The Simla Agreement [1972]

After the 1971 war, India held prisoner around 93,000 Pakistani troops and
civilians. In Pakistan there was a growing demand to get these prisoners released
with the result that a Summit Conference between Pakistani President, Zulfiqar Ali
Bhutto and the Indian leader, Mrs. Gandhi, was held at Simla from June 28 to July
2, 1972. The two countries reached an agreement on July 2. The agreement contained
the elements of an earlier Indian draft, but the wording was considerably modified.
In particular the clause referring to the ceasefire line in Kashmir was rephrased
as to make it acceptable to Pakistan.

The broad features of this pact included that the principle and purpose of the
charter of United Nations would govern the relations between the two countries. The
two countries resolved to settle their differences by peaceful means through
bilateral negotiations. The foremost conditions for understanding, good neighborly
relations, and stable and lasting peace were laid that no country would interfere
with the other country's internal matters on the basis of mutual respect for peace,
security, territorial sovereignty, mutual friendship and equality.

It was reiterated again in the agreement that efforts would be made to put an end,
as far as possible, to all such disputes and differences that have been the cause
of dissension between the two countries for the last 25 years. Both governments
also agreed to take all steps within their power to prevent hostile propaganda
directed against each other.

In order to progressively restore and normalize relations between the two

countries, it was agreed that steps would be taken to resume communications, postal
service, and promote and facilitate travel by sea, land and air. Trade and
cooperation in economic and other agreed fields would also be resumed.

In order to initiate the process of durable peace, both the governments agreed that
Indian and Pakistani forces would be withdrawn to their sides of the international
border. The control line between Jammu and Kashmir would be the same as was on
December 17, 1971. Both the countries would respect the international border and
the withdrawal of the armies would be completed within 30 days of the
implementation of the agreement.

Leaders of both the countries agreed at Simla to meet again at a mutually agreed
time so that representatives of both the countries could discuss more arrangements
for durable peace, including matters relating to prisoners of war, local prisoners,
final settlement of Jammu and Kashmir dispute and diplomatic relations. As a
consequence of the clauses pertaining to the withdrawal of forces, Indian troops
withdrew from the 5,139 sq. miles of Pakistani territory in Punjab and Sindh it had
occupied during the war. Similarly, Pakistani troops withdrew from 69 sq. miles of
territory in Punjab and Rajasthan. In Kashmir, India retained 480 sq. miles and
Pakistan 52 sq. miles.

Pakistan ratified the Simla Agreement on July 15 and India on August 3, after which
the agreement came into effect on August 4, 1972.

The Constitution of 1973

The Bhutto Government's first achievement was the preparation of a Constitution for
the country. The most prominent characteristic of this Constitution was that it
accommodated proposals from the opposition parties and hence almost all the major
political parties of the country accepted it. The National Assembly approved the
1973 Constitution on April 10, 1973, and it came into effect on August 14. Bhutto
took over as the Prime Minister of Pakistan from this date and Fazal Ilahi Chaudhry
was appointed as the President of Pakistan.
The Constitution of 1973 opens with a Preamble. This is the preliminary part of the
Constitution in which broad features of the Constitution have been explained. The
first Article of the Constitution declares Pakistan as a Federal Republic to be
known as the Islamic Republic of Pakistan. Islam was declared as the State religion
of Pakistan. Pakistan was to be a Federation of four federating Units, Punjab,
Sindh, N. W. F. P. and Baluchistan.
The Constitution was parliamentary in nature. Article 41 of the Constitution lay
down that the President was to be the Head of the State. The President was to be a
Muslim above 45 years of age and was to be elected by a joint sitting of members of
the Parliament for 5 years. He could be re-elected but could not hold office for
more than two terms. The President was to act on the advice of the Prime Minister
of Pakistan. The President could be removed on the grounds of physical or mental
incapacity or impeached on charges of violating the Constitution or gross
misconduct. The President was authorized to appoint the Attorney General, Judges of
Supreme Court and High Courts, and the Chief Election Commissioners. In the
Provincial Government, each province was to have a Governor appointed by the
President. The appointment of Federal Ministers and Ministers of the State from
amongst the members of the Parliament was at the Prime Minister's disposal.
The 1973 Constitution set up a bicameral legislature at the Center consisting of
two Houses, the National Assembly and the Senate. The National Assembly consisted
of 200 seats elected directly for duration of five years. The President on the
advice of the Prime Minister could dissolve the National Assembly. The Senate was
to consist of 63 members; each province was to elect 14 members. In the Provincial
Government, each province will have a Governor appointed by the President. The
Provincial Assembly for each province consisted of 240 seats for the Punjab, 100
seats for Sindh, 80 seats for N. W. F. P., and 40 seats for Baluchistan.
The 1973 Constitution provided a free and independent Judiciary. The Constitution
guaranteed a right to the citizens; to be protected by law, and imposed two duties
on them, loyalty to the Republic and obedience to the law. Any person who was found
to abrogate or attempt or conspire to abrogate or subvert the Constitution was to
be treated guilty of high treason. The Constitution conferred several kinds of
fundamental rights to the people such as the right to life, liberty, equality and
freedom of speech, trade and association. The Constitution also declared the laws
inconsistent with or in derogatory to fundamental rights as null and void.
In light of the previous experience, the Constitution of 1973 was more Islamic in
character than the previous ones. Emphasis was made to establish a real Islamic
system in all aspects of social life. Keeping this objective in mind, more Islamic
provisions were laid down in the Constitution of 1973. The Constitution recognized
Islam as the religion of the country and enjoined upon the State to serve the cause
of Islam and to bring all existing laws in conformity with Islam. The Islamic
Advisory Council was set up to recommend ways and means to bring existing laws of
the country in conformity with the Islamic principles.
The Constitution of 1973 remained in force for nearly four years. It was, however,
suspended by General Muhammad Zia-ul-Haq, who imposed Martial Law in the country on
July 5, 1979. However, General Muhammad Zia-ul-Haq who ran the country with Martial
Law passed the Eighth Amendment in the Constitution in 1985. This Amendment
empowered the President to dissolve the National Assembly under Article 58(2) b.
This Article was later repealed by the Parliament during Nawaz Sharif's era through
Thirteenth Amendment introduced on April 1, 1997. The Thirteenth Amendment was in
turn repealed by the Legal Framework Order of 2002, which effectively restored the
discretionary powers of the President enacted by the Eighth Amendment.

Zulfikar Ali Bhutto becomes Prime Minister [1973]

After the promulgation of the 1973 Constitution, the elections for the President,
Prime Minister, Chairman of Senate, Speaker and Deputy Speaker of the National
Assembly were to be undertaken. The 1973 Constitution had adopted a federal
parliamentary system for the country in which the President was only a figurehead
and the real power lay with the Prime Minister.
Z. A. Bhutto was sworn in as the Prime Minister of the country on August 14, 1973,
after he had secured 108 votes in a house of 146 members. Fazal Ilahi Chaudhry was
elected as the President under the new Constitution.
During his period, six amendments were carried out in the 1973 Constitution. The
First Amendment led to Pakistan's recognition of Bangladesh. The Second Amendment
in the constitution declared the Ahmadis as non-Muslims. The rights of the detained
were limited under the Third Amendment while the powers and jurisdiction of the
courts for providing relief to political opponents were curtailed under the Fourth
Amendment. The Fifth Amendment passed on September 15, 1976, focused on curtailing
the power and jurisdiction of the Judiciary. This amendment was highly criticized
by lawyers and political leaders. The main provision of the Sixth Amendment
extended the term of the Chief Justices of the Supreme Court and the High Courts
beyond the age of retirement. This Amendment was made in the Constitution to favor
the then Chief Justice of the Supreme Court who was supposed to be a friend of
Bhutto.

The Bhutto Government carried out a number of reforms in the industrial sector. His
reforms were twofold; nationalization, and the improvement of workers' rights. In
the first phase, basic industries like steel, chemical and cement were
nationalized. This was done in 1972. The next major step in nationalization took
place on January 1, 1974, when Bhutto nationalized all banks. The last step in the
series was the most shocking; it was the nationalization of all flour, rice and
cotton mills throughout the country.
This nationalization process was not as successful as Bhutto expected. Most of the
nationalized units were small businesses that could not be described as industrial
units, hence making no sense for the step that was taken. Consequently, a
considerable number of small businessmen and traders were ruined, displaced or
rendered unemployed.
In the concluding analysis, nationalization caused colossal loss not only to the
national treasury but also to the people of Pakistan. During his period as the
Prime Minister, a number of land reforms were also introduced. The important land
reforms included the reduction of land ceilings and introducing the security of
tenancy to tenant farmers. The land ceiling was fixed to 150 acres of irrigated
land and 300 acres of non-irrigated land. Another step that Bhutto took was to
democratize Pakistan's Civil Service.

Fazal Ilahi becomes President [1973]

After the promulgation of the 1973 Constitution, Zulfiqar Ali Bhutto was sworn in
as the Prime Minister of the country, and Fazal Ilahi Chaudhry became the President
of Pakistan, on August 14, 1973, for a term of five years. Fazal Ilahi was a mere
figurehead since all power and authority rested with the Prime Minister. He was
allowed to continue as the President of Pakistan till 1978, although the army took
over the reigns of power in July, 1977. He was relinquished from the office at his
own request on September 16, 1978.
General Muhammad Zia-ul-Haq was sworn in as the next President of Pakistan, in
addition to being the Chief Martial Law Administrator and the Chief of Army Staff.

General Elections 1977

According to the original schedule, the second general elections in the history of
Pakistan, and the first after the dismemberment of the country, were to be held in
the second half of 1977. However, on January 7, 1977, Bhutto announced that the
elections would be held earlier. On January 10, Justice Sajjad Ahmad Jan, Chief
Election Commissioner, announced the election schedule and declared January 19 and
22 as the last date for receipt of nominations for National Assembly and Provincial
Assemblies, respectively. To many, the idea was not to give sufficient time to the
opposition in order to make decisions and arrangements for the forthcoming
elections. Election symbols were allocated to all the political parties. The total
registered voters in the country were 30,899,052. Two hundred and fifty five
Returning Officers were appointed for the National Assembly elections by the
Election Commission.
Immediately after the announcement, Bhutto started his election campaign. The first
step he took was the allocation of tickets to his party men. Unlike the 1970
elections, when Pakistan Peoples Party mainly banked on socialistic slogans, this
time Bhutto also relied on political heavyweights. A number of feudal lords and
other influential persons were allocated party tickets. Bhutto himself held public
meetings all over the country, and to get further support from the common man, he
announced labor reforms on January 4, and a second set of land reforms on January
5. The attendance in the public meetings was amazing in all parts of the country,
especially in interior Sindh and Punjab. The opposition blamed Bhutto for using
Government machinery in running his election campaign.
The biggest problem for Bhutto and his Pakistan Peoples Party was that nine
important parties of the opposition had joined hands and formed an alliance, named
as Pakistan National Alliance. P. N. A. decided to contest the elections under one
election symbol "plough" and a green flag with nine stars as its ensign. Throughout
their election campaign, instead of giving their own agenda, P. N. A. leadership
mainly concentrated on echoing the alleged misdeeds of Bhutto's Government,
corruption, mismanagement of national wealth, heavy expenditures on administration
and disastrous economic policies evidenced by inflation. The P. N. A. leaders also
exploited the deteriorating law and order situation and misuse of law enforcing
agencies against the political opponents. They claimed that the fundamental rights
had been curtailed during Bhutto's era.
P. N. A. managed to exploit anti-Bhutto sentiments among a huge section of masses
and thus their election campaign received an unexpectedly positive response. Their
claim, that their manifesto was Quran, also helped them in winning over a sizable
number of voters from all over Pakistan. The attendance in P. N. A. public meetings
and rallies was at times unexpected, even for the Alliance leadership itself.
Finally the elections were held on March 7 in which Pakistan Peoples Party managed
to win 155 out of 200 seats in the National Assembly. The results of the elections
astonished political pundits both inside and outside Pakistan. Pakistan National
Alliance was only able to win 36 National Assembly seats. To add insult to injury,
the Alliance could only win 8 out of 116 seats of the National Assembly from
Punjab, and failed to win even a single seat from Lahore and Rawalpindi, cities in
which they had organized big public gatherings and processions.
Pakistan National Alliance leaders protested that there had been a systematic
rigging of election results to defeat them. At many places, particularly where the
P. N. A. candidates were strong, the polling was alleged to have been blocked for
hours. There were also reports that P. P. P. armed personnel in police uniform
removed ballot boxes. Marked ballot papers were also found on the streets in
Karachi and Lahore. Rumors quickly circulated that the results in key
constituencies were issued directly from the Prime Minister's office. P. N. A.
boycotted the provincial elections. P. P. P. resorted to bogus voting merely to
prove that voters had come to cast their ballot. Overall P. P. P. gained 99 percent
seats. The voting figures showing the success of the P. P. P. candidates often
surpassed the actual number that turned up for voting.
At last Martial Law was imposed by Zia-ul-Haq who appointed a committee to inquire
into the alleged rigging of the National Assembly polls. This committee was
reported to have found a blueprint of the plan of rigging from the Prime Minister
House. The inquiry committee alleged that Bhutto had prepared this plan as early as
April 1976, under the title of "A Model Election Plan", later known as the "Larkana
Plan". In an interview to Associated Press of Pakistan, Sajjad Ahmad Jan, the Chief
Election Commissioner admitted that the failure of the electoral process was by and
large due to the candidates of the ruling party, who exploited their position and
party machinery and thus destroyed the sanctity of the ballot box.

