Pakistan's politico-military tango: Relationship fractured by deep State

Hindustan Times

12-05-2025

The idea of Pakistan as an Islamic democracy that offered space for other religions and cultures to coexist within an Islamic State vanished with the death of its founder and first Governor General, Muhammad Ali Jinnah. What has emerged since is a State that has demonstrated a fractured and unstable politico-military relationship that has seriously impeded Pakistan's evolution from a colony to a modern State.
There are three main themes that highlight the politico-military dynamics that exist in Pakistan. The first is an absence of consistent political acumen and the widespread corruption within Pakistan's political parties since its creation, which has offered space for the military to step in and offer notions of stability and power to its people. Pakistan's political instability relative to India is exemplified by the fact that it has had 24 prime ministers compared to India's 14.
The second theme that merits attention is the political rise of the Pakistan army and its gradual domination of the violent political landscape. From Prime Minister (PM) Liaquat Ali Khan's assassination at a political rally in 1951, to the recent attempt to assassinate Imran Khan in November 2022, the Pakistan army has — in one or the other form — been linked to these attempts as part of a continuous struggle for supremacy over the political and civilian establishment.
The methodology followed by the Pakistan army over the years to dominate the political landscape has followed two models. The first model is the military dictator model in which the Pakistan army chiefs have brazenly seized political power and proclaimed themselves as president to seemingly infuse stability in the country after engineered political crises. Generals Ayub Khan, Yahya Khan, Zia-ul-Haq, and Pervez Musharraf are examples of this model. In their regime, dummy PMs were installed, and these dictators ruled the country with an iron hand. An interesting trivia that indicates the longevity and domination of the Pakistan army is that since the creation of Pakistan, its army has just had 15 army chiefs with tenures ranging from two years to as long as 12 years (Zia). India, on the other hand, has had 31 army chiefs who have consistently stuck to the two-year/retirement at 62 years template that is mandated as per law.
The dominance of the Pakistan army has been periodically challenged by powerful politicians like Zulfiqar Ali Bhutto, Nawaz Sharif, Benazir Bhutto, and Imran Khan, all of whom came to power on a consistent anti-India and Kashmir-centric plank. When coupled with the global pressure that linked the continuation of aid to the return of democratic processes, these politicians came to power with the backing of specific factions within the Pakistan army. However, what emerged that whenever these politicians attempted to flex political power and marginalise the military, they were removed from power — Zulfiqar Ali Bhutto was hanged, Benazir was assassinated, Nawaz Sharif was exiled, and Imran Khan was imprisoned, all at the behest of powerful army chiefs.
The last theme that is not often discussed in India relates to the continuous tinkering with the Constitution that changes Pakistan's politico-military equations. Rubber stamp presidents have often been used by the Pakistan army to dissolve the National Assembly and conduct fresh elections, usually to install an elected government favourable to the army. In 1987, President Zia-Ul-Haq engineered the 8th Amendment which gave the president (himself) sweeping powers to dismiss the National Assembly. In 1997, the 13th Amendment was passed during a decade-long period of strong civilian rule, under PMs Benazir Bhutto and Nawaz Sharif. The Amendment nullified the 8th Amendment and clipped the wings of the President. The following decade saw a period of dominance of the Pakistan army with Musharraf proclaiming himself president in 2001 after three years as the army chief, a move that saw him undermine the Constitution to stay in office till 2008 when he resigned to avoid impeachment.
Soon after Musharraf's downfall, the 18th Amendment was put in place in 2010 to further limit presidential powers and improve federalism, a move that has not paid much dividend as far as limiting the powers of the army, though there have been previous army chiefs in the recent past such as General Qamar Bajwa who have attempted a more sophisticated way of retaining power in Pakistan — through a masquerade of submitting to civilian authority. Bajwa's successor, General Asim Munir is a radicalised general in the Zia mould who has plunged the politico-military dynamics in Pakistan to a new low. After the current crisis, only time will tell whether this relationship will see a change.
Arjun Subramaniam is a military historian and a strategic commentator. The views expressed are personal
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