Politics of Pakistan

In recent history, the Pakistani political processes have taken place in the framework of a federal republic, where the system of government has at times been parliamentary, presidential, or semi-presidential. In the current semi-presidential system, the President of Pakistan is the head of state, the Prime Minister is head of government, and there is a pluriform multi-party system. Executive power is exercised by the government. Legislative power is largely vested in the Parliament.

Executive Branch of Pakistan

Pakistan has been under the influence of its military almost since it was founded. Continuing this trend, the present President Musharraf is a uniformed general. The Intelligence agencies have a huge role in the politics since the beginning in making and breaking the political parties. The president, in keeping with the constitutional provision that the state religion is Islam, must be a Muslim. Elected for a five-year term by an Electoral College consisting of members of the Senate and National Assembly and members of the provincial assemblies, the president is eligible for reelection. But no individual may hold the office for more than two consecutive terms. The president may resign or be impeached and may be removed from office for incapacity or gross misconduct by a two-thirds vote of the members of the parliament. The president generally acts on the advice of the prime minister but has important residual powers. One of the most important--a legacy of Zia--is contained in the Eighth Amendment which gives the president the power to dissolve the National Assembly "in his discretion where, in his opinion . . . a situation has arisen in which the Government of the Federation cannot be carried on in accordance with the provisions of the Constitution and an appeal to the electorate is necessary." The Thirteenth Amendment which was passed in 1997, revoked this power. In December 2003, the President's power was partially restored by the Seventeenth Amendment. In April 2004, the Presidency's influence was augmented by an Act of Parliament that established the National Security Council, a body chaired by the President.

The prime minister is appointed by the members of the National Assembly through a vote. The prime minister is assisted by the Federal Cabinet, a council of ministers whose members are appointed by the president on the advice of the prime minister. The Federal Cabinet comprises the ministers, ministers of state, and advisers. As of early 1994, there were thirty-three ministerial portfolios: commerce; communications; culture; defense; defense production; education; environment; finance and economic affairs; food and agriculture; foreign affairs; health; housing; information and broadcasting; interior; Kashmiri affairs and Northern Areas; law and justice; local government; minority affairs; narcotics control; parliamentary affairs; petroleum and natural resources production; planning and development; railroads; religious affairs; science and technology; social welfare; special education; sports; state and frontier regions; tourism; water and power; women's development; and youth affairs.

Legislative Branch of Pakistan

The bicameral federal legislature consists of the Senate (upper house) and National Assembly (lower house). According to Article 50 of the Constitution, the National Assembly, the Senate and the President together make up a body known as the Majlis-i-Shoora (Council of Advisers).

Pakistan's democracy has no recall method. However, past governments have been dismissed for corruption by the President's invocation of Article 58 of the Constitution. The President's power to dismiss the Prime Minister and dissolve the National Assembly was removed by the Thirteenth Amendment and partially restored by the Seventeenth Amendment.

Pakistan Senate

The Senate is a permanent legislative body with equal representation from each of the four provinces, elected by the members of their respective provincial assemblies. There are representatives from the Federally Administered Tribal Areas and from Islamabad Capital Territory. The chairman of the Senate, under the constitution, is next in line to act as president should the office become vacant and until such time as a new president can be formally elected. Both the Senate and the National Assembly can initiate and pass legislation except for finance bills. Only the National Assembly can approve the federal budget and all finance bills. In the case of other bills, the president may prevent passage unless the legislature in joint sitting overrules the president by a majority of members of both houses present and voting. Unlike the National Assembly, the Senate cannot be dissolved by the President.

Pakistan National Assembly

Members of the National Assembly are elected by universal adult suffrage (over twenty-one years of age in Pakistan but seventeenth amendment has changed it now to eighteen years of age.). Seats are allocated to each of the four provinces, the Federally Administered Tribal Areas, and Islamabad Capital Territory on the basis of population. National Assembly members serve for the parliamentary term, which is five years, unless they die or resign sooner, or unless the National Assembly is dissolved. Although the vast majority of the members are Muslim, about 5 percent of the seats are reserved for minorities, including Christians, Hindus, and Sikhs. Elections for minority seats are held on the basis of separate electorates at the same time as the polls for Muslim seats during the general elections. There are also 50+ special seats for women now, and women are selected (i.e. not directly elected in the general election but given representation accordingly their parties performed in the general election) on these seats by their party head: another seventeenth amendment innovation.

Pakistan Judicial Branch

The judiciary includes the Supreme Court, provincial high courts, and other lesser courts exercising civil and criminal jurisdiction.

Supreme Court of Pakistan

The Supreme Court has original, appellate, and advisory jurisdiction. The Chief Justice of the Supreme Court is appointed by the president; the other Supreme Court judges are appointed by the president after consultation with the chief justice. The chief justice and judges of the Supreme Court may remain in office until age sixty-five: now 68 years and this is also another clause of seventeenth amendment.

Provincial & High Courts of Pakistan

Judges of the provincial high courts are appointed (The seventeenth amendment give these powers to the president, previously Prime minister exercised them) by the president after consultation with the chief justice of the Supreme Court, as well as the governor of the province and the chief justice of the high court to which the appointment is being made. High courts have original and appellate jurisdiction.

