Pakistan
Pakistan, 1947 to today. Draft, not yet reviewed
Pakistan gained independence in 1947 after the partition of British India, which awarded separate statehood to its Muslim-majority regions and was accompanied by an unparalleled mass migration and loss of life. Initially a dominion of the British Commonwealth, Pakistan adopted a republican constitution in 1956 and became an Islamic republic with two geographically separate provinces, East Pakistan and West Pakistan. East Pakistan seceded as the new country of Bangladesh in 1971 after a nine-month-long civil war. In the following four decades, Pakistan has been ruled by governments that alternated between civilian and military, democratic and authoritarian, relatively secular and Islamist.
Seat of power: Islamabad
Rulers
Liaquat Ali Khan
Prime Minister of Pakistan, 1947–1951
Khan's premiership oversaw the beginning of the Cold War, in which his foreign policy sided with the United States-led Western Bloc over the Soviet Union-led Eastern Bloc. He promulgated the Objectives Resolution in 1949, which stipulated Pakistan to be an Islamic democracy.
Portrait of Liaquat Ali Khan: Unknown authorUnknown author - but due to age, image in public domain, Public domain, file
Khawaja Nazimuddin
Prime Minister of Pakistan, 1951–1953
His term was marked by constant power struggles with his own successor as governor-general, Ghulam Muhammad, as law and order deteriorated amid the rise of the Bengali Language Movement and protests in his native Dhaka in 1952, and religious riots in Lahore a year later. The Lahore riots saw the first instance of martial law, limited to the city, and led to Governor-General Ghulam Muhammad dismissing Nazimuddin on 17 April 1953.
Portrait of Khawaja Nazimuddin: Unknown authorUnknown author - but due to age, image in public domain, Public domain, file
Muhammad Ali Bogra
Prime Minister of Pakistan, 1953–1955
His foreign policy strongly pursued the strengthening of bilateral relations between Pakistan and the United States, while downplaying relations with the Soviet Union. He successfully proposed the popular political formula that laid the foundation of the constitution in 1956 which made Pakistan a federal parliamentary republic.
Portrait of Muhammad Ali Bogra: White House Photographic Collection, Public domain, file
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Iskandar Ali Mirza
President of Pakistan, 1956–1958
He was the first president of Pakistan, from the promulgation of the constitution in 1956 until his overthrow in a coup in 1958. Declaring martial law and unilaterally abrogating the constitution on 7 October 1958, he appointed Ayub Khan as Chief Martial Law Administrator who later overthrew Mirza on 27 October 1958 and assumed the presidency.
Portrait of Iskandar Ali Mirza: Unknown authorUnknown author, Public domain, file
Ayub Khan
President of Pakistan, 1958–1969
His presidency started in 1958 when he overthrew President Iskander Mirza in a coup d'état, and ended in 1969 when he resigned amid mass protests and strikes across the country. He aligned Pakistan with the United States, and allowed American access to air bases inside Pakistan, most notably the airbase outside of Peshawar, from which spy missions over the Soviet Union were launched.
Portrait of Ayub Khan: Office of the President of Pakistan, Public domain, file
Fazal Ilahi Chaudhry
President of Pakistan, 1973–1978
He was the first legislatively-elected president in the country's history, serving as a constitutional figurehead. He resigned in 1978 due to Zia-ul-Haq's martial law following the 1977 coup d'état which overthrew Zulfikar Ali Bhutto's government.
Muhammad Zia-ul-Haq
President of Pakistan, 1978–1988
He ruled Pakistan from his coup in 1977 until his death in an airplane crash in 1988. Zia deposed Bhutto in a military coup and declared martial law on 5 July 1977. Backed by the United States and Saudi Arabia, Zia coordinated the Afghan mujahideen against the Soviet occupation throughout the 1980s.
