Modern Day History of Pakistan

First democratic era (1947–1958)

 In 1947, after establishing the State of Pakistan, the Founding fathers of Pakistan appointed Lyakat Ali Khan, a political theorist, as country's first Prime minister. The founder of Pakistan, Muhammad Ali Jinnah, was appointed as first Governor-General and the first President-Speaker of the State Parliament.

Initially, the state was composed of five provinces (Sindh, Punjab, Balochistan, North-West Frontier, and East-Bengal), and four administrative units (Gilgit–Baltistan (now a province), Kashmir (also a provisional state), Tribal belt and Local tribal belt), with Karachi being its first capital. The government of Lyakat Ali Khan suffered many problems and setbacks during the very first year of his government. In the west, territorial problems arose with neighboring communist states - Afghanistan and Soviet Union - both states being hostile towards Pakistan. While the independence and establishment of Pakistan was not greatly welcomed by the Soviet Union, the countries of Iran and Israel (a secret courier) sent their diplomatic missions to the newly established state. In 1947, Iran became the first country to give recognition to Pakistan, while Israel was not given a complete response. Territorial problems escalated with India, later both nations declaring full-scale war against each other in 1947, which became to known as Indo-Pakistani war of 1947, this was followed by 1948 Balochistan conflict. The problem of Hazara was a big issue which was resolved by Jalal ud din khan Jalal baba. He became "Fateh Refrendum' and later served as Interior Minister of Pakistan.

Quaid e Azam Muhammad Ali Jinnah

In 1948 at the parliament, Governor-General Muhammad Ali Jinnah declared that "Urdu would be the only state language of Pakistan". This controversial statement sparked protests in East Bengal (later East Pakistan), where Bengali was spoken by most of the population. The Bengali Language Movement reached its peak on 21 February 1952, when the police and soldiers opened fire on students near the Dhaka Medical College protesting for Bengali to receive equal status with Urdu. Several protesters were killed, and the movement gained further support throughout East Pakistan. Later, the Government agreed to provide equal status to Bengali as a state language of Pakistan, a right codified in the 1956 constitution.

In 1953 at the instigation of religious parties, anti-Ahmadiyya riots erupted, killing scores of non-Ahmadis and destroying their properties. The riots were investigated by a two-member court of inquiry in 1954,which was criticised by the Jamaat-e-Islami, one of the parties accused of inciting the riots. This event led to the first instance of martial law in the country and began the inroad of military intervention in the politics and civilian affairs of the country, something that remains to this day.


In 1954, the legislative elections were held in Pakistan, the first legislative elections held since 1947. In 1955, Pakistan's western states and East Bengal were devolved into two single states by One Unit policy of Mohammad Ali Bogra, establishing the states of West Pakistan and East Pakistan. The 1954 elections showed a clear differences in ideology, when East Pakistan fell under communism by the nexus of Communist Party, Workers-Peasant Party, allying with Awami League. Republican Party gained majority seats in West - the Pakistan Muslim League (PML) only secured 10 seats in East and none in West. Awami League's Huseyn Suhrawardy, one of the leading founding fathers of Pakistan, became the prime minister with communist-socialist alliance backing his policies. While the One Unit programme was a complete success in the East, the policy completely failed in the West, with nationalists in its provinces and their people forcefully rejecting the programme. Under pressure of protests, Prime minister Suhrawardy decided to retain the mild status of the provinces in 1955. After assuming the government, Suhrawardy decided to build a massive military and launched the plan of nuclear power in the West to keep his mandate in West Pakistan. Following this, the PAEC was established and the work on establishing Pakistan as a nuclear power was initiated personally by Suhrawardy. Suhrawardy suffered internal problems in West when capitalist forces - industrial monopolies, and capital economists - made their efforts to halt any policy evaluation process of economy of Pakistan for initiating complete nationalization, a centralised government economy. The human development in East got worsened and national security of Pakistan was put in great doubt.

Lyakat Ali Khan

Suharwarthy became the first Prime minister of Pakistan to visit People's Republic of China and attempted to improve relations with Soviet Union. However, despite his left-wing policies, Suhrawardy formulated pro-American policies. In 1954, after Suhrawardy's visit to Untied States, the United States government dispatched the MAA Group for Pakistan Armed Forces which was met with great hostility in East Pakistan, while the move was widely appreciated and seen as positive in West. The East-Pakistan Parliament threatened to leave the federation of Pakistan, and denounced the United States' involvement.

Controversially, prime minister Suhrawardy gave secret and verbal authorization of leasing the secret ISI installation to American Central Intelligence Agency (CIA), to conduct intelligence operations in Soviet Union. Differences in East Pakistan on the United States' operations further encouraged the Baloch separatism, leading president Iskandar Ali Mirza to initiate massive arrests of communists and workers of Awami League in East Pakistan, which damaged the image of West Pakistan in the East further.

Egoistic problems grew between the two Bengali leaders - President Mirza and Prime minister Suhrawardy - further damaging the unity of the country. In 1956, President Mirza exerted a mounting pressure on Suhrawardy to resign from the prime minister's post. Suhrawardy's political might and control of Awami League was also challenged by Maulana Bhashani and Suhrawardy subsequently lost support in his party. Isolated and disheartened, Suhrwardy resigned and withdrew his public mandate and was succeeded by a close friend Ibrahim Ismail Chundrigar as Prime minister.

Huseyn Suhrawardy

First military era (1958–1971)

The Dominion status of the country was dissolved on 23 March 1956 and Pakistan became an Islamic republic, with the last Governor-General, Iskandar Mirza, as the first president as well as first Bengali leader of the country. Just two years later, the military would take control of the nation. With the imposition of One Unit policy, two states had been established - the state of West Pakistan (consisting four provinces) and the state of East Pakistan (one single state). The two states had one president and one prime minister, both exclusively headquartered in West. After the 1954 elections, the problems began to mount between West and East Pakistan - West decided to follow the Westernized Parliamentary form of the democracy while East chose to became a socialist state. Within two month, Prime Minister I.I. Chundrigar was dismissed; followed by Sir Feroz Noon, who proved to be an incapable prime minister.

