The document provides an overview of the politics of Pakistan. It discusses the country's federal parliamentary republic system of government and lists the current major leaders. It also outlines the structure of the Senate and National Assembly, lists political parties, and describes the 2013 and 2008 general elections. Key figures like the President, Prime Minister, Chief Justice, and Speaker of the National Assembly are also summarized.

1. POLITICS OF PAKISTAN
Benedict Gombocz

2. INTRODUCTION
 The politics of Pakistan (Urdu: ‫سیاست‬ ‫کی‬ ‫)پاکستان‬ function within the framework of a federal republic in which the system of government has on occasion been
parliamentary, presidential, or semi-presidential.
 The President of Pakistan serves as the traditional head of state, while the PM serves as head of government.
 Pakistan is a multi-party system.
 The government exercises executive power; legislative power is vested in the Parliament.

3. MAJOR LEADERS OF PAKISTAN
 Government: Federal parliamentary republic
 President:Mamnoon Hussain (PML-N)
 Prime Minister: Mian Nawaz Sharif (PML-N)
 Chief Justice: Tassaduq Hussain Jillani
 Chairman Senate: Nayyar Hussain Bukhari (PPP)
 Speaker National Assembly: Ayaz Sadiq (PML-N)
 Legislature: Majlis-e-Shoora
 Upper house: Senate
 Lower house: National Assembly

4. POLITICAL MAP OF PAKISTAN

5. SENATE
 The Senate is a lasting legislative body with equal representation from all of the four provinces who are elected by the members of their respective local assemblies.
 There are envoys from the Federally Administered Tribal Areas and from Islamabad Capital Territory.
 The Senate’s leader, according to the constitution of Pakistan, is next in line to act as president if the office should be empty and until a new president can be legally elected.
 Both the Senate and the National Assembly can begin and pass legislation, excluding financial drivers.
 The federal budget and all finance bills can only be approved by the National Assembly.
 In cases of other bills, unless the legislature in joint sitting overrides the president by a majority of members of both parties present and voting on those bills, the president
may thwart passage.
 The Senate, in contrast to the National Assembly, may not be dissolved by the President.

6. NATIONAL ASSEMBLY
 Members of the National Assembly are elected through universal adult suffrage (previously age twenty-one and older, but the seventeenth amendment changed it to age
eighteen).
 Seats are distributed to all four of the provinces, the Federally Administered Tribal Areas, and Islamabad Capital Territory on the basis of population.
 Members of the National Assembly, unless they die or step down earlier, or unless the National Assembly is dissolved, serve for the five-year parliamentary term.
 While the vast majority of the members are Muslims, almost five percent of the seats are set aside for minorities, such as Christians, Hindus, and Sikhs.
 Elections for minority seats take place on the basis of separate constituencies at the same time as the polls for Muslim seats during the general elections.
 There are even 50+ special seats for women now; women are chosen (not elected directly in the general election, but granted representation in accordance with how well
their parties did in the general election) on these seats by their party leader, another seventeenth amendment development.

7. LIST OF POLITICAL PARTIES
 Senate
 Pakistan Peoples Party – 41
 Pakistan Muslim League (N) – 14
 Awami National Party – 12
 Jamiat Ulema-e-Islam (F) – 07
 MuttahidaQuami Movement – 07
 Pakistan Muslim League (Q) – 05
 Balochistan National Party (Awami) – 04
 National Party (Pakistan) – 01
 Pakistan Muslim League (PMF) – 01
 TribalAreas – 08
 Independents – 04
 Total: 104
 National Assembly
 PML (N) – 189 members
 PPP – 44 members
 PTI – 32 members
 MQM – 24 members
 JUI (F) – 12 members
 PML (F) – 5 members
 PkMAP – 4 members
 JI – 4 members
 NPP – 3 members
 ANP – 2 members
 PML (Q) – 2 members
 Others – 7 members
 Independents – 8 members
 Total: 342
 Ruling coalition majority: 209

