Pakistan was confronted with several serious problems in the immediate years after independence. The dichotomy between the eastern and western wing, with the former being more populous and the latter wielding more political power posed serious political and constitutional challenges. Second, the communal riots which accompanied partition and the influx of refugees thereafter posed heavy burden to the nascent state with meagre resources.
Thirdly, the country faced leadership crisis soon after inception with the death of Qaid-I-Azamin 1948 and the assassination of Liaqat Ali Khan in 1951. The resultant leadership vacuum further weakened the Muslim League whose hold on the area which formed Pakistan was anyway shallow.
In the absence of federal government and its institutions, the new nation was engulfed by crises of sorts-legitimacy, participation, distribution, etc. This in turn enhanced the power of the military and the civilian bureaucracy which had implications in the political history of the country later also.
The All India Muslim League (AIML) which formed the government in the new state had no strong roots in the provinces which formed Pakistan. After being successful in creation of Pakistan and three years of its initial progress in the new state, the party failed to march with times in terms of ideology and style of working. Soon the AIML split into groups, each around one personality. Both the main party and the groups formed from it ceased to be instruments of mass mobilisation.
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Differences surfaced between various institutions. In 1954 a bill was moved in the Constituent Assembly, which required the Governor General to act on advice of Prime Minister. The Governor General preempted the bill by dismissing the cabinet, dissolving the Assembly and declaring an emergency on the ground that institutions “could no longer function”.
The Governor General’s unconstitutional act was legitimised by the judiciary. In October 1954 Prime Minister Mohammad Ali Bogra formed another Cabinet. Ayub Khan was the Defense Minister in this Cabinet. Between 1953 and 1958 seven prime ministers were nominated and removed through palace intrigues. The political system was made more fragile by the formation of the officially sponsored Republic Party. The Constituent Assembly took seven years to frame the Constitution. Delay in the framing of the constitution resulted because of debate on several issues, most important being role of Islam in the state. There was no consensus on the role of the religion in the new state.
The Objectives Resolution of 1949 and the report of the Basic Committee were also debated hotly. Other debates revolved around the nature of system federal or unitary, presidential or parliamentary, joint or separate electorates. The irony is when the ill-fated Constitution, which envisaged a parliamentary form of government came into being in 1956, it was abrogated two years later.
After Ghulam Mohammad’s successor General Iskander Mirza realised he would not be able to get himself elected to the post of president under the new Constitution, in October 1958 he dismissed the central and provincial governments and declared Martial Law. Contrary to his expectations of maintaining supremacy over armed forces, he was forced to resign by -them and Ayub Khan himself took over the reins.
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Ayub Khan remained in power till March 1969 when he handed over power to Gen. Yahya Khan. The Constitution Commission in 1961 identified for the failure of parliamentary democracy.
(i) Lack of proper elections and defects in the late Constitution
(ii) Undue interference by the heads of the state with ministers and political parties and by the Central Government with the functioning of the governments in the Provinces
(iii) Lack of leadership resulting in the lack of well organised and disciplined parties, the general lack of character in their politicians and their undue interference in the administration.