The Pakistan Muslim League (PML) began to rise after the 1954 elections, which threatened the power of President Mirza. During this time of less than two years, President Mirza had dismissed four prime ministers - one from AL and three from Republican party - and finally imposed the first martial law in 1958, after suspending the constitution: Having suspended the constitution, and dissolving the socialist government in East first and then the parliamentary government in West, President Mirza appointed Army commander General Ayub Khan as the Chief Martial Law Administrator (CMLA) to enforce the martial law. However, after developing serious differences with the Pakistan Armed Forces, President Mirza himself remained in office only for two months; two week after imposing the martial law, Ayub Khan self-appointed himself to the rank of a five star Field Marshal and named a new civil-military government under him.

Iskandar Mirza

Presidential republic (1962–1969)

This period existed from 1962 until 1969 - when Ayub Khan became president and began a new system of government called Basic Democracy with a new 1962 constitution, by which an electoral college of 80,000 would select the President - the country became a presidential republic with Ayub Khan its president. During Ayub's rule, relations with the United States and other Western nations grew stronger. Pakistan joined two formal military alliances — the Baghdad Pact (later known as the Central Treaty Organization or CENTO) which included Iran, Iraq, and Turkey to ostensibly defend the Middle East and Persian Gulf against the Soviet Union; and the Southeast Asia Treaty Organization (SEATO) which covered South-East Asia against the communist block. However, the United States dismayed Pakistan by adopting a policy of denying military aid to both India and Pakistan during the Indo-Pakistani War of 1965 over Kashmir and the Rann of Kutch. A positive gain of the treaties was the re-strengthening of Pakistan's close historical bonds with its western neighbors in Asia.

In West Pakistan alone, the economy, educational efforts, human development and scientific research reached a new high level during this time, gaining international recognition for the country. Abdus Salam and Munir Ahmad Khan in IAEA made tremendous effort with Zulfikar Ali Bhutto's support, to put Pakistan on the nuclear power road. In 1965, a pact for establishing country's first nuclear power plant was signed with GE Canada, and for establishing a nuclear processing sites with BNFL plc. ltd. of United Kingdom and CEA of France. During this period, United States established a nuclear fission reactor PARR-I and a nuclear fusion facility, Fusion Fast Laboratories all in West Pakistan. As a spin off to the nuclear projects, a space programme was also launched by Abdus Salam with the help of United States and Pakistan established the authority Space Research Commission (SRC) in 1961. In 1962, the space launching center— Sonmiani Terminal was built in Karachi. On 7 June 1961, a two-stage solid fuel rocket, Rehbar-I was launched, making Pakistan the third country in Asia and the tenth in the world to conduct such a launching. While in West the PAEC was putting efforts for a massive scientific and technological development, it was supervising small academic research in East. No nuclear facilities were ever established in East Pakistan, nor any Western interest was there to established the nuclear facilities in East. Amidst further allegations that economic development and hiring for government jobs favoured West Pakistan, there was a rise in Bengali nationalism during the 1960s and an independence movement began to gather ground in East Pakistan.

Muhammad Ayub Khan

“	Pakistan will fight, fight for a thousand years. If.. India builds the (Atom) bomb ... (Pakistan) will eat grass or (leaves), even go hungry, but we (Pakistan) will get one of our own (Atom bomb) ... We (Pakistan) have no other Choice!...	”
—Zulfikar Ali Bhutto, 1965,

President Ayub Khan had almost lost the controversial 1965 presidential elections to Fatima Jinnah. In 1965, after Pakistan went ahead with its strategic air-borne mission code named the Operation Gibraltar, India declared a full-scale war on Pakistan. The war, which ended militarily in a stalemate, was mostly fought in West as only mild operations were conducted in East by India.

Controversially, East-Pakistan Army did not interfere in the conflict that brought a great ire in West against East. Subsequently, the Tashkent Agreement was signed between India and Pakistan under the auspices of Soviet Union. Later, while defending Pakistan's position at the UN General Assembly in 1965, Zulfikar Ali Bhutto delivered a blistering speech; with the atomic scientist Aziz Ahmed present there for good measure, Bhutto made Pakistan's intentions clear and loudly announced that: "If India builds the (nuclear) bomb, we will eat grass, even go hungry, but we will get one of own ... We have no other choice".
Disagreeing with the signing of Tashkent agreement, Zulfikar Ali Bhutto resigned from his ministry. After news flooded in West, spontaneous mass demonstrations were held, major industrial and labor strikes began to take place and within months Ayub Khan lost control of West. Ayub Khan's popularity waned and his image was maligned by the opposition. In 1967, Bhutto called for a public meeting of socialists and left-wing intellectuals in Lahore and founded the leading leftist party, the Pakistan People's Party (PPP).

The PPP at once gained popularity and wide scale public approval of Bhutto, who tapped a wave of anger against Ayub Khan. After facing the intense public resentment and pressure of scheming Bhutto, Ayub Khan left the office in poor health and surrendered powers to his army commander, a less-known in public and heavy alcohol drinker, General Yahya Khan, who imposed martial law and suspended the constitution, thus dissolving the presidential republic.

Fatima Jinnah

Martial law in Pakistan (1969–1971)

After nationwide uprising in 1969, President Ayub Khan had stepped down from office, handing over power to army commader General Yahya Khan, who promised to hold general elections at the end of 1970. However, his martial law in Pakistan would remain from 1969–71, in which time only military government ruled with high-profile joint military officers occupying government assignments. During this time, the rise of socialism began to take place with Pakistan People's Party being the central party. The PPP's socialist rationale, "Food, Cloth, and Shelter and party's manifesto quickly popularized the party and in a small span of time, it became the major party in the West.

