in the 90's,supported by a popular movement for Restoration of democracy at home,it was thought that henceforth the military will not be able to oust any popularly elected govt,again the verdict was too soon.

There is always a possibility that this might repeat again,but is it desirable ?

 

[Ali.009]

A stable military rule is also not a recipe for political stability or economic prosperity.A long succession of military junta in Argentina effectively reduced a country once counted among the richest in the world to third word destitution.

The most significant challenge before Pakistan's civil society would be to help evolve institutions that will perpetuate faith and respect to the democratic process of national governance.toppling governments through ballot must be the only way to regime change.unfortunately despite having a robust civil rights group,who have been able to muster enough public support to pressurize military junta's,they have had problems sustaining this process.

When Banazir Bhutto led the PPP to power in the 90's,supported by a popular movement for Restoration of democracy at home,it was thought that henceforth the military will not be able to oust any popularly elected govt,again the verdict was too soon.

There is always a possibility that this might repeat again,but is it desirable ?

May i ask what are you doing in vatican city? Or is it your fake info?

 

[Neo]

May i ask what are you doing in vatican city? Or is it your fake info?

Fake!
Unless the Pope signed an secret deal with Saudi Governenment to handover Vatican to Riyadh....

 

[Kasrkin]

There is always a possibility that this might repeat again,but is it desirable?

I can tell you one thing, that it not only can happen again, but the way things are going the politicans will be screaming for the Army to come back in another 5 years. (Qazi Hussain has already urged Genereal Kayani to tell Zardari to go to hell and take over foriegn policy)

 

[TOPGUN]

Would be still better then Zardari in power !!

 

[muse]

Just a couple of things we can all agree on - democractic goverance is about representation - nothing else - however; our problem was never representation, rather it was effective, efficient goverance.

A Pakistani system in which politicians are vetted, in which patronage is illegal, in which all citizens are subject to the law, yes this means parliamentarians - no immunity for the law -

A constitution that gaurantees basic civil liberties, predicated on the responsible exercise of such liberties/rights.

Multi-party systems, in Pakistan's unique experience, creates weak governments - A two party or even a one party system is a requirement, in my opinion. I'm not suggesting a repressive form of government but a an effective and efficient one, whose foundation is a legislature concerned with makingand refining law, for the purpose of enabling pakistanis. A judiciary that does not make law, but executes law, a judicary that this is efficent, firm and fair. An executive that is restrained and circumspect, and simultaneously, extremely powerful.

A noisy confused legislature may be the darling of those who imagine that governance must be thus, but pakistan have lost much time and thsi form of governanace is vile and petty, unworthy of us.

Debate, discussion need not be unruly and crude - the business of the state is serious and sober - at least that suits me.

 

[Patriot]

When Banazir Bhutto led the PPP to power in the 90's,supported by a popular movement for Restoration of democracy at home,it was thought that henceforth the military will not be able to oust any popularly elected govt,again the verdict was too soon.

There is always a possibility that this might repeat again,but is it desirable ?

Err..Her Government was dismissed because of corruption.Hell she was willing to badmouth the ISI and Army just to get support from Western Union.She would do anything to come in power....The current democratic government is no different then dictatorship government of 2002 (Right now Zardari is controlling everything..Musharraf was controlling everything back then)

 

[mujahideen]

We need a General like Ayub Khan. When he came to power he put a ban on all the old politicians, but unfortunately it didn't last long. Every single politician today has a history of politics in their family. The Bhutto's, the Sharif's and etc. It is a shame we dont have heir's of those who served Pakistan honestly, but instead we get the heir of those who have robed us.