Institute of Commonwealth Studies

Pakistan gained its independence in 1947 and its political system has since been characterised by instability and frequent reversions to military rule (from 1958-1970, 1977-1988 and 1999 onwards). The political parties covered here include the Pakistan Muslim League (PML), which provided the country's early leaders and the Pakistan People's Party (PPP) of Zulfikar Ali and Benazir Bhutto. The failure of the latter party to form a coalition government with the Awami League of East Pakistan after the 1970 elections led to civil war and the creation of Bangladesh in 1971, but also to the resignation of the military's Yahya Khan and the promotion of Zulfikar Ali to president, the country's first non-military chielf martial law administrator, but following the 1977 elections he was deposed by General Zia and executed. In the 1990s both Benazir Bhutto and Nawaz Sharif (of the PML) were removed from the prime ministership, though they did not face the same draconian fate. The majority of the materials held here orgininate from the 1950s and 1960s, during the first period of democratic government and reflecting the protests against the imposition of military rule, but there are also items dating from before partition and later materials concerned with the dispute with India over Kashmir.