1.

All the studies in the present series recommend policy pack ages to the rulers to make better

government practicable if the necessary will and leadership are available. However, there is no escape
from the adage: People get the government they deserve. In the first and the last analysis, it is the
people who have to
Foreword vii govern themselves and govern well. The tide of history has brought nearly the whole of
South Asia under democratic rule. The people now have to seize the opportunities created by history
and global change to shake off misrule and misgovemance and lead our societies and civilizations to
2.

days of peace, development, justice and reasonable harmony.

2
to examine governance in Pakistan from the perspective of the relationship between the development
of state institutions and the decision making styles of key individuals within the power structure.
Three military coup detats and frequent changes in Constitution have created instability in the
relationship between various institutions of the state. At the same time, the personalities of key
political leaders, civil servants and military chiefs have contributed to constraining the emergence of a
balance between state institutions on the one hand and state and civil society on the other. This study
analyses why the rules of the game in the exercise of state power had not been established up to the
early 80s and how such rules have begun to evolve over the last six Years. The book starts with an
analysis in Chapter 1 of the economic crisis and the impact of continued poverty, unemployment and
regional disparity on the polarization of society. While the task of governance within a polarized
polity has become increasingly difficult the ability of the civil bureaucracy and the democratic
political system to deal with the crisis has weakened. The consequent change in the balance of power
between the bureaucracy and the military on the one hand and the state and civil society on the other
is analyzed. In this regard, the actual as opposed to the formal exercise of state power is investigated.
In Chapter 2, the changing rules of the game, the nature of political culture and the criminalization of
the political process are examined on the basis of hitherto unpublished information and illustrative
examples. This is followed in Chapter 3 by an analysis of the power structure with reference to three
critical institutions: The Pakistan Army, Intelligence Services and the Civil Bureaucracy. The analysis
in Chapter 4 places the exercise of state power in the
x Preface context of the relationship between foreign and domestic policies. The American
involvement in Pakistans politics is analyzed on the basis of new data, the role of the India factor and
the influences of the Muslim world on the nature of governance are analyzed. The book ends with a
chapter on styles of governance. Here the personalities arid modes of decision making of a number of

1 Problems of pakistan govt , mushahid hussain, 1993

2 Ibid.

key leaders are examined, to show how their individual propensities affected the evolution of state
institutions.
3. Check from new book issued..

Given the politics of personalities that have been prevalent in Pakistan, political parties have invariably
revolved around personalities rather than programmes and policies and, in fact, it is the personality which
invariably defines a party programme in Pakistan3. Additionally, given the feudal nature of Pakistani
politics the accent is on dynastic politics with scions of leading families dominating political parties, and
by extension, the seats in the legislature of the country. Even Bhutto who won the 1970 elections on an
issue-based programme, had, by the time of the 1977 elections, reversed himself politically preferring to
patronize the traditional political elites rather than giving strength to new forces such as the urban middle
and lower middle classes, who had constituted the social base of the anti-Ayub struggle````````
The most damaging feature of the Pakistani political system has been the failure to evolve a democratic
political culture based on political co-existence of contending politicians and political parties and
tolerance of dissent, which constitute the sine qua non
The Nature of Governance n Pakistan 29 of democracy. The absence of a democratic political culture has
tragically manifested itself on key occasions in Pakistans politics when politicians, preferring to
subordinate their larger political interests to petty rivalr11ies and infighting, have sought the armys
intervention to oust a political rival rather than to achieve an accommodation with their political
opponent. This was the case with Ayub Khan in 1969, when despite his concessions to the political forces
on the question of a federal parliamentary structure, politicians like Zulfiqar Ali Bhutto preferred to
extend sup port to the group of ambitious army officers who were keen to abort any political settlement
between Ayub Khan and the politicians so that they could impose martial law and run the country
themselves. Ironically, the chickens came home to roost when Bhutto himself was facing pressure from
the political forces op posed to his government in 1977. Despite having reached an accommodation with
his political opponents, some politicians like Air Marshal Asghar Khan preferred the option of military
rule rather than the continuance of a weakened civil government under Zulfiqar All Bhutto which had, by
July 1977 agreed to hold fresh elections. Similarly, in April 1979, General Zia-ul-Haq was able to order
the hanging of Zulfiqar All Bhutto with the tacit concurrence and, in some cases, connivance of most of
the major politicians of the country3`

3 Ibid. pg 28