8. FORM OF GOVERNMENT
 Pakistan, officially a federal republic, has a long history of interchanging periods of electoral democracy and authoritarian military government.
 Some of the military presidents include General Ayub Khan in the 1960s, General Zia ul Haq in the 1980s, and General Pervez Musharraf in the 2000s.
 A majority of the Islamic Republic’s Heads of State and Heads of Government have nonetheless been elected democratically.
 In October 2002, general elections were held.
 The Commonwealth Observer Group, after observing those elections, concluded, “We believe that on election day this was a credible election: the will of the people was
expressed and the results reflected their wishes. However, in the context of various measures taken by the government we are not persuaded of the overall fairness of the process
as a whole.”
 The Commonwealth Ministerial Action Group re-admitted Pakistan into the Commonwealth on May 22, 2004, and officially recognized its development in returning to
democracy.

9. PROVINCIAL GOVERNMENTS
 Pakistan is subdivided into four provinces, two territories, and one capital
territory.
 Each province has its own Provincial Assembly, a directly elected legislature.
 Members are elected to five-year terms.
 Each Assembly elects a Chief Minister, who then chooses the ministers of
his/her cabinet.
 Balochistan
 Federally Administered Tribal Areas*
 Islamabad Capital Territory**
 Khyber Pakhtunkhwa
 Punjab
 Sindh
 Gilgit-Baltistan has semi-provincial status with a directly elected legislature, an elected
chief minister, and a federally nominated Governor for the region.
 Note: the Federally controlled portion also comprises the disputed/occupied Kashmir
region (with India and China), which further comprises the Azad Kashmir and the
Northern Areas.

10. GENERAL ELECTIONS OF 2008 AND 2013
 General Elections, 2008
 1. Pakistan Peoples Party
 Votes obtained: 10,666,548
 NA seats: 125
 2. Pakistan Muslim League (Q)
 Votes obtained: 8,007,217
 NA seats: 50
 3. Pakistan Muslim League (N)
 Votes obtained: 6,805,324
 NA seats: 92
 4. MuttahidaQaumi Movement
 Votes obtained: 2,573,795
 NA seats: 25
 5. Muttahida Majlis-e-Amal
 Votes obtained: 766,240
 NA seats: 8
 6. Independents
 Votes obtained: 3,685,954
 NA seats: 20
 General Elections, 2013
 1. Pakistan Muslim League (N)
 Votes obtained: 14,874,104
 2. PakistanTehreek-e-Insaf
 Votes obtained: 7,679,954
 3. Pakistan Peoples Party
 Votes obtained: 6,911,218
 4. Independents
 Votes obtained: 5,880,659
 5. MuttahidaQuami Movement
 Votes obtained: 2,456,153

11. MAMNOON HUSSAIN
 Born 23 December 1940 in Agra, India.
 Pakistani textile businessman and politician who has been the President of Pakistan
since 9 September 2013.
 Temporarily served as Governor of Sindh in 1999; the October 1999 military coup
d’état cut short his period as Governor.
 Nawaz Sharif devotee; elected as President of Pakistan on 30 July 2013 and won 432
votes, whereas his opponent Wajjihudden Ahmed won 77 votes.
 Assumed office on 9 September 2013; succeeded Asif Ali Zardari, who declined to
run for re-election.
 Was born into an Urdu-speaking family of shoe traders during the British imperialist
rule.
 He and his family immigrated to Karachi in 1949, two years after Pakistan gained
independence from India.
 Obtained his degree from the Institute of Business Administration (IBA) in Karachi
in the 1960s.
 Previously served as President of the Karachi Chamber of Commerce and Industry.

12. MIAN NAWAZ SHARIF
 Born 25 December 1949 in Lahore.
 18th and current PM of Pakistan since 5 June 2013.
 Veteran politician and industrialist; previously served as PM from November 1990-July 1993 and from February 1997-
October 1999.
 President of the Pakistan Muslim League (N), currently the biggest political party in Pakistan, and has formed the
government.
 Owner of Ittefaq Group, a leading business corporation, and one of the richest men in Pakistan.
 Often known as the “Lion of the Punjab”.
 Entered political life in the 1980s; won with an overwhelming majority, both in the National and Provincial Assemblies,
in the 1985 general elections.
 Was sworn in as Chief Minister of Punjab on 9 April 1985.
 Was nominated caretaker Minister on 31 May 1988 following General Zia’s dismissal of Assemblies.
 Was again elected as Chief Minister after the 1988 general elections.
 Emerged as opposition leader from the conservative Pakistan Muslim League following Zia’s death and Benazir Bhutto’s
election as PM in 1988.
 Was elected PM in 1990 when President Ghulam Ishaq Khan discharged Bhutto on charges of corruption in 1990, but
relations between Sharif and Ghulam Ishaq worsened, with Ghulam Ishaq trying to discharge Sharif on similar
accusations.
 Was successful in challenging the President’s move in the Supreme Court, but army chief Abdul Waheed eventually
convinced both men to resign in 1993.