Portrait of Muhammad Zia-ul-Haq: Pakistan Army, CC BY-SA 4.0, file
Ghulam Ishaq Khan
President of Pakistan, 1988–1993
He assumed the presidency in accordance with the constitutional line of succession following Zia's death. He invoked the Eighth Amendment and dismissed the government of Prime Minister Benazir Bhutto after just 20 months.
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Farooq Leghari
President of Pakistan, 1993–1997
He was the first ethnic Baloch to be elected president. Differences emerged with Prime Minister Benazir Bhutto on policy issues in 1995, and in 1996 he dismissed her government.
Portrait of Farooq Leghari: Samar Saeed Akhtar, CC BY-SA 3.0, file
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Muhammad Rafiq Tarar
President of Pakistan, 1998–2001
As head of state, Tarar shifted Pakistan's system of government from semi-presidential system to parliamentary democratic system by signing the Thirteenth Constitutional Amendment. He surrendered his reserve power of dismissing the Prime Minister.
Portrait of Muhammad Rafiq Tarar: Pauleee1. Cropped version by Sahara4u, CC BY-SA 3.0, file
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Pervez Musharraf
President of Pakistan, 2001–2008
He overthrew Nawaz Sharif's government in the 1999 coup d'état and proclaimed himself the chief executive of Pakistan, under martial law. In 2001, Musharraf seized the presidency through a legal order and a referendum but was constitutionally confirmed in this capacity in 2004. His presidency sponsored the premierships of Zafarullah Jamali and later Shaukat Aziz and played a major role in the American-led war on terror in Afghanistan.
Portrait of Pervez Musharraf: Antônio Cruz/ABr, CC BY 3.0 br, file
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Asif Ali Zardari
President of Pakistan, 2008–2013
He spearheaded a coalition that forced military ruler Pervez Musharraf to resign, and was elected president on 6 September 2008. As the new co-chairman of the PPP, he led his party to victory in the 2008 general elections.
Portrait of Asif Ali Zardari: Press Service of the President of the Republic of Azerbaijan, CC BY 4.0, file
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Mamnoon Hussain
President of Pakistan, 2013–2018
Hussain maintained a low-key profile as president and his role was rarely seen in the nation's politics, although he was involved in a Polio eradication program. He took over the presidency after an oath administered by the Chief Justice of Pakistan on 9 September 2013.
Portrait of Mamnoon Hussain: Press Service of the President of the Republic of Pakistan, CC BY 4.0, file
Arif Alvi
President of Pakistan, 2018–2024
He was elected as the 13th President of Pakistan after defeating Fazal-ur-Rehman and Aitzaz Ahsan, after which he resigned from the National Assembly and was sworn into office on 9 September 2018, succeeding former President Mamnoon Hussain.
Asif Ali Zardari
President of Pakistan, 2024 to today
He has served as the 14th president of Pakistan since 2024, having served as the 11th president from 2008 to 2013. He is the first Pakistani head of state born after the country's independence.
Portrait of Asif Ali Zardari: Press Service of the President of the Republic of Azerbaijan, CC BY 4.0, file
Culture
- Pakistan is the site of several ancient cultures, including the 8,500-year-old Neolithic site of Mehrgarh in Balochistan, the Indus Valley Civilisation of the Bronze Age, and the ancient Gandhara civilisation.
- The regions that compose the modern state of Pakistan were the realm of multiple empires and dynasties, including the Achaemenid, the Maurya, the Kushan, the Gupta, the Ghaznavids, the Delhi Sultanate, the Mughals, and finally, the British Raj from 1858 to 1947.
- It is an ethnically and linguistically diverse country, with similarly diverse geography and wildlife.
- Pakistan's political history since independence has been characterised by periods of significant economic and military growth as well as those of political and economic instability.
Picture
The Faisal Mosque in Islamabad is the national mosque of Pakistan and the sixth-largest mosque in the world.
Image: Ali Mujtaba, CC BY-SA 4.0, file
Sources
Text adapted from the Wikipedia articles listed as sources, CC BY-SA 4.0.