There is also a Federal Shariat Court consisting of eight Muslim judges, including a chief justice appointed by the president. Three of the judges are ulama, that is, Islamic Scholars, and are well versed in Islamic law. The Federal Shariat Court has original and appellate jurisdiction. This court decides whether any law is repugnant to the injunctions of Islam. When a law is deemed repugnant to Islam, the president, in the case of a federal law, or the governor, in the case of a provincial law, is charged with taking steps to bring the law into conformity with the injunctions of Islam. The court also hears appeals from decisions of criminal courts under laws relating to the enforcement of hudud laws that is, laws pertaining to such offenses as intoxication, theft, and unlawful sexual intercourse.

In addition, there are special courts and tribunals to deal with specific kinds of cases, such as drug courts, commercial courts, labor courts, traffic courts, an insurance appellate tribunal, an income tax appellate tribunal, and special courts for bank offenses. There are also special courts to try terrorists. Appeals from special courts go to high courts except for labor and traffic courts, which have their own forums for appeal. Appeals from the tribunals go to the Supreme Court.

Mohtasib

A further feature of the judicial system is the office of Mohtasib (Ombudsman), which is provided for in the constitution. The office of Mohtasib was established in many early Muslim states to ensure that no wrongs were done to citizens. Appointed by the president, the Mohtasib holds office for four years; the term cannot be extended or renewed. The Mohtasib's purpose is to institutionalize a system for enforcing administrative accountability, through investigating and rectifying any injustice done to a person through maladministration by a federal agency or a federal government official. The Mohtasib is empowered to award compensation to those who have suffered loss or damage as a result of maladministration. Excluded from jurisdiction, however, are personal grievances or service matters of a public servant as well as matters relating to foreign affairs, national defense, and the armed services. This institution is designed to bridge the gap between administrator and citizen, to improve administrative processes and procedures, and to help curb misuse of discretionary powers.

Parties active in national and provincial politics of Pakistan

Political parties in Pakistan lists political parties in Pakistan. Pakistan has a multi-party system, with numerous parties in which no one party often has a chance of gaining power alone, and parties must work with each other to form coalition governments.

Major parties and coalitions

Parties and coalitions, ranked by popularity in Pakistan;

• Pakistan People's Party Parliamentarian (PPPP), the parliamentary wing of the Pakistan People's Party (PPP) was founded in 1967, on November 30th by Zulfikar Ali Bhutto who became its first chairman and later Prime Minister of Pakistan. The Pakistan People's Party is considerably more liberal than other political parties in Pakistan and is known to fight for such issues as women's rights (its current leader is a woman) and the rights of the poor and the oppressed. That liberalism is partly a consequence of the fact that the party's leadership is considerably more educated than that of other mainstream parties, with some of its members educated at institutions including Harvard University, Oxford University, and University of California, Berkeley. Pakistan People's Party (PPP) is the largest political party in Pakistan headed by Benazir Bhutto the first female and two term Prime Minister in an Islamic country.

• Pakistan Muslim League (N) (PML "Nawaz group")

• Pakistan Muslim League (Q) (PML Quaid-e-Azam; the party supporting Pervez Musharraf)

• Muttahida Qaumi Movement Previously known as Muhajir Qaumi Movement. Its main political support is from Karachi, the capital of Sindh among the migrant community from India who came after the patrician of India and Pakistan. MQM is one of the supporters of Pervez Musharraf a military dictator and is running coalition government in Sindh with (PML Quaid-e-Azam.

• Muttahida Majlis-e-Amal, a coalition of six religious parties consisting of the Jamaat-e-Islami(JI), Jamiat Ulema-e-Islam (F) (Assembly of Islamic Clergy, Fazl-ur-Rahman Group), Jamiat Ulema-e-Islam (S) (Assembly of Islamic Clergy, Sami-ul-Haq Group) Jamiat Ulema-e-Pakistan (assembly of Pakistani Clergy), Jamiat-e-Ahl-e-Hadith and a few more. The religious alliance is running government in NWFP and coalition in Balochistan with (PML Quaid-e-Azam.

Minor parties

• Awami National Party
• Awami Tehreek
• Balochistan National Party
• Balochistan National Movement
• Communist Party of Pakistan
• Communist Mazdoor Kissan Party
• Federal National Movement
• Green Party of Pakistan
• Jamhoori Wattan Party
• Jamiat Ahlehadith Pakistan
• Jeay Sindh Qaumi Mehaz
• Khaksar Tehrik
• Millat Party
• National People's Party(NPP)
• Pakhtunkhwa Milli Awami Party
• Pakistan Awami Tehrik
• Pakistan Democratic Party
• Pakistan Muslim League (F) (aka Functional Muslim League or PML Pagara Group)
• Pakistan Muslim League (J) ("Junejo group")
• Pakistan Muslim League (Z) (PML (Zia)
• Pakistan People's Party (S)
• Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf Chairman Imran Khan
• Pakistan Progressive Party
• Pasban (Voice Against Injustice) (Altaf Shakoor)
• Sindh Democratic Alliance
• Sindh National Front
• Sindh National Party
• Sindh Taraqi Pasand Party
• Tehrik-e-Istiqlal
• Hizb Al-Tahrir

Former coalition

• Alliance for the Restoration of Democracy (ARD)