The Pakistani Army: Role, Rule, Politics and Influence
Dr. Mohammad Safar
Director, Center for Muslim Minority Studies, Istanbul
Since the founding of the Islamic Republic of Pakistan, the army has maintained a strong presence in politics and governance. It built a formidable military arsenal and acquired nuclear weapons, making Pakistan the only Islamic state with such capability. It fought three wars with India, carried out a series of coups — the last in 1999 — and raised the motto “Faith, Piety, Jihad in the Path of God.”
The army’s role in governance began when Ayub Khan was appointed Defense Minister and executed a coup in 1958. Since then, the army has been the primary political actor, ruling directly for roughly half the country’s history while controlling the other half from behind the scenes. The longest military rule was under General Zia ul-Haq (1978–1988).
During his rule, the army monopolized relations with the Pentagon and CIA. According to an American cable, Ayub Khan told the U.S. Consul General in Karachi that the army would not allow politicians to go out of control — its function is to protect the country, and the army is a friend of the United States.
The Pakistani army inherited the British military tradition over two centuries, giving it experience from both World Wars passed to subsequent generations — explaining its political sophistication. It sees itself as Pakistan’s legitimate owner, as reflected in coup justifications: Ayub Khan (1958) cited the need for unity; Yahya Khan (1969) claimed political military role was necessary to prevent destruction; Zia ul-Haq (1977) and Pervez Musharraf (1999) repeated the same argument.
Even under the recent electoral model, army influence remains strong. While Imran Khan serves as Prime Minister, Army Chief General Qamar Javed Bajwa makes most major decisions — managing foreign relations with China and Saudi Arabia, controlling policy toward Afghanistan and India, briefing business leaders, and making domestic decisions such as national lockdowns for COVID-19. Retired officers and civilians close to the army hold key ministries including Interior, Finance, Commerce, National Security, and Narcotics Control. Active officers head important public sector organizations managing housing and disaster response.
Before Khan, General Raheel Sharif (2013) promised to end the army’s habit of seizing power and support political institutions to address social, political, and economic files, especially security crises. He improved army relations with political parties, particularly Nawaz Sharif’s PML-N, but positive cooperation did not last due to internal divisions within military and security agencies.
Pakistan’s political system is characterized as “praetorian military” — a strong political role for the army that repeatedly overthrew weak civilian governments. Four military regimes ruled for more than thirty years.
Pakistan is strategically vital to the United States: a key ally, regional power in South Asia, nuclear-armed, and aligned with Washington during the Cold War. It benefited from U.S.-Soviet rivalry, receiving $400 million in military aid in 1979 and $1.5 billion in 1981 including fighter jets, tanks, and anti-tank missiles.
With Pakistan’s insecure borders, the army’s priority became defense against external threats — especially conflict with Afghanistan and India — while internal stability became secondary.
The Pakistani Army and Islamists
The army long relied on Islam within the military institution. Faith became a unifying national force replacing sectarian, ethnic, and regional divisions. Under Yahya Khan, the army adopted a new defensive role — not only territorial sovereignty but defending Pakistan’s “ideological frontiers” as an Islamic state against Hindu India. Yahya Khan declared: “Defense of Pakistan is defense of Islam.” The army used Islam to strengthen combat will and demoralize the enemy, reaching its peak under Zia ul-Haq in the 1970s when religious courses were added at Command and Staff College, Islamic groups distributed religious books to officers, and secular officers were given the choice of embracing Islam or retiring.
For decades, Pakistani security agencies — especially intelligence — maintained relations with militant Islamic organizations including the Afghan Taliban, Hizb ut-Tahrir, and Al-Qaeda.
In conclusion, Pakistan’s political system has been marked by repeated disruption of constitutional order by the army, weakening of political institutions, bureaucratic ascendancy, and continuous restructuring by military leaders to protect the institution’s political and economic privileges.
Despite historical democratic deficits, new attempts gained support in the May 2013 elections when a civilian government completed its full term for the first time before transferring power to another civilian government. While Pakistani democracy remains incomplete, practice has reached a point where military coups are harder to justify. Constitutional amendments limited presidential powers and transferred financial resources from the central government to provinces and local authorities.
Key Milestones of Military Intervention in Politics
- 1953: Martial law declared in Punjab; army called to control political unrest.
- 1954: Army Chief General Ayub Khan entered government as Defense Minister, beginning clear political army role.
- 1958: First military coup; no serious attempt to define and remove army from politics despite Ayub Khan’s presidency until 1969.
- 1969–1971: General Yahya Khan’s rule; army allied with bureaucracy.
- 1977: Army seized government via General Zia ul-Haq’s coup against President Zulfikar Ali Bhutto; ruled until Zia’s death in 1988.
- 1970s: Army suppressed Balochistan rebellion; assisted Saudi Arabia during the Grand Mosque seizure (1979).
- 1999: Army under Pervez Musharraf overthrew Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif.
- June 2001: General Musharraf appointed himself president after referendum.
- After 9/11: Pakistani army became key factor in U.S. “war on terror.”
- 2006: Military operations in Balochistan and Waziristan.
- 2007: Army besieged and stormed Lal Masjid (Red Mosque), killing 73 students.
- 2009: Large-scale operation against Pakistani Taliban in Swat Valley.
- 2013: Nawaz Sharif elected PM after army removed him under Musharraf.
- 2014: Special court convicted General Musharraf for high treason — a historic precedent.
Reference: Shah Nawaz, “Crossed Swords,” Oxford University Press, Karachi, 2008, p. 142.
