Since its independence from Britain in 1947, Pakistan has experienced recurrent political turmoil and periodic military rule.  Formed from areas where Muslims constituted a majority in the former British subcontinental empire, Pakistan experienced the imposition of martial law in 1958 by President Iskander Mirza.  Later that year, power was assumed by Gen. Mohammad Ayub Khan, who ruled the country during its 1965 war against India.

General elections in 1970 brought to a high point the ethnic differences between West Pakistan and the Bengali province of East Pakistan; the latter became the nation of Bangladesh in 1971 when India intervened militarily to help the East gain independence from West Pakistan.  In late 1971, former Foreign Minister Zulfikar Ali Bhutto, founder of the Pakistan People’s Party (PPP), was handed the presidency and became Pakistan’s first civilian chief martial law administrator, succeeding Gen. Agha Mohammed Yahya Khan, commander in chief of the Army, who had become president and martial law administrator in March 1969.  In 1977, the military removed Bhutto from the position of Prime Minister, which he had assumed when he relinquished the presidency in 1973. 

Martial law followed under Gen. Muhammad Zia ul-Haq, who postponed elections until a referendum was held in 1984.  Zia interpreted approval for the referendum’s “Islamization” program to indicate affirmation of his rule; observers questioned the results of the 1984 vote.  Zia was killed in a plane crash in 1988, whereupon elections led to civilian rule; first, under the leadership of Prime Minister Benazir Bhutto, and then under Nawaz Sharif, head of the most prominent party in the Islamic Democratic Alliance (IJI), the Muhajir Qaumi Movement (MQM).  Elections in October 1993 gave the PPP a majority of seats in the National Assembly, and Benazir Bhutto once again became prime minister.  After the Bhutto government was dismissed by President Farooq Leghari on charges of corruption, elections in 1997 brought an overwhelming victory for the Pakistan Muslim League/Nawaz (PML/Nawaz).  Nawaz Sharif took over as prime minister, and instituted constitutional amendments which strengthened his position vis-à-vis the presidency.

In October 1999, Gen. Pervez Musharraf declared himself Pakistan’s chief executive and suspended the country’s Parliament and constitution following a military-led coup which overthrew the elected government of Sharif.  In April 2000, Pakistan’s Supreme Court sanctioned the coup, and, in June 2001, Musharraf assumed the title of president.  An April 2002 referendum, described by independent observers as exhibiting widespread fraud and coerced voting, extended Musharraf’s presidency, by a claimed approval vote of 97.5 percent, for an additional five years.  An extended power struggle between Musharraf and Pakistan’s Parliament receded in December 2002 upon agreement to a series of controversial constitutional revisions, known as the Legal Framework Order (LFO), which established stricter requirements for parliamentary eligibility and gave the president the authority to dismiss the prime minister and dissolve Parliament.  Opposition politicians, lawyers, and observers from civil society and the international community have questioned the constitutional legitimacy of the amendment package.  Pakistan maintains a bicameral Parliament, for which elections in October 2002 were disparaged by domestic and international observers as deeply flawed.  After the 2002 elections, Pakistan’s political system has remained highly fragmented, with fundamentalist religious factions uniting under the umbrella group, Muttahid Majlis-e-Amal (MMA), in opposition to the government led by the Pakistan Muslim League-Quaid-e-Azam (PML-Q), which controls both houses of the national parliament and the provincial assemblies in Punjab and Sindh. 

Pakistan is plagued with sectarian violence and intra-state conflict.  In 2004, Sunni extremists, some with connections to militant organizations such as Sipah-I Sahaba Pakistan (SSP), carried out targeted killings of Shia Muslims.  Christians, Ahmadis, and other religious minorities are frequently targeted.  Terrorism has also led to numerous deaths in Pakistan, with Islamic extremist groups, many of which have been linked to al Qaeda, having carried out bomb attacks within the country against Western targets and Pakistanis viewed as sympathetic to the United States.  Terrorist groups opposed to Musharraf have become less inclined to target solely Western entities and increasingly use violence against other Pakistanis as a means to destabilize the government.