Ouster of Zulfiqar Ali Bhutto

Ever since Zulfiqar Ali Bhutto took over the responsibilities of governance, there
was a strong group in the country that was not ready to accept him. They considered
him as one of the players who were involved in the dismemberment of Pakistan. This
hatred was further enhanced by the authoritarian style of his governance. His
policy of suppressing the opposition and interference in the affairs of the
Provinces proved to be the major factor for the unity of the rightist and the
leftist political parties against him. As early as March 1973, opposition parties
in the National Assembly set a common platform, called United Democratic Front, to
counter the anti-opposition steps of Bhutto's Government. However, the opposition
emerged as a significant force against Bhutto at the macro level for the first time
when elections were announced in January 1977. The opposition decided to join hands
against Bhutto and contest the election from a common platform, the Pakistan
National Alliance.
Formation of P. N. A. proved to be the beginning of the decline of Bhutto. During
the elections, the Establishment showed its biased attitude towards P. N. A. which
made the Alliance even more popular among the masses. Most of the public meetings
of P. N. A., especially in the big cities like Karachi, Lahore and Rawalpindi, were
immensely successful. Yet the result of March 7 elections astonished everyone as P.
P. P. swept the polls and P. N. A. was only able to win 36 seats in the National
Assembly. P. N. A. leadership did not accept the results and accused the Government
of systematic rigging. P. N. A. Executive Council decided to boycott the Provincial
Assemblies' polls and demanded for immediate resignation of Bhutto, replacement of
the Chief Election Commissioner, and fresh election of National Assembly seats
under the supervision of Judiciary and the Army.
When Bhutto refused to accept the demands of P. N. A., leadership of the Alliance
decided to bring the people onto the streets, to break law deliberately, and to
confront the police and the security forces. P. N. A. leaders called upon the
people to stage countrywide strikes and organize protest marches. The followers
fully responded to the call and a full-fledged political movement started. The
business community wholeheartedly joined Alliance. P. N. A. used mosques to
stimulate the masses and tried to create an impression that they were only working
for the enforcement of Nizam-i-Mustafa. They criticized the socialistic attitude of
Bhutto and alleged that he had lost his faith in Islam. The ulema whipped up
emotions for a Jihad to save Islam, which they thought was in danger from an evil
regime. The bar associations across the country also began to register their strong
protest against the electoral fraud and denounced the post-election policy of
repression.
Initially Bhutto put a deaf ear to the demands of P. N. A. and debunked
opposition's charges that his landslide victory was a result of rigging. He used
police and F. S. F. against Alliance's activities and its top leadership was
arrested and put behind the bars. Martial Law was enforced in three main cities of
Karachi, Lahore and Hyderabad. Curfew was imposed in the rest of the big cities of
the country and Army was called to maintain law and order.
However, the intensity of the situation made Bhutto realize that it was not
possible to suppress the movement by force. In the beginning of May, Bhutto changed
his policy and started to explore the option of a dialog. Some P. N. A. leaders
were released and brought to Sihala for negotiations in the first week of June.
Bhutto showed his willingness to hold elections in November 1977, and offered five
ministries to the P. N. A. candidates during the interim period. But P. N. A. team
insisted on 50 percent representation in the Cabinet and demanded elections before
August 14. Bhutto eventually accepted almost all the demands of P. N. A. and the
stage was set for a compromise. Signing of the agreement was held in abeyance as he
went abroad for a tour of Saudi Arabia, Libya, U. A. E., Kuwait and Iran. His tour
was termed as dilatory tactics and again there seemed to be a deadlock.
It was in these conditions that Chief of the Army Staff, General Zia-ul-Haq,
imposed Martial Law in the country on July 5, 1977, and sent Bhutto behind the
bars. General Zia said, "Had an agreement reached between the opposition and the
Government, I would certainly never have done what I did".
Martial Law under General Zia-ul-Haq [1977-1985]

Elections were held on March 7, 1977. The Pakistan Peoples Party won these
elections, but was accused by their opponents, Pakistan National Alliance, of
rigging the elections. On March 14, 1977, the Alliance started a series of
nationwide protests. Talks between the Alliance and Bhutto government were held in
June 1977 and an agreement was reached, but it could not be implemented.
Fresh elections were announced for October 15, 1977. But on July 5, 1977, the Chief
of Army Staff, General Muhammad Zia-ul-Haq, imposed Martial Law and the elections
were postponed. General Zia-ul-Haq announced holding of elections within 90 days.
A conference of political leaders was held in February 1978, but a year later, in
1979, General Zia-ul-Haq declared political parties to be defunct and certain
political leaders were disqualified.
Under General Zia's Martial Law, there was steady economic growth favoring the
private sector, and efforts were made to Islamize the political, legal and economic
structures. Pakistan gained the status of Most Favored Nation from the United
States following the Soviet invasion of Afghanistan in December 1979. Vast amounts
of military equipment and aid were donated to Pakistan to help the four million
Afghan refugees who crossed into Baluchistan and North West Frontier Province.
On February 6, 1981, Movement for Restoration of Democracy was established to
return democracy to Pakistan. A provisional Constitution was enforced on March 23,
1981, as the Constitution of 1973 had been suspended with the imposition of Martial
Law.
Finally, after the nomination of Muhammad Khan Junejo as Prime Minister of Pakistan
on March 20, 1985, Junejo fulfilled his promise of lifting the Martial Law and the
restoration of the fundamental rights, but at the price of enforcement of the
Eighth Amendment and the validation of the Revival of the Constitutional Order.

Referendum 1984

General Zia wanted to establish a pseudo-democracy in Pakistan, with a continuation

of him as President under a civilian setup. Zia took a number of steps in this
direction; the first was the establishment of the Majlis-i-Shoora. The Majlis-i-
Shoora was to take the place of the National Assembly, but was to be without any
legislative powers. General Zia's second step was to ask the public to endorse his
rule. This appeal was in the form of a referendum, which was so worded that a "Yes"
meant that Zia himself would be further endorsed, even though the referendum did
not refer to this directly. The Referendum Order 1984 put forward a complex
question to the citizens, but in essence, seeking endorsement of the process of
Islamization initiated by General Zia.

The question read as follows:

"Whether the people of Pakistan endorse the process initiated by General Muhammad
Zia-ul-Haq, the President of Pakistan, for bringing the laws of Pakistan in
conformity with the injunctions of Islam as laid down in the Holy Quran and Sunnah
of the Holy Prophet (PBUH) and for the preservation of the Islamic ideology of
Pakistan, for the continuation and consolidation of that process, and for the
smooth and orderly transfer of power to the elected representatives of the people."
The question was, by all standards, a very complicated and complex one,
particularly for the uneducated rural class. It was a loaded question that simply
asked, "Do you wish Pakistan to be an Islamic state?" An affirmative vote in the
referendum was to result in a five-year term for Zia as President of Pakistan.

The referendum was held on December 19, 1984. The Movement for the Restoration of
Democracy boycotted the elections. The results of this referendum showed the people
voted in favor of Zia, though the M. R. D. claimed that a very small percentage of
people actually showed up to vote. Zia rejected this claim and declared that he had
been given public support to continue as President of Pakistan for the next five
years
As a result of the referendum, the Chief Martial Law Administrator General Muhammad
Zia-ul-Haq became the President of Pakistan. After the referendum, General Zia
announced that the elections for the National and Provincial Assemblies would be
held in February 1985, on a non-party basis.

General Elections, February 1985

After the 1984 referendum, General Zia announced elections of the National and
Provincial Assemblies in February 1985. The elections were to be held on a non-
party basis, which was legalized through an amendment to the 1973 Constitution.
Each candidate had to be supported by at least 50 people to be able to contest in
the elections. In a nationwide speech on January 12, 1985, General Zia also
announced various other conditions for the elections. Amendments were made in the
Political Parties Act of 1962. These amendments affected all political parties. The
opposition parties, M. R. D., boycotted the elections, as their demands for party-
based elections and restoration of the 1973 Constitution were not met.
The elections for the National and Provincial Assemblies were held in 1985 on
February 25 and 28, respectively. The successful boycott of the 1984 referendum
caused the M. R. D. to miscalculate their next step. Being confident of public
opinion, they boycotted these elections as well. Contrary to expectations, the
voters turned to the polls in large numbers. Surprisingly, many political leaders,
including former Members of National and Provincial Assemblies, and Advisors, who
had seemed popular in their appeals, could not win from their constituencies. The
people elected many new faces. The M. R. D. soon realized that it had miscalculated
badly, that it should have fought the elections on Zia's terms. An alternative
leadership was in place with many of the old political leaders routed out.
The general elections to the National and Provincial Assemblies were held
peacefully and with a large participation of the people. Total voter turnout for
the National Assembly was 53.69 percent. In the Provincial Assemblies elections,
where the constituencies were smaller and the contest harder, the turnout of the
voters was even better. It was 57.37 percent nationwide. The newly elected National
Assembly was to replace the Majlis-i-Shoora and was to have legislative powers as
well. Muhammad Khan Junejo was appointed as the Prime Minister and he formed the
government. It was this newly elected Assembly that set the tone for later years by
incorporating the controversial Eighth Amendment in the Constitution of Pakistan.

Islamization Under General Zia-ul-Haq

When General Zia-ul-Haq took over as the Chief Martial Law Administrator on July 5,
1977, Islamization was given a new boost. General Zia-ul-Haq was a practicing
Muslim who raised the slogan of Islam. The Islamic sentiment has always been fully
alive in Pakistan. Various governments have used this to their benefit. There are
people who doubt Zia's reasons for raising the Islamic slogan; whether it was for
political purposes to counter balance Bhutto's appeal or was it to enforce Islam in
its true sense.
In his first address to the nation, he declared that Islamic laws would be enforced
and that earnest attention would be devoted towards establishing the Islamic
society for which Pakistan had been created. General Zia wanted to bring the legal,
social, economic and political institutions of the country in conformity with the
Islamic principles, values and traditions in the light of Quran and Sunnah, to
enable the people of Pakistan to lead their lives in accordance to Islam.
The Government of Zia-ul-Haq took a number of steps to eradicate non-Islamic
practices from the country. He introduced the Zakat, Ushr, Islamic Hadood and Penal
Code in the country. The Government invited eminent scholars to compile laws about
Islamic financing. The Zakat and Ushr Ordinance to Islamize the economic system was
promulgated on June 20, 1980. It covered only Islamic organizations, associations
and institutions. Zakat was to be deducted from bank accounts of Muslims at the
rate of 2.5 percent annually above the balance of Rupees 3,000. Ushr was levied on
the yield of agricultural land in cash or kind at the rate of 10 percent of the
agricultural yield, annually.
The Government appointed Central, Provincial, District and Tehsil Zakat Committees
to distribute Zakat funds to the needy, poor, orphans and widows. Shias were
exempted from Zakat deduction from their accounts due to their own religious
beliefs. The Zakat was to be deducted by banks on the first day of Ramazan.
A Federal Shariah Court was established to decide cases according to the teachings
of the Holy Quran and Sunnah. Appeals against the Lower and High Courts were to be
presented before the Shariah Court for hearing. Blasphemy of the Holy Prophet (S.
A. W.) would now be punishable by death instead of life imprisonment.
Zia-ul-Haq selected his Majlis-i-Shoora in 1980. It was to be the Islamic
Parliament and act as the Parliament of Pakistan in place of the National Assembly.
Most of the members of the Shoora were intellectuals, scholars, ulema, journalists,
economists and professionals belonging to different fields of life. The Shoora was
to act as a board of advisors for the President.
A number of other Islamization programs were carried out including the teaching of
Islamic Studies and Arabic, which were made compulsory. Pakistan Studies and
Islamic Studies were made compulsorily for B. A., B. Sc., Engineering, M. B. B. S.,
Commerce, Law and Nursing students. For professional studies, extra marks were
given to people who were Hafiz-e-Quran. The first Ombudsman was appointed to
rectify the misadministration of the Federal Government, officials and agencies.
A Shariah Council consisting of ulema was established to look into the
constitutional and legal matters of the State in order to bring them in line with
Islamic thought. Since Islam does not allow interest, On January 1, 1980, Muhammad
Zia-ul-Haq introduced a "Profit and Loss Sharing System" according to which an
account holder was to share the loss and profit of the bank. The media was also
targeted. Television especially was brought under the Islamization campaign, news
in Arabic were to be read on both television and radio, female anchor persons were
required to cover their heads, the Azan was relayed regularly on radio and
television to announce time for prayers.
In the armed forces, the status of the religious teachers was raised to that of a
Commissioned Officer. This was done to attract highly qualified individuals from
the universities and religious institution to serve on such assignments.
As the government grew further in its Islamic leanings, the numbers of mosques were
increased. Ordinance for the sanctity of Ramazan was introduced to pay reverence to
the holy month of Ramazan. The Ordinance forbade public drinking and eating during
the holy month of Ramazan. A three months imprisonment and a fine of Rupees 500
were imposed for violating the Ordinance. A program to ensure the regularity of
prayers called the Nizam-i-Salaat was launched by General Zia himself.
Zia's Government introduced the Hadood Ordinance for the first time in Pakistan,
which meant the punishments ordained by the Holy Quran or Sunnah on the use of
liquor, theft, adultery and qazf. Under this Ordinance, a culprit could be
sentenced to lashing, life imprisonment and in some cases, death by stoning.
The Islamic laws of Zia also included laws for women. Zia put forward the theory of
"Chadar Aur Chaar Devari" and this was to be applied to women. Thus, for the first
time, a woman could be flogged for adultery. If a rape was reported, four witnesses
were to be provided otherwise, legally, the rape could be termed adultery. Another
law, The Law of Evidence, under the Shariah laws proposed that the testimony of a
woman was not equal to that of a man. In legal matters, two women would have to
stand witness against the testimony of one man. The status of women was thus
arbitrarily cut in half by Zia. There was little consensus amongst Muslim
authorities over this law. The lack of consensus among the re1igious authorities
combined with countrywide protests forced Zia to hold back on making the Shariah
law the law of the country.
General Zia-ul-Haq wanted to make Pakistan the citadel of Islam so that it could
play an honorable and prominent role for the Islamic world. The steps taken by
General Zia were in this direction and had a long-term impact; the Zakat tax
introduced by General Zia still holds and so does many of his the other laws.
The Afghan War Settlement

