Journey of

Pakistan:
1947-2022
Essay written by Zaineb Iman
Dated: 06th September, 2022
Introduction: The birth of Pakistan

On 14th August, 1947, one of the greatest days of our history, Pakistan came into existence.
All the efforts and struggles of the Muslims finally became fruitful. Quaid-e-Azam
Muhammad Ali Jinnah became successful in creating a separate autonomous state after
facing rash difficulties and politics. The Muslims of Subcontinent found their new home after
dire calamities that took away many lives and assets. A huge amount of people slaughtered,
families torn apart and assets appropriated. It took a huge sacrifice to achieve what was
needed. The people suffered at the name of freedom and faith so we could breathe within a
country that we call our own. Today we are a free nation due to the abundant losses and labor
of our ancestors.

Early tragedies

As we all know, after the emergence of Pakistan, the country went into a state of dilemma.
Many promises were broken and rights were usurped despite of making agreements. The
situation of the state was poor and the government had to build the country up from scratch.
This took many efforts and strategies by the rulers that took over charge for Pakistan. At the
time of the Partition the cash balance of the undivided state was 4,000 million Rupees. An
agreement was signed to divide these cash assets and give Pakistan a share of 750 million
Rupees out of which Rs. 200 million were paid to the state as an interim installment and the
rest was kept outstanding. The rest Rs. 500 million was paid later upon Gandhi’s request and
Rs 50 million were retained for some claim against Pakistan.

During the early days of Pakistan, she faced many issues such as, the Indus basin division,
accession of princely states, Kashmir crisis, division of assets and many more. The freedom
itself brought many difficulties with it. Quaid-e-Azam, as the governor general, worked day
and night to face these problems and solve the matters. In 1948, Jinnah died due to some
protracted disease and Khawaja Nizamuddin became governor general.

Where the world was

As all of this came through, much other advancement and turnovers took place throughout
the world. Arabs fought war with Israelis and lost as state of Israel came into being. The
“World Health Organization” was established as a special agency by the United States.
Mahatma Gandhi was assassinated at the age of 78 in New Delhi. The founding of the
Democratic People’s Republic of Korea (North Korea) took place. The Western European
treaty was signed among the five European nations. While Pakistan was busy building and
lifting itself up from the ground many other countries were looking down upon us. As the
years passed, many events took place that carried out the destiny of our nation as it moved
forward. Within the next ten years, many more countries like Morocco and Tunisia became
independent. China also brought itself into light as a nation only two years after Pakistan.

Where Pakistan stood?

1. 1952-1971

Prime Minister Nazimuddin put forth the Basic Principal Committee 1952. The purpose for
this committee was to introduce the basic underlying principles that help determine the future
constitutions and legislature in Pakistan. Iskander Mirza governer general became the
president when 1956 constitution was adopted under the leadership of PM Chaudhary
Muhammad Ali. After a span of two years, Martial law was enforced in 1958. Iskander
mirza abrogated constitution and General Ayub Khan was appointed as the Chief Martial
Law Administrator. He later declared himself president and Iskander Mirza were exiled to
Great Britain. Elective Bodies Disqualification Order was created by General Ayub Khan for
disqualification of politicians. A person could be disqualified for being member of any
elective body till 1966.

