Asia and Oceania

Pakistan
Last reviewed: 01 October 2009

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POLITICS

On 12 October 1999, General Pervez Musharraf launched a coup. The Army took control of all facets of government; the Senate, the Assemblies and the constitution were suspended. Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif was removed and General Musharraf declared himself Chief Executive. Retroactive legitimacy was given to the coup by Pakistan's Supreme Court on 12 May 2000. However, the Court ruled that elections should be held by 12 October 2002.

On 20 June 2001 General Musharraf declared himself President and Head of State, and dissolved the suspended assemblies. On 14 August 2001, Pakistan's Independence Day, President Musharraf announced his plans for the transition to democracy in Pakistan, with provincial and national elections to take place by October 2002 in accordance with the Supreme Court's deadline.

President Musharraf held a referendum on 30 April 2002. The question: 'Do you want to elect President General Pervez Musharraf as President of Pakistan for the next five years for: survival of local government system; restoration of democracy; continuity and stability of reforms; eradication of extremism and sectarianism and for the accomplishment of Quaid-i-Azam's concept'. Official figures reported a 71% turnout and a 98% 'yes' vote.

On 10 October 2002 national and provincial elections were held. No single party won an overall majority. The PML (Q) won the most seats (121), followed by the MMA (60) and the PPP (59). The total number of seats in the National Assembly is 342 (including 60 reserved seats for women and 10 for minorities).

At the provincial level, the elections resulted in the PML (Q) gaining a governing majority in Punjab, the MMA taking the majority in the North West Frontier Province (NWFP), the PML (Q) and MMA forming a government in Balochistan and the PPP gaining the majority in Sindh.

Shortly before the elections, on 21 August 2002, President Musharraf promulgated the Legal Framework Order (LFO), which introduced 35 amendments to the 1973 Constitution and gave him sweeping powers including the power to dissolve the National Assembly and to appoint Provincial Governors, Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff and single service chiefs. He declared that the amendments would not be subject to parliamentary approval, but that parliament could pass new amendments with a two-thirds majority. Under the LFO, all actions of the government between 12 October 1999 and 22 August 2002 would be validated upon reinstatement of the Constitution.

The LFO also created a National Security Council (NSC) as a consultative forum.

The LFO met with bitter resistance from the opposition, particularly the alliance of religious parties, the MMA (Muttahida Majlis-e-Amal), producing a constitutional impasse (ie Parliamentary gridlock) for over a year. Finally, in December 2003, the government came to an agreement with the MMA and obtained the two-thirds majority necessary for approval. President Musharraf agreed to seek a vote of confidence from the electoral college, to consult the prime minister on the appointment of armed forces chiefs, and to step down as Chief of Army Staff by December 2004. However, at Musharraf's instigation, parliament subsequently passed legislation allowing him to hold both offices until 2007.

In his bid for re-election as President, Musharraf reiterated his pledge that he would serve his next 5-year term as a civilian. He duly won the ballot in the electoral college on 6 October. However, the result could not be made official until the Supreme Court ruled on his eligibility. On 3 November Musharraf declared a state of emergency. He suspended Pakistan’s constitution and issued a Provisional Constitutional Order (PCO).

The PCO suspended all fundamental freedoms (security of person, safeguards on arrest and detention, freedom of movement, assembly, association and speech, and equality of the citizen). It required all judges to take a new oath of office and provided immunity for the President, Prime Minister and persons acting under their authority. It also protected the PCO from judicial challenge. The situation remained mostly calm, though there were some clashes between the police and protesters in the cities of Lahore, Karachi, Multan and Rawalpindi. On 28 November he stepped down as Chief of Army Staff and on 29 November he was sworn-in as civilian president for a new 5-year term. On 16 December President Musharraf lifted the state of emergency in Pakistan.

Former Prime Minister Benazir Bhutto, leader of the PPP, was killed on 27 December during an election rally in Rawalpindi. This provoked rioting and violent protests.

Parliamentary and provincial elections, originally scheduled for 8 January but postponed following the death of Benazir Bhutto, took place on 18 February 2008. In the Parliamentary elections the PPP won the most seats (87), followed by the PML-N (67), the PML-Q (41) and MQM (19). On 24 March, the National Assembly elected Yousaf Raza Gilani as Prime Minister.

On 12 May, Nawaz Sharif, leader of the Pakistan Muslim League –Nawaz (PML-N), announced that the Central Executive Committee of thePML-N had decided that its party members would resign on 13 May fromthe federal cabinet positions that they hold.

Asif Ali Zardari was elected President of Pakistan on Saturday 6 September winning acomfortable 68% of the votes through the Electoral College formed fromthe Federal Parliament (National Assembly and Senate) and ProvincialAssemblies. He secured the votes of the Provincial Assemblies ofBaluchistan, North West Frontier (NWFP) and Sindh although he camesecond in Punjab to the Pakistan Muslim League (PML-N) candidateSaeeduzzaman Siddiqui. Zardari took his oath of office on Tuesday 9September.

A political crisis was sparked by a 25 February Supreme Court ruling which stated that Nawaz Sharif and his brother Shahbaz were ineligible to contest elections and hold public office. This removed Shahbaz Sharif as Chief Minister of Punjab and maintained the bar on Nawaz Sharif taking a seat in Parliament. Immediately afterwards, President Zardari imposed Governor's rule in Punjab. The crisis reached its height during the Long March, which began on 12 March. This was a march on Islamabad from across Pakistan organised by the Lawyers Movement, who have been calling for the reinstatement of Chief Justice, Iftikhar Chaudhry, and removal of the judges appointed by Musharraf under a constitutional order for two years. Nawaz and other opposition parties strongly supported the cause The crisis ended on 16 March when Prime Minister Gilani announced that the Government would restore the former Chief Justiceand file for a review of the Supreme Court decision on the Sharifs. Governor’s Rule was subsequently lifted in Punjab on 30 March.