In 1979, Russian forces invaded Afghanistan. Communism came to the threshold of

Pakistan when forces led by Babrak Karmel overthrew the Government of Afghanistan.
Some 120,000 Russian troops entered Afghanistan .The Afghan people organized a
resistance force against this blatant aggression. The Soviet forces suffered
greatly in terms of manpower and material, and the Afghan War proved expensive even
for a world power like the Soviet Union.
It has always been said about Afghanistan that it can be invaded and occupied
easily but it is very difficult to hold and control it. Afghans have a history of
resisting foreign invaders. The British imperial power failed in all three attempts
to occupy and control Afghanistan. The Soviets were to learn the same lesson. In
the beginning, the Soviet army was successful in occupying and controlling
Afghanistan.
General Zia stood against the spread of communism. He reiterated his solution to
the Afghanistan crisis in 1983 in New Delhi. He said that Pakistan has given
political asylum to millions of Afghans. He demanded the expulsion of Russian
forces from Afghanistan. America responded to the call of Pakistan and flooded
Pakistan with monetary help to finance the anti-communist regime in Afghanistan and
to equip the freedom fighters. The freedom fighters, the mujahideen, put forward a
strong resistance to the Russian invasion. Although the Afghans suffered enormous
causalities in the beginning of the war but the turning point in the war came when
the U. S. supplied them with surface-to-air Stinger missiles.
General Zia's gamble in resisting the Russian invasion in Afghanistan paid him huge
dividends. On the domestic front his policy of Islamization became more relevant as
it was seen that in the neighboring Afghanistan, Islam was in danger. As Pakistan
was a frontline state, huge amounts of money, military equipment and aid arrived in
Pakistan. The huge amounts of aid that poured in propped up Zia's government. With
the Afghan problem, a new phase of modernization of the military began. The arms
provided to Afghanistan freedom fighters were also provided to the Pakistan Army.
As a result the Pakistan Army became better equipped.
Other than the problems faced due to the Afghan War efforts, the Soviet Empire was
breaking apart at the seams. This led the Soviets to seek peace in Afghanistan.
Negotiations on Afghanistan were carried out under Zia's Government, and the Geneva
Accord was signed on April 14, 1988, under which the Soviet Union agreed to
withdraw its forces in two installments .The Soviet Government lived up to its
commitment of withdrawal of forces according to the agreed timetable.
The victory in Afghanistan was achieved at a great cost to Pakistan. It had to look
after and feed more than three million Afghan refugees that had crossed over to
Pakistan. The refugees were a great economic burden on Pakistan. Not only this but,
they also caused the problem of drugs and gunrunning in the country.
Long after the Soviet forces had left Afghanistan, fighting continued between the
various factions of the mujahideen. With the emergence of the Taliban, Pakistan
found itself an ally in Afghanistan that enforced peace and virtually eliminated
the drug cultivation. After the September 11 tragedy of 2001, world attention again
focused on Afghanistan as they considered it as training grounds of terrorists
responsible for the tragedy. The Talibans were removed by power and a U. S. led
coalition installed an interim government in Afghanistan, which till today keeps a
fragile peace in the country. Meanwhile Pakistan continues to suffer numerous
problems from the legacy of the Afghan War such as refugees, drugs, guns, crime,
and terrorism.

Muhammad Khan Junejo Becomes Prime Minister [1985-88]

After the Presidential referendum of December 1984, elections for the National and
Provincial Assemblies were held in February 1985 on a non-party basis. President
Zia-ul-Haq nominated Muhammad Khan Junejo as the Prime Minister of Pakistan on
March 20, 1985.
On being nominated, Muhammad Khan Junejo promised the nation that he would lift the
Martial Law and restore a civilian government as soon as possible. Junejo's
position was weak and vulnerable under the constitutional amendments made by Zia,
which made the position of the President paramount and that of the Prime Minister
subordinate. Despite his weak position, Junejo, after being sworn in as the Prime
Minister, carried out his promise of lifting the Martial Law and the restoration of
fundamental rights, but at the price of the Eight Amendment and validating the
Revival of the Constitutional Order.
Muhammad Khan Junejo introduced a five-point program in December 1985. The program
was multidimensional in nature. The main objectives were to induct a new and
progressive civilian order, establish institutions of social justice, introduce an
egalitarian economy, increase employment opportunities, strike hard at corruption
and other social evils, liberate at least 50 percent of the people from illiteracy,
and to start socio-economic development of the country.
After the lifting of Martial Law, Junejo tried to take a course independent of Zia.
He annoyed military generals by withdrawing big staff cars from them and replacing
them with small cars. He tried to conduct an independent foreign policy,
particularly on Afghanistan, by taking into confidence and consulting leaders of
political parties, including Benazir Bhutto, the leader of the Pakistan Peoples
Party. His government even tried to probe into the military fiasco at the Ojheri
Camp near Islamabad on April 10, 1988, which resulted in the death and serious
injuries to a large number of civilians. This probe perhaps became the immediate
cause for the dismissal of his government.
Junejo's regime met its sudden and unexpected end while he was returning from a
visit to South Korea on May 29, 1988. General Zia dismissed Junejo's Government
using the controversial rule under Article 58(2) b of the Constitution. According
to General Zia, Junejo's Government had been dismissed because the law and order
situation had broken down to an alarming extent and the government could not be run
in accordance with the Constitution. Not only were the Junejo Government dismissed,
but also were the Federal and Provincial Assemblies and the Provincial Cabinets and
their Chief Ministers. General Zia installed a new caretaker government in the
Center and Provinces. Fresh elections were promised after 90 days but were
eventually held on November 16, 1988, three months after Zia's death in a plane
crash.
Although Junejo had no claim to power on his own, as Zia had appointed him Prime
Minister, but his performance was commendable. With limited options, he did what
was possible for him. He restored the fundamental rights of citizens under the
Constitution that had been denied to them for a very long time. He tried to put the
country on the course of development and some progress was made, particularly in
the area of construction of roads in rural areas and the electrification of
villages. He was honest, polite and had a low-key political personality, traits
which are not easy to find in political leaders of today.

Historic 8th Amendment is passed [1985]

The 1973 Constitution of Pakistan envisaged a Parliamentary System of government,

with the balance of power tilted towards the Prime Minister. The President could
not exercise his powers without the concurrence of the Prime Minister. The Eight
Constitutional Amendment, however, altered the form of the Constitution
drastically. Passed by the Senate on November 14, 1985, the Eight Amendment
affected almost 19 clauses of the Constitution and brought the office of the
President of Pakistan almost at par with that of the Prime Minister.
The President was given the right to nominate the Prime Minister, Governors of the
provinces, and Judges of the High Court and Supreme Court, including the Chief
Justice. Democratically elected Prime Minister thus became subservient to the
President.
Though the President was to act on the advice of the Prime Minister, he had the
power to be informed about the decisions relating to the administrative affairs of
the federation and proposals of legislation. The President could ask the Prime
Minister to get a vote of confidence from the Assembly, issue ordinances, set dates
for the elections for the National Assembly and appoint caretaker government. The
President had the power of appointing service chiefs and other important federal
officers. He could also call a referendum on an issue of great national importance.
However, the most controversial power awarded to the office of the President was
under the Article 58(2) b, which was the power of dissolution of the National
Assembly at his own discretion.
According to the proponents of this clause, post-constitutional deadlocks in the
country had shown the necessity to vest authority in the President so that in case
of a political crisis, the Assembly could be dissolved and new elections could be
held and Martial Law could be avoided. The Article 58(2) b changed the entire
complexion of the Constitution. The Constitution was transformed from a
Parliamentary System into a Presidential one. This Amendment was like the
proverbial Sword of Damocles for the successive governments. After the passing of
Article 58(2) b, the National Assemblies were dissolved on four occasions using its
powers. The dissolution of the Assembly by President Zia-ul-Haq in 1988, President
Ghulam Ishaq Khan in 1990 and in 1993, and President Farooq Leghari in 1996 are
subject to a lot of speculation.
Other clauses amended by the Eight Amendment dealt with the office of the Prime
Minister, Senate, and Governors. Article 51 increased the number of the National
Assembly seats from 200 to 207. The number of the Senate seats was increased from
63 to 87 under Article 59. The Eight Amendment also indemnified the entire
President's Orders, Ordinances, Martial Law Regulations and Martial Law Orders,
including the Referendum Orders made between July 5, 1977, and September 13, 1985.
The Eighth Amendment is considered as a landmark in the constitutional history of
Pakistan. It not only altered the very form of the Constitution from purely
Parliamentary to semi-Presidential, but also changed the constitutional and
political history of the country.

Death of General Zia-ul-Haq [1988]

General Muhammad Zia-ul-Haq was killed in an air crash on August 17, 1988. He had
gone to Bhawalpur to see a demonstration of tanks where he was accompanied by a
number of Generals, including the Chairman Joint Chiefs of Staff Committee, Chief
of General Staff, high-ranking Military Attaches, as well as the U. S. Ambassador
to Pakistan. On his return journey, his military transport aircraft, a C-130,
exploded in mid-air a few minutes after takeoff from Bhawalpur airport, killing all
passengers aboard including the President.

This tragic air disaster was the worst in Pakistan's history and was unprecedented
in the history of military aircraft. The cause of the crash was not known and the
enquiry report was never made public.

General Zia's remains were buried on the grounds of Faisal Mosque in Islamabad.
With the death of General Zia, the 11-year military rule came to an end. The
country now was set forth on the road to democracy. This transition from
dictatorship to democracy took place constitutionally.

After the crash, a high level meeting was held in Islamabad to decide the question
of succession. Some of the participants in the meeting were in favor of imposition
of Martial Law. However the military Chief present did not support the idea. Under
the Constitution, whenever the office of President becomes vacant by reason of
death or resignation, or removal of the President, the Chairman of Senate acts as
the President until a new President is elected. As a result Ghulam Ishaq Khan,
Chairman of the Senate, became the next acting President of Pakistan.

Benazir Bhutto Becomes Prime Minister [1988]

In the 1988 elections, Pakistan Peoples Party won 94 seats in the National Assembly
without forming any alliance. With the cooperation of 8 M. Q. M. members and 13
members of the Federally Administered tribal Area, the P. P. P. showed a clear
majority. Benazir Bhutto, daughter of Zulfiqar Ali Bhutto, was sworn in as the
Prime Minister, the first woman to govern an Islamic State.

Soon after taking oath, Prime Minister Benazir Bhutto announced that the ban on
Student Unions and Trade Unions would be lifted. The P. P. P. Government hosted the
fourth S. A. A. R. C. Summit Conference in December 1988. As a result of the
Conference, Pakistan and India finalized three peace agreements.
But soon, Benazir's Government started facing problems on the political front. A.
N. P. deserted the Pakistan People Party and on November 1, 1989, a no-confidence
motion was moved against the Prime Minister by the opposition. Benazir was barely
able to pull through with 12 votes to her advantage. M. Q. M., which had formed an
alliance with the P. P. P. also broke away and started creating trouble in Sindh.
Serious conceptual differences arose between the P. P. P. Government and the
Establishment. Less than two years later, on August 6, 1990, her Government was
accused of corruption and dismissed by the President, Ghulam Ishaq Khan, who
exercised his power through the controversial Eighth Amendment of the Constitution.