 In 1970, major land reforms were carried out by General Yahya Khan and a series of geographical and territorial changes in West alone. General Yahya Khan issued the presidential decree, the LFO Order No. 1970, dissolving the One Unit status of West Pakistan, by simply adding Pakistan: the structure, territorial pictures, borders and geographical positions of provinces of Pakistan were retained, but the former structure of the four provinces of Pakistan was restored - Sindh; Punjab; Balochistan; NWFP now renamed Khyber Pakhtunkhwa. The provincial assemblies and provincial positions also were restored. The state parliament, supreme court and major government and authoritarian institutions also regained their status. This decree was only limited to West, it had no effects on East.

General Yahya Khan

On the eve of the elections, a cyclone struck East Pakistan killing approximately 500,000 people. Despite the tragedy and the additional difficulty experienced by affected citizens in reaching the voting sites, Pakistan's first ever democratic elections were held. The East Pakistan Awami League won the elections. The results, however, showed a clear division between East and West Pakistan. The Awami League, led by Sheikh Mujibur Rahman, won a majority with 167 of the 169 East Pakistani seats, but with no seats in West Pakistan, where the Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP) led by Zulfikar Ali Bhutto, won 85 seats, none in East Pakistan. Consequently, General Yahya Khan proposed to appoint Nurul Amin - a Bengali figure and chairman of Pakistan Muslim League - as the prime minister as well as country's first Vice President of Pakistan, while appointing Bhutto as deputy prime minister and Mujib as vice-prime minister; this scheme was forcefully rejected by Bhutto. Eventually, under Bhutto's pressure, Yahya Khan refused to hand over power to Sheikh Mujibur Rahman.

 Meanwhile, Sheikh Mujibur Rahman initiated a civil disobedience movement, which was strongly supported by the general population of East Pakistan, including most government workers. A round-table conference between Yahya, Bhutto, and Sheikh Mujibur Rahman was convened in Dhaka, which, however, ended without a solution. Soon thereafter, the Pakistan Armed Forces commenced Operation Searchlight (as followed by Operation Barisal by Pakistan Navy), an organized crackdown on the East Pakistani army, police, politicians, civilians, and students in Dhaka. Sheikh Mujibur Rahman and many other Awami League leaders were arrested, while others fled to neighbouring India. Sheikh Mujibur Rahman was taken to West Pakistan. The crackdown widened and escalated into a guerrilla warfare between the Pakistan Armed Forces and the Mukti Bahini (Bengali "freedom fighters"). Millions of Hindus and Bengals fled to India. In March 1971, India's Prime Minister announced support for the Bengalis' Liberation War, providing direct 'military assistance'. On 27 March 1971, Major Ziaur Rahman, a Bengali war-veteran of the East Bengal Regiment of the Pakistan Army, declared the independence of East Pakistan as the new nation of Bangladesh on behalf of Mujib.

Nurul Amin

 Following a period of covert and overt intervention by Indian forces in the conflict, open hostilities broke out between India and Pakistan on 3 December 1971. In Bangladesh, the Pakistan Armed Forces led by General Amir Niazi and Admiral Shariff, had already been weakened and exhausted by the Mukti Bahini's guerrilla warfare. Outflanked and overwhelmed, the Pakistan armed forces in the eastern theatre surrendered on 16 December 1971, with nearly 90,000 soldiers taken as prisoners of war. The result was the defacto emergence of the new nation of Bangladesh, thus ending 24 years of turbulent union of the two wings. The figures of the Bengali civilian death toll from the entire civil war vary greatly, depending on the sources.

Although the killing of Bengalis was unsupported by the people of West Pakistan, it continued for 9 months. Pakistan's official report, by the Hamood-ur-Rahman Commission, placed the figure at only 26,000, while estimates range up to 3 million. Discredited by the defeat, General Yahya Khan resigned and Bhutto was inaugurated as president and chief martial law administrator on 20 December 1971.

Second democratic era (1971–1977)

The nation was demoralized after the war and calls for a change from the military rule began to rise. Civilian rule and democracy returned, when General Yahya Khan handed over the political power to Zulfikar Ali Bhutto and the Pakistan Peoples Party. Bhutto dismissed chiefs of army, navy and the air force while authorized home confinement orders for General Yahya Khan and several of his collaborators. He adopted the East-Pakistan Commission's recommendations and authorized large-scale court-martial of army officers tainted for their role in East Pakistan. To keep the country united, Bhutto launched a series of internal intelligence operations to crack down on the fissiparous nationalist sentiments and movements in the provinces. Pakistan People's Party and Zulfikar Bhutto faced serious challenges, both on internal and foreign fronts.

From 1971 till 1977 was a period of growth of national spirit, nationalization of economy, atomic bomb projects and left-wing socialism. It is regarded as the period of reconstruction, rehabilitation, and re-establishment of the country. In 1972, the country's top intelligence services learned that "India was close to developing a nuclear weapon under its nuclear programme". In response, Bhutto called a secret meeting, which came to be known as "Multan meeting", aimed to rally academic scientists to build the atomic bomb for national survival. The atomic bomb project brought together a team of prominent academic scientists and engineers, headed by nuclear physicist Abdus Salam to develop nuclear devices. Salam later won the Nobel Prize for Physics for developing the theory for unification of weak nuclear forces and strong electromagnetic forces.

In 1973, a serious nationalist rebellion also took place in Balochistan province and led to harsh suppression of Baloch rebels with the Shah of Iran purportedly assisting with air support in order to prevent the conflict from spilling over into Iranian Balochistan. The conflict ended later after an amnesty and subsequent stabilization by the provincial military ruler Rahimuddin Khan. In 1973, Parliament approved a new constitution, and Pakistan, for the first time, was declared a Parliamentary democracy. Bhutto and his government carried out major and serious reforms for establishment and development and re-designing of the country's infrastructure. First and foremost, Bhutto supervised the successful promulgation of 1973 constitution that validated the parliamentary democracy in the country. The establishment of Joint Chiefs of Staff Committee (as well Joint Strategic Forces Command), reorganization of the military, special forces and chain of commands in the military. Steps were taken for democratization of civil bureaucracy, election commission and the political structure. The government of People's Party took major steps for country's economic and human infrastructure growth, starting first with the agriculture, land reforms, and government control (nationalization)of major private industries, industrialization and the expansion of the education system throughout the country. In 1974, Bhutto succumbed to increasing pressure from religious parties and helped Parliament to declare the Ahmadiyya adherents as non-Muslims.

