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Benazir Bhutto

Political parties were not allowed to participate in the 1985 elections, and the Pakistan People's Party, led by Benazir Bhutto (Zulfiqar's daughter), boycotted them. After the elections, Zia picked Mohammad Khan Junejo, a politician from Sindh and a minister in one of his earlier cabinets, as his prime minister. The Zia-Junejo period lasted three years until General Zia dismissed the prime minister and dissolved the National Assembly and the four provincial assemblies. Zia cited incompetence, corruption, and failure to further the Islamization process as reasons for his actions. In addition, Zia came to regard Junejo as too independent, and the two men clashed on a number of issues including differences on policy relating to Afghanistan and promotions in the armed services. Zia also announced that new elections would be held.

General Zia's sudden death in a airplane crash in August 1988 near Bahawalpur, a town in central Punjab, left Pakistan without a president, prime minister, or national or provincial assemblies. In a demonstration of the country's resilience, Ghulam Ishaq Khan, the chairman of the Senate, which had not been dissolved by Zia, and next in the constitutional line of succession, became interim president in December. Elections were held, Benazir became prime minister, and Ishaq Khan was subsequently elected president.

After winning 93 of the 205 National Assembly seats contested in the election of November 1988, the PPP, under the leadership of Benazir Bhutto, daughter of Zlfikar Ali Bhutto, formed a coalition government with several smaller parties, including the Muhajir Qaumi Movement (MQM). The Islamic Democratic Alliance (IJI), a multi-party coalition led by the PML and including religious right parties such as the Jamaat-i-Islami (JI), won 55 National Assembly seats. In August 1990, President Khan, citing his powers under the eighth amendment to the Constitution, dismissed the Bhutto government.

In the October 1993 elections, the PPP won a plurality of seats in the National Assembly, and Benazir Bhutto was asked to form a government. However, because it did not acquire a majority in the National Assembly, the PPP's control of the government depended upon the continued support of numerous independent parties, particularly the PML/J. The unfavorable circumstances surrounding PPP rule, the imperative of preserving a coalition government, the formidable opposition of Nawaz Sharif's PML/N movement, and the insecure provincial administrations, presented significant difficulties for the government of Prime Minister Bhutto.

In November 1996, President Leghari dismissed the Bhutto government, charging it with corruption, mismanagement of the economy, and implication in extrajudicial killings in Karachi. Elections in February 1997 resulted in an overwhelming victory for the PML/Nawaz, and President Leghari called upon Nawaz Sharif to form a government.

In November 2002 Pakistan's National Assembly elected Mir Zafarullah Khan Jamali as the country's first civilian prime minister since the 1999 military coup. The 58-year-old Pakistani leader was from the southwestern province of Balochistan. He won 172 votes out of 328, defeating candidates from an Islamic alliance and the party of exiled former Prime Minister Benazir Bhutto. For almost five weeks after the general election, Mr. Jamali's party held several rounds of talks with the alliance of Islamic parties, the Muttahida Majlis-e-Amal, to form a coalition. The negotiations broke down over differences over President Musharraf's constitutional amendments, which allow him to stay in office for five more years. The amendments also gave the president power to dismiss the elected government. Prime Minister Jamali's party accepted these changes, saying they were needed to ensure a stable democratic system in Pakistan.

The multi-party Alliance for Restoration of Democracy (ARD), which was made up of liberal politicians of the PPP and the PML (N), included the political party of former Prime Minister Benazir Bhutto PPP, which emerged as the second largest party in Parliament.

In April 2005, after reports suggesting a partial thaw with former prime minister's in exile Benazir Bhutto and Nawaz Sharif, the husband of Benazir Bhutto was arrested reentering Pakistan. This particular arrest was one of a number labeled as a serious crackdown on the political opposition during the month. Protests came not only from political and religious moderates, but also from religious extremists and their political entities, who continued to challenge Musharraf's alliance with the United States and policies against Islamic oriented militants in Pakistan's tribal border regions. Political opponents were incensed at reports in May 2005 that Musharraf was contemplating staying in power after his term came up in 2007.

In January 2006 Interpol issued fresh warrants, called "Red Notices" on behalf of the Pakistani government for the arrest of Benazir Bhutto and her husband, who had been arrested while in Pakistan in 2005. Bhutto denounced the charges as politically motivated and an attempt to divert attention from Pakistani policies and an errant US air strike into Pakistan that had claimed the lives of a number of innocent civilians. 2006 also saw a major clampdown on militants and political elements pushing for independence or greater autonomy for ethnic Balochis and the Pakistani province of Balochistan. On 26 August 2006 the primary leader of the movements for greater Baloch independence, Nawab Akbar Khan Bugti, was killed by Pakistani security forces triggering massive protests, riots, and other violence, subsequently followed by an equally harsh response from government forces. Those many believed Musharraf to have personally ordered the attack that killed him, Prime Minister Shaukat Aziz publicly denied such claims suggesting that the killing had been accidental, the results of nearby fighting.

As the year 2007 came to a close even more dramatic changes began to occur. The reinstatement of Chaudhry led the judicial system to defy President Musharraf and order the release of Javed Hashimi, who had been held since 2003. Even more daunting was the return in August 2007 of Nawaz Sharif to Pakistan, with Benazir Bhutto suggesting that she too would likely be returning to contest elections. Sharif's supporters rallied around him and were influential in preventing his immediate arrest as had been threatened by Pakistani authorities. Musharraf attempted to strike a deal with Benazir Bhutto while she was still in exile to no avail, but did succeed in being cleared to run in the upcoming election. In November 2007 Musharraf attempting to control the political situation imposed an period of Emergency Rule, giving himself various authorities and putting Benazir Bhutto, who had returned as she planned at the end of October, under house arrest. The restrictions on her travel were lifted, only to be reinstated again before the end of November.

Until 2007, two of the country's major politicians, former Prime Ministers Benazir Bhutto and Nawaz Sharif, were in self-imposed exile in the Middle East, both wanted by the government of Pervez Musharraf on charges of corruption. Bhutto's People's Party of Pakistan (PPP), under the banner of the People's Party of Pakistan Parliamentarians (PPPP), and Sharif's Pakistan Muslim League (Nawaz) [PML (N)] were contesting elections and hope to draw upon residual support for the exiled leaders. While the Muttahida Quami Movement (MQM) did not have nationwide support base, it remained a major political force in the urban Sindh areas. Besides the PPPP and PML (N), key national level players include the Pakistan Muslim League (Quaid-e-Azam) [PML (Q)], a breakaway faction of the original PML, which acquired the label of the "King's Party" due to its strong government backing, the Grand National Alliance, a coalition of regional parties and senior politicians supported by the government, and the Muttahid Majlis-e-Amal (MMA), an alliance of first 4 and later 6 major religious parties that recently received some government support to counter the influence of the PPPP. The Tehrik-i-Insaf, led by Imran Khan, has received considerable publicity, but continued to be considered less than a national-level force.

On 27 December 2007 Benazir Bhutto was assassinated during a political rally. Her death drew international condemnation and various accusations and questions both inside and outside Pakistan as to the perpetrators and any complicity on the part of Pakistani security forces. No link was substantiated to the Pakistani government and elections were delayed until February from January. Musharraf vowed to apprehend the killers, a statement that drew some residual criticism as insincere.