Political Systems of Pakistan: an Interplay of State Pillars, Constitution and Power
Pakistan as a state, since its independence from British India, have been engrossed with all sorts of social, economical, political and religious paradigms giving much augmentation to in differences and less tolerance among the people of the country. The four pillars of the state: Legislature (parliament), Judiciary, Executive and Media have survived many critical eras in terms of their development as institutions and also as state governing pillars of a developing country. State in general terms refer to an assemblage of human beings, under an organized form of government within a country. It is likely to be said that, the functioning and organization of a state are mostly based upon it state pillars; however in case of Pakistan, the collision among the four pillars and different variations of governmental forms shifting from democracy to dictatorship and so forth from time to time, have sabotaged the development of the country and its state pillars, on the whole.
Despite almost 74 years of independence, the country have not been able to decide upon which political system it needs to adopt for it governance; democracy though may not be the best system for governance, yet happens to be better than military rule for diverse societies such as of Pakistan.
It helps in bringing consensus among individuals and also in the working of the state pillars based upon cohesiveness and collaboration of one with another. Executive see laws being duly obeyed by all with no infringement; judiciary determines whether or not the law in applicable to any particular case; legislative commonly known as parliament is a supreme body which consists of two houses: National Assembly and Senate, looks upon the responsibility and answer-ability of the executive before the legislature; media considerably much more free in recent times, helps in conveying the message across the masses.
In any country, the Constitution is basic laws under which a country is governed helps in regulating different religious, ethnic, linguistics, political and social-economic class backgrounds societies; with that also strengthen the organs (pillars) of the state by defining parameters for individuals, providing them with privileges such as freedom to speech, religion, equality before law, liberty, etc., within a state. However in case of Pakistan after partition, it took the leadership 9 years to come up with the very first Constitution of the country in 1956, creating a gap of institutional development and governance which gave way to military to take control over the country, devastating the already weak state pillars.
Military has always been a powerful institution within Pakistan, due to the external and internal treats being faced by the country in terms of thug-wars between India and Pakistan, the rise of the religious extremists in the current times, to its role in the natural disasters such as earthquakes or floods and also because of the many institutes formulated such as the ISI, National Security Council and others, have given it a leverage to interfere in country’s politics, every now and then.
Democratic government in its early years, as a form of governance within Pakistan didn’t last much due to high level of corruption and in-efficiency of the pillars to bring about cohesiveness among one another. The dismissal of democratic governments by the Presidents of the mere governments, such as Benazir Bhutto’s and Nawaz’s government gave much more power to military to take over the politics of the country via different military rules, imposing Martial Law by suspending the Constitution making the President sole bearer of power, taking all political decisions as being both the Head of the State and the Head of the Government.
The four military rules were not only accepted by the then formulated Parliaments (Legislative) but with the help of Amendments, such as the 17th Amendment enacted by General Zia-ul-Haq and 8th Amendment by General Musharraf which retroactively legalized Musharraf’s 1999 coup gave military dictators much more authority and rule of power, within the state. The Parliament also passed a bill in the Constitution, allowing Musharraf to keep both offices, i.e. being the Head of the State and also Chief of Army Staff, simultaneously. It was during military coups that the Parliamentary System was replaced with Presidential System, curtailing the role of executive as the office of Prime Minister did not exist, the President, who was also the chief martial law administrator, effectively had the powers of Prime Minister as the Head of Government.
The different war-based policies supported by military administrators, such as Pakistan-U.S. military alliance against the Soviet Union and Islamization policies brought in by Zia-ul-Haq and Musharraf’s profound support for ‘War on Terrorism’ have brought in tribunal disturbance and religious extremism within the country, which is taking against the state, due to change perspectives between the extremists organizations, political leaders and policy makers. The interplay of military ruled executive and legislative also led to the intensification of Bengali Nationalist Movement in the East Pakistan which due to Yahya Khan’s failure crisis management culminated in the separation of East Pakistan.
Judiciary in Pakistan have always been seen as an oppressed and less legitimate institution due to its lack of consistency and Writ of law, the Constitution which forms the basic laws was suspended every now and then by military rulers leading to judicial crisis. It was in 1973 that Zulfikar Ali Bhutto formed a constitution committee comprising members of the government and the opposition, drafted the 1973 Constitution being followed till date. Contempt of courts resulted in attaching the courts and the Chief Justices, have been seen both in military and democratic form of governments. Nawaz Sharif’s 14th Amendment prohibited legislators and lawmakers from dissenting or voting against their own parties; while Musharraf’s Oath of Judges, required judges to take a fresh oath of office swearing allegiance to military. In 2007, Musharraf suspended Chief Justice Iftikhar Chaudhary and pressed corruption charges against him which sparked protests among Pakistani lawyers. The lawyer’s movement and campaign after the suspension of Chief Justice Iftikhar, across Pakistan helped in the restoration of judiciary as an efficient and effective pillar of the state, with that have also helped judiciary develop as an epitome of justice and lawmaking.
Media, being the fourth pillar of the state, among Legislature, Judiciary and Executive, is the weakest among all due to lack of freedom of information and the class system within the media, as most of our media is controlled by huge Media Houses. Censorship impositions and suppression of media by different regimes have not only made our media bias, with that have somehow lessen their overall morale towards professionalism. However, with time media as a medium of communication have started to realize its professional responsibilities and is now working towards better deliverance of news, facts and entertainment.
Though the state pillars are all responsible for today’s damaged image of Pakistan, however with time and maturity in the political system, the state pillars have started to work in much more alignment and collaboration than ever.
The very recent 18th Amendment passed by the Parliament have given much more autonomy to provinces and assemblies, and can also help in limiting military rule from main government influence by curbing the 17th and 8th Amendment, passed earlier. The passage of one democratic government to another is also one of the achievements which have further strengthened democratic politics within the country. Democracy in Pakistan still needs time to mature, therefore good governance and effectively functioning institutions are required along with sensitive policies and well-designed public investment to improve resource allocation and comparative advantage, enhance productivity, facilitate more efficient markets and distribute the benefits of growth more equitably in the economy.
The Constitution also needs to respond to the changing conditions and the new requirement of the society, rather than being altered to suit the interest of certain individuals and institutions which happen to be in power, should be altered for the betterment of the country’s profile to create a positive image of the country, for the outer world. Power rather being in hands of few individuals or certain institutions needs to be divided horizontally among judiciary, the legislative and the executive, and vertically between central, provincial and local authorities, for better accountability and consistency of results among the institutions. Political leaders in Pakistan need to learn from their past experiences, in order to help Pakistan come out from the many challenges it is facing currently; the state pillars, institutions, bureaucracy and civil society needs to work together in order to bring about positivity and peace.