Ghulam Ishaq Khan becomes President [1988-93]

In 1988, President Zia-ul-Haq dissolved the Junejo Government and announced that
fresh elections would be held in November 1988. But on August 17, 1988, he was
killed in a C-130 plane crash in Bhawalpur, along with five senior Generals and the
American Ambassador. The cause of the crash has never been ascertained and still
remains a riddle.
After the death of General Zia, Ghulam Ishaq Khan, Chairman of the Senate, took
over as acting President. Elections for the National and Provincial Assemblies were
held on November 16 and 19, 1988, respectively. The Revival of the Constitutional
Order had amended the Constitution, which empowered the President to appoint, at
his discretion, any member of the National Assembly as Prime Minister. Ghulam Ishaq
Khan appointed Benazir Bhutto as Prime Minister of Pakistan on the condition that
she would offer full support to him in the forthcoming presidential elections.
According to the deal between Ghulam Ishaq Khan and Benazir Bhutto, Pakistan
Peoples Party voted for Ghulam Ishaq Khan. Ghulam Ishaq Khan was also the consensus
candidate of Islami Jamuhri Ittehad. Four candidates took part in the elections,
with Ghulam Ishaq Khan winning and securing the highest 608 votes. Constitutional
Amendments made by the R. C. O. and the Eighth Amendment, that had given the
President a great deal of power, inevitably led the President and the Prime
Minister into conflict. The conflict between the President and the Prime Minister
arose in two areas; the appointment of the Military Chiefs and the Superior Court
Judges.
The conflict between the President and the Prime Minister had its drop scene on
August 6, 1990, when the President dissolved the National Assembly and Benazir
Bhutto was dismissed from power. The dissolution of the National Assembly was soon
followed by the dissolution of the Provincial Assemblies. Fresh elections were
scheduled on October 24, 1990. President Ghulam Ishaq Khan appointed Ghulam Mustafa
Jatoi as the caretaker Prime Minister.
Elections for the National and Provincial Assemblies were held on October 24 and
27, 1990, respectively. Mian Muhammad Nawaz Sharif was elected as Prime Minister on
November 1, 1990. Nawaz Sharif's Government remained in power till April 19, 1993.
President Ghulam Ishaq Khan again dissolved the National Assembly, exercising his
power once again through the Eighth Amendment, and appointed Mir Balakh Sher Khan
Mazari as the caretaker Prime Minister. General Elections were scheduled to be held
on July 14, 1993, but were canceled when the Supreme Court quashed the Presidential
Order and reinstated Nawaz Sharif as the Prime Minister.
Differences between Nawaz Sharif and Ghulam Ishaq Khan arose once again. This time
they deepened to such an extent that they led to the resignation of both President
Ghulam Ishaq Khan and Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif on July 18, 1993. The National
and Provincial Assemblies were also dissolved. Moin Qureshi was appointed as the
caretaker Prime Minister, and Ghulam Ishaq Khan was appointed the caretaker
President. Fresh elections for the National and Provincial Assemblies were held.
Benazir Bhutto returned to power for the second time and Farooq Ahmad Khan Leghari
was elected as the new President of Pakistan.
This brought to an end the presidency of Ghulam Ishaq Khan, which brought about the
dismissal of two elected governments. It followed the unhealthy tradition of
removing elected governments through the use of the controversial Eighth Amendment.
The next President followed the same tradition and created continuous instability
in the country.

Ghulam Mustafa Jatoi becomes caretaker Prime Minister [1990]

As a result of the changes made in the Constitution by the R. C. O. and the Eighth
Amendment, the President had the power to appoint a caretaker Prime Minister and a
caretaker Cabinet at the Federal as well at Provincial level. Using these powers,
President Ghulam Ishaq Khan dissolved the National and Provincial Assemblies on
August 6, 1990, and declared a state of emergency in the country. Elections were
scheduled to be held on October 24, 1990.
Ghulam Ishaq Khan did not appoint a neutral or non-partisan caretaker Cabinet or
Prime Minister. He chose the leader of the opposition in the former National
Assembly, Ghulam Mustafa Jatoi, as the new caretaker Prime Minister of Pakistan.

Nawaz Sharif Becomes Prime Minister [1990]

After the ouster of Benazir's Government, elections for the National and Provincial
Assemblies were held on October 24 and 27, 1990. Mian Muhammad Nawaz Sharif, the
ex-Chief Minister of Punjab, was elected as the Prime Minister on November 1, 1990.

During his tenure as the Prime Minister, Nawaz Sharif made efforts to strengthen
the industrial sector with the help of the private sector. Projects like Ghazi
Brotha and the Gawadar miniport were initiated. Land was distributed among landless
peasants in Sindh. A massive uplift of Murree and Kahuta was done during his term
as Chief Minister of Punjab. Relations with the Central Asian Muslim republics were
strengthened and E. C. O. was given a boost.

In an attempt to end the Afghan crisis, the "Islamabad Accord" was reached between
various Afghan factions. His most important contribution was economic progress
despite U. S. sanctions on Pakistan through the Pressler Amendment on sanctions.
The stupendous Motorway project was initiated that was completed during his second
tenure.
Nawaz Sharif's Government remained in power till April 18 1993, when President
Ghulam Ishaq Khan dissolved the National Assembly, once again exercising his power
through the Eighth Amendment.

Balakh Sher Mazari Becomes Caretaker Prime Minister [1993]

President Ghulam Ishaq Khan dissolved the National and Provincial Assemblies on
April 19, 1993, and appointed Mir Balakh Sher Khan Mazari as the Caretaker Prime
Minister. General Elections were scheduled to be held on July 14, 1993.
Balakh Sher Mazari's tenure as Caretaker Prime Minister ended on May 26, 1993, when
the Supreme Court revoked the Presidential Order and reinstated Nawaz Sharif as the
Prime Minister.

Moin Qureshi Becomes Caretaker Prime Minister [1993]

On May 26, 1993, the Supreme Court of Pakistan declared the Presidential Order of
the Assemblies' dissolution as unconstitutional and ruled for restoring the Nawaz
Government and the National Assembly. However, because of the serious differences
between the President Ghulam Ishaq Khan and the Prime Minister Mian Muhammad Nawaz
Sharif, both resigned from their offices on July 18, 1993, along with the
dissolution of the Central and Provincial Assemblies.
Moin Qureshi, a top World Bank official, was appointed as the Caretaker Prime
Minister and Ghulam Ishaq Khan was appointed as the caretaker President. At the
time of his appointment, Moin Qureshi was totally unknown in Pakistan; it was,
however, felt that as he was a political outsider, he would remain neutral.
Despite the fact the Moin Qureshi was new to the economic and political environment
of Pakistan, he made his presence felt during his short tenure of 90 days. During
this time he undertook numerous steps, which were appreciated by the general
public. One of the steps included his effort to expose the misdeeds of the previous
governments by publishing the lists of defaulters of bank loans and taxpayers.
These lists exposed a number of affluent persons who were involved in abusing the
banking system and dodging the tax collectors. Moin Qureshi made the State Bank of
Pakistan an autonomous body with an effort to keep out political interference in
the working of the bank. He took numerous other steps including the imposition of a
nominal tax on agriculture, making Pakistan Television and Radio Pakistan
autonomous, downsizing of the administrative machinery and abolishing the
discretionary power of the Prime Minster and the Chief Ministers of allotting
residential plots to their favorites. It goes to his credit that he undertook
various endeavors in a short period of time and made a serious effort to recover
Government dues.
The only blot on Moin Qureshi's tenure as Prime Minister was that, in his last
days, he made a large number of promotions and other administrative decisions in
favor of his relatives.

Benazir Bhutto becomes Prime Minister [1993]

Benazir Bhutto returned to power for the second time in 1993 after the resignation
of both President Ghulam Ishaq Khan and Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif on July 18,
1993. The resignation led to the announcement of fresh elections for the National
and Provincial Assemblies. The elections were held on October 6 and 9, 1993,
respectively.
The elections were boycotted by the M. Q. M. No party emerged with an absolute
majority in the elections. As a result the P. P. P. formed the new government with
the help of alliances. Benazir Bhutto took oath as Prime Minister on October 19,
1993. The Presidential election was held on November 13. Farooq Ahmad Khan Leghari,
the P. P. P. candidate, won by 274 to 168 votes against the then acting President
Wasim Sajjad.
During her second tenure, Benazir again faced trouble from the opposition. In the
autumn of 1994, Nawaz Sharif led a "train march" from Karachi to Peshawar. This was
followed by general strike on September 20. Two weeks later Nawaz Sharif called a
"wheel jam" strike on October 11.
The second tenure of Benazir Bhutto was, however, highlighted by the visit of the
U. S. first Lady Hillary Clinton and her daughter Chelsea in 1995. Hillary's visit
considerably changed the world's perceptions about Pakistan and highlighted
Pakistan as a liberal, modern and forward-looking country. In April 1994, Benazir
visited the U. S., and projected Pakistan's stance on the F-16 fighter planes
withheld by the U. S. despite payments. Her visit resulted in the passing of the
Brown Amendment by the U. S. Senate on September 21, 1995, easing restrictions on
Pakistan. It also helped in attracting foreign investors. On the domestic front she
continued facing problems with M. Q. M. In spite of all her political endeavors, a
smooth relationship could not be established between the Government and M. Q. M.
Benazir Bhutto's brother, Mir Murtaza Bhutto, was assassinated under mysterious
circumstances in a police ambush on September 20, 1996. The high-profile killing of
her brother in her tenure damaged her political career.
Things were not going well between the President and Benazir's Government.
Differences soon appeared and the Government felt that there was interference in
the political matters of the Government by the President. President Farooq Leghari
dismissed Benazir Bhutto's Government on charges of corruption and mismanagement on
November 5, 1996, under the Article 58(2) b of the Eighth Amendment.

Sardar Farooq Legahri Becomes President [1993]

As a result of the general elections in 1993, P. P. P. came to power by forming an

alliance with P. M. L. (J), some independent members and some small parties. After
the formation of the Governments at the Center and in the provinces, the next step
was the election of the President. Initially, a number of candidates filed their
nomination papers. However, as election day approached, there were only two
candidates left in the field. These were the acting President Wasim Sajjad, a
nominee of the P. M. L. (N), and Sardar Farooq Leghari, a nominee of the P. P. P.
As a result of voting, Leghari got 274 votes in his favor against 168 votes for
Wasim Sajjad. On November 13, 1993, Sardar Farooq Leghari was appointed as the
President of Pakistan for a term of five years.
Leghari began his term with a clean reputation, but this was soon to change with
the Mehran Bank scandal and inappropriate appointments in the judiciary. In his
first speech, Leghari had said that the Eighth Amendment would be removed but
during the term of Benazir, no bill was ever presented to do away with this Article
of the Constitution.
Differences emerged between Benazir and Leghari, which eventually resulted in the
President using the Eighth Amendment for the dissolution of the National Assembly,
and the dismissal of Benazir. When Mian Nawaz Sharif was re-elected as the Prime
Minister, differences arose between them. He supported the Chief Justice of
Pakistan, Sajjad Ali Shah, who had also developed serious differences with the
Nawaz Sharif Government. But Leghari could not overcome the heavy mandate that was
bestowed upon Mian Nawaz Sharif by the public, with the result that he had to
resign on December 2, 1997. Farooq Leghari's resignation brought to an end the
tragic drama of conflict and conspiracy between the Judiciary, the Executive, and
the Legislature. His resignation cut short his term as the President for five years
by nearly one year.

Malik Meraj Khalid Becomes Caretaker Prime Minister [1996]

President Sardar Farooq Leghari, exercising his powers through the Eighth
Amendment, dismissed Benazir Bhutto's Government in November 1996, on charges of
corruption and extra-judicial killings. After Benazir, Malik Meraj Khalid, Rector
of the International Islamic University, was appointed as caretaker Prime Minister.
The next elections were scheduled to be held on February 3, 1997.
Malik Meraj Khalid held the office of Prime Minister from November 5, 1996, to
February 17, 1997.

Nawaz Sharif becomes Prime Minister [1997]

As scheduled, elections were held on February 3, 1997. Pakistan Muslim League won
with an overwhelming majority with absolutely light and slight opposition. The
Muslim League was able to obtain a two-third majority in the National Assembly and
Mian Nawaz Sharif was re-elected as Prime Minister. He obtained a vote of
confidence from the National Assembly on February 18, 1997.
A number of very important Constitutional Amendments were introduced during Nawaz
Sharif's second term. These include the termination of the Eighth Amendment,
passing of the Thirteenth Amendment and the Ehtesab Act, 1997. Nawaz Sharif faced a
serious confrontation with the Judiciary and the Executive, which eventually led to
the resignation of President Leghari on December 2, 1997.
It was during this term that Pakistan carried out its nuclear tests on May 28,
1998, in response to the Indian detonation of its five nuclear devices. The Nawaz
Government had found it imperative for Pakistan to carry out these nuclear tests,
in order to provide an effective defense, and to deter Indian adventurism.
The Nawaz Government proclaimed an emergency on May 28, 1998; the day these nuclear
tests were conducted. All fundamental rights were suspended and all the foreign
currency accounts in Pakistani banks were frozen. On August 28, 1998, Nawaz regime
introduced the Fifteenth Amendment. The Bill generated heated debate throughout the
country but was passed on October 9, 1998, by the members of the National Assembly.
The Bill, however, was not put before the Senate within 90 days as was required by
the Constitution. The Bill was held back, as Nawaz Sharif did not had the required
two-third majority in the Senate.
The Fifteenth Amendment was presumed to be an effort by Nawaz Sharif to acquire
additional powers for himself. Soon a serious conflict and confrontation emerged on
the scene between him and the Military Generals. This confrontation led to the
resignation of General Jehangir Karamat on October 7, 1998. General Karamat was
replaced by General Pervez Musharraf.
The Kargil Operation in its aftermath again led to tense relations between Nawaz
Sharif and the armed forces. This tension culminated into the removal of Nawaz
Government by General Pervez Musharraf on October 12, 1999, thus bringing to an end
the second term of Nawaz Sharif's Government.