At foreign fronts, the alliance with the United States weakened but, on the other hand, the relations with Soviet Union and Soviet Bloc - North Korea, China - and the Arab world improved and strengthened. In 1974, Pakistan was alarmed by the Indian nuclear test. Bhutto - as promised in 1965, "If India builds the bomb, we will eat grass and leaves, even go hungry. But we will get one of our own, we have no alternative." - had started a strategic project in 1972. This project reached a milestone in 1978 when the desired level of production of fissile core material was reached as well as first design of physics package. (for more information and sources: see the operation codenamed "Kirana-I" and the "Test Kahuta"). After 1974, Bhutto took aggressive measures against India in the United Nations and targeted its nuclear programme on multiple occasions that pushed India on the defensive, while Pakistan worked on its atomic bomb project. From 1976 to 1977, Bhutto faced an intense and heated diplomatic war with the United States and President Jimmy Carter, who worked covertly to damage the credibility of Bhutto in Pakistan. Bhutto, with his scientist colleague Aziz Ahmed, thwarted any U.S. attempts to infiltrate the atomic bomb programme. In 1976, during a secret mission, Henry Kissinger threatened Bhutto and his colleague while used an inhumane language. After the meeting, Bhutto aggressively put efforts to successfully developed the atomic project before the coming elections.


As the country entered 1976, the socialist alliance of Bhutto collapse, forcing his left-wing allies to form an alliance with right-wing conservatives, to challenge the power of Peoples Party. Elections were held in 1977, which the Peoples Party won but this was challenged by the opposition, which accused Bhutto of rigging the election process. An intensified civil disorder took place against Bhutto and chief of army staff general Muhammad Zia-ul-Haq, supported by chief of naval staff Admiral Mohammad Shariff, took power in a bloodless coup (see Operation Fair Play. Following this, Bhutto and his colleagues were dragged into a two-year long controversial trial in Supreme Court. Bhutto was later executed in 1979, after being convicted of authorizing the murder of a political opponent, in a controversial 4–3 split decision by the Supreme Court.

Zulfikar Ali Bhutto

 

Second military era (1977–1988)

This period of military rule, lasting from 1977 to 1988, is often regarded as a period of great purge and growth of state-sponsored religious conservatism. General Zia-ul-Haq's long eleven-year-rule era features the country's first Technocracy and had no politicians from any parties in his government. His government employed professionals, scientists, engineers, medical researchers, military officers and also religious scholars. General Zia-ul-Haq installed high-profile military officers of joint forces in civilian posts, ranging from central government to provisional governments.

Gradually, the socialist policies of the previous government were disbanded. Instead, a new system of capitalism was put in place under which industries and economic infrastructure were privatized (denationalized), and steps were taken to deregulate the market-economy of the country. The front formed against Zulfiquar Ali Bhutto split, with far right-wing conservatives allying with General Zia's government and encouraging the military government crack down on the left-wing elements in the country. The left-wing alliance led by Benazir Bhutto was brutalized by Zia who took every mean of aggressive measures against the movement. Further, in his time, cesessionist uprisings in Balochistan were put down successfully by the provincial governor, General Rahimuddin Khan.

In 1984, Zia held a referendum asking the civil society for the support of his religious programme that received overwhelming support and extended the term of General Zia as country's administrator for next five years. He then introduced strict Islamic law in 1978, often cited as the contributing factor in the present climate of sectarianism and religious fundamentalism in Pakistan. General Zia's government disbanded the Western styled songs, only patriotic songs were allowed in national television. Ordinance XX was introduced to limit the Ahmadis from misrepresenting themselves as Muslims.

 After assuming power, Zia's government revived the old foreign policy and worked through to make a near-alliance with the United States and the Western world. In the 1980s, Soviet Union intervened in Afghanistan. It helped Zia's government to make an alliance against Soviet Union and communism, covertly supporting U.S. scheme and agenda in Afghanistan. The Reagan administration in the United States helped supply and finance an anti-Soviet insurgency in Afghanistan, using Pakistan as a conduit. As the front-line state in the anti-Soviet struggle, Pakistan received substantial aid from the United States as it took in millions of Afghan (mostly Pashtun) refugees fleeing the Soviet occupation. The influx of so many refugees - the largest refugee population in the world - had a heavy impact on Pakistan and its effects continue to this day. The religiously far-right parties - that remained at the Local government level - were instrumental in sending young students of clerical schools in their designated areas of responsibility and districts to participate in Soviet war in Afghanistan. In retaliation, the Afghan secret police, KHAD, carried out a large number of terrorist operations against Pakistan, which also suffered from an influx of illegal weapons and drugs from Afghanistan.

General Zia-ul-Haq

Problems with India rose up when India attacked and took the Siachen glacier, prompting Pakistan to strike back at India. The Indian Army were pushed back by Pakistan Army, leading Indian Army to formalize a controversial military exercise (See Operation Brasstacks, summoning up to 400,000 troops near Southern Pakistan. However, General Zia used the Cricket diplomacy to lessen the tensions between two countries but reportedly threatened India by adding to Rajiv Gandhi: "If your [forces] crossed our border an inch ... We are going to annihilate your (cities)...".
General Zia finally lifted martial law in 1985, holding non-partisan elections and handpicking Muhammad Khan Junejo to be the new Prime Minister, who readily extended Zia's term as Chief of Army Staff until 1990. Junejo however gradually fell out with Zia as his administrative independence grew; for instance, Junejo signed the Geneva Accord, which Zia greatly frowned upon. As retaliation, a controversy was planned after a large-scale blast at a munitions dump in Ojhri (see Ojhri Camp disaster), Prime minister Junejo vowed to bring to justice those responsible for the significant damage caused, implicating several senior generals. In return, General Zia dismissed the Junejo government on several charges in May 1988 and called for elections in November 1988. However, before the elections could ever take place, General Zia died in a mysterious plane crash on 17 August 1988 (See Death of Zia-ul-Haq).

