The Political Stability of Pakistan

Abstract

FTER MORE THAN eight years of independence Pakistan still exists. This has been a major accomplishment, and it is one that dwarfs the record of instability, intrigue and inefficiency that has been characteristic of many aspects of her political life. The country has not broken in two; it has not fallen into the hands of religious fanatics; and it has not collapsed under pressures of bankruptcy and starvation. These facts must be set beside the forebodings of many outside observers in 1947, as well as measured against the extravagant hopes and prophecies of the founders of Pakistan. It must always be remembered that Pakistan began to live an independent existence under the most unfavorable circumstances. Many of the larger provinces of India were almost unaffected by partition. But Sind and the North-West Frontier Province were the only whole provinces that fell to Pakistan and these were small and relatively backward. Bengal was divided and the eastern section was severed from Calcutta, which had dominated its economic and cultural life. The Punjab was submerged by a wave of murder, arson and rioting which resulted in a desperate and pitiful migration of millions of homeless people. The main cities of the sub-continent, the centres of industry, commerce and government were denied to Pakistan. That country, whose two halves were separated by a thousand miles of alien territory, had to improvise a system of commerce and communications and to create a new central government and new armed forces. Lahore was in flames, Karachi was unbelievably overcrowded with refugees, Dacca was a small country town trying to behave like the capital of a province of over forty million inhabitants. For a new nation, born under such conditions, survival is certainly a source of legitimate pride. In I947, in spite of these natural obstacles, the country was politically united and, to a certain degree, disciplined and well-organized. The following eight years were to see much of this unity disappear and to demonstrate that the main danger to Pakistan was political disruption rather than physical, economic or administrative weaknesses.