The Basic Democracies 1959 was brought about by General Ayub which stated that basic
democrats be elected from local council men who later elected Ayub Khan as president. With
the formation of the constitution of 1962, the military regime ended and Ayub Khan became
the president of Pakistan 1962 constitution. Ayub Khan led Pakistan under his supervision
for three years until Martial law was enforced again by Yahya Khan in 1969. During Ayub’s
Tenure Indo- pak war of 1965 took place due to Rann of Kutch, Kashmir issue. Ceasefire
came into effect in September 1965. The Tashkent declaration signed by Indian Prime
Minister Shastri and Ayub Khan was considered a form of submission by the Force Minister
Zulfiqar Ali Bhutto. He resigned from office and formed his own party Pakistan People’s
Party to defeat the dictator. Ayub Khan tried to resolve by releasing him and his fellows after
arresting them and having a conference but as nothing worked he gave away the hold to
Yahya Khan. The Legal Framework Order 1970 was established and it declared
qualifications necessary for people who contest for election. Interim Constitution was formed
until a new constitution was formed. After war in 1971 and separation of East Pakistan,
Zulfiqar ali Bhutto took on as the president and chief martial law administrator in December
1971. East Pakistan believed that the profits earned from the jutes of east were spent on
Kashmir issue rather than building dams and barriers, or to eradicate illiteracy etc. Most
white collar jobs were taken by West Pakistan. Strikes began due to Mujib ur Rehman and
his famous “six points” and East Pakistan finally disintegrated itself from west and formed
Bangladesh in 1974. In 1973 Bhutto became Prime Minister of Pakistan and Fazal Illahi was
appointed as president. The country was arranged into four federating units namely Punjab,
Sindh, N.W.F.P and Balochistan.

2. 1971-1988

PPP was accused of rigging in elections and PNA (Pakistan National Alliance) started a
movement against PPP. Zia ul haq imposed martial law in 1978 and announced elections
within the next 90 days. In his era, there was a steady economic growth especially for the
private sector of Pakistan. Pakistan became the most favored nation of United States due to
Soviet invasion of Afghanistan. In 1979, the Afghan war began, Russian forces invaded
Afghanistan and many Afghanis found refuge in Pakistan. General Zia demanded the
removal of Russian forces from Afghanistan and America obliged happily. America
financially aided Pakistan to equip the freedom fighters “Mujahideen” who resisted the
Russian forces. Pakistan played a role as a helper for the Afghanis which in turn ended up
being a problem for herself as these Mujahideen became extremist group known as Tehreek e
Taliban Pakistan.

Zia became president and took number of steps like establishment of Majlis-e-Shoora. After
elections, the national assembly replaced Majlis-e-Shoora and Junejo was appointed as prime
minister. The article 58(2) b of constitution 1973 was controversial as President was allowed
to dissolve assemblies to avoid martial law. Junejo promised nation to lift martial law and
restore civilian government. General Zia dissolved the Junejo Government and announced
elections to be held in august 1988 but he was killed in an air crash on August 17, 1988.With
his death, the eleven year military rule came to an end and as per constitution the then
chairman of senate was to become the president i.e Ghulam Ishaq Khan. The next elections
were held in 1988 where Pakistan People’s Party won 94 seats in the national assembly and
due to its majority Benazir Bhutto became the first female prime minister of Pakistan. Her
government was accused of corruption in 1990 and dismissed by the then President Ghulam
Ishaq Khan.

3. 1990-2000

After the dismissal of Benazir, elections were held once more and Mian Muhammad Nawaz
Shareef was elected as the Prime Minister of Pakistan in November 1990. He strengthened
the industrial sector with different projects and encouraged the relations with Central Asian
Muslims. After a government of 3 years, Ghulam Ishaq Khan dissolved the National
Assembly using his powers and Balkh Sher Mazari was appointed as caretaker till the next
elections in October 1990. The supreme court of Pakistan declared the dissolution as invalid
and restored Nawaz’s government. Nawaz Shareef and president resigned in July 1993. Moin
Qureshi was appointed as caretaker who despite of a short tenure of 90 days made many
developments for Pakistan. He took numerous steps like imposition of nominal tax on
agriculture, making Pakistan Television and Radio Pakistan autonomous, downsizing of
administrative machinery and abolishing the discretionary power of prime minister and chief
minister of allotting residential plots. Moin Qureshi was dismissed as he was accused of
promotions and other administrative decisions in favor of relatives.

