ARMY INTERVENTION IN

PAKISTAN’S HISTORY
By Ahsan Irshad
 Why this topic?

“The man who has no sense of history, is like a man who has no ears or
eyes.”
Adolf Hitler
 The Four Marshal law

Ayub Khan Yahya Khan Zia-ul-Haq  Pervez Musharraf

[1958-69] [1969-71] [1977-1985] [Oct 12, 1999-2008]
AYUB KHAN’S REGIME
• Studied at Aligarh Muslim University.
• Joined the army of the British Colonial
powers in 1926.
• Fought in World War II as Commissioned
Officer.
• Attained the rank of Brigadier General in
1947
• In 1950, became first Pakistani to lead
army as its Commander-In-Chief.
• Army took control of the country in 1958 &
appointed General Ayub Khan as Chief
Martial Law Administrator.
• However, within days, Ayub Khan turned
the tables on General Mirza forcing him into
a pensioned exile in London.
Achievements
(Golden Era)?
• Decade of Development
• Growth rate of 11 years (1959-70) was as
high as 6.25%.
• the construction of the new capital
(Islamabad) and the two large hydel
projects (Mangla and Tarbela dams)
• Tarbela Dam
 It is the largest earth-filled dam in the world,
and also the largest dam by structural volume.
• Ayub regime took steps to implement the
laws empowering women.
• Labor, law and administrative reforms were
also introduced during his regime
 Downfall
• Distress in people because of the low
political involvement
• In January 1968, he caught a viral infection
followed by pneumonia that developed into
a pulmonary embolism
• At the same time, the opposition by Zulfiqar
Ali Bhutto gained strength. On February 21,
1969, General Ayub threw in the towel
declaring he would not seek re-election in
1970. By March, General Yahya Khan took
control as the Chief Martial Law
Administrator.

Conclusion
• He was the Man of determination
•.He always did what he thought better in the light of his own
experience.
• His regime can be characterized with some developments but he
couldn’t maintain the national harmony among the distant provinces
of Pakistan, i.e. East Pakistan and West Pakistan .
YAHYA KHAN’S REGIME
General Agha Muhammad Yahya Khan
declared martial law, dissolved the
assemblies and became president after Ayub
Khan stepped down as president on
March 25, 1969.

• Pakistan suffered a decisive defeat in the

Bangladesh Liberation War of 1971,
resulting in the dissolution of the Eastern
Command of the Pakistan Army and the
secession of East Pakistan as Bangladesh
– thus Yahya Khan's rule is widely regarded
as a leading cause of the break-up of the
unity of Pakistan.
• Yahya Khan turned over the leadership of the country to Zulfikar
Ali Bhutto, the leading politician from West Pakistan, and resigned
from the command of the military in disgrace, both on 20 December
1971.
• He was then stripped of his service honors and put under 
house surveillance for most of the 1970s.
• After being released from these restrictions in 1977, he died in 
Rawalpindi in 1980.
• He is viewed largely negatively by Pakistani historians and is
considered among the least successful of the country's leaders.

Signing of 
Pakistani Instrument of Surrender
 by Pakistan's Lt.Gen. A. A. K.
Niazi in the presence of Indian
military officers in Dhaka on 16
Dec' 1971
ZIA-UL-HAQ’S REGIME

In 1977 Bhutto was deposed by his appointed army

chief General Zia-ul-Haq, in a military coup before
being controversially tried and executed by the
Supreme Court of Pakistan in 1979 for authorizing
the murder of a political opponent.

Muhammad Zia-ul-Haq (12 August 1924 – 17

August 1988) was a Pakistani four-star general
who served as the 6th President of Pakistan from
1978 until his death in 1988, after declaring
martial law in 1977. He remains the country’s
longest-serving de facto head of state.
ISLAMISATION
• From 1979 a series of Islamic laws were introduced in
Pakistan:
• In 1979, a Federal Shariat Court was set up.
• Huddod Ordinance was promulgated on the country in
1977.According to the hudood Ordinance different
punishments were prescribed for different crimes.
• The punishment of disrespect to Prophet (SAW) was
also introduced.
• Zia also introduced The Council of Islamic Ideology to
suggest ways in which the legal framework of Pakistan
could be brought closer ISLAMIC IDEOLOGY.
• During Zia ul haq's time he made Pakistan as the second
largest supplier of military manpower in the developing
world.
DEATH
• Zia died in a plane crash on 17 August 1988
• In addition to Zia, 31 others died in the plane crash
• The funeral was attended by 30 heads of state, including the
presidents of Bangladesh, China, Egypt, Iran, India, Turkey, and
the United Arab Emirates as well as the Aga Khan IV and
representatives of the crowned heads of Saudi Arabia and 
Jordan.
GEN.PARVEZ MUSHARRAF’S REGIME
• Pakistani politician and retired four-star army general
 who served as the 10th President of Pakistan from 2001
until 2008.
• Born in Delhi during the British Raj, Musharraf was
raised in Karachi and Istanbul. He went on to study
mathematics at the Forman Christian College in Lahore
and would later study at the Royal College of Defence
Studies in 1991.
• Musharraf rose to national prominence when he was
elevated to a four-star general, appointed by then-Prime
Minister Sharif in October 1998
• He led the Kargil infiltration. After months of contentious
relations with Prime Minister Sharif, Sharif
unsuccessfully attempted to remove Musharraf from the
army's leadership. In retaliation, the army staged a coup
d'état in 1999 which allowed Musharraf to take-over
Pakistan and subsequently placed Prime Minister Sharif
under a strict house-arrest before moving towards a trial
against Sharif in Adiala Prison
Achievements
• Pakistan's HDI grew at an average rate of 2.7%
per year
• The Education budget increased from 500 million
to 28 billion Number of universities increased
• Life expectancy increased
• GDP Increased from $60billion to $170 billion
• Exports Tripled form $7billion to $22 billion
• International trade Increased from $20 billion to
$60 billion
• GDP growth which was 3.9% in 1999-00 grew at
an average rate of 6% per annum during the
period from 2000-07.
• Work on six projects including raising of Mangla
Dam and Lyari Expressway and first unit of 4 MW
of Satpara Dam,
 Downfall
• Musharraf's support for Us War on Terror
• National accountability bureau
• Issue of Kala bagh dam
• Emergency by Musharraf
During this time the constitution of Pakistan
was suspended. When the state of
emergency was declared, Musharraf
controversially held both positions of
President and Chief of Army Staff.
• Lal Masjid operation
Operation resulted in 154 deaths.
• Assassination of Benazir Bhutto

Conclusion
• Musharraf's era was not an ideal one but surly, better than other
dictatorship or democratic eras.
 Conclusion

“Those who do not learn history are

doomed to repeat it” George Santayana

A Question for all of us?

If not now then when, If not us then
who?
Thank You