Benazir Bhutto, in the U.S. (1988), became the first female prime minister of Pakistan in 1988.

Third democratic era (1988–1999): Benazir-Nawaz period

Democracy returned again in 1988 after the general elections which were held after the death of General Zia-ul-Haq. The general elections saw the victory and return of Peoples Party back into the power politics. This period, lasting until 1999, introduced the parliamentary system and two-party democracy in the country, featuring a fierce competition between centre-right conservatives led by Navaz Sharif and centre-left socialists directed by Benazir Bhutto. The far-left politics and the far-right politics had disintegrated from the political arena with the fall of global communism and the United States lessening its interests in Pakistan. Pakistan was ruled by elected civilian governments, alternately headed by Benazir Bhutto and Nawaz Sharif, who were each elected twice and removed from office on charges of corruption and issues regarding the national security.

 As a result of 1988 elections, Benazir Bhutto became the first female prime minister of Pakistan and the first female head of government in a Muslim majority country. At first, Prime minister Benazir Bhutto adopted pro-American policies and supervised the troop evacuation of Soviet Union from Communist Afghanistan.After Soviet withdrawal, the alliance with U.S. came to end - when the secret of a successful clandestine atomic bomb project was revealed to world, it led to imposition of economic sanctions by U.S. (see Pressler amendment). Benazir Bhutto responded aggressively after hearing the news of sanctions and relations with U.S. became cold. In 1989, she ordered a military action in Afghanistan that brutally failed, leading her to depose the directors of the intelligence services. Also, economic situation in the country got worsened and the currency of Pakistan lost the currency war with India. Poor economic situation and national security concerns led the dismissal of Benazir Bhutto's first government by the conservative President Ghulam Ishaq Khan.

 The new elections were held in 1990 and saw the success of centrist and right-wing conservative alliance, the Islamic Democratic Alliance (IDA) led by Nawaz Sharif. The conservatives, for the first time in history, came to power under a democratic system under which Nawaz Sharif was appointed the Prime minister. Nawaz Sharif and conservatives inherited economic challenges and issues regarding internal security.

Benazir Bhutto

In November 1990, Sharif made a secret visit to U.S. and adopted a policy of deliberate ambiguity; he announced that "Pakistan doesn't possess an atomic bomb" but vowed to develop nuclear power for economic reasons. Sharif launched a large-scale industrialization programme on the capitalist model. When he controversially ordered an operation against the liberals (the MQM) in Karachi (see Operation Blue-Fox), it led to the halt of his policies. Institutional problems arose with president Ghulam Khan, who attempted to dismiss Sharif on the same charges as he had pressed on Benazir Bhutto. Prime minister Sharif turned to Supreme Court that reconstituted his government. Sharif and Benazir Bhutto allied together to force President Ishaq Khan to resign from presidency but, Sharif too was forced to relinquish office later in weeks.
Upon Sharif's resignation, the new elections were held in 1993 which saw the return of Benazir Bhutto and the Peoples Party for the third time. After securing the plurality, Benazir Bhutto formed the government and appointed a hand-picked president for the presidential office and a new cabinet. Then, starting with the military forces, all four-star chiefs of navy, air force, army and chairman joint chiefs were handpicked. The internal policies were exercised on tough stance to bring peace in the country, starting first in Karachi and later in western Pakistan. She launched the integrated space weapons programme in 1993, supervising the construction of Shaheen and Ghauri systems. The military reforms and development programmes were launched by Benazir Bhutto in 1994 when she succeeded the agreement of the technology transfer of AIP technology. She drove her economic policies on the model of social democracy - limited nationalization and deregulation of industries while disbanding the labour unions; the economy was highly centralized and the proponents of social democracy and national pride were supported at an extreme level. Her actions earned her a nickname "Iron Lady" by her rivals. During the late 1990s, Pakistan was one of three countries which recognized the Taliban government and Mullah Mohammed Omar as the legitimate ruler of Afghanistan.Allegations were made of Pakistan and other countries providing economic and military aid to the group from 1994 as a part of supporting the anti-Soviet alliance. It is alleged that some post-invasion Taliban fighters were recruits drawn from Pakistan's madrassahs.

Relations with India worsened in 1995 when Benazir Bhutto learned the news of Indian attempt to conduct nuclear tests for the second time. At multiple occasions, Benazir Bhutto aggressively attacked India and pushed India on to take defensive positions on its nuclear programme. Under her second term, the atomic bomb programme was aggressively pursued, modernized and expanded despite U.S. objections, even though she tried to normalize relations with the United States and other Western world and strengthened relations with socialist states.

Nawaz Sharif

However in 1996, the popularity of Benazir Bhutto waned after her husband became allegedly involved in the controversial death of Murtaza Bhutto, Benazir Bhutto's younger brother. Many public figures and officials suspected even Benazir Bhutto's involvement in the murder, although there were no proves. In 1996, seven weeks passed this incident, Benazir Bhutto's government was dismissed by her own hand-picked president on charges of Murtaza Bhutto's death.

In the 1997 election that returned Nawaz Sharif as Prime Minister, conservatives received a heavy majority of the vote, obtaining enough seats in parliament to change the constitution, which Prime minister Sharif amended to eliminate the formal checks and balances that restrained the Prime Minister's power. Institutional challenges to his authority - led by the civilian President Farooq Leghari, chairman joint chiefs general Jehangir Karamat, chief of naval staff admiral Fasih Bokharie, and Chief Justice Sajjad Ali Shah - were put down and all four were forced to resign; Chief Justice Shah doing so after the Supreme Court was stormed by Sharif partisans.

