Even after seventy years since it gained independence, Pakistan is yet to see a single prime minister completing his five year tenure. Nawaz Sharif was today disqualified as Prime Minister by the Supreme Court over allegations against the Sharif family for their alleged money laundering and establishing properties abroad. “He is disqualified as a member of the parliament so he has ceased to be holding the office of Prime Minister,” Justice Ejaz Afzal Khan, one of the five judges, passed on the verdict in the packed courtroom. Following the verdict, Nawaz Sharif has resigned from his responsibilities as prime minister. There was heightened security in the capital, with tens of thousands of troops and police deployed. In last seven decades, democracy had a bumpy ride in Pakistan, it has been thrown away by military dictators for four times. With Nawaz failing to complete his five year tenure, the history is repeating itself. Here we have briefed the unstable political history of Pakistan
1) Pakistan’s first prime minister Liaquat Ali Khan, who assumed the charge on August 15, 1947, was murdered in Rawalpindi on October 16, 1951.
2) Less than two years, his successor M Khawaja Nazimuddin was forced to resign by his own appointed Governor-General Sir Malik Ghulam on April 17, 1953.
after he struggled to run the government effectively at internal and foreign fronts.
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3) Diplomat Mohammad Ali Bogra was apponited as PM. However, he was also dismissed by Ghulam Muhammad in 1954 but later was again appointed as PM but he did not enjoy majority in the Constituent Assembly therefore Governor General Iskender Mirza dismissed his government in 1955.
4) Chaudhary Muhammad Ali succeeded Bogra as PM in 1955 but because of his differences with Iskender Mirza who had become president from Governor General as a result of 1956 constitution, Muhammad Ali stepped down on September 12, 1956.
5) Hussain Shaheed Suhrawardy, the leader of Awami League, became the first person from a party other than Muslim League to take the mantle of prime minister of Pakistan in 1956. He was deposed in 1957, due to differences with Iskander Mirza.
6) Then came Ibrahim Ismail Chundrigar, who held the top post for nearly two months only to resign in December 1957.
7) Mirza appointed Feroz Khan Noon as the seventh prime minister of Pakistan. However, his stint also remained short after Ayub Khan,the Commander-in-Chief of the Pakistani Army, usurped power and declared Martial law in October 1958.
8) Pakistan remained under Martial law for nearly 13 years, after crushing defeat from India in 1971, then commander in chief Yahya Khan resigned, Zulfikar Ali Bhutto became president under special arrangement till 1973 Constitution was passed. On 14 August 1973, BHutto became PM after he secured 108 votes in a house of 146 members. He went in to elections in 1977 and succeeded but the military, led by General Muhammad Zia-ul-Haq, staged a coup and he was deposed. Bhutto and members of his cabinet were arrested by troops under the order of General Zia on the pretext of unrest despite Bhutto having reached an agreement with the opposition. He was hanged in 1979 by all powerful military-judicial nexus.
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9) Then 1985 elections were held, in which candidates were unable to represent a political party, Zia appointed Muhammad Khan Junejo as his Prime Minister. Junejo began his term by pushing for the end of martial law and the re-introduction of political parties. Zia ended martial law in December 1985, less than a year after Junejo’s appointment. On May 29, 1988, just days after Junejo announced to probe the Ojhri Camp incident in Rawalpindi in which military’s weapons depot was exploded killing around 100 people and injuring thousands.
10) In 1988, general elections were held in Pakistan that saw Benazir Bhutto becoming the prime minister of Pakistan (Dec 1988).However, due to sever differences, president Ghulam Ishaq Khan invoked the Eight Amendment and dismissed Benazir’s government after just 20 months, on charges of rampant corruption and misgovernance.
11) Nawaz Sharif succeded Ms Bhutto and became PM for the first time in 1990 but Ghulam Ishaq dismissed his government on similar charges three years later. The Supreme Court restored the government, but then Army Chief Waheed Kakar forced both men to resign in 1993.
12) Bhutto became PM again in 1993 but her second government also could not survive over three years as handpicked loyal president Farooq Laghari conspired against her and dismissed her government in November 1996 using the Eight Amendment. Mian Nawaz Sharif again became PM of Pakistan as a result of February 1997 election.
13) However, On October 12, 1999, General Pervez Musharraf usurped power and imposed emergency in the country throwing Nawaz Sharif out of the power.
14) He became the President of Pakistan on 20 June 2001, only to win a controversial referendum on May 1, 2002 which awarded him five years of presidency. Three Then three PMs served the office under Musharaff regime, of which Mir Zafarullah Khan Jamali could hold the office for 19 months. Chaudhary Shujaat acted as a stopgap arrangement for two months before Musharraf’s friend Shaukat Aziz became PM in August 2004.
15) In 2008 general elections, PPP succeeded to secure majority in the National Assembly and Yusuf Raza Gilani was elected as the PM. Gilani remained PM of Pakistan from March 25, 2008 to June 19, 2012. He was forced to resign after he was convicted in a contempt of court case in Supreme Court for not writing a letter against the sitting president to the Swiss authorities to reopen corruption cases. The remaining term of PPP government was completed by Raja Pervaiz Ashraf who held the office from June 2012 to March 2013.
16) In 2013, Nawaz Sharif became the PM for the third time, as he entered the last year of his tenure he was entangled in Panama Paper controversy and he was also dismissed by the Supreme Court of Pakistan.
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