1. 1All 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

days of peace, development, justice and reasonable harmony.

2. 2to 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 d’etats 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the political process are examined on the basis of hitherto unpublished information and illustrative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 Pakistan’s 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, 19932 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 Pakistan’s politics when politicians, preferring to

subordinate their larger political interests to petty rivalr11ies and infighting, have sought the army’s

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