Benazir Bhutto once again was elected Prime Minister from the election held in October
1993. During her tenure, she once again faced troubles by the opposition party. Muhammad
Nawaz Shareef led a train march from Karachi to Peshawar and continued to hold strikes
against the Benazir Government. Many establishments were made and Benazir also made
discussions about US F-16 and her visit attracted many foreign investors towards Pakistan.
Things were not going very well between the president Farooq Leghari and Benazir hence he
dismissed Benazir once again on reasons of corruption and mismanagement in November
1996.
After Benazir, Nawaz was elected once again by the elections of February 1997. Nawaz
Shareef worked on repealing the controversial 8 th amendment. The discretionary powers of
the president under the 8th amendment were got rid of and the article 58(2) b was ended
which empowered the president to dissolve assemblies. The power of the governor to
dissolve provincial assemblies was also taken away. Due to many differences among the
Prime Minister and the President, Farooq Leghari resigned from his occupation and the office
of President. After him, Muhammad Rafiq Tarar was elected as president. During the second
tenure of Nawaz, nuclear tests were carried out on May 28, 1998 in response to India
detonation of nuclear devices. Pakistan announced a moratorium for the future testing in June
1998 to ensure a nuclear-free zone. The president term was till December 2002 but Tarar
was removed by Chief executive General Pervez Musharraf who took place as president of
Pakistan in June 2001.

One dispute remained as a bone of contention for Pakistan and India; Kashmir. This issue has
been a cause for two wars, 1948 and 1965, between both countries. In the beginning of May
1999, Kashmiri freedom fighters occupied a small area of about 5 km near Kargil. When
Indians found these freedom fighters they alleged that these fighters are sent by Pakistan.
Pakistan declared that it wasn’t their doing. Indian forces bombarded air strikes at the
freedom fighters and two of their aircrafts ended up inside Pakistan territory out of which one
was shot down. Talks were carried out and International intervention, like from President of
United States, persuaded Pakistan in taking somewhat control on the freedom fighters to get
rid of the dispute. The freedom fighters vacated the territory by August 1999. The Kargil
issue led to tense situation between Nawaz Shareef and the armed forces which resulted in
removal of the Nawaz Government by General Pervez Musharraf in October 1999.

4. 2000-2010

In 2001, Chinese Prime Minister Zhu Rong Ji visited Pakistan. Many economic agreements
were made for assisting in projects like Makran Coastal project, Gawadar Port and many
more. In 2002, the SAARC (South Asian Association for Regional Corporation) was
established in 1985. The eleventh SAARC summit was held at Kathmandu and both Indian
Prime minister and Pakistani President Musharraf attended. Pervez Musharraf used this
platform to decrease the tension between India and Pakistan.
In August 2002, President General Musharraf issued the Legal Framework Order 2002. This
order was for the elections to be held in the same year and some amendments were also made
in the 1973 Constitution. The elections took place in October and Mir Zafarullah Khan
Jamali was elected as the prime minister. In 2003, President Musharraf met G.W. Bush and
US announced to aid Pakistan with a $3-billion five year economic package. General
Musharraf also survived an assassination while he was in Rawalpindi in December 2003.
Pakistan was also readmitted to Commonwealth in May 2004. In June 2005, a new local
government ordinance 2005 was established in which the members of union council and the
number of councilors were reduced from 21 to 13. In April 2006, Pervez Musharraf put the
foundation-stone for Diamir-Bhasha dam. In 2007 Benazir returned to Pakistan after exile of
about 8 years. After completion of 5 years, National Assembly was dissolved and caretaker
government of Muhammad Mian Soomro took oath. Nawaz Sharif also returned to Pakistan
after 7 years of forced exile as he and his family was exiled to Saudi Arabia. Benazir
got assassinated in a blast/bullet attack in Rawalpindi in the same year during a procession.
In 2008, Yusuf Raza Gilani got elected as the new prime minister and Pervaiz
Musharraf stepped down as President of Pakistan. Mohammad Mian Soomro took over the
office of president. In the same years, Asif Zardari won the presidential elections with 481
votes and took oath as President of Pakistan. In 2009, the Taliban took upon Swat Valley as
their sanctuary. Some militants attacked a bus with the touring Sri Lankan cricket team in
2009 and All international cricket matches in Pakistan got suspended. In May 2009: Pakistan
Army launched Operation Rah-e-Rast and cleared Swat Valley of Taliban In 2010, Pakistan
adopted the 18th amendment to the Constitution, stripping President Asif Ali Zardari of key
powers of dissolving assemblies unilaterally. At least 35 people killed following a series of
suicide bomb attacks on a Shia Islamic procession in Lahore and bomb explosion in a
mosque in Darra Adam Khel in North-West Pakistan also took place. Many more terrorism
attacks took over Pakistan and left it devastated in the following years.

