ABSTRACT
Pakistan inherited what was Northwest India and East Bengal due to their heavily Muslim populations; subsequently known as West and East Pakistan, the two halves were separated by hundreds of miles of Indian territory. Ultimately, Pakistan was created less from a broad, unified, and sustained struggle against colonialism, and more from powerful elites collaborating with the British against Hindu hegemony. In 1948, a Shariat group was set up in the Pakistan Muslim League to work towards an Islamic order in Pakistan. Pakistan's founding vision was to be a parliamentary democracy, but the process of democratic turnover has been disrupted by military coups and the dismissal of elected governments. Pakistan's first constitution established a parliamentary system and was passed nine years after its foundation. Pakistan was modeled as a federal republic with a National Assembly, Senate, Prime Minister, and Governor-General, and an independent judiciary. Pakistan has faced ethnic resentments and ethno-nationalist tensions have been manifested in demands for provincial autonomy.
