Military Coup In Pakistan? – Burning Issues – Free PDF Download

What’s happening?

• The Pakistan Army and the Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI) might carry out a coup d’etat if the political situation in the country becomes more unstable, a defence expert has said.
• “In the coming days if we see a political or constitutional upheaval in Pakistan, or an increase in instability, then we cannot rule out the possibility of another coup in the country,” said defence expert Sanjeev Srivastava.
• “We have to see how the real rulers of Pakistan, that is the Army and the ISI respond to the events that transpired.”

Army hand behind early elections?

• Imran Khan recently disclosed that the country’s ‘establishment’ (widely read as the army) gave him three options to end the ongoing political turmoil:
• Face the no-confidence motion in parliament; Hold fresh elections; Step down from the post of PM.
• Imran stressed that calling early elections was a better option.
• “I said early elections are the best option … I could never think of resigning … and for no-trust motion, I said that I will fight till the last minute,” he said.
• Imran Khan went on to refute allegations that he was thinking of removing Army Chief General Qamar Javed Bajwa, saying that it was “propaganda being spread by the PML-N”.
• “We should not do anything which causes harm to [the military],” he said.

Influence of Pakistan army

• Though Pakistan is constitutionally a democratic parliamentary republic, the military has been in charge for half of its 74-year-long history.
• Since 1947, Pakistan has been ruled by four different military rulers under three different military coups (1958-71, 1977-88 and 1999-2008).

History of military coup

• Pakistan first came under military rule in 1958 when General Ayub Khan seized the presidency from Iskander Mirza.
• Officially, martial law lasted 44 months, but Ayub Khan left office only in 1969 and named General Yahya Khan as his successor.
• Like Ayub Khan, Yahya Khan was the Chief Martial Law Administrator.
• After an embarrassing loss to India in the 1971 war, Yahya Khan was forced to name Zulfiqar Ali Bhutto, who won the nation’s first general elections, as his successor.
• The second military coup took place in 1977 when General Zia ul Haq dissolved the parliament and placed Bhutto under house arrest.
• He resigned in 1985 after picking Muhammad Khan Junejo as the country’s new prime minister.
• Haq continued as President till his death in a plane crash in 1988.
• The third and last military coup took place in 1999 when General Pervez Musharraf ousted Nawaz Sharif, who was facing criticism for retreating from Kargil.
• Musharraf resigned in 2008 with Asif Ali Zardari becoming the new president.

18^th amendment

• In an attempt to stop the cycle of long military rule followed by a brief stint of an elected government, the National Assembly in 2010 passed the 18^th Constitutional Amendment.
• This amendment removed the power of the President to dissolve the parliament unilaterally.
• Though Pakistan has since seen fairly democratic transitions of power, the influence of the army on the decision-making bodies has not reduced.
• In fact, recent developments in Pakistan and the no-trust vote against Prime Minister Imran Khan suggests that the influence has increased in subtler ways.

What next?

• The Opposition moved the Supreme Court on Sunday, April 3, against the dissolution of the National Assembly.
• Consequently, the three-member bench of Pakistan Supreme Court began hearing on the Opposition’s plea over dissolution of National Assembly on Sunday.
• Pakistan’s Chief Justice Umar Ata Bandial noted that all orders and actions initiated by the prime minister and the President regarding the dissolution of the National Assembly will be subject to court’s order.

Q) The concept of martial law has been borrowed in India from?

1. Government of India act 1935
2. US Constitution
3. Canadian Constitution
4. The English Common Law

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