Pakistan’s State Machinery

Pakistan’s state machinery runs on the government of Indian act 1935 which was a British work. with some necessary changes we adopted it. We are still entrenched in the British rules which up to a greater extent are good for governance. When it comes to Jinnah and his cadre, there is no doubt they were able leaders and could have led to governing the newly state well but started worsening from the very base. 1 Indian tilted division of assets 2 no political parties It all went wrong when Jinnah was deliberately left to die because of a high traffic masterminded by Pakistani high officials who wanted the power in their hands. Afterall the assassination of Liaqat was another blow to the innate state. The question here arises why would they kill the two best able leaders? who could have led the newborn state to new heights. When it comes to constitution making it was not confirmed till august whether Pakistan will gain its independence or not, if there was a chance why would the British pass the independence act 1947.There are adequate proofs available of Jinnah buying share in India and Liaqat buying residential house round about 1947. this proofs Pakistan’s existence was not confirmed yet, otherwise, there would have been works underway to frame a constitution for the innate state to come to existence. On the other hand, constitution making is not a piece of cake especially when you have to address representational parities, the minorities problems and much other deep political and constitutional questions. The basic point here is Jinnah and Liaqat were celebrity killed by the planning of high officials to have a firm grip on the power. It is very clear how state machinery collapsed when Liaquat died. There are zero percent chances whether the military bureaucracy was involved in this all. The anti-Ahmadian movement in Pakistan, alleged misgovernance, administrative inefficiency and political deadlock, were given as the justification for dissolving the first constituent assembly. The situation was overwhelming and deteriorating over time even to the point the in Lahore and some other major cities martial law was imposed to control (this might be the first step to full country martial law imposition). On the grounds of misgovernance Ghulam Muhammad dissolved the first constituent assembly and for some of his narrow benefits as well while the constitution making was in final stages. when it comes to the responsibly no one was fully responsible everyone was a part of British secrecy teaching intuitions where there was only a single thing how to gain and retain power. Afterall, the second constituent assembly was established soon after the dissolution of the first.it can be brought to the picture that if the first constituent assembly was not dissolved the constitution could have been adopted earlier then 1956. when it comes to the legality and power. This decision was what led to avoiding all the legal framework and arbitrarily dissolving the assembly which shows the absolute abuse of power and this shows the typical colonial mindset of retaining power in the hands of governor general. The dissolution of the first constituent assembly was challenged before the supreme court which by its majority upheld the decision of the then governor general. This was the first major event where power undermined legality. J. Munir (who later regret his judgment for his life time) chose to serve his narrow benefits above national interest and integrity of the country. Now the precedent was set for future distortions to be justified on.When the constitution of 1956 was adopted, Iskandar mirza was sworn in as the first president in Pakistan. keeping his narrow end benefits in his mind he frequently dismissed several governments through intrigues. The deteriorating political institutions and lack of able leadership led Iskandar Mirza imposed the first martial law with the help of army high command headed by general Ayub khan. Afterall Ayub cleverly dethroned Mirza and took control of the country and assumed office as the chief martial law administrator. Wasn’t it a very big blunder made by civilian government? it was all political issues and could be sorted out through dialogues but nevertheless the Ayubs military regime proved disastrous at the same time prosperous for the country. His 10 years rule is known as the decade of progress. But he was of the opinion that the political parties of the country were responsible for all the instability and yes, he was not wrong at it. Ayub abrogated the constitution and promised to give a new constitution to Pakistan which he gave in the form of 1962 constitution.it was presidential form of constitution which was no more than a self-centered constitution adopted to severe just few, specially the president.  He was having all the powers which and authoritarian rulers enjoy …absolute powers related to law making in the country was vested in him which means he could govern the country as he pleases. Upon enforcement he took oath the president. his decision was challenged by a citizen namely Dosso in the state vs Dosso where he challenged his preventive detention and ultimately the legality of the Ayubs coup regime. once again, the judiciary validated the unconstitutional regime of Ayub under the state necessity. Now here lay a twist, the first thing J. Munir in his justifican give it the name of revolution and stated as under that coups are absolute necessities. how can a political issue be solved by involvement of armed forces??For me the frequent governmental changes was a pure political issue and could have been solved through political dialogue under the democratic principles, what was the reason of coup at the first place? the answer to this question may be that Ayub wanted to rule the country and have absolute power over state affairs (an authoritarian). He was in need to satisfy his opposition for which he got validation from the supreme court through manipulating J. Munir. now who could have questioned the decision of highest judiciary in the state which is the guardian of the constitution??? Now in the general elections of 1965 Ayub played a clever move. he tilted elections in his favor by introducing the system of basic democrats whom were total 80000 in number. For a man like Ayub bribing, manipulating and forcing these few people was totally easy rather than dealing with the total population … with massive rigging he again took the office of the president, For Ayub whose unlawful power was backed by the corrupt judges (just to meet their narrow ends in the form of privileges and much more).For an unlawful retainer of power in the state in modern times, he need validity from courts and Ayub got in the strong position by legitimizing and legalizing his rule through supreme court, this is where I understand that power has once again undermined legality. The regime of Yahya khan once again gave a blow to the basic constitutional frame work of Pakistan upon taking power he imposed martial law in the country. Why? because he wanted to stabilize himself first, he did not repeat the mistakes made by Ayub. He made an announcement that he will hold elections in 90 days but who knew he will not. When the time of elections came, he postponed it on the pretext of unprecedented situation in the country. finally, when the elections were held the Awami league, had a clear majority in national assembly after the second was the PPP of Bhutto, who was the most popular leader in west wing. Now constitutionally the Awami league of Mujib was to form government in center but unfortunately, the greed for power prevailed again and Yahya khan deliberately did not call the session of national assembly to select the pm and cabinet. Bhutto was backed by powerful west Pakistani elite who all wanted power to be vested in their hands …while Mujib was backed by weak east Pakistanis who wanted provisional autonomy. The legal framework order of Yahya showed a procedure how would the country be run in the meantime. This political unrest and power games played in west Pakistan led to the succession of east Pakistan backed by Indian forces and 1971 war. one interesting thing here was the case of Asma Jilani in which court gave verdict in favor of thew petitioner and for the first time in Pakistan a military regime was opposed by judges but dare to those judges if they given passed such a judgment in the time when Yahya was in office. I think if the assembly was summoned it would have resulted in the peaceful cover of political dead lock. Why was Mujib not allowed to form government in the first place? The most probable answer to this is the west Pakistanis never wanted to share power with the east Pakistanis from the beginning which can be proved easily. This unrest was a result of greed for power and constitutional legality was once again ignored and the consequences followed. Bhutto can be named as a civilian dictator as he maintained martial imposed after assuming power and his acts done there under. When east Pakistan became Bangladesh and only the west wing remained so then, Bhutto with the majority in the national assembly assume the office of the prime minister and promised to give a new constitution to the country. Firstly, the intermittent constitution of 1973 was passed which gave the country a legal framework to work in, and finally the constitution of 1973 was adopted by the national assembly and it was one of the biggest best works of Z.A Bhutto. His government may be criticized for several reasons, Bhutto himself was in favor of a presidential form of government but with due pressure from assembly and people at large he opted for parliamentary government system. His economic reforms such as nationalization of major industries gave a very big blow to the economy and pushed Pakistan’s economy further backwards…because these industries were headed not by experts but the ones loyal to Bhutto who had inadequate knowledge of running an industry. Secondly, he again using his power at the center pulled rope against his political opponents. Some of whom were jailed the others were not allowed to talk against his policies which is a complete turn from practicing true democracy in Pakistan. Once again the military junta got the opportunity to take over and by these situations and opportunities provided by the civilian facade itself. Zia turned the table around on Bhutto and assumed power declaring himself chief martial law administrator and imposed martial law. now coming to the era of Zia come to power using the reasons the political unrest following the 1977 elections and the economic decline the country was facing. coming to power the first step he took was to impose martial law and he does not abrogate the constitution of 1973 but kept it in abeyance. After that, he promulgated a PCO which served the interests of the CMLA. this shows that once again legality became subservient to power which was going to result in complete chaos. Zia was an Islamist and want the country to be governed through strict Islamic principles that was the main reason he started the process of Islamization in the country and through his orders like PCO and others he established federal Shariat court and Islamic ideology council which would work to bring the laws of the state in conformity with the injunctions of Quran and Sunnah. through this he secured popular public support because majority of population in Pakistan is Muslim and specially, he took into confidence the extremist Islamic parties in the state. The other blunder he made was the introduction of the eighth amendment giving the president more powers contrary to the typical parliamentary system. the