Thirteenth Amendment is Passed [1997]

The National Assembly unanimously adopted the Constitution Bill, the Thirteenth
Amendment, in April 1997 by a two-third majority. The Thirteenth Amendment was put
before the National Assembly on April 1, empowering the Prime Minister to repeal
58(2) b, and advise the President on the appointments of three forces' chiefs, the
J. C. S. C. Chairman and the Governors. Thus the discretionary power to appoint the
chiefs of the armed forces was taken away from the President. In the proposed
Amendment Bill, clauses to restore the women parliamentarian seats and to convert
the Ordinance into an act of the Parliament were also incorporated. The power of
the Governor to dissolve the Provincial Assemblies under Article 112(2) b was also
done away with.
Through the Thirteenth Amendment the controversial Eighth Amendment was repealed
and thereby the President was divested of many discretionary power in order to
restore the supremacy of the Parliament.
The infamous Eight Amendment had been inserted in the Constitution in 1985, by the
non-party based Parliament, when General Zia-ul-Haq was the Chief Martial Law
Administrator and President of Pakistan. Its most notorious and troublesome
provision, 58(2) b, had empowered the President to sack the Prime Minister and his
Cabinet and dissolve the National Assembly. The provision had since been used by
three successive Presidents since 1985, and four Prime Ministers, along with their
Cabinets and the National Assemblies, had been dismissed.
Having announced the Thirteenth Amendment, Nawaz Sharif said that it had been
introduced to revive the democratic concept, as envisaged by the Quaid-i-Azam and
Allama Iqbal.
Although it seemed that a complicated and sensitive constitutional issue was solved
in an amicable way through consensus, and it was anticipated that through the
Thirteenth Amendment a new era of democratic freedom and political stability would
start, all the hopes dashed to the ground when once again the democratic process
was demolished all of a sudden. A military coup not only sacked Nawaz Sharif and
his Cabinet, but also dissolved the National Assembly and the Provincial
Assemblies.

Fourteenth Amendment is passed [1997]

Throughout Pakistan's political history, horse-trading and defection within various

parties had created problems for various governments. On coming to power, Nawaz
Sharif's Government took steps to do away with this ever-flourishing problem. It
was under the Nawaz Government that the National Assembly unanimously adopted the
Constitution Bill, the Fourteenth Amendment, on July 1, 1997.
The Anti-Defection Bill, earlier passed by the Senate and later by the National
Assembly with a large majority, was a structural reform to end the practice of
switching party loyalties and blackmailing party leadership for ministerial slots,
bank loans and other concessions.

Muhammad Rafiq Tarar elected as President [1998]

Muhammad Rafiq Tarar, a former Judge of the Supreme Court and a Senator, was
elected as the ninth President of Pakistan. He took oath to his office on January
1, 1998.
The office of the President had become vacant after the resignation of President
Leghari on December 2, 1997. The Pakistan Muslim League had a two-third majority in
the Parliament and some Provincial Assemblies and therefore was in a position to
have its candidate elected as the head of State. The Nawaz Government nominated
Muhammad Rafiq Tarar, a 68-year old former Judge of the Supreme Court and a
Senator, as their presidential candidate.
The nomination of Muhammad Rafiq Tarar was, however, criticized by the opposition
parties and newspapers because the nominated President was from Lahore, which was
also the hometown of the Prime Minister. Many that felt that, since the Prime
Minister was from Punjab, the President should be from a smaller province to
prevent the possibility of a sense of deprivation among the smaller federating
units, and to avoid the concentration of the main Government offices in one
province.
The election of the President was held on December 31, 1997. The President was to
be indirectly elected by the two houses of Parliament, the National Assembly and
the Senate, and the four Provincial Assemblies. As the ruling party, Pakistan
Muslim League dominated most of the six voting groups; Muhammad Rafiq Tarar was
comfortably elected President by securing 374 out of 457 votes of the Electoral
College. His rivals, Pakistan Peoples Party's Aftab Shahban Mirani and Jamiyat-i-
Ulema-i-Islam's Maulana Muhammad Khan Shirani, ended up only with 31 and 22 votes,
respectively. Never before had a President received such overwhelming support from
the elected representatives of the people of Pakistan.
Rafiq Tarar seemed to be an unassuming and ceremonial President with a low profile,
who kept away from the press. Immediately after taking over, he declared that from
then onwards, the Presidency would not work in conspiring against the elected
Government. He said that he would confine himself to powers available to him under
the Constitution and would not aspire for anything more. He honored his word, and
unlike the precedent set by his predecessors, he didn't criticize any Government
policy.
After overthrowing the Nawaz Government, the military authorities did not retain
Rafiq Tarar as the President till his full term of five years. He was removed by
the Chief Executive General Pervez Musharraf on June 20, 2001, who himself took
over the office of the President of Pakistan.
Being associated with the Judiciary, Muhammad Rafiq Tarar was not a politician of
any standing but he was, however, noted for his honesty, loyalty, devotion to
justice and a firm, religious faith in Islam.

Pakistan: A Nuclear Power [May 28, 1998]

On May 28, 1998, Pakistan became a nuclear power when it successfully carried out
five nuclear tests at Chaghi, in the province of Baluchistan. This was in direct
response to five nuclear explosions by India, just two weeks earlier.
Widely criticized by the international community, Pakistan maintains that its
nuclear program is for self-defense, as deterrence against nuclear India. A former
Prime Minister of Pakistan, Zulfiqar Ali Bhutto, offered justification for
Pakistan's nuclear program when he said that if India were to produce a bomb,
Pakistan would do anything it could to get one of its own. It has always been
maintained by Pakistan that a nuclear threat posed to its security can neither be
met with conventional means of defense, nor by external security guarantees.
India had already posed a nuclear threat against Pakistan ever since it tested a
nuclear device in May 1974. At that time Pakistan had no nuclear weapons. India
maintained that its nuclear program was based on their requirement to have a
minimum nuclear deterrence, and that it was not against any specific country.
After the tit-for-tat nuclear explosions, the United Nations Security Council
unanimously passed a resolution urging India and Pakistan to halt their nuclear
weapons programs. The United States and other Western states imposed economic
sanctions against both the countries. The U. N. Secretary General, Kofi Annan,
urged both the countries to sign the Comprehensive Test Ban Treaty, which Pakistan
agreed to sign if India did the same.
After the tests, both sides declared that they had completed their series of
nuclear testing and both announced a moratorium on future testing. Pakistan
announced the moratorium on June 11, 1998, and offered to join in new peace talks
with India. Even long before these tests, Pakistan has time and again proposed for
a nuclear weapon-free zone in South East Asia.

The Lahore Declaration [1999]

In order to normalize relations between India and Pakistan, Nawaz Sharif undertook
a major initiative in February 1999. This initiative culminated in a visit by the
Indian Prime Minister Atal Behari Vajpayee to Lahore via bus, across the Wagah
border, in 1999. Nawaz Sharif met him at the Wagah border and a joint communique,
known as the "Lahore Declaration", was signed between the two leaders.

This declaration spelled out various steps to be taken by the two countries towards
normalization of relations between them. Except for the Jamaat-i-Islami, the visit
was not opposed by any political or social element in Pakistan. The Pakistani
people welcomed this move by the Nawaz Government to normalize relations with
India.

The Kargil Offensive [1999]

One dispute that remains unresolved in United Nations forum is the over 50-year-old
Kashmir dispute between India and Pakistan. This disputed State of Jammu and
Kashmir has been a continuous flash point and the cause of two wars (1948 and 1965)
between the two countries. In the last few years, and particularly during the
1990s, the issue of Kashmir has been brought to the forefront of the world agenda
by the struggle of the Kashmiri freedom fighters fighting in Indian occupied
Kashmir. This freedom struggle against the brute Indian force, now in excess of
700,000 troops, demands the fulfillment of U. N. Resolutions and of Indian
commitments to give them the opportunity to decide their political future through a
fair and free plebiscite. This plebiscite to be held under U. N. auspices was
mandated by the U. N. Security Council Resolutions of August 13, 1948, and January
05, 1949.
The freedom struggle gained further momentum in 1999 when the freedom fighters, in
probably the most brilliant and courageous maneuver in modern military history,
made high-altitude conquests in their territory. They captured high ground of a 140
kilometers long stretch of 4,500 meters high mountain ridges, near the strategic
Indian-held garrison towns of Kargil and Drass. These towns lie on the only usable
road between Srinagar, capital of Indian-occupied Kashmir, and the East. This
threatened India's main supply route to its forces on the Chinese border.
The occupation by the Kashmiri freedom fighters came as a "Spring Surprise" to the
Indian patrols. During the winter freeze, the area is abandoned by Indian patrols
and isolated from the rest of Indian occupied Kashmir. In the beginning of May
1999, when the Indian forces returned to the mountains, they were surprised to find
around 600 Kashmiri freedom fighters, occupying a territory 5 kilometers inside
Indian occupied Kashmir. India alleged that these "militants" were sponsored by
Pakistan, and that these militants crossed the provisional borderline, the "Line of
Control", in an attempt to alter the de facto border by force.
The Government of Pakistan stated that it was not involved in any way and clarified
that it is only the moral, diplomatic and political support that the Government of
Pakistan continues to extend to Kashmiri freedom fighters for their cause of self-
determination. It further clarified that the heights near Kargil were occupied by
indigenous Kashmiri freedom fighters.
On May 26, 1999, India resorted to air strikes to drive out the freedom fighters.
During this episode, two Indian aircraft entered the territory of Pakistan, one of
which was shot down. The situation across the Line of Control became tense and
several innocent civilians became the targets of indiscriminate Indian shelling.
The conflict posed a threat to the region of South Asia.
The international community was concerned about the escalation of the conflict
between the two newly declared nuclear powers, India and Pakistan. Talks, however,
resumed between India and Pakistan in the summer of 1999 and efforts were made to
resolve the crises. International intervention, most notably from the President of
United States, Bill Clinton, persuaded Pakistan to use its influence on the freedom
fighters to avert a full-scale war with India.
The freedom fighters vacated the captured territory by August, 1999.

Military Comes to Power Again [Oct 12, 1999]

On October 12, 1999, the Pakistan Army once again ousted the Civilian Government.
At that time Prime Minister Mian Muhammad Nawaz Sharif headed the Government. The
coup immediately followed the premier�s attempt to replace the Army Chief while he
was on a tour to Sri Lanka. After two days of chilling uncertainty, Chief of Army
Staff General Pervez Musharraf assumed the title of Chief Executive. Although the
use of the term "Martial Law" was avoided, Pakistan once again came under military
rule. It was claimed that the Army was forced to take this step to save the country
from "turmoil and uncertainty".
The Supreme Court, in a ruling on May 12, 2000, accepted that a constitutional
deviation had taken place in pursuit of rather noble objectives, such as economic
reforms and bringing to book the corrupt politicians, bureaucrats and businessmen.
The 12 judges based their ruling on the principle of "salus po puli ex supreme
lex", meaning that the welfare of the people is the supreme law of any land. The
court took the view that there was no other way to remove a corrupt Government
except through the intervention of the armed forces. The Supreme Court also
directed General Musharraf to hold general elections within three years.

After the military takeover, the former Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif, Shahbaz Sharif
(his brother and former Chief Minister of Punjab) and five other officials were
booked on charges of hijacking, kidnapping and attempted murder in the "Plane
Conspiracy" case. The prosecution's case was based on a police report filed by an
Army Colonel. Nawaz Sharif, in his capacity as Prime Minster, was accused of giving
orders to the Civil Aviation Authority to prevent a Colombo-Karachi Pakistan
International Airlines commercial flight, with Musharraf on board, from landing at
Karachi or anywhere else in Pakistan. He was to face a charge of attempted murder
endangering the lives of General Pervez Musharraf and 200 other passengers on board
by disallowing the plane to land when its fuel was at a low level. The case was
tried by an anti-terrorism court in Karachi, ironically established by Nawaz Sharif
himself, which sentenced him to life imprisonment. In their appeal to the High
Court, Mr. Sharif's lawyers maintained that no charge of corruption was proved
against the former Prime Minister, and that it was the Prime Minster's
constitutional right to remove the Army Chief.
Later on, Mr. Nawaz Sharif was, however, pardoned and exiled by the military
government to Saudi Arabia on conditions that he would forfeit Rupees 500 million
(equivalent to roughly US$ 8 million) in property and stay out of politics for the
next 21 years.

Pervez Musharraf Becomes President [June, 2001]

General Pervez Musharraf while he was also Chief Executive took over the office of
the President of Pakistan on June 20, 2001, under the Provincial Constitutional
Order (PCO) by removing Rafiq Tarar before he was allowed to complete his five-
years tenure. With immediate effect he dissolved the suspended Senate, National and
Provincial Assemblies and dismissed the Chairman of the Senate and the Speaker of
the National Assembly. After assuming the new office as President, General Pervez
Musharraf announced, "The change will augur well for the future of Pakistan"; and
said, "I think I have a role to play; I have a job to do here; I cannot and will
not let this nation down". He gave three reasons for taking over as the President
of Pakistan: constitutional, political, and economic.
The critical moment in General Musharraf's presidency was 9/11, when Washington
suddenly and direly needed his support the international antiterrorism campaign and
to crush the Taliban in Afghanistan. Thus he became a pivotal player on the world
stage and a close ally welcomed in Washington and London alike as a statesman of
international standing. General Musharraf did his best to highlight the core issue
of Kashmir at every international forum. In July 2001, he held his first summit
meeting with Indian Prime Minister Atal Behari Vajpayee at Agra but couldn�t make
much headway in solving the Kashmir problem. Due to his consecutive efforts,
however, a lot of tension between the two neighboring countries with nuclear-armed
rivalry has been eased as they have restored diplomatic relations and started to
build up warming ties mutually by means of confidence building measures. General
Musharraf has given a new formula for solving the protracted dispute of Kashmir.
After the Taliban were ousted, he offered all possible help to the new government.
President General Musharraf kept his word to restore democracy and hold elections
in October 2002 as mandated by the Supreme Court. He gratified the nation when
after general elections, Pakistan's National Assembly and Senate in November 2002
met for the first time since the coup three years earlier. He also relinquished the
post of Chief Executive when Zafaullah Khan Jamali became Prime Minister of
Pakistan in November 2002. President Musharraf, however, continues to hold the
offices of Chief of Army Staff, and Chief of the Staff Committee. The opposition
parties refused to accept Framework Order (LFO) 2002 as it empowered the President
to sack the prime minister, dissolve parliament and also recognize him as both head
of the army and head of the state. According to the opposition the provisions of
the LFO were unconstitutional and illegal, and against the sovereignty of the
Parliament. As a result, the business of parliament remained in deadlock for a
year. In December, 2003 as part of a deal with MMA (Muttahida Majlis-e-Amal) to end
the stand-off, General Musharraf agreed that he would step down as military head of
the country on December 31, 2004 and also give up some of the powers he assumed
after the coup while on January 1,2004. After getting vote of confidence from
parliament and the four provincial assemblies, President Pervez Musharraf would now
serve full five-year term as President till 2007 under the constitutional
provisions after the seventeenth amendment was passed by a two-third majority of
the Parliament. He secured 658 votes (56.23 per cent) with simple majority from a
total of 1,170 members of parliament and the four assemblies amid MMA abstention
and opposition boycott.
President Musharraf presents to the world vision of a modern, tolerant, democratic,
Islamic Pakistan and favors economic reforms and free trade with the West. He has
also played a vital role in negotiating an economic package to assist Pakistan out
of its problems.

