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Further Reading

Pakistan Leadership

Pakistan has never been a functioning democracy, nor has it ever been a military dictatorship. Its civilian leaders have never been particularly democratic in orientation and its military leaders have never been particularly dictatorial (though General Zia ul-Haq came close). Rather, following a chaotic period of civilian rule between 1947 and 1958, Pakistan has been an unstable and dysfunctional amalgam, with the military seeking simultaneously to engage and rein in the civilians and the civilians doing the same with the military -- both with varying degrees of success.

On September 6, 2008, Asif Ali Zardari, widower of assassinated Pakistan People’s Party (PPP) leader Benazir Bhutto, was elected president and head of state. The PPP-led coalition government moved forward on long-awaited constitutional reforms. In particular, on April 19, 2010, Zardari signed into law the 18th Amendment to the Pakistani Constitution. The amendment realigns executive powers by restoring the prime minister as the premier civilian official and returning the presidency to its original, more ceremonial role as head of state, which largely eliminates constitutional changes made by former President Musharraf to strengthen the presidency. Zardari thus gave up key presidential powers. The reform package also abolishes the two-term limit on prime ministers; restricts the president’s power over judicial appointments; and reorganizes center-province relations, empowering provincial assemblies to elect their own chief ministers. The amendment also renamed the North-West Frontier Province to Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa, which means “Khyber side of the land of the Pakhtuns,” in a nod to the region’s ethnic Pashtun majority.