Ministers

A full list of Ministers is below:

Federal Ministers

PPP
Syed Yousuf Raza Gilani Prime Minister

Makhdoom Amin Fahim Federal Minister for Commerce

Dr Arbab Alamgir Khan Federal Minister for Communications

Chaudhry Ahmed Mukhtar Federal Minister for Defence

Abdul Qayyum Khan Jatoi Federal Minister for Defence Production

Mir Hazar Khan Bijrani Federal Minister for Education

Shaukat Tareen (Senator) Federal Minister for Finance

Makhdoom Shah Mehmood Qureshi Federal Minister for Foreign Affairs

Nazar Muhammad Gondal Federal Minister for Food & Agriculture

Mir Aijaz Hussain Jakhrani Federal Minister for Health

Syed Mumtaz Alam Gilani Federal Minister for Human Rights

Mian Manzoor Ahmad Wattoo Federal Minister for Industries & Production

Qamar Zaman Kaira Federal Minister for Kashmir Affairs & Northern Areas & with responsibility for Information & Broadcasting

Rehman Malik (Senator) Federal Minister for Interior

Federal Minister for Inter-Provincial Coordination

Syed Khursheed Ahmed Shah Federal Minister for Labour & Manpower

Federal Minister for Law & Justice

Shahbaz Bhatti Federal Minister for Minority Affairs

Humayun Aziz Kurd Federal Minister for Livestock & Dairy Development

Dr Zaheeruddin Babar Awan Federal Minister for Parliamentary Affairs

Makhdoom Shahabuddin Federal Minister for Planning & Development

Dr Firdous Ashiq Awan Federal Minister for Population Welfare

Syed Naveed Qamar Federal Minister for Petroleum with responsibility for privatisation

Syed Hamid Saeed Kazmi Federal Minister for Religious Affairs

Samina Khalid Ghurki Federal Minister for Social Welfare & Special Education

Pir Aftab Hussain Shah Gillani Federal Minister for Sports

Najamuddin Khan Federal Minister for States & Frontier Regions

Lal Muhammad Khan Federal Minister for Special Initiatives

Rana Farooq Saeed Khan Federal Minister for Textile Industry

Raja Pervaiz Ashraf Federal Minister for Water & Power

Shahid Hussain Bhutto Federal Minister for Youth Affairs

FATA
Hameed Ullah Jan Afridi Federal Minister for Environment

Noorul Haq Qadri Federal Minister for Zakat & Ushr

BNP
Mir Israrullah Zehri Federal Minister for Postal Services

IND
Waqar Ahmed Khan (Senator) Federal Minister for Investment

JUI-F
Rehmatullah Kakar Federal Minister for Housing & Works

Maulana Attaur Rehman Federal Minister for Tourism

Mohammad Azam Khan Swati Federal Minister for Science

PML-F
Justice (Ret) Abdul Raza Thahim Federal Minister for Local Government & Rural Development

ANP
Federal Minister for Narcotics Control

Haji Ghulam Ahmed Bilour Federal Minister for Railways

MQM
Dr Farooq Sattar Federal Minister for Overseas Pakistanis

Babar Ghauri Federal Minister for Ports & Shipping

There are also 18 Ministers of State, of whom 14 belong to the PPP, two to the ANP and one each to the PML-F and the FATA grouping. Their portfolios are as follows:

PPP
Chaudhry Imtiaz Safdar Waraich State Minister for Communication

Sardar Salim Haider Khan State Minister for Defence Production

Ghulam Farid Kathia State Minister for Education

Hina Rabbani Khar State Minister for Finance and Economic Affairs

Rafique Ahmed Jamali State Minister for Food and Agriculture

Nawabzada Malik Amad Khan State Minister for Foreign Affairs

Muhammad Afzal Sandhu State Minister for Health

Mohammad Tariq Anis State Minister for Housing and Works

Dr.Ayat Ullah Durrani State Minister for Industries and Production

Syed Sumsam Ali S. Bukhari State Minister for Information and Broadcasting

Tasneem Ahmed Qureshi State Minister for Interior

Ms Mehreen Anwar Raja State Minister for Parliamentary Affairs

Sardar Nabeel Ahmed Gabol State Minister for Ports and Shipping

Ms Shagufta Jumani State Minister for Religious Affairs

ANP
Arbab Muhammad Zahir State Minister for Defence

Masood Abbas State Minister for Local Government and Rural Development

PML-F
Muhammad Jadam Mangrio State Minister for Railways

FATA
Abdul Raziq State Minister for Kashmir Affairs and Northern Areas

HUMAN RIGHTS

The British Government continues to be concerned about the human rights situation in Pakistan, particularly that of religious minorities. The cases of individuals facing the death penalty on blasphemy charges have attracted parliamentary and public interest in the UK. Other human rights issues of concern include discrimination against the Ahmadi community, forced marriages, honour killings, child and bonded labour and the treatment of women, particularly in rural communities. With our EU partners we will continue to urge the Pakistani authorities to redouble their efforts to bring the perpetrators of human rights violations and terrorists acts to justice. We continue to urge the Government of Pakistan to fully guarantee the fundamental rights of all Pakistani citizens, particularly the most vulnerable (women, minorities and children) as laid down in the Constitution of Pakistan and in accordance with international human rights standards.