How did the Pakistan military become so influential in Pakistani politics? How far does that influence penetrate? DW's 'Inside Asian Conflicts' series looks at how the country's military became all-powerful within Pakistan since the end of British colonial rule.
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00:00In May 2023, a line was crossed, protesters stormed military installations across Pakistan,
00:09a rare direct challenge to the country's most powerful institution.
00:13The unrest followed the arrest of former Prime Minister Imran Khan, but it also revealed something
00:24deeper, a breakdown of the delicate balance between politics and the military.
00:31We are just asking them to respect this mandate of the public, that's all.
00:34These attacks are basically a ploy by Mr. Khan and his cohorts to bargain with the Pakistan military.
00:48In most democracies, armies take orders from elected leaders.
00:52In Pakistan, the army has long held influence, not just over matters of security, but also
00:58over politics, economy and the foreign policy.
01:02How has it retained that power?
01:04And why is it being challenged now?
01:06Pakistan Tehreek Insaf, or PTI, is now the country's most prominent opposition force.
01:24But just a few years back, this party was widely seen as being closed to the military establishment.
01:30That alliance fractured in 2022, when Khan's government was ousted through a no-confidence vote in parliament.
01:42Khan claimed his ouster was engineered with foreign backing and domestic support, including from the army.
01:48From that point on, PTI's criticism of Pakistan's army became sharper.
01:54Khan survived an assassination attempt.
01:56He blamed on senior generals.
01:58And he was eventually jailed ahead of the 2024 elections.
02:02PTI was stripped of its iconic electoral symbol, a cricket bat, and its candidates were forced to contest as independents.
02:18Despite that, they've won the greatest number of seats in the new parliament, but couldn't form a government.
02:24The party claimed its mandate had been stolen.
02:38But critics ask, is PTI against military interference in politics, or just against interference, not in its favour?
02:48On one hand, they say this is our military, and this is our country.
02:52Murtuza Solangi is a senior journalist who served as the Federal Information Minister in the caretaker government ahead of the February 2024 elections.
03:04But attacking the top leadership of Pakistani military and trying to cut deals with them,
03:12at the same time, trying to convert it into an institution that would mainly serve the interests of a megalomaniac,
03:30egoistic politician clearly means that it has nothing to do with democracy.
03:38After Pakistan's independence from British colonial rule in 1947, the country's military quickly took on a prominent role.
03:46The first military coup took place in 1958.
03:50And since, generals have governed the country directly for nearly half of its entire history.
03:56Even during democratic interludes, real power has often been exercised from behind the scenes,
04:02with the military continuing to exert significant influence in key policy areas.
04:08Pakistan was created in 1947.
04:18It was created in haste.
04:20It was created with very little preparation.
04:22Hussain Haqqani is a senior fellow at the Hudson Institute in Washington DC and the Anwar Gargash Diplomatic Academy in Abu Dhabi.
04:31He also served as Pakistan's ambassador to the United States from 2008 to 2011.
04:37The only institution that had a physical presence sufficiently strong in the area that became Pakistan was the army.
04:47The first few years, the army was run by British officers who deferred to the then civilian leadership.
04:55The civilian leadership did not hold general elections.
04:58As a result, they lost legitimacy.
05:01It was basically all palace coups and palace manipulation.
05:05During that phase, the weight of the army, as soon as the army got an indigenous commander, General Ayub Khan,
05:12who became commander in chief in 1951.
05:15As soon as he got power, he decided to put his weight first behind one set of politicians, then behind another.
05:25And by 1958, he was ready to take power in a coup d'etat.
05:31They decide who's going to come.
05:33And for decades, they have pushed governments out, either directly or indirectly.
05:40Ayesha Siddique is an author and senior fellow at King's College London
05:44and an expert on military affairs, South Asia, and politics.
05:49There have been more than 12 to 15 years of direct military rule.
05:55Then another method with the military adopts is running government through military presidents,
06:01what they have done.
06:02About 15 years of that in Pakistan's history.
06:05But a longer period is also when they run it in partnership with civilians.
06:13And that is one of the most tricky periods in Pakistan's politics, because the face of such governments is civilian.
06:21The military claims it doesn't seek political control, but just steps in when civilian governance breaks down.
06:28In 1977, General Ziaul Haq seized power amid widespread political unrest and street protests against an elected government.
06:38Two decades later, after taking over in a bloodless coup, General Pervez Musharraf called for the institutionalization of the military's political role.