Problems with India further escalated in 1998, when the television media reported the Indian nuclear explosions. It was the second nuclear test, codename Operation Shakti, conducted by India since 1974 and with it India declared itself a nuclear power. When news flooded in Pakistan, a shocked Sharif called for a national security meeting in Islamabad and vowed that "she (Pakistan) would give a suitable reply to the Indians ...". After reviewing the effects of tests for roughly two weeks, Sharif ordered PAEC to perform a series of nuclear tests at the remote area of Chagai Hills in 1998 itself. The military forces in the country were mobilize at a war-situation level on Indian border.

“	Today, we have settled a score and have carried out six successful nuclear tests"	”
—Prime minister Nawaz Sharif announcing the tests on May 30, 1998,

Internationally condemned, but extremely popular at home, Sharif took extensive controls in his hands, to protect economic assets of the country, starting from centralizing the economy. Sharif ordered to mobilize all the defence assets of Pakistan and closed all airspace routes by giving red-alerts orders to PAF and Pakistan Navy. Sharif responded fiercely, and defused the international pressure by targeting India for global nuclear proliferation while gave great criticism to the United States for atomic bombings on Japanese cities of Atomic bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki:

If [Pakistan] had wanted, she would have conducted nuclear tests 15–20 years ago ... but the abject poverty of the people of the region dissuaded ... [Pakistan] from doing so. But the [w]orld, instead of putting pressure on (India) ... not to take the destructive road ... imposed all kinds of sanctions on [Pakistan] for no fault of her.....! If (fellow) Japan had its own nuclear capability.. (cities of) ... Hiroshima and Nagasaki would not have suffered atomic destruction at the hands of the ... United States ...

—Nawaz Sharif—Prime minister, on May 30, 1998, televised at PTV,

Without any exception, Sharif's popularity heightened up, a wide scale approval for his decision by the civil society which strengthened his public mandate. Under Nawaz Sharif's leadership, Pakistan became the seventh nuclear power country, the first country in the Muslim world, as well as a declared nuclear-weapon state. The conservative government also adopted environmental policies after establishing the environmental protection agency.

However this political achievement was short-lived. Economic growth declined towards the end of nineties period, hurt by the Asian financial crisis and economic sanctions imposed on Pakistan after its first tests of nuclear devices in 1998, shortly after India tested its nuclear devices. The next year, Kargil attack by Pakistan backed Kashmiri militants threatened to escalate to a full-scale war and increased fears of a nuclear war in South Asia. When this strategic infiltration led by Sharif's appointed Chairman joint chiefs General Pervez Musharraf brutally failed, it led to an undeclared but full-scale war with India in 1999 (see Kargil war). Internationally condemned, the Kargil war came on a bad juncture for the prime minister and was followed by Atlantique Incident also in 1999. Sharif's mandate had no longer a hold on the country as the public support for him had collapsed.

Murtaza Bhutto

 

Third military era (1999–2007): Musharraf-Aziz Period

On 12 October 1999, Prime minister Sharif attempted to dismiss chairman joint chiefs and chief of army staff General Pervez Musharraf and install Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI) director Ziauddin Butt in his place, but senior military leadership refused to accept the decision. Musharraf, who was out of the country, boarded a commercial airliner to return to Pakistan. Sharif ordered the Jinnah Terminal to prevent the landing of the airliner, which then circled the skies over Karachi. In a coup, the senior commanders of the military leadership ousted Sharif's government and took over the airport. The plane landed with only a few minutes of fuel to spare, and General Musharraf assumed control of the government. In Islamabad, the Military Police seized the Prime Minister's Secretariat and led the arrest of the Prime Minister, Lieutenant-General Butt and those members of his cabinet who took part in this assumed conspiracy and placed him in infamous Adiala Jail. The trial was set in Supreme Court, which Sharif was forced to face and he received a lengthy life sentence, with his assets being frozen based on a corruption scandal, and he was near receiving the death sentence based on the hijacking case. However, in 2010, the Supreme Court of Pakistan would acquit Nawaz Sharif from the hijacking scandal.

“	It came to the conclusion that in relieving General Jehangir Karamat, Prime minister Sharif had committed a "blunder". He also failed to recognize that despite his heavy mandate, it was not advisable for him to dismiss two army chiefs and one naval chief in less than a year. In doing so he had overplayed his hands and effectively derailed the democratic process for nine long year ...	”
—Sartaj Aziz, 2009,

The American President Bill Clinton - who had felt that his pressure to force Sharif to withdraw Pakistan forces from Kargil, in Indian-controlled Kashmir, was one of the main reasons for disagreements between Sharif and the Pakistan Armed Forces - and King Fahd of Saudi Arabia pressured General Musharraf to spare the life of Sharif and, instead, exile him to Saudi Arabia, guaranteeing that he would not be involved in politics for ten years. In an agreement facilitated by Saudi Arabia, Nawaz Sharif was exiled and lived in Saudi Arabia for more than six years before moving to London in 2005.
On assuming power, the first initiatives Musharraf took were the economic reforms and economic liberalization. During his personal trip to United States in 1999, he requested Shaukat Aziz, a close ally and friend and former executive vice president of Citi Bank, to take charge of Finance, Statistics, and the Economic ministry, hence the control over the economy of the country.

On 12 May 2000 the Supreme Court of Pakistan ordered the Government to hold general elections by 12 October 2002. In an attempt to legitimize his presidency and assure its continuance after the impending elections, Musharraf held a controversial national referendum on 30 April 2002, which extended his presidential term to a period ending five years after the October elections.Musharraf also strengthened his position by issuing a Legal Framework Order in August 2001, which established the constitutional basis for his continuance in office. The general elections were held in October 2002 and the centrist, pro-Musharraf Pakistan Muslim League (Q) (PML-Q) won a majority of the seats in Parliament. However, parties opposed to the Legal Framework Order effectively paralyzed the National Assembly for over a year. The deadlock ended in December 2003, when Musharraf and some of his parliamentary opponents agreed upon a compromise, and pro-Musharraf legislators were able to muster the two-thirds majority required to pass the Seventeenth Amendment, which retroactively legitimized Musharraf's 1999 coup and many of his subsequent decrees. The amendment devolved the parliamentary republic and parliamentary democracy in the country, instead replacing with Semi-presidential system. In a vote of confidence on 1 January 2004, Musharraf won 658 out of 1,170 votes in the Electoral College of Pakistan, and according to Article 41(8) of the Constitution of Pakistan, was elected to the office of President. Soon after his presidential election, Musharraf increased the role of Shaukat Aziz in PML-Q, and helped him to secure the party nomination for the office of Prime Minister. The Musharraf-Aziz regime featured the Semi-presidential system.

