Democracy in Pakistan: Dilemma and Reforms: CSS Solved Answer

Exam question: CSS 2023, Q5: The evolution of democratic system has always remained a dilemma in Pakistan, even after passing more than seven decades of its existence the democracy could not get its roots. Discuss in detail.

CSS 2024, Q2: Political stability remains an elusive concept in Pakistan. Explore the factors contributing to the fractured nature of Pakistan’s polity and discuss potential reforms to the constitutional and political structure that could foster stability. (One answer covers both: for 2023, expand Sections 2 and 3; for 2024, expand Sections 3 and 5 on reforms.)

Syllabus topic: Topic XV of the CSS Pakistan Affairs syllabus.

Short answer

Outline for quick revision

Introduction
The Evolution of Democracy: A Cycle of Interruptions: 1947-58: a weak start; Military rule and civilian interludes; The democratic transition since 2008
Factors behind the Fractured Polity: Institutional imbalance; Weak political parties and political culture; Structural and social factors
Has Democracy Achieved Anything?
Reforms to Foster Political Stability: Constitutional and institutional reforms; Political reforms
Conclusion

Reference colours:
Quotation / documentPersonality / historySyllabus bookCurrent referenceOfficial report / policy

1. Introduction

Pakistan was created through a democratic process, elections, a mass party and constitutional negotiation, and its founder envisaged a parliamentary democracy. Yet in more than seventy-five years no elected prime minister has completed a full five-year term, the army has ruled directly for over three decades, and three constitutions have been made, abrogated or suspended.

Democracy in Pakistan has survived but not taken root: elections are held, but power remains contested between elected governments, the military, the judiciary and the bureaucracy. This answer argues that the fractured polity is the result of structural imbalances, between institutions, provinces and classes, and that stability requires reforms that rebalance power and build consensus, not new strongmen or new systems.

Current reference: The EIU Democracy Index 2024 (February 2025) downgraded Pakistan to an “authoritarian regime”, ranking it 124th with a score of 2.84, citing election-day mobile and internet shutdowns, delayed results and the jailing of a leading candidate before the February 2024 election.

2. The Evolution of Democracy: A Cycle of Interruptions

1947-58: a weak start

Pakistan took nine years to make its first constitution; six prime ministers changed between 1951 and 1958, and the Governor-General dissolved the first Constituent Assembly in 1954. The period ended with the first martial law in October 1958.

Official report / policy: In Federation of Pakistan v. Maulvi Tamizuddin Khan (1955), the Federal Court under Chief Justice Muhammad Munir upheld Governor-General Ghulam Muhammad’s dissolution of the first Constituent Assembly (October 1954), on the technical ground that its laws needed his assent; Justice A.R. Cornelius dissented. This opened the way for the “doctrine of necessity”.

Military rule and civilian interludes

Ayub Khan (1958-69) and Yahya Khan (1969-71) were followed by Bhutto’s civilian rule, Zia-ul-Haq (1977-88), the unstable democracy of the 1990s, and Musharraf (1999-2008). Each military ruler came promising to cleanse politics and left behind weaker political institutions.

Official report / policy: On 6 March 2024, a nine-member bench of the Supreme Court unanimously held, in its opinion on a presidential reference, that Zulfikar Ali Bhutto had not received a fair trial before he was hanged in 1979, an official admission of how the judiciary was used under military rule.

The democratic transition since 2008

Since 2008, elected assemblies have completed their terms and power has passed through elections in 2013, 2018 and 2024, the longest democratic period in Pakistan’s history. But the military’s influence has continued in a “hybrid” form, and every elected prime minister has been removed early by courts, votes of no confidence or political crisis.

Personality / history: On 14 May 2006 in London, Benazir Bhutto and Nawaz Sharif signed the Charter of Democracy, pledging not to seek the military’s help against each other, to restore the 1973 Constitution and to set up a truth and reconciliation commission. Many of its pledges were realised in the 18th Amendment (2010).

The cycle that keeps democracy shallow

Elected government: weak, polarised
Crisis: corruption, protest, economy
Intervention: coup, dismissal, court, “hybrid”
Managed transition: engineered return to elections

3. Factors behind the Fractured Polity

Institutional imbalance

Military dominance

A strong army facing early security threats became the most organised institution in a weak state. It has ruled directly four times and, between coups, shaped security policy, foreign policy and increasingly the economy. Recent constitutional changes have further strengthened its formal position.

Syllabus book: Ayesha Jalal, Democracy and Authoritarianism in South Asia (1995), argues that the contrast of “democratic India” and “authoritarian Pakistan” is misleading: both inherited centralised colonial structures, and in Pakistan the dominance of the bureaucracy and the military over weak political parties shaped the state.

Current reference: The 27th Constitutional Amendment (November 2025) created the post of Chief of Defence Forces, held by the army chief with authority over all three services, abolished the post of Chairman Joint Chiefs of Staff Committee, gave five-star officers lifetime rank and immunity from prosecution, and created a Federal Constitutional Court. The government called it a reform for command clarity; critics, including the HRCP and senior judges, said it weakened judicial independence and civilian oversight.

A politicised judiciary

Courts validated coups through the doctrine of necessity, removed elected prime ministers and, at times, became arenas of political conflict. Questions about judicial independence persist under the 26th and 27th Amendments.

