ABSTRACT

The convincing electoral victory of the Islami Jamhoori Ittehad-Islamic Democratic Alliance coalition in 1990 had raised the hope that Pakistan was entering a new era of stability. Benazir Bhutto played the game of political realism, showing little respect for democratic morality. An overview of political developments would suggest that the democratic transition remains highly tenuous and incomplete. As the models of relatively advanced democracies suggest, the growth of a democratic order depends on the presence of freely competing political parties, the recognized supremacy of representative institutions, the protection of basic civil rights and liberties, and the observance of constitutional norms. Contrary to the prevailing norms of parliamentary democracy and the spirit of the constitution, President Ghulam Ishaq Khan ignored the recommendation of the prime minister and appointed General Abdul Waheed Kakar as the new chief of army staff. Pakistan’s transition to democracy has often run into a political minefield, the Eighth Amendment, laid by the martial law regime.