In 2004, Shaukat Aziz was elevated as Prime Minister of the country, initially charged with handling the day-to-day operations of government, overseeing the operational capabilities of military, energy and economic policies, and the improvisation of educational system while Musharraf took the control of foreign affairs, internal security, and his role in the American War on terror. While economic reforms undertaken during his regime yielded positive results, proposed social reforms were met with resistance. Musharraf faced opposition from religious groups who were angered by his post-9/11 political alliance with the United States and his military support to the American led 2001 invasion of Afghanistan. He survived several assassination attempts by groups believed to be part of Al-Qaeda, including at least two instances where they had inside information from a member of his military security.

In 2001–04, the government of Musharraf suffered with various science-scandals which damaged the credibility of the country. In 2001, senior scientists Sultan Bashiruddin Mahmood and Abdul Majid were accused of aiding the terror organizations for the purposes of nuclear terrorism. However, the investigations revealed that none of the scientists were able to build the devices despite their academic/professional careers. Pakistan was also accused of contributing to global atomic proliferation; its leading nuclear scientist, Dr. Abdul Qadeer Khan, admitted to selling nuclear secrets, though he denied government knowledge of his activities. Later investigations exposed the beneficiary role of country's leading politicians leaving the world governments in shock, but they did not condemn any politicians due to pressure that it would harm their solidarity alliance with the country's political parties.

At the same time, Pakistan continued to be involved in the dispute over Kashmir, with allegations of support of separatist Kashmiri militants being leveled against Pakistan by India— which treats them as terror groups— while Pakistan levels charges that the Indian government abuses human rights in its excessive use of military force in the disputed region. What makes this dispute a source of special concern for the world community is that both India and Pakistan possess nuclear weapons. It had led to a nuclear standoff in 2002, when Kashmir-militants, allegedly backed by the ISI, attacked the Indian parliament. In reaction to this, serious diplomatic tensions had developed and India and Pakistan deployed 500,000 and 120,000 troops to the border respectively. While the Indo-Pakistani peace process made progress subsequently, it was sometimes stalled by infrequent insurgent activity in India, such as the 26/11 Mumbai attacks.
After the U.S. invasion of Afghanistan, the Pakistan government, as an ally, deployed the XI Corps with additional three combat mountaineering divisions under its Commander Lieutenant-General Alijan Aurkzhai into the mountainous region of Waziristan in 2002, in search of Osama bin Laden (the master-mind behind the 11 September attacks in 2001) and other heavily armed al-Qaeda members, who had taken refuge there. Deployment with PAF and Navy support began conducting air and intelligence operations in 2002–03. Finally, in March 2004, heavy fighting broke out at Azam Warsak (near the South Waziristan town of Wana), between Pakistan Armed Forces and al-Qaeda militants (estimated to be 400 in number), who were entrenched in several fortified settlements. It was speculated that bin Laden's deputy Ayman al-Zawahiri was among those trapped by the Pakistan Armed Forces. On 5 September 2006 a truce was signed with the militants and their local rebel supporters, (who called themselves the Islamic Emirate of Waziristan), in which the rebels were to cease supporting the militants in cross-border attacks on Afghanistan in return for a ceasefire and general amnesty and a hand-over of border-patrolling and check-point responsibilities, till then handled by the Pakistan Army.

General Pervez Musharraf

Former prime minister Nawaz Sharif attempted to return from exile on 10 September 2007 but was arrested on corruption charges after landing at Islamabad International Airport. Sharif was then put on a plane bound for Jeddah, Saudi Arabia, whilst outside the airport there were violent confrontations between Sharif's supporters and the police. This did not deter another former prime minister, Benazir Bhutto, from returning on 18 October 2007 after an eight year exile in Dubai and London, to prepare for the parliamentary elections to be held in 2008. However, on the same day, two suicide bombers attempted to kill Bhutto as she travelled towards a rally in Karachi. Bhutto escaped unharmed but there were 136 casualties and at least 450 people were injured.

On 3 November 2007, General Musharraf proclaimed a state of emergency and sacked the Chief Justice of Pakistan, Justice Iftikhar Muhammad Choudhry along with other 14 judges of the Supreme Court. Lawyers launched a protest against this action but they were arrested. All private media channels were banned including foreign channels. Musharraf declared that the state of emergency would end on 16 December 2007. On 28 November 2007, General Musharraf retired from the Army and the following day was sworn in for a second presidential term.

On 25 November 2007, Nawaz Sharif made a second attempt to return from exile, this time accompanied by his brother, the former Punjab chief minister, Shahbaz Sharif. Hundreds of their supporters, including a few leaders of the party were detained before the pair arrived at Lahore International Airport. The following day, Nawaz Sharif filed his nomination papers for two seats in the forthcoming elections whilst Benazir Bhutto filed for three seats including one of the reserved seats for women.

On 27 December 2007, Benazir Bhutto was leaving an election rally in Rawalpindi when she was assassinated by a gunman who shot her in the neck and set off a bomb, killing 20 other people and injuring several more. The exact sequence of the events and cause of death became points of political debate and controversy, because, although early reports indicated that Bhutto was hit by shrapnel or the gunshots, the Pakistani Interior Ministry stated that she died from a skull fracture sustained when the explosion threw Bhutto against the sunroof of her vehicle. Bhutto's aides rejected this claim and insisted that she suffered two gunshots prior to the bomb detonation. The Interior Ministry subsequently backtracked from its previous claim. However, a subsequent investigation, aided by the Scotland Yard of U.K., supported the "hitting the sun-roof"" as the cause of her death. The Election Commission, after a meeting in Islamabad, announced that, due to the assassination of Benazir Bhutto, the elections, which had been scheduled for 8 January 2008, would take place on 18 February.