Agra Summit

A historic summit meeting was held between Pakistan's President Pervez Musharraf
and the Indian Prime Minister Atal Behari Vajpayee in Agra, from July 14 to 16,
2001. The summit started amid high hopes of resolving various disputes between the
two countries including the five decades� old Kashmir issue. Both sides started the
summit with hopefulness and in a spirit of good will; especially President
Musharraf used the phrases "cautious optimism", "flexibility" and "open mind" to
describe his buoyant views for the summit. The Indian President also promised to
take "bold and innovative" measures and to discuss the "core issue" between the two
countries.
Various rounds of one-to-one talks were held between President Musharraf and Prime
Minster Vajpayee. On the first day, a 90-minute one-on-one session was held between
the two leaders. The Kashmir issue, cross-border terrorism, nuclear risk reduction,
release of prisoners of war, and commercial ties were discussed. The talks went in
the right direction and were declared by both the leaders as "positive, frank and
constructive". There were hopes that both the leaders would arrive at an agreement
and a joint statement or declaration would be made at the end of the summit as the
two leaders plunged into serious talks.
Despite reservations from the Indian Government, President Musharraf also held
face-to-face meetings with the top Kashmiri leadership represented by the All
Parties Hurriyat Conference.
The two-day Agra summit between President Pervez Musharraf and Prime Minister Atal
Behari Vajpayee, however, collapsed and no formal agreement could be attained. The
two sides remained inflexible on the core issue of Kashmir, despite five long and
arduous one-to-one rounds between the two leaders and hours of discussion between
the two delegations. Despite the failure of the talks, General Pervez Musharraf
joined Vajpayee to call on the two countries to bury their past. He also invited
the Indian Prime Minister to visit Pakistan as he felt that the issues between
Pakistan and India were much more complicated and could not be resolved in a short
time.

Local Government System [2001]

In order to establish democracy at grassroots level, the regime of General Pervez

Musharaf, introduced the Local Government System. This was not a new experiment in
Pakistan. Ayub Khan had undertaken a similar effort in this direction by
introducing the Basic Democracy System.
This new system of Local Government was installed on August 14, 2001, after holding
of elections. Direct elections on non-party basis were held in five phases for
members of Union Councils, Union Nazims, and Naib Union Nazims during 2000 thru to
2001. On the basis of these direct elections, indirect elections were held in July-
August 2001 for Zila Nazims and Naib Zila Nazims and also for Tehsil-Town Nazims
and Naib Nazims. In order to attract people towards electoral politics, the minimum
age for local government elections was lowered from 21 to 18 years. One-third seats
were reserved for women.
The main purpose of introducing the Local Government System was to empower the
people at the grassroots level and to transfer power from the elite to the masses.
This system of grassroots democracy envisaged yielding new political leaders. It
was also anticipated to solve people's problems at local level, allow public
participation in decision-making and ensure the provision of speedy justice. The
essence of this system was that the Local Governments would be accountable to the
citizens for all their decisions. It would enable the proactive elements of society
to participate in community work, development related activities and would remove
rural-urban divide. The new Local Government plan was an effort on the part of the
Military Government to lay the foundations of an authentic and enduring democracy.
The new System provided a three-tier Local Government structure:
1. The District Government
2. The Tehsil Government
3. The Union Administration
The District Government
The District Government consisted of the Zila Nazim and District Administration.
The District Administration consisted of district offices including sub-offices at
Tehsil level, who were to be responsible to the District Nazim assisted by the
District Coordination Officer. The District Coordination Officer was appointed by
the Provincial Government and was the coordinating head of the District
Administration. The Zila Nazim was accountable to the people through the elected
members of the Zila Council. A Zila Council consisted of all Union Nazims in the
District, which consisted of members elected on the reserved seats. These seats
were reserved for women, peasants, workers, and minority community. The Zila
Council had its Secretariat under the Naib Zila Nazim and had a separate budget
allocation. Adequate checks and balances were introduced in the System.
The new System also efficiently addressed the specific needs and problems of large
cities. The District Government was responsible to the people and the Provincial
Government for improvement of governance and delivery of services.
Tehsil Administration
The middle tier, the Tehsil, had Tehsil Municipal Administration headed by the
Tehsil Nazim. Tehsil Municipal Administration consisted of a Tehsil Nazim, Tehsil
Municipal Officer, Tehsil Officers, Chief Officers and other officials of the Local
Council Service and officials of the offices entrusted to the Tehsil Municipal
Administration. The Tehsil Municipal Administration was entrusted with the
functions of administration, finances, and management of the offices of Local
Government and Rural Development, and numerous other subjects at the regional,
Divisional, District, Tehsil and lower levels.
Union Administration
The lowest tier, the Union Administration was a corporate body covering the rural
as well as urban areas across the whole District. It consisted of Union Nazim, Naib
Union Nazim and three Union Secretaries and other auxiliary staff. The Union Nazim
was the head of the Union Administration and the Naib Union Nazim acted as deputy
to the Union Nazim during his temporary absence. The Union Secretaries coordinated
and facilitated in community development, functioning of the Union Committees and
delivery of municipal services under the supervision of Union Nazim.
The Government allocated Rupees 32 billion to the Local Government in 2002. The
funds were deposited in the account of the District Government. The District
Government further distributed these funds to Tehsil and Unions. In addition to the
fiscal transfers from the Province, the Local Governments were authorized to
generate money from their own sources by levying certain taxes, fees, user charges,
etc.
It is, however, pertinent to make a special mention that it is only in the absence
of elected assemblies that local governments are the popularly elected bodies and
play important political and developmental roles. After the election of Senators
and members of the provincial and national assemblies, its role has been again
substantially marginalized. The elected representatives of National and Provincial
Assemblies usually take over some functions, which local governments used to
perform and as such in many ways they are prone to intervene in the evolution of
proper and improved Local government.
Local governments suffer from the fact that their existence is not constitutionally
ordained and they are a mere extension of the provincial government. In the
Constitution, the allocations of the functions of the federal and provincial
governments are clearly specified whereas the existence of local government is not
formally embodied in the Constitution. Moreover, financial, technical, and
bureaucratic constraints plus limited revenue (merely 5 per cent of revenue
generated by the government) cause the poor and almost non-existent local
government for most of the time.

September Eleven 9/11 and Its Aftermath [2001]

On September 11, 2001, with the collapse of the World Trade Center started what the
U.S. called "the war against terrorism". U.S. President George Bush termed it an
act of terrorism and threatened strong action against the people who had carried
out the attack. It was the Taliban and the Saudi millionaire-turned-militant Osama
bin Laden who were eventually held responsible for it. President Bush said that the
U.S. would do "whatever it takes" to hunt down "terrorists" and that if Osama bin
Laden thought he could hide, "he was mistaken".
Pakistan became the center of world attention after the September 11 attacks. It
was placed in a difficult situation as the U.S. threatened to carry out military
strikes on the Taliban. Faced not only with international pressure to take part in
curbing the war on terrorism, but also a strong domestic pressure not to side with
the United States against an Islamic country, Pakistan sought to assume a delicate
balance between the U. S. demands and an expected backlash from internal militant
and religious organizations.
General Musharraf made efforts to persuade the country's political and religious
leadership to support an alliance with the United States but was partially
successful in his efforts. Liberal-minded politicians agreed to fully back the
government while leaders of some hard-line Islamic parties were not happy. Several
groups threatened to start a countrywide uprising in protest against any U.S.
attack on the Taliban. All the religious parties and various political parties like
the Jamiyat-i-Ulema-i-Islam, Jamaat-i-Islami, Pakistan Tehrik-i-Insaaf, shared the
same opinion on the possible US military action against the Taliban regime and use
of Pakistani soil. They were not only against attacking Afghanistan from Pakistan
soil, but were also against offending Pakistan's closest brotherly neighbor, whom
Pakistan had supported against the Soviet Union at the cost of burdening itself
with a large number of refugees.
Pakistan was faced with a tough choice and irresistible pressure from the United
States, an old ally and sole super power, to support a military strike against
Osama bin Laden. That pressure, however, was combined with extreme reluctance to
abandon Afghanistan's ruling Taliban, an old friend and neighbor. Pakistan in this
difficult situation was left with actually little choice except to comply with U.S.
demands. The Government, despite the protest of the religious parties, decided to
cooperate with the U.S. However, it made it very clear that Pakistan would extend
full cooperation to the international community in its fight against terrorism
without involving its forces in any action beyond its geographical boundaries. The
U.S. was given permission to make use of Pakistani airspace for U.S. missile or
aerial strikes against targets in Afghanistan. Pakistan also agreed to the exchange
of intelligence and logistic facilities and to the closing of Pakistan's border
with Afghanistan.
US attack against the ruling Taliban started almost a month after the September 11
attacks as the Afghan Government refused to meet American demands of closing
alleged terrorist training camps, handing over the leaders of the Al-Qaeda network,
and return of all foreign nationals, including American citizens detained in
Afghanistan.
As U.S. bombing on Afghanistan started, it was however forecasted on the bases of
the Afghan resistance to the Soviets and all previous invaders since Alexander,
that the Taliban would never give up their arms. The Americans would have to engage
in a long, bloody, guerrilla warfare that would take months, if not years, to yield
results. Snow would come and make fighting impossible. Further, sympathetic Muslim
sentiment would topple the Musharraf regime and threaten others. It didn't happen
that way; history did not repeat itself. The Americans and their coalition partners
carried out extensive aerial bombardment of Afghanistan that led to the killing of
large number of innocent civilians and to the takeover of the Taliban strongholds
one after another. The Taliban regime was toppled and a transitional government of
Taliban opposition was installed in its place.
Pakistan was once again faced with the refugee problem in the wake of U.S. military
action in Afghanistan. Thousands of Afghans fleeing their country rushed to the
Pak-Afghan border. The Government of Pakistan, already bearing the burden of
millions of Afghan refugees, deployed additional forces to prevent the entry of
displaced people into Pakistan. In spite of the fact that the borders remained
closed, some 10,000 people or more crossed at various border points from
Afghanistan into Pakistan, further increasing the number of refugees.
After the aerial offense, the ground offensive eventually started to oust the
number of Taliban left in Afghanistan. The U.S. continues to focus on tracking down
the remaining Al-Qaeda and Taliban leaders in Afghanistan. This means that the U.S.
will maintain a significant military force and continue to play a role in the
region in the future.
Pakistan once again supported its old ally, the United States, in its military
action against Osama bin Laden at the cost of forsaking its old friend and
neighbor, the Taliban. But the question whether the American government abandons or
continues to support Pakistan after it achieves its objectives still remains to be
answered.

Referendum 2002

After General Pervez Musharraf sacked the civilian Government headed by Prime
Minister Mian Muhammad Nawaz Sharif on October 12, 1999, he had assumed the title
of Chief Executive. It was claimed that the Army was forced to take this step to
save the country from "turmoil and uncertainty". The General later on also ousted
President Rafiq Tarar and himself became the President of Pakistan. After becoming
the President, he reiterated his stance of holding elections as prescheduled by his
Government in October 2002. But before the general elections, a referendum was held
on April 30, 2002 for General Pervez Musharraf to be elected as the President of
Pakistan for another five years.
The basic reason for holding the referendum was that the General wanted to abide by
democratic principles and establish legitimacy for his rule though in the
Constitution there was no provision to become President through referendum.
According to the General, he wanted to stay as President in order to continue the
economic recovery, ensure social stability, to counter unnamed destabilizing
influences, and to eventually return to "true democracy". The Opposition parties
opposed the referendum. A 15-party Alliance for the Restoration of Democracy was
set up, including Pakistan's two main political parties, the Pakistan Peoples Party
and the Pakistan Muslim League. The alliance considered President Musharraf's
decision as unconstitutional and announced peaceful rallies to oppose it. They
called for a boycott of the voting.
The referendum took place on April 30, 2002, with no competition and no option but
to vote for General Musharraf. The referendum question put forward to the people
was: "For the survival of the local government system, establishment of democracy,
continuity of reforms, end to sectarianism and extremism, and to fulfill the vision
of Quaid-i-Azam, would you like to elect President General Pervez Musharraf as
President of Pakistan for five years?"
According to the Government there were 78 million eligible voters. Eighty seven
thousand polling stations were set up, including booths set up at prisons,
hospitals, petrol stations, workplaces, and markets. However, there were no voter
lists or constituencies, and anyone who could prove his identity and age could vote
at any polling station. According to the Government estimate, around 98 percent of
the counted votes backed General Musharraf continuing in office and the turnout of
the referendum was said to be around 70 percent.
The referendum result was quite a big question mark. Politicians and political
analysts considered the referendum to be unconstitutional, as under the
Constitution, the President could be chosen not via direct vote, but by the elected
members of the National Assembly, Provincial Assemblies and the Senate. The
Opposition claimed that not more than 5 percent of the electorate bothered to vote,
implying that President Musharraf did not have popular support. Pakistan's Human
Rights Commission also gave reports of some flagrant abuses, with few instances of
multiple voting, and pressure on state employees to cast their votes.
However, the referendum certified the continuation of President General Pervez
Musharraf's rule for another five years, with him claim to have the popular mandate
to govern and to carry on with his economic and political reforms.

