Pakistan Early Turmoil: The Roots of Political Chaos and Military Dominance in 1947-58

Abstract

In Pakistan, political chaos has been a constant problem since its beginning in 1947. It has diminished economic, social and democratic development. There were many causes of political chaos including the deaths of the greatest leaders Muhammad Ali Jinnah (first Governor-General of Pakistan) and Liaquat Ali Khan (first Prime Minister), rapidly changing civilian governments and the dissolution of the national assembly for their own purposes. The main purpose of this research is to analyze the first ten years of Pakistan to understand how democracy failed and how military dominance rose in early times. This study identifies and analyzes the roots and impacts of political chaos in Pakistan. Due to political instability and chaos, there was increased military intervention, corruption, and weakened political institutions and civilian governments. After that Ayub Khan directly imposed martial law in 1958. This research utilizes qualitative research and historical and analytical design to identify the roots of political chaos and military intervention in early years. The primary and secondary data were collected through research articles, government websites and peer-reviewed journals. These sites and sources provide detailed and analytical information for understanding civil-military relations. There are two theories applied to this research as civil military relations (Huntington, 1957), which identifies weak civilian governments that are enabling military intervention, and political culture theory (Finer, 1962), which explains why societies with low political culture are vulnerable to military takeover. The findings indicate that in the early years of Pakistan political chaos was caused by fragile institutions, insincere leadership and frequently changing prime ministers of Pakistan (Jalal,1990). The 1954 dissolution of the Constituent Assembly weakened parliamentary authority and normalized executive interference, which reduced civilian control over state institutions. These factors raised the role of bureaucracy and the military in the political system of Pakistan. Therefore, the imbalance of power between military and civilians set a pattern in early years which still affects the country's political affairs.