Syllabus book: Paula R. Newberg, Judging the State (1995), shows how Pakistan’s superior courts repeatedly legitimised extra-constitutional rule through the “doctrine of necessity”, from Dosso (1958) to Nusrat Bhutto (1977), weakening constitutionalism.

A powerful bureaucracy and weak parliament

Civil servants dominated early decision-making, while parliament has often been bypassed: key laws are passed in haste, committees are weak, and ordinances replace debate.

Weak political parties and political culture

Personality-centred parties

Major parties revolve around families or a single leader and hold few genuine internal elections. This weakens accountability and turns politics into a contest of personalities rather than programmes.

Politics of confrontation

Parties have repeatedly sought the help of non-elected institutions against each other, from the 1990s to the present, instead of settling disputes in parliament. Polarisation after 2022 reached new heights.

Current reference: Former Prime Minister Imran Khan, removed by a vote of no confidence in April 2022, has been in jail since August 2023; in January 2025 he was sentenced to 14 years in the Al-Qadir Trust case, which his party calls politically motivated.

Corruption and patronage

Patronage, corruption and “electables” who change parties before every election undermine public trust and give unelected institutions an excuse to intervene.

“One of the biggest curses from which India is suffering, I do not say that other countries are free from it, but I think our condition is much worse, is bribery and corruption… Another curse is nepotism and jobbery.”
Quaid-i-Azam, Constituent Assembly, 11 August 1947

Structural and social factors

Contested elections

Almost every election has been accused of manipulation, so losers rarely accept results and governments start with a legitimacy deficit.

Current reference: In the 8 February 2024 general election, candidates backed by the PTI, which had lost its election symbol, won more National Assembly seats than any party as independents, but a PML-N-PPP coalition formed the government. The Supreme Court gave the PTI its reserved seats on 12 July 2024, but a constitutional bench reversed this on 27 June 2025, giving the ruling coalition a two-thirds majority.

Feudalism and dynastic politics

Landed elites and political dynasties control rural constituencies, limiting genuine political competition and blocking reforms such as agricultural income tax.

Ethnic and centre-province tensions

Over-centralisation, One Unit, parity and military rule, alienated the Bengalis and later the smaller provinces; grievances in Balochistan and Khyber Pakhtunkhwa still feed instability.

Current reference: On 11 October 2026, citing terrorism of “unprecedented” intensity, the federal government imposed an emergency (Article 232) and governor’s rule (Article 234) in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa. The PTI, which governed the province, called it a political move and said it would challenge it in court.

Economic crisis and low literacy

Recurring economic crises discredit elected governments, while low literacy and poverty make voters dependent on patronage and vulnerable to manipulation.

Syllabus book: Farzana Shaikh, Making Sense of Pakistan (2009), argues that Pakistan’s central difficulty is an unresolved identity: the uncertainty over what role Islam should play in a nation founded in its name. The Two-Nation Theory succeeded as a basis for separation, but its meaning for state-building is still debated.

4. Has Democracy Achieved Anything?

The picture is not entirely negative. The 1973 Constitution has survived two military rulers; the 18th Amendment (2010) restored parliamentary government and provincial autonomy; three consecutive assemblies completed their terms; and the media, civil society and an active electorate, as seen in the high turnout of 2024, make it very difficult to return to open military rule. Democracy in Pakistan is weak, but it is also resilient.

5. Reforms to Foster Political Stability

Constitutional and institutional reforms

Respect for constitutional boundaries

Each institution must work within its role: the military under civilian control (Articles 243-245), the judiciary independent but restrained, and parliament supreme in law-making. A national dialogue among institutions, a new “charter”, could set these boundaries.

Independent Election Commission and credible elections

Make the ECP fully independent in appointments and finances, use technology for transparent result transmission, and enforce election-day standards so that results are accepted by all.

Empowered parliament and local government

Strengthen parliamentary committees and question time, limit ordinances, and implement Article 140A by giving elected local governments real powers and funds, so that democracy reaches citizens.

Federal balance

Implement the 18th Amendment and the NFC Award in spirit, and address the grievances of smaller provinces through the Council of Common Interests rather than emergency powers.

Syllabus book: Katharine Adeney, Federalism and Ethnic Conflict Regulation in India and Pakistan (2007), argues that India’s multi-unit, power-sharing federation contained ethnic conflict, while Pakistan’s centralisation, One Unit, parity and military rule, alienated the Bengalis and the smaller provinces.

Political reforms

Democratise political parties

Require regular, monitored intra-party elections and transparent party finances, and encourage parties to develop policy programmes and new leadership.

A new Charter of Democracy and Charter of Economy

All major parties should agree not to invite unelected institutions into politics and to keep core economic policies stable across governments.

Accountability without victimisation

A credible, non-partisan accountability system that applies equally to politicians, judges, generals and bureaucrats would restore public trust.

Education and political awareness

Investment in education, civic education and youth participation, including restoring student unions, would build a more informed and less manipulable electorate.

6. Conclusion

Democracy in Pakistan has remained a dilemma because power has never been settled: a dominant military, a politicised judiciary, personality-based parties, contested elections, feudal and dynastic politics, and centre-province tensions have produced a polity that is fractured rather than stable. Yet democracy has also proved resilient. Stability will not come from changing the system or relying on strongmen; it will come from rebalancing institutions under the Constitution, credible elections, democratic parties, real federalism and a political consensus, a new Charter of Democracy, that all players accept.

Democracy in Pakistan: Dilemma and Reforms: CSS 2023 and 2024 Solved Answer