A general election was held in Pakistan, according to the revised schedule, on 18 February 2008,).Pakistan's two big and main opposition parties, the Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP) and the Pakistan Muslim League (N) (PML (N)), won majority of seats together in the election and formed a coalition government, although the Pakistan Muslim League (Q) (PML (Q)) actually was second in the popular vote after PPP. On 7 August, a policy deadlock between ruling parties ended, when the coalition government of Pakistan decided to move for the impeachment of the President before heading for the restoration of the deposed judiciary. Moreover, they decided that Pervez Musharraf should face charges of weakening Pakistan's federal structure, violating its constitution and creating economic impasse.
After that, President Pervez Musharraf began consultations with his allies, and with his legal team, on the implications of the impeachment; he said that he was ready to reply to the charges levied upon him and seek the vote of confidence from the senate and the parliament, as required by the coalition parties. However, on 18 August 2008, President Pervez Musharraf announced in a televised address to the nation that he had decided to resign after nine years in office.

Shaukat Aziz

 

Fourth democratic era (2008–present)

The unpopular war in Afghanistan, suspension of chief justice, and state emergency had weakened the presidency of General Musharraf and his allies. In 2008 parliamentary elections, the massive vote favored the anti-Musharraf forces - a clear set-back for its United States policies. With left-wing socialists and right-wing conservatives forming an alliance against Musharraf, the elections ensured the come back of Pakistan Peoples Party and Pakistan Muslim League-N. In the presidential election that followed President Pervez Musharraf's resignation, Asif Ali Zardari of the Peoples Party was elected President of Pakistan. The government of Peoples Party continues to face the formidable challenges of a war on its western border and ever-present internal political bickering. This current period features the multiparty democracy.

After the elections, the Peoples Party - with its Yousaf Raza Gillani as the Prime minister (head of the government) - had formed a coalition government, joining hands with the members of the winner parties of the provinces: centre-right conservatives from Punjab, the liberal-seculars from Sindh, the Pro-Russian left-wing socialists from Khyber Pakhtunkhwa and the religiously right-wing socialists from Balochistan, while the Peoples Party had formed an exclusive mandate government in Kashmir and Gilgit–Baltistan. This alliance made an effort to impeach the former president, but shortly after, the centre-right conservatives left the government, due to issues regarding the restoration of judges, and became the largest opposition party in the parliament, nominating its member as the Leader of the Opposition.

The Parliamentary data showing the left-wings (in red) occupying the majority of the parliamentary seats with conservatives (in green) being the second largest.

Pakistan, under Peoples Party's government, headed back toward a major transition from the existing semi-presidential system to parliamentary democracy rule; the Parliament of Pakistan unanimously passed the 18th amendment to the Constitution of Pakistan— a bill which, inter alia, aimed to remove the power of the President of Pakistan to dissolve the parliament unilaterally. This constitutional amendment is considered a major step toward the parliamentary democracy in the country; it reverses many amendments to the constitution carried out since 1973, turns the President into a ceremonial head of state and transfers the authoritarian and executive powers to the Prime Minister .

The Peoples Party's government, cooperating with the United States, ordered the armed forces to launch military campaigns against Taliban advancing in the country. The joint-forces operations led by Pakistan Armed Forces quelled and crushed the Taliban forces in the country (See War in North-West Pakistan) but paid a heavy price of starting these operations (see Terrorist incidents in Pakistan since 2001).

Although the government had taken steps to improve relations with the United States and the West, in 2010–11 the anti-American sentiment reached a high level after a CIA contractor killed civilians in the city of Lahore (see Raymond Allen Davis incident). Pakistan's relations with United States graphically and dramatically went down after a major event of International importance occurred on the soil of Pakistan on 2 May 2011: The Al-Qaeda supremo Osama bin Laden was claimed to have been assassinated in his elusive secret hideout in Abbottabad, by the teams of elite SEALs and DEVGRU commandos, through a daring airborne attack, without the knowledge of Pakistan Government. This secret mission was personally authorized by US-president Barack Obama. The relations of Pakistan and the United States have been weakened and challenging since this operation. While senior U.S. officials openly blamed the Pakistan government for supporting a network of hiding al-Qaeda supremo, it prompted Peoples Party's government and her alliance to review the nation's foreign policy and alliance with the United States. The left-wing alliance favoured alliance with Russia and the Peoples Party's government adopted the elements of foreign policy of its late leader Zulfikar Ali Bhutto - it was decided to enhance relationship and cooperation with Russia that was halted in 1970, after Bhutto's removal. Since 2011, Pakistan blocked all major NATO supply Lines after the NATO attack that resulted in Salala check post. Also since 2011, relations with Russia reached to a maximum level, when President Zardari went to Moscow, the first official trip by any head of state from Pakistan in 37 years. In return, the Russian commander of Russian Armed Forces, Alexander Postnikov, made a surprise and rare visit to Pakistan. Postnikov's trip was the first of its kind by any senior military official from the former Soviet Union in recent years.^\ In 2012, the government made further efforts to establish strong relations with Russia, after the secret trip of country's foreign minister was made.

Following endless procrastination of Syed Yousaf Raza Gillani in probing corruption charges as ordered by the judiciary, and treating it as contempt of court, the Supreme Court of Pakistan disqualified and ousted him and he resigned from office on 26 April 2012. Raja Pervaiz Ashraf of People's Party took oath as the 17th Prime Minister of Pakistan on 22 June 2012. Doubts are already being expressed on his continuance as he is also facing corruption charges in the supreme court.

Yousaf Raza Gillani