Pakistan is engaged in inter-state conflicts as well. In Kashmir, a long-standing confrontation between Indian and Pakistani forces surged to a crisis state in late 2001 and remains a military flashpoint and destination for Islamic militants; the current cease-fire in the area remains fragile.  Tensions in the area originated after independence from Britain, when the status of the princely state of Kashmir, at that time composed of mostly Muslims but ruled by a Hindu Maharajah, became the subject of a dispute between Pakistan and India.

Pakistan was one of three countries to recognize the Taliban government in Afghanistan, providing support for the regime until pressured by the United States after September 2001.  Musharraf’s rule is considered shaky by many observers; he narrowly escaped two assassination attempts in December 2003, and his position faces challenges from powerful factions within the Pakistan army and the Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI), which often sympathize with extremist groups within Pakistan that oppose the United States.  In 2004, the National Security Council (NSC) met for the first time since its creation under the LFO of 2002; the opposition has criticized the NSC, which institutionalizes the role of the military in the Pakistani political system, due to fears that it may give the executive and the military a constitutionally sanctioned and unbalanced check against Pakistani parliamentary authority.

The U.S. State Department classifies Pakistan’s human rights record as poor.  The government restricts freedom of the press, privacy rights, freedom of assembly, religious freedom, and freedom of movement.  Pakistani authorities conduct arbitrary arrests and torture persons in custody.  Security forces commit extrajudicial killings, and continue to use lethal force to disperse demonstrations.  Security forces beat and harass journalists, who often practice self-censorship.  Corruption is widespread among the police, who have been known to detain persons as a result of personal vendettas.  Police abuse is carried out with government impunity.  Conditions are extremely poor in prisons, where overcrowding, malnutrition and rioting are common.  Discrimination against women and religious and ethnic minorities is a serious problem.  Rape is a pervasive problem, and marital rape is not a crime in Pakistan.  Female genital mutilation is practiced among Bohra Muslims.  Forced labor, child labor and trafficking in persons, especially in women, are significant concerns.  The executive maintains strong influence on the judiciary, and the value of women’s testimony is less than that of a man’s in certain court cases tried under the Hudood Ordinances or in a federal Shariat court.  The anti-terrorist courts, set up in 1997, allow police or military personnel to enter and search homes without a search warrant and to confiscate property or arms; leading members of the judiciary, human rights groups, the press and a range of politicians have expressed reservations that the anti-terrorist courts constitute a parallel judicial system and may be used as instruments of political repression.

U.S. Military Assistance prior to Sept. 11, 2001

Pakistan’s military expenditure was approximately $2.7 billion in Fiscal Year 2002-2003 (FY 02/03), which comprised 3.9 percent of its annual Gross Domestic Product. Pakistan’s military forces are composed of 620,000 active personnel.  Pakistan has participated in the UN Register of Conventional Arms, and declared the importation in 1996 of 24 M198 large caliber artillery pieces, 3 P-3C Orion aircraft, 28 Harpoon missiles, and 498 AIM9-L missiles from the United States.  While the United States sent billions of dollars in military assistance to bolster the Pakistani conventional deterrent to Soviet forces in Afghanistan during the 1980s, U.S. military assistance to Pakistan was curtailed in 1990 as a result of sanctions arising from Pakistan’s nuclear weapons program.  Further sanctions were applied to U.S. assistance after Pakistan exploded nuclear devices in 1998 and after the military coup in 1999.  Between 1990 and 2001, U.S. military assistance to Pakistan totaled $152,989,000 in Direct Commercial Sales (DCS) and $1,619,227,000 in Foreign Military Sales (FMS); but most of this DCS ($99,906,000) and FMS ($1,209,934,000) assistance occurred in 1990.  During that same period, Pakistan received $680,000 in International Military Education and Training (IMET), and $184,369,000 in Foreign Military Financing (FMF). The FMF, however, was only disbursed in 1990.  In 1993, Pakistan also received $2,550,000 under the Military Assistance Program (MAP).