06:48Those who defend the army and its action as an institution see the military as a stabilizing force in a fragile state that is constantly threatened by religious extremism, militancy, separatism, and external enemies.
07:05Border skirmishes with India are also not uncommon.
07:12The two, now nuclear-armed neighbors, have fought four major wars since independence.
07:22But during the past two years, the country has seen an uptick in militant violence, particularly in its western provinces bordering Afghanistan and Iran.
07:35In March 2025, militants attacked a passenger train in the southwest of the country, triggering a 36-hour hostage crisis.
07:46The army led the rescue, but after the operation, the army chief raised alarm over governance gaps in the civilian system.
07:57This statement signaled what many thought was the military's perspective.
08:01They claim failure in governance, whether social, economic, or political, ultimately leads to a host of security challenges in the country.
08:11So, politics and security, therefore, cannot be treated separately.
08:16And the military sees itself as the only institution that can decide what is in Pakistan's national interest.
08:26Therefore, even major foreign policy decisions are no longer made by Pakistan's diplomats, but they are made by the military officers and conveyed to the diplomat.
08:38I think this is not an accurate perception that the Pakistan army controls Pakistan's foreign policy.
08:45Sayyid Muhammad Ali is a senior research fellow at the Center for International Strategic Studies, an Islamabad-based think tank.
08:54Like all countries, the input on critical foreign policy issues is offered to the foreign office by different institutions, including military, including intelligence, including civilian intelligence organization, and different think tanks as well.
09:14And the foreign office practically functions as the entity which consolidates this input into policy and active policy measures.
09:27For decades, political parties have struggled to govern independently.
09:34They have often invited military mediation during crises, reinforcing the army's central role.
09:40Iain has very clear-cut defined that who wants to take the administration and who wants to take the administration.
09:47Mazhar Abbas is a senior journalist and political analyst.
09:52The public authorities have been connected to foreign authorities.
10:02The establishment had a very experiência of his own issues.
10:04The problem in Pakistan is that everybody looks towards the army as the one that is going to resolve a stalemate
10:11or become the final arbiter in a confrontation.
10:16If the politicians work things out among themselves,
10:20there would be no need for a final arbiter.
10:23And like other countries where there is democracy
10:27and civilian supremacy, the civilians would control
10:31the political process and the army will take directions
10:35from the civilian leadership.
10:37The military's power isn't limited to politics.
10:40Over the years, it has built a vast financial empire
10:44estimated to exceed $20 billion,
10:47spanning from real estate and banking
10:50to construction and agribusiness.
10:53This desire for autonomy has led them into the business sector.
10:58So all three major sectors, agriculture, manufacturing,
11:02service industry, you have military presence there
11:06and a very dominant military presence.
11:08So they became powerful, they built their economic strength
11:12on the basis of their political strength.
11:14This autonomy has made the institution harder to reform.
11:18There is a perception that Pakistan Army is involved in business ventures.
11:24But in reality, such initiatives are governed by the necessity
11:31to take care of the families of deceased armed forces personnel,
11:37particularly those who have laid down their lives in different combats and crises.
11:43Not only Imran Khan, over time political leaders including former Prime Minister Zulfiqar Ali Bhutto,
11:56Nawaz Sharif and Benazir Bhutto were exiled or jailed.
12:00Protests turn into crisis and the military continues to act as the ultimate guarantor of stability,
12:06while denying any political ambition.
12:13These are politicians who have always been out of time.
12:18So never have the time and the confidence to build institutions to push back the military.
12:27So it doesn't happen.
12:35If politicians stop playing games with one another, agree that they will respect each other's mandates,
12:42agree to the rules of the game, then it will be very difficult for the military to intervene in politics.
12:49Allegations of electoral manipulation and institutional overreach continue to raise concerns about the country's long-term trajectory.
12:59But many argue this isn't just about one party, one leader or one general.
13:04This is a military which will not be controlled through dealing with individual generals.
13:16It has to be an institutional approach.
13:18And unfortunately, we have two problems here.
13:22And one of the problem is that most of the politicians who are in power,
13:26they are created by the military itself.
13:29And they feel that they have communication to kind of convince the military to allow them,
13:39let them remain in power.
13:41It doesn't work that way.
13:46Will Pakistan break out of this vicious cycle and transition towards a more stable democratic order,
13:52one in which state institutions operate within their clearly defined boundaries
13:57and power is exercised with undiluted accountability?
14:02The answer will shape Pakistan's future and its democracy for years to come.