Legal Framework Order 2002

On August 24, 2002, Chief Executive General Musharraf issued the Legal Framework
Order 2002, announcing general elections for the National and Provincial Assemblies
to be held in October 2002. Constitutional Provisions were amended for smooth and
orderly transition of power from the Chief Executive to the newly elected Prime
Minister after the elections.
The main text of the L. F. O. 2002 stated as follows:
It has been specified that it will come into force henceforth and in the first
meetings of National Assembly, Senate and Provincial Assemblies and that if any
necessity arises for any further amendment of the Constitution or there is any
difficulty in giving effect to any of the provisions of this Order, the Chief
Executive will have the discretionary power to make provisions and pass orders for
amending the Constitution or for removing any difficulty. It has been further
asserted that the validity of any provision made, or orders passed, under clauses
(1) and (2) shall not be called in question in any court on any ground whatsoever.
The main points of L. F. O. 2002 may be summed up as below:
i) Every political party shall, subject to law, hold intra-party elections to elect
its office-bearers and party leaders.
ii) Having received the democratic mandate to serve the nation as President of
Pakistan for a period of five years, the Chief Executive on relinquishing the
office of the C. E., shall assume the office of President of Pakistan forthwith and
hold office for a term of five years under the Constitution, and Article 44 and
other provisions of the Constitution shall apply accordingly.
iii) There shall be 342 seats of the members in the National Assembly, including
seats reserved for women and non-Muslims.
iv) The seats in the National Assembly are allocated to each Province, the
Federally Administered Tribal Areas and the Federal Capital as under:
- Balochistan: General 14, Women 3, Total 17
- N. W. F. P.: General 35, Women 8, Total 43
- Punjab: General 148, Women 35, Total 183
- Sindh: General 61, Women 14, Total 75
- F. A. T. A.: General 12, Women 0, Total 12
- Federal Capital: General 2, Women 0, Total 2
- Total: General 272, Women 60, Total 332
v) In addition to the number of seats referred to in clause (iv), there shall be,
in the National Assembly, ten seats reserved for non-Muslims.
vi) Members to the seats reserved for non-Muslims shall be elected in accordance
with law through proportional representation system of political parties' lists of
candidates on the basis of total number of general seats won by each political
party in the National Assembly. A political party securing less than five per
centum of the total number of seats in the National Assembly shall not be entitled
to any seat reserved for women or non-Muslims.
vii) If any question arises whether a member of the Parliament is disqualified from
being a member, the Speaker or, as the case may be, the Chairman shall, within 30
days, refer the question to the Chief Election Commissioner who shall give his
decision thereon not later than three months from its receipt by the Chief Election
Commissioner.
viii) If a member of a Parliamentary Party resigns from membership of his political
party or joins another; or votes or abstains from voting in the House contrary to
any direction issued by the Parliamentary Party to which he belongs concerning
election of the Prime Minister or the Chief Minister; a vote of confidence or no-
confidence; or a Money Bill, he may be declared in writing by the Head of the
Parliamentary Party to have defected from the political party. The Head of the
Parliamentary Party shall forward a copy of the declaration to the Presiding
Officer, and a copy thereof to the member concerned.
ix) A member of a House shall be deemed to be a member of a Parliamentary Party if
he having been elected as a candidate or nominee of a political party constituting
the Parliamentary Party in the House or, having been elected otherwise than as a
candidate or nominee of a political party, has become a member of such
Parliamentary Party after such election by means of a declaration in writing.
x) With an addition of "a situation has arisen in which the Government of the
Federation cannot be carried on in accordance with the provisions of the
Constitution and an appeal to the electorate is necessary", the clause 58 is
revived.
xi) Where a Bill is referred to the Mediation Committee, it shall, within 90 days,
formulate an agreed Bill likely to be passed by both Houses of the Parliament and
place the agreed Bill separately before each House. If both the Houses pass the
Bill, it shall be presented to the President for assent.
xii) All decisions of the Mediation Committee shall be made by a majority of the
total number of members of each House in the Committee.
xiii) The President may, in consultation with the Speaker of the National Assembly
and Chairman of the Senate, make rules for conduct of business of the Mediation
Committee.
xiv) With an insertion of a new article 152A, there shall be a National Security
Council whose chairman shall be the President in order to serve as a forum for
consultation on strategic matters pertaining to the sovereignty, integrity and
security of the State, and the matters relating to democracy, governance and inter-
provincial harmony. Other members of N. S. C. shall be the Prime Minister, the
Chairman of the Senate, the Speaker of the National Assembly, the Leader of the
Opposition in the National Assembly, the Chief Ministers of the Provinces, the
Chairman Joint Chiefs of Staff Committee, and the Chiefs of Staff of the Pakistan
Army, Pakistan Navy and Pakistan Air Force. Meetings of the National Security
Council may be convened by the President either in his discretion, or on the advice
of the Prime Minister, or when requested by any other of its members, within the
time frame indicated by him.
xv) On dissolution of an Assembly under article 58-2 (b) or, on completion of its
term, the President, in his discretion, or, as the case may be, the Governor, in
his discretion but with the previous approval of the President, shall appoint a
caretaker Cabinet. When a caretaker Cabinet is appointed, on dissolution of the
National Assembly under Article 58 or a Provincial Assembly under Article 112, or
on dissolution of any such Assembly on completion of its term, the Prime Minister
or, as the case may be, the Chief Minister of the caretaker Cabinet shall not be
eligible to contest the immediately following election of such Assembly.
xvi) The Proclamation of Emergency of the 14th October, 1999, all President's
Orders, Ordinances, Chief Executive's Orders, including the P. C. O. No. 1 of 1999,
the Oath of Office (Judges) Order 2000, the Referendum Order 2002 (Chief
Executive's Order No. 12 of 2002), and all other laws made between the October 12,
1999 and the date on which this Article comes into force, are hereby affirmed,
adopted and declared notwithstanding any judgment of any court, to have been
validly made by competent authority and notwithstanding anything contained in the
Constitution shall not be called in question in any court on any ground whatsoever.
xvii) All Proclamations, President's Orders, Ordinances, Chief Executive's Orders,
laws, regulations, enactments, notifications, rules, orders or bye-laws in force
immediately before the date on which this Article comes into force shall continue
in force until altered, repealed or amended by competent authority.
Through L. F. O. 2000, the President and Chief Executive revived the Constitution
of Pakistan, except a few articles pertaining to the Provincial Governments and the
Senate of Pakistan, etc., with effect from 16th November, 2002, which are to be
restored later. Those parts of the Constitution which are restored include
"Preamble, Article 1 to 58 (both inclusive), Article 64 to 100 (both inclusive),
Annex, insertion of Article 152A and the schedule to the Constitution".
Some of the immediate implications of the L. F. O. 2000 are:
a) L. F. O. 2000 has been sanctified by postulating that no body can challenge it
in any court of law "on any ground whatsoever."
b) It is now assumed to be an integral part of the Constitution and there is no
imperative left for the newly and duly elected National Assembly but to accept it
willingly or unwillingly. The present Parliament is quite unable to reverse or do
away with any of the Amendments, especially the one relating to the National
Security Council. The Prime Minister and the whole Parliament are at the will of
the President for their survival.
c) Many believe that the L. F. O. 2000 has been enforced without any regard for the
Constitutional and democratic norms and proprieties. By terminating the Thirteenth
Amendment that was not passed by two-third majority but a unanimous vote of the
Parliament, the President has again been authorized to enjoy the power of
dismissing the Prime Minister along with his Cabinet and the Parliament.
d) With the adoption of the Legal Framework Order 2002, Pakistan has virtually
advanced from the parliamentary form of government to the presidential system. The
Article 58-2 (b) clause has been revived and the insertion of the new clause 152A
has created the National Security Council.
e) Though the function of National Security Council and the clause 58-2 (b) is to
provide a system of checks-and-balances, there are some issues to consider. In case
of a confrontation between the President and the Prime Minister, the majority of
votes in the National Security Council will automatically go in favor of the
President who can thus easily remove the Prime Minister, putting the Parliamentary
form of government once again in jeopardy.
f) With a radically altered Constitutional Framework, in whose making the people of
Pakistan have had no say, the sovereignty of the Parliament has been severely
crippled.
g) Although the Article 58-2 (b) does not specifically mention the President as
having the power to sack the Prime Minister, the dissolution of the Assembly
automatically makes the Prime Minister go. As the recent past shows, this clause
was misused by three Presidents to remove Prime Ministers for purely political
reasons, even though the Constitution authorized the President to take such a
drastic step only after it had become clear that "a situation had arisen in which
the government of the federation cannot be carried on in accordance with the
provisions of the Constitution." There is no doubt that every future Prime Minister
will have to work under the constraints of 58-2 (b) at all times.
The only way to constitutionally amend the Constitution is through the Article 239,
which lays down the following procedure:
"A bill to amend the Constitution may originate in either House (National Assembly
or the Senate) and, when the bill is passed by the votes of not less than two-
thirds of the total membership of the House, it shall be transmitted to the other
House." As such, it is still considered by the Constitutional experts that General
Musharraf requires two-thirds majority to have his Constitutional Amendments or L.
F. O. 2000 validated. In addition, the legal position of General Musharraf is also
not in accordance with the Constitution of Pakistan for it does not recognize a
uniformed Army Chief as the Head of State. Under the Constitution of 1973, only a
majority vote in National Assembly, Senate, and four Provincial Assemblies can
elect a President.

General Elections 2002

After three years of military rule, Pakistan again headed towards democracy on
October 10, 2002. More than 70 parties, big and small, contested the eighth
national parliamentary election. The major parties contesting the elections were
Peoples Party Parliamentarians, Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz Group, Pakistan Muslim
League-Quaid-i-Azam also called the "King's Party" for its unconditional support to
the government, and the Muttahida Majlis-i-Amal (MMA), alliance of six religious
political parties. Other known parties contesting at the national level included
the six-party National Alliance led by former caretaker Prime Minister Ghulam
Mustafa Jatoi, Imran Khan's Pakistan Tehrik-i-Insaaf and Tahir-ul-Qadri's Pakistan
Awami Tehrik. Several regional parties, with strongholds in their own provinces
included the Sindh-based Muttahida Qaumi Movement, Awami National Party, Jamhuri
Watan Party, factions of Baluchistan National Movement and Pashtunkhwa Milli Awami
Party.
The National and Provincial elections were held on the same day. More than 72
million registered voters aged 18 and above from a population of 140 million,
elected members for the 342 National Assembly seats and 728 seats of the four
Provincial Assemblies. A total of 2,098 candidates contested for 272 general seats
of the National Assembly. The remaining 60 seats were reserved for women and 10 for
non-Muslim minorities. These seats were to be allocated on the basis of
proportional representation to parties bagging at least five per cent of the total
general seats. In the Provincial Assemblies out of the full 371 seat Punjab
Assembly, 66 were reserved for women and eight for minorities, in the 168 seat
Sindh Assembly, 29 for women and nine for minorities, in the 124 seat N. W. F. P.
Assembly, 22 for women and three for minorities, and the 65 seat Baluchistan
Assembly, 11 for women and three for minorities.
Voting was carried out from 8 in the morning till 5 in the evening on some 65,000
polling stations having 164,718 polling booths across the country, with segregated
voting booths for women. The elections were observed and monitored by hundreds of
local and 300 international observers, including observers from European Union and
the Commonwealth, as well as local rights group.
These elections were different from the previous ones due to the number of
legislation passed by the Government. Convicted people were barred from taking part
in elections under the Representation of the People's Act. Several other
politicians were unable to contest the elections, as they did not have a Bachelor's
Degree, which was a mandatory qualification in the elections. Pakistan's leading
political personalities Benazir Bhutto of the P. P. P. and Nawaz Sharif of the
Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz Group were barred from standing in the elections under
the new electoral laws. And for the first time since 1977, the minority communities
that included Christians, Hindus and Parsees contested and voted for all general
seats in the National and Provincial Assemblies. The age limit of voting in these
elections was also lowered from 21 to 18 years.