13. TASSADUQ HUSSAIN JILLANI
 Born 6 July 1949 in Multan.
 21st and current Chief Justice of Pakistan and a Jurist.
 Was appointed Chief Justice by PM Nawaz Sharif; President Mamnoon Hussain
confirmed his nomination on 12 December 2013.
 Served as the acting Chief Election Commissioner, a position he assumed on 17
August 2013, before he became Chief Justice.
 Stepped down from his position as Election Commissioner after his appointment as
Chief Justice.
 Has commonly come to be renowned as a “Gentlemen Judge” known for his mild
mannerism and moderate disposition.
 His jurisprudence readings have been styled as having a “liberal judicial philosophy”
fused with the Islamic, Quranic, and Hadith related foundations of Pakistani
constitutional jurisprudence that he has strongly protected as individual liberties,
and has strengthened the legitimate status of smaller religions when he has
demanded that the blasphemy law be applied properly in instances where non-
Islamic religions are insulted.

14. NAYYAR HUSSAIN BUKHARI
 Born 23 December 1952 in Rawalpindi.
 Senior Senator from Islamabad and senior leader of the Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP).
 Has been the Chairman of the Senate since 12 March 2012; is second in line, as Chairman of the Senate, in the line of succession to the
presidency.
 Strong advocate of social democracy; is also an important member of the Senate Standing Committee on Water and Power since 17 April
2009.
 Born in the suburbs of Rawalpindi, Punjab province.
 Received his education at the PAF Model School in Chaklala and later studied at St. Mary’s College in Rawalpindi.
 Was involved in political life as early as 1968, being a key member of the Peoples Student Federation.
 Also went to Gordon College, but later transferred to Punjab University to study for his humanities degree.
 Acquired a BA in humanities and an LLB in law ( from Punjab University) in 1973 and 1976, respectively.
 Enrolled as a Sponsor at the local District Court in 1977 upon his graduation from Punjab University, and subsequently enrolled at the
Lahore High Court in 1981; during his time there, he joined the Pakistan Bar Council, becoming its general secretary in 1982, during which
he established political relations with the members of the PPP and became its general secretary for the Islamabad wing.
 Directed the socialist programme, the People’s Works Program, begun by the PPP government in 1989 after his successful involvement in
general elections held in 1988 for NA-49 Istanbul-II electorate.
 Consistently protected his NA-49 Islamabad-II during the general elections of 1990, 1993, 1997, 2002, and 2008.
 Effectively became senator and led the Standing Committees on Interior, Environment and Port and Shipping on 17 April 2009.
 Personally directed the successful programme, the PM Committee for Flood Relief, while directing the Standing Committee on Judges
Appointments.
 His credentials and PPP majority in the Senate led to his unopposed election as Senate chairman.

15. AYAZ SADIQ
 Born 17 October 1954 in Lahore.
 19th and current Speaker of the National Assembly of Pakistan.
 Senior leader of the conservative PML (N) and remarkably defeated Imran Khan for NA-122
electorate; this victory against Imran Khan was a central factor in his appointment for the
position of the Speaker of the National Assembly during the 2013 general election.
 Graduated from Aitchison College and completed a Bachelor of Commerce degree from
Hailey College of Commerce in 1975.
 Has led the Sardar Trust Eye Hospital since 1994.
 Is married and has two sons and one daughter.
 The older son is an ophthalmologist; the younger son is pursuing an occupation in banking.

16. THE END (‫)اختتام‬