63-year history. In fact, the only period where the armed forces remained relatively weak and allowed the civilian dispensation to complete its tenure pertains to the five years of Zulfiqar Ali Bhutto's government. Table : Patterns of rule in Pakistan Type
Duration (years)
Period
Direct military rule
17
1958-1962, 1969-1971, 1977-1985, 1999-2002
Elected government under a military president
15
1962-1969, 1985-1988, 2002-2007
Elected government under a civilian president 'rule of troika'
14+
1988-1999, 2008 to date
Supremacy of nonparliamentary forces under formal parliamentary rule
11
1947-1959
Civilian supremacy
6
1971-1977
Source: Mohammad Waseem . 2009. Civil-military relations in Pakistan . In Pakistan in regional and global politics, ed. Rajshree Jetly. New Delhi: Routledge.
The army's first direct intervention occurred in 1958 when the army chief, General Ayub Khan, abrogated the first constitution of 1956. The general continued in power as a martial law administrator-cum-President (1958-63), and later as an indirectly elected president with deep links with the army until 1969. Ayub Khan passed on power to General Yahya Khan, who then transferred power to Zulfiqar Ali Bhutto after the 1971 elections. The pattern was repeated after five years when the then army chief General Zia-ul-Haq sacked the Bhutto government and came into power in 1977. In 1985, he held elections and introduced his version of “guided democracy.” However, the government was sacked after two years and elections held in 1988 after the sudden and mysterious death of the general in an air crash earlier that year. Zia's departure ushered in a decade of elected democracy: a period in which civilian governments were dismissed every two years. The military manipulated the weakness of the political class to remain in power, at least to be able to guard its organizational interests. Moreover, the army chief remained a powerful figure and decisive in terms of power politics. This is what Waseem (2009, 185) refers to as the "rule of the troika,”2 meaning the president, prime minister, and army chief. Even this model proved unstable and a fourth military takeover occurred in October 1999 under the army chief Pervez Musharraf who ruled the country until 2008. During this decade, Musharraf followed the pattern of creating partnerships with handpicked political and civil society players. Such a partnership was also used to elect a civilian government and give the state the semblance of a democracy. Certain unpopular moves by the general (such as the appeasement of India, a deep involvement with American war objectives in the war on terror, and mistreatment of a pliant judiciary) made him highly unpopular, causing his own army to abandon him. The political crisis of 2006/07 resulted in Musharraf's resignation as army chief and president. In 2008, elections were held once again, resulting in a coalition government in the center led by Benazir Bhutto's Pakistan People's Party. Waseem calls it the “rule of troika” but with changes in what constitutes the troika. Waseem is of the view that the troika currently comprises the
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