The election results issued after inexplicable delay not only led to no major party
having an overall majority in the new National Assembly, but also were surprising
with an unexpectedly large number of seats won by the Islamic parties. The
religious alliance known as Muttahida Majlis-i-Amal (MMA) secured 51 seats,
emerging as the third largest party in the National Assembly elections after P. M.
L. (Q) with 76 seats and PPPP with 62 seats. A total of 121 seats were won by three
major anti-Government parties, including 62 seats by PPPP, 51 by MMA and the PML
(N) won 14 seats. The Islamic parties, which previously had actually won fewer
seats, came in strong this time by capitalizing on opposition to Pakistan's
partnership with the United States in the bombing of Afghanistan and in the war
against terrorism. The MMA got a clear-cut majority in NWFP and Baluchistan
provinces where it easily formed a government on its own. In the rest of the
Provincial Assemblies coalition governments were formed as no party had come in
with a complete majority.

The elections had a low turnout of 20 to 25 percent as compared to 35.42 percent in

1997 general election. Despite government assurances that the elections would be
fair, free and transparent, different political parties alleged that the elections
were engineered and the government was involved in massive rigging. It was alleged
that ballot engineering was behind the sluggish pace of announcements of the
election results.
With no party emerging with a simple majority Pakistan faced menace of a hung
parliament. A coalition government was, however, set up with Mir Zafarullah Khan
Jamali, the candidate of PML (Q) as the Prime Minister of Pakistan with the help of
MQM, a number of independent candidates and 10 members of the Pakistan Peoples
Party Parliamentarians who defected from the party to form their own Forward Block.

Zafarullah Khan Jamali Becomes Prime Minister [2002]

Zafarullah Khan Jamali was elected the 21st Prime Minister of Pakistan by the newly
elected Parliament on November 21, 2002. President General Pervez Musharraf
administered the oath to the new Prime Minster at the Aiwan-i-Sadr on November 23.
He now heads Pakistan's first civilian government after three years of military
rule of General Pervez Musharraf.
The October elections resulted in a political deadlock as no party won with an
overall majority. This led to the delay in the appointment of the Prime Minister.
The President did not call the National Assembly session until the creation of
PPP's forward bloc and the floor-crossing law was held in abeyance. Maulana Fazl-
ur-Rehman of the Muttahida Majlis-i-Amal, Shah Mahmud Qureshi of the Pakistan
Peoples Party Parliamentarians and Mir Zafarullah Khan Jamali of Pakistan Muslim
League (Quaid-i-Azam) were the main contender for the seat of Prime Minister. Mir
Zafarullah Khan Jamali won by securing 172 votes out of 329 votes, against 89
bagged by Maulana Fazl-ur-Rahman and 70 by Shah Mahmud Qureshi. Mir Zafarullah Khan
Jamali was however, able to get the desired number of votes after 10 members of the
Pakistan Peoples Party Parliamentarians defected from the party to form their own
Forward Block in order to support Mir Zafarullah Khan Jamali.
Zafarullah Khan Jamali has promised to continue President Musharraf's economic and
foreign policies, particularly in supporting the ongoing international war against
terrorism. He reiterated Pakistan's support for the United States led war on
terrorism and said "Pakistan has become a frontline state, and will remain one".
Mir Zafarullah Khan Jamali in one of his first acts announced a 25-member Cabinet.
The Cabinet includes four unelected advisers and several legislators who had
defected from Pakistan Peoples Party. The PPPP dissidents for their critical
support to Mir Zafarullah Khan Jamali's pro-Musharraf Pakistan Muslim League
(Quaid-i-Azam) got the top slot ministries in the Government. Rao Sikandar and
Makhdoom Faisal Saleh Hayat have been given the two most powerful Ministries of
Defense and Interior. Out of the ten PPPP dissidents, six have been accommodated
either as full or junior Ministers.
Mir Zafarullah Khan Jamali's Government faces tough challenges ahead. He not only
faces a strong opposition in the National Assembly, but also has to keep his multi-
party coalition together while sharing power with President Pervez Musharraf. The
President still retains the ultimate power, with the authority to dissolve
Parliament and sack the Prime Minister. On December 29, 2002, Mir Zaffarullah Khan
Jamali won the vote of confidence of 188 members out of the 342-seat House.
Jamali, who had plunged into politics against a dictator when he campaigned for
Mohtarma Fatima Jinnah in her presidential race against Pakistan's first dictator,
Ayub Khan, is now working readily and steadily to run the Parliament as well as
uphold the order of the President and the army in various areas. Jamali's clash
with either president or Army will certainly cost his saddle like the late ex-Prime
Minister Mohammad Khan Junejo. It is a tribute to his pleasing personality that
even the main Opposition, i.e., MMA while sticking to its own political agenda, has
pledged publicly not to destabilize his Government so that the democratic
dispensation takes firm roots. His pledge not to take any major step without
consulting the opposition and that his opponents would not be dragged in false
cases has at length led to the strengthening and functioning of �sustainable of
democracy�. Though Mir Zafarullah Khan Jamali who did bear confidence of the
majority in the Parliament and tried to maintain amicable terms with the most
powerful President as well as the Opposition with his traits of humility and
decency, could not complete his five-year term and suddenly had to resign on June
26, 2004.

Seventeenth Amendment [2003]

Seventeenth Amendment is basically the Legal Framework Order 2002 that has been
accepted as part of the Constitution with minor modifications and may be,
therefore, termed as an LFO-amended Constitution. After a surprise deal between
PML(Q) and MMA (Mutahida Majlis-e-Amal), the 17th Amendment has now become part of
the 1973 Constitution after the formal approval of President General Pervez
Musharraf. A year-old constitutional deadlock was broken only because of
"flexibility" shown by President General Pervez Musharraf and top MMA leadership.
The amendment allows General Pervez Musharraf to serve out his term as President,
which ends in 2007, and formalize special powers he had decreed himself giving him
the right to sack the prime minister and disband parliament by decree. In return,
Musharraf agrees to step down as army chief, supposed to be the main source of his
power, by December 31, 2004.
The seventeenth amendment now allows the provision for "vote of confidence for
further affirmation of the president in office by majority of the members present
and voting, by division or any other method as prescribed in the rules made by the
federal government under clause (9), of the electoral college consisting of members
of both Houses of Parliament and the provincial assemblies". Accordingly a vote of
confidence was passed in favor of the President on January 1, 2004 by members of
both National Assembly and the Senate. Despite the fact the MMA abstained from
giving the vote of confidence to the President, it has indirectly accepted him as
elected president by allowing vote of confidence from both houses of parliament and
provincial assemblies.
Under the Article 58(2)(b), "the President in case of dissolution of the National
Assembly shall, within fifteen days of the dissolution, refer the matter to the
Supreme Court and the Supreme Court shall decide the reference within thirty days
whose decision shall be final".
Likewise, under the Article 112, the governor in case of dissolution of the
provisional assembly shall also refer the matter to the Supreme Court with the
previous approval of the president and the Supreme Court shall decide the reference
within thirty days whose decision shall be final.
Another amendment is the addition of the words "in consultation with the Prime
Minister" in place of "in his discretion" in Article 243 of the Constitution giving
the Prime Minister a constitutional say in the appointment of services chiefs.
Article 152(A) of the Constitution has been omitted that related to the
establishment of a National Security Council. The National Security Council may be,
however, created with the passage of a bill with simple majority.
17th Amendment has amended Article 41(1)(7)(b) of the Constitution whereby Article
63(1)(d) of the Constitution has been made inoperative till December 31, 2004.
Article 63(1)(d) deals with the disqualification for membership of Parliament and
under Article 41(2) only a person qualified to be elected as member of the National
Assembly, can be elected as President. This means that for the duration that that
Article 63(1)(d) is inoperative, the President is not barred from being elected as
the President while he holds the office of COAS. But it is interesting to note that
the Article 43(1) of the Constitution still remains intact that says: �The
President shall not hold office of profit in the service of Pakistan carrying the
right to remuneration for the rendering of services,� Since no amendment has been
made in this clause, the Article 43(1) disallows a person simultaneously to be the
President and the COAS of the country.
The bill granted indemnity to all actions of President General Pervez Musharraf
since military action of October 12, 1999 as according to the 270AA, the Parliament
has "affirmed, adopted and declared to have been duly made by the competent
authority � all laws made between October 12,1999 and the date on which the Article
comes into force".
In the Article 179, retirement age of the Supreme Court judges has now been fixed
at 65 year. This was a huge concern for the lawyers of the country who have at
least welcomed this move.

Chaudhry Shujaat Hussain Becomes Prime Minister [2004]

Ch. Shujaat Hussain, who heads the ruling faction of the Pakistan Muslim League,
PML (QA) took the post in a caretaker position on June 30, 2004 four days after
Zafarullah Jamali resigned all of a sudden. Chaudhry Shujaat was elected leader of
the house after securing 190 whereas his opponent ARD�s Makhdoom Amin Fahim got 76
votes. With a 27-member Cabinet, Ch. Shujaat Hussain announced after taking oath as
Prime Minister of Pakistan: "We will continue to pursue the policies of the
President with regard to good governance and economic development".
Prime Minister Ch. Shujaat Hussain announced formation of a special parliamentary
committee to resolve Balochistan crisis by initiating political dialogue and giving
representation all parliamentary parties of the upper House in the committee and
offered to act as a member of the committee to resolve the problem through talks.
Taking into consideration that "the success of the next government will be
evaluated on its economic performance," he said this very thinking led the Pakistan
Muslim League and its allied parties to select Finance Minister Shaukat Aziz as the
next executive head of the country. In an interview, he said: "My nomination by Mir
Zafarullah Khan Jamali and nomination of Shaukat Aziz after consulting the
President were in line with the set traditions. There should be no hue and cry over
such technicalities". Chaudhry Shujaat Hussain expressed gratitude to Almighty
Allah for being the first elected Prime Minister in the country�s history to leave
the office, after discharging his obligations (only for 45 days), with dignity and
honor.
A notable contribution of the 22nd Prime Minister during his short tenure is the
introduction of the Defamation (Amendment) Bill that was hurriedly passed by the
Parliament to protect the dignity, reputation and esteem of a person from any false
and wanton accusation imposing enhanced punishments for libel. Most probably
through the new Defamation Bill, he wanted to save all those from being regularly
accused of getting huge bank loans which were later on written off.
Ch. Shujaat Hussain also directed the Punjab Government to declare village Gah in
District Chakwal � birthplace of Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh � as a model
village and the Government Boys Primary School at Gah as the 'Manmohan Singh
Government Boys Primary School', as a gesture of goodwill to strengthen the peace
process between Pakistan and India. Dr. Singh's family migrated to the Indian side
of Punjab before Partition. When he became Prime Minister in May, there were
celebrations in the Pakistani village where he was born and attended the primary
school.
Another significant announcement made by him was that the coffin of Chaudhry Rehmat
Ali, who evolved the nomenclature 'Pakistan' before partition, will be brought to
Pakistan later this year for a formal burial in Pakistan. Chaudhry Rehmat Ali who
is well-known for his historic pamphlet "Now or Never; Are we to live or perish
forever?" had died in February 1951 and was buried in Cambridge City graveyard.
Later, he coined the word 'Pakistan' for the Muslims who lived in the five northern
states of India - Punjab, North West Frontier (Afghan) Province, Kashmir, Sindh and
Balochistan.

Shaukat Aziz Becomes Prime Minister [2004]

Shaukat Aziz became the 23rd Prime Minister of Pakistan on August 23, 2004 after he
won two National Assembly seats from Attock and Tharparkar on August 18 by-
elections and took oath as Member of National Assembly on August 20. He retained
the Attock seat, he took over the charge of premiership of Pakistan from Chaudury
Shujaat Hussain who remains the President of Muslim League (QA).
He was born in Karachi on March 6, 1949 and received his early education at Saint
Patrick�s School, Karachi and Abbottabad Public School. He was awarded the Master
of Business Administration (MBA) degree in 1969 at the Institute of Business
Administration (IBA), Karachi. He joined the Citibank in 1969, Karachi and served
overseas in 1975, holding higher positions in several countries including USA, UK,
Malaysia, Singapore and Saudi Arabia. He was appointed Executive Vice President of
Citibank in 1992 and till he joined the Government of Pakistan as Finance Minister
in 1999. Well regarded by global financiers, Shaukat Aziz is, indeed, President
Pervez Musharraf's choice for the top post.
Shaukat Aziz who has retained the Ministry of Finance is regarded as an optimist
who is determined to use Pakistan's potential and bring Pakistan at par with other
Asian countries like China, Thailand, Malaysia and other regional economic giants.
He looks for a bright future for Pakistan if its human capital and resources are
utilized positively. After taking oath as Member of the National Assembly, Shaukat
Aziz has also declared that efforts would be made for provision of good governance,
improvement in legal and police systems and provision of opportunities to the
people, especially the common man. Analysts say his main duties as premier will be
to improve the day-to-day running of the federal government and see that policies
are more effectively executed. Many people attribute Pakistan�s economic revival to
his prudent policies, while others claim it was the global situation that made it
possible. Some others argue that his policies did more harm than good by
marginalizing the common man as the poverty level failed to decline. It is,
however, hoped that Mr. Aziz who is the choice of a section of Pakistan's rulers
will win friends in the international financial institutions.
Although Shaukat Aziz is expected to come up with more concrete relief due to his
finance management skill and stress on macroeconomics, Shaukat Aziz will have to
take quick steps on the path of learning the intricacies of both the global and
national politics. It is an area that is full of pitfalls and various blind alleys.
No spiritual or political academy or any book is likely to give him readymade
guidelines about unpredictable turns and situations likely to come his way. He is
sure to succeed if he is convinced to apply the tricks of the "trade".