most brutal power this amendment gave was of that contained in the article 58 (2) b. under this article the president was given the power to dissolve the national assembly and the same was done with the provinces empowering the governors to dissolve the respective provincial assemblies. now coming to legitimizing his rule. the judiciary again legitimized the rule of military through incorporating theory of state necessity in the landmark case of Nusrat Bhutto case. in the mean while Bhutto was the only strong rival to Zia because he was an able leader to face Zia. now Zia was waiting for an opportunity to get rid of Bhutto and he finally have it when the father of Kasuri (a close associate of Bhutto) was killed and Bhutto was alleged in this case. As the case went to court the establishment was already against him and he was also not given a free trail. what if Bhutto was entertained in a free trail? probably he could have escaped this false accusation finally he was hanged to death and Zia got what he wanted. now in the meanwhile Zia assumed the office of the president and took Muhammad khan Junejo with as a puppet pm. but soon they both got into conflict because Junejo want to restore parliamentary system in its essence. This brings us to the point where the civil government i.e. executive paved way for Zia’s unconstitutional rule and later by force it was legitimized by judiciary because the judiciary wanted to meet its own narrow ends which included continuation in office After the death Zia. Ghulam Ishaq khan assumed the office of the president. Benazir also returned from abroad and took control of PPP. the main opponent of PPP was Nawaz sharif who belong to Punjab. In the elections PPP swept the polls at the national assembly and Benazir becoming the first lady prime minister of Pakistan. Large-scale rigging took place on polls in Punjab because Ishaq does not wanted Benazir to be in full control therefore he, using his influence installed the government of PMLN in Punjab. Again political unrest rose up in the country and Benazir’s government partly failed to run the affairs of the state. Ishaq using his discretionary powers dissolved national assembly. and through next elections Nawaz come into power who faced the same consequences then Benazir again, but the second Nawaz government was restored by the court which was a landmark decision in the judicial history of Pakistan following all this once again the civilian’s paved way for a military coup This again showed how the quest for power can affect constitutional frame work of the country. Musharraf’s takeover was also because of the conflicts between civilian authorities but until this time the civilian bureaucracy, the military and judiciary were well intrenched into protecting the interests of each other, what most of the authors have labelled as “The Troika”. But Musharraf got the constitution into abeyance and promulgated the PCO. He wanted his regime to be legalized. To achieve this objective and legitimize his unconstitutional regime Musharraf playing a clever move, promulgated an oath of the office order. The judges who would take oath under this order were to continue in office and those two don’t would cease to hold office.  In this aftermath only 32 out of 96 judges of the superior courts took oath and they ultimately legalized the regime of Musharraf. Of the judges who did not take oath was also the chief justice of Pakistan Iftikhar Choudry. who was threatened to take oath but bravo to him he didn’t and was detained in his home. Finally, Musharraf took the office of the president he did the things which were a direct concern to the integrity and sovereignty of Pakistan. He did a little bit extra favor to the Americans by not only providing then bases in Pakistan but they were allowed to freely move in Pakistan and even the locals were asked to accompany then in fulfilling their needs. For what did Musharraf took such a step? just to have support of the mighty Americans. His regime was a complete failure in terms of bringing prosperity to Pakistan. Coming to the coalition of Zardari and Nawaz and the government of PPP. In times of Musharraf, Zardari and Nawaz turned completely hostile to the military junta  and get to sign Murree declaration in which PPP and PMLN would both work together to oust Musharraf out of power One of the main provisions of this declaration was restoration of independence of judiciary PPP and PMLN were successful in ousting Musharraf out of power now was the time to contest the general elections of 2008. PPP swept all the polls in Sindh and through a coalition of PPP and ANP, ANP formed government in KPK, in Punjab the PMLN was able to form government.
This election was mostly free and fair and the fun part Musharraf also contested elections by forming his own political party. PPP was the majority party in national assembly and they formed cabinet through the support of the PMLN. Gilani was given the office of pm and Zardari, sworn in as the president. Now the issue was the restoration of deposed judges under the oath of the office order. Zardari who had the favor of the sitting chief justice and doesn’t wanted Iftikhar Choudry to be restored but due to a large force by his coalition parties in the center he has to, albeit he sought not to on one pretext or the other. This all shows what power can do to a person. how and what consequences will the country face if legality in undermined by power.
when finally, Iftikhar was restored it led to an era of judicial activism where judiciary would frequently interrupt in the executive actions and declare them void. This blurred the separation of powers and ultimately led to the 26 and 27 amendments where the powers of judiciary are up to a higher mark curtailed.

 Writer:( Muhammad Hadid ) Student of LLB (Hons) Khyber Law College 4th Semester )