THE FACTORS THAT HAVE LED TO INTERNAL CRISES IN PAKISTAN, AND THE SUBSEQUENT STRENGTHENING OF THE MILITARY'S ROLE IN THE COUNTRY'S POLITICAL LIFE

This article analyzes Pakistan’s formative decade (1947–1958), emphasizing the political, social, and institutional crises that shaped the country’s trajectory. The partition of British India produced massive demographic dislocation, fragile governance, and unresolved regional and linguistic tensions. Leadership failures, constitutional ambiguity, and recurrent conflicts—such as the Kashmir war and the assassination of Prime Minister Liaquat Ali Khan—undermined parliamentary democracy. These challenges fostered authoritarian tendencies and enabled the military to emerge as the decisive political force. The study argues that the structural imbalances of this period entrenched civil–military asymmetry and laid the foundation for Pakistan’s prolonged political instability.