5. 2011-2020

In 2011, US Navy Seals killed Osama Bin Laden in the city of Abbotabad. The US
interventions never seemed to stop in matters of Pakistan throughout the years. In 2012, Raja
Pervaiz Ashraf was elected as Prime Minister of Pakistan, following the disqualification
of Yousaf Raza Gillani . In 2013, a series of terrorist attacks killed more than 100 people in
Quetta. The General Elections 2013 were held across Pakistan and Nawaz Shareef got
elected as prime minister. Mamnoon hussain was appointed as the 12th president of Pakistan.
In 2014, the process of Long March and Sit-In was started by PTI against the Nawaz
Government. Activist Malala Yousafzai becomes the first Pakistani to win the Nobel Peace
Prize for her struggle to voice girls' right to education Taliban gunmen attacked the Army
Public School, Peshawar and massacred at least 141 children and employees. In 2015,
Pakistan arrested twelve Tehrik-i-Taliban members in due to their alleged involvement APS
massacre. The same year, former President Pervez Musharraf was acquitted in the murder
trial of Akbar Bugti, the Baloch tribal leader who died in a military operation in 2006. In
2017, the Supreme Court of Pakistan dismissed Nawaz Sharif as Prime Minister over
involvement in the Panama Papers, and disqualified him for lifetime. Shahid Khaqan
Abbasi became the next Prime Minister, succeeding Nawaz Sharif. In 2018, elections to the
Senate of Pakistan were held and the twenty-fifth amendment to the Constitution of Pakistan
was approved by the Parliament of Pakistan and the Provincial Assembly of Khyber
Pakhtunkhwa (KP) was to merge the Federally Administered Tribal Areas (FATA) into the
Province of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa. The Former Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif, his daughter
Maryam Nawaz and son-in-law Safdar Awan were sentenced imprisonment of 10, 7 and 1
years respectfully on corruption charges. In 2018, Pakistani general elections were held and
PTI leader Imran Khan took oath as the 22nd Prime Minister of Islamic republic of Pakistan.
The Pakistani presidential election were held as well and Dr Arif Alvi was appointed as
president.

In 2019, the Supreme Court gave death sentence verdict on General Retired Pervez
Musharraf. In February 2019, the Pakistan Air Force (PAF) conducted six airstrikes at
multiple locations in Indian-administered Jammu and Kashmir which were part of the PAF
military operation named Operation Swift Retort and were conducted in return for the Indian
Air Force airstrike in Balakot. Provincial elections were held in Federally Administered
Tribal Areas (FATA) on 20 July 2019. In 2020, the government declared a national
emergency to protect crops and help farmers as locusts took over the crops and caused
serious damage. Press reports stated that China may send flocks of ducks to Pakistan to fight
locusts. Nigar Johar became the Pakistan Army's first female lieutenant general.
 6. 2021-2022

In 2021, 9 countries appointed new ambassadors to Pakistan. Corona Virus caused a great
number of deaths and lockdown was enforced by the government. In October 2021, Tehreek
e Labaik (TLP) also protested and forced to march towards the capital. In 2022, the current
year, a No-confidence motion against Imran Khan was created and he was removed from the
post of Prime Minister of Pakistan. The 2022 Punjab provincial by-election took place and
Ch Pervez Elahi got elected as the Chief Minister Punjab. The Election Commission of
Pakistan announced verdict of PTI foreign funding case.

Conclusion

To conclude I must say that our homeland Pakistan faced a diversity of calamities, each with
its own struggle, pain and scars. The country not only suffered due to the unfair treatment of
the foreign countries but also due to the hands of the unjustly leaders the country has been in.
Despite of this entire dilemma, Pakistan strives to develop further and the youth aspires to
create a much better and developed country.