U.S. Military Assistance since Sept. 11, 2001

After Sept. 11, 2001, Pakistan reversed its support for the Afghan Taliban regime and supported the U.S.-led Operation Enduring Freedom against Afghanistan.  Pakistan has cooperated with U.S. demands to crack down on Taliban remnants and extremist militants operating in northern parts of the country, including the Federally Administered Tribal Areas and the North West Frontier Province, which border on Afghanistan and are believed by U.S. authorities to be sheltering al Qaeda leader Osama bin Laden.  Military operations by Pakistani forces along Pakistan’s northwest border have attempted to hinder widespread cross-border illicit drug and arms trafficking, and to disrupt organized terrorist activities by groups such as al Qaeda; however, the military’s actions must be tempered in the northern sections of the country because of the authority that the fundamentalist MMA maintains on local government there.  Over one million Afghan refugees reportedly remain in Pakistan, with many living in cities throughout the country.

Pakistan has cooperated extensively with the United States in fighting terrorism.  Joint U.S.-Pakistan counterterrorism efforts include cooperative border security activities and criminal investigations, as well as several long-term training projects.  Pakistan has banned a number of militant organizations, although it is common in Pakistan for a banned militant group to simply change its name and continue operating with impunity.  The U.S. Department of Defense states that Pakistan is allowing basing and overflight rights for all United States and coalition forces fighting in Afghanistan.  U.S. military assistance to Pakistan resumed after Sept. 11, 2001, at which time preexisting sanctions on such U.S. assistance were waived.  In Fiscal Year 2002 (FY 02), Pakistan received $75 million in FMF through the Supplemental Appropriation.  $894,000 was appropriated to Pakistan in IMET funding in FY 02.  In FY 03, $49.5 million was granted in FMF, while an additional $175 million in FMF was sent to Pakistan through the FY 03 Supplemental Appropriation.  Pakistan received $990,000 in IMET in FY 03.  For FY 04, nearly $75 million has been allocated for Pakistan in FMF and over $1.2 million in IMET has been granted.  For FY 05, Pakistan has been promised $300 million in FMF and $2 million in IMET.  The United States has promised an assistance package to Pakistan which includes $300 million total military assistance per year for the next five years.

CASE STUDY PROFILE

Pakistan's Submission to the United Nations Register of Conventional Arms (Imports, U.S. Only)
1992	0
1993	0
1994	0
1995	0
1996	24 Large Caliber Artillery  Systems    3 Combat Aircraft    526 Missiles and Missile  Launchers
1997	0
1998	0
1999	0
2000	0
2001	0
2002	0
2003	0

Fiscal Year	IMET	FMF	Total
1990	$506,000	$184,369,000	$184,875,000
1991	$0	$0	$0
1992	$0	$0	$0
1993	$0	$0	$0
1994	$0	$0	$0
1995	$0	$0	$0
1996	$0	$0	$0
1997	$0	$0	$0
1998	$0	$0	$0
1999	$174,000	$0	$174,000
2000	$0	$0	$0
2001	$0	$0	$0
2002	$894,000	$0	$894,000
2002 ERF	$0	$0	$0
2002 SUP	$0	$75,000,000	$75,000,000
2003	$990,000	$49,500,000	$50,490,000
2003 SUP	$0	$175,000,000	$175,000,000
2004 (request)	$1,250,000	$74,560,000	$75,810,000
2004   SUP (request)	$0	$0	$0
2005 (request)	$2,000,000	$300,000,000	$302,000,000
Total	$5,814,000	$858,429,000	$864,243,000

Sources

“Background Note: Pakistan,” U.S. Department of State, Bureau of South Asian Affairs, January 2004.

“Human Development Report 2003,” United Nations, 2003.

“Human Rights Report 2003,” U.S. Department of State, Feb. 25, 2004.

K. Alan Kronstadt, “Pakistan-U.S. Anti-Terrorism Cooperation,” Congressional Research Service Report RL31624, March 28, 2003.

The Military Balance 2003-2004, International Institute for Strategic Studies, London: Oxford University Press, 2003.

“Pakistan,” Human Rights Overview, Human Rights Watch, Jan. 1, 2004, at: http://hrw.org/english/docs/2003/12/31/pakist7008.htm

“Patterns of Global Terrorism,” U.S. Department of State, April 29, 2004.

“United Nations Register of Conventional Arms,” UN Department for Disarmament Affairs.

“The World Fact Book,” U.S. Central Intelligence Agency, 2004.

The Author  is a Herbert Scoville, Jr., Peace Fellow at the Center for Defense Information

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