Organizational Behavior of Governance in Pakistan

NAME: YUSRA SIDDIQUI ERP ID: 05066 ASSIGNMENT # 01 THE ORGANIZATIONAL BEHAVIOUR AND LEADERSHIP PATTERN IN PAKISTAN Pakistan has had a history of 65 years and within this passage of time one cannot say that the organizational behavior and leadership of this country has followed any particular pattern. Instead the country has gone through some major transformations since the day it came into being till the current date.

A core purpose for the creation of Pakistan was that the Muslims of the subcontinent demanded a nation of their own where they had complete freedom to practice their religion and at the time of partition our country was geographically divided in two regions- East Pakistan (currently Bangladesh) and West Pakistan. The newly formed government of this baby born state comprising of Mr. Liaquat Ali Khan as the Prime Minister and Mr.

Muhammad Ali Jinnah as the Governor General had to face major difficulties in managing East and West Pakistan as post partition riots had taken a toll and a great number of refugees moving from India to Pakistan had to be accommodated for. Other than this one of the major responsibility that needed to be catered for by the leaders of that time was to set up an efficient system of administration for the country. The two leaders didn’t stay alive long enough to cope up with all the problems rising in the state.

Although at the time of formation of Pakistan it was declared as a country where people from all communities and religions could practice their religion with complete freedom but within the first decade the non-Ahmadiyya riots took place which was initiated by the intolerant Mullahs of that time. This resulted in loss of many lives and property. During the initial years when the government should have been focusing on policy making and constitution formation for the countries betterment in coming times, its major time was being wasted off in dealing with such crisis situations.

In order to deal with the riots the government of that time asked for military help and as a result the first martial law was declared in certain parts of the country in the year 1958. This martial law definitely served as a solution in ending up these riots but this took the leadership trend in Pakistan to new directions. Not very long after the first martial law, the era of wars aroused in Pakistan resulting in an even more shattered economic condition and destabilization of the state.

The 1965 war was an attempt to conquer the Indian Kashmir land from the Pakistan side whereas India made an attempt to capture Lahore and Sialkot. The war ended in ceasefire and the leaders of that time from both the countries signed the “Tashkent declaration”. In 1970 democratic elections were held in Pakistan for the first time in which the Awami league (a political party with its roots in East Pakistan) got majority of the votes. However this was not accepted by the powerful politicians of West Pakistan and they urged on power sharing. Talks were made for the same purpose which failed.

The whole situation struck a chaos in between the two wings of the nation and the war of 1971 ended forming a new nation Bangladesh from what was formerly East Pakistan and Pakistan was left with only West Pakistan. Right away after the war of 1971 General Yahya Khan handed over control of the country to Zulfiqar Ali Bhutto and this again gave a chance to democracy in Pakistan. During the Six years tenure of Zulfiqar Ali Bhutto the religious scholars and leaders of that time had a strong feeling that the policies formulated by the government were more of a secular nature and driving the nation away from Islam.

The Chief of army staff General Zia-ul-Haq was encouraged by the leaders to take over the government and enforce a martial law. During this martial law period Zulfiqar Ali Bhutto was also executed. In 1985 the martial law was lifted without any elections and Mr. Muhammed Khan Junejo was appointed as the Prime Minister of the country. However in 1988 after a blast at army ammunition camp at Ojheri Junejo’s government was dissolved and democratic elections took place through which Pakistan People’s Party came into power.

Only two years after the elections of 1988 Benazir’s Government had been dismissed by president Ghulam Ishaq Khan. From 1990 to 1993 the country was lead by Mian Nawaz Sharif as prime minister and general elections were once again held in 1993 where Pakistan People’s Party once again won and came into power. This tenure didn’t last for more than three years and at the beginning of 1997 general elections were again held through which Pakistan Muslim League (Nawaz) came into power.

By the end of 1999 General Pervaiz Musharraf dissolved the then existing government of Pakistan Muslim League and took over charge. Although this could not be categorized as a martial law but Pervaiz Musharaf enjoyed power in both the democracy as well as in the military by declaring himself as president as well as remaining head of army. Pervaiz Musharraf’s Tenure lasted for almost 9 years throughout which the country had to undergo many ups and downs.

The war against terrorism after the 9/11 attacks caused a lot of chaos internationally as well as within the country. The freedom given to media in Pakistan created new dimensions in the political happenings of the country. Benazir Bhutto and Nawaz Sharif both returned to the country for empowerment of democracy. Benazir Bhutto got killed during a campaign for election rally. By August 2008 Pervaiz Musharraf resigned from the post of president and once again from 2008 till date the nation is being ruled by Pakistan People’s Party.

Going through this history one can comment for sure that the behavior of the organizations which have governed the country over the last 65 years especially the later ones, had one thing in common and that is the desire to keep themselves in power. Rather than being a source of welfare for the people of the country and having an objective to focus on ways of how to create and flourish prosperity throughout the nation, the people who came in power had more focus on ways to flourish their own welfare and prosperity but that to in a very clever way.

This way is such that most of the population of Pakistan which comprises of illiterate majorities is being fooled in a way that they feel that the governments are working and putting an effort for the welfare and well being of the country. This is done by bonding through various means especially through common cultures and traditions or by sympathizing with crowds and giving them an impression that their grief is the government’s greatest concern and the government itself has gone through a lot of sorrows and disasters for the empowerment of its people.

Although the masses where the literacy rate is quite low do start believing these conspiracies plotted by the democratic government and begin to have this feeling that the people in power are actually concerned for them and want their welfare but people who are more aware and educated have realized it long time back that be it any government either from their community or from any other community, its sole purpose during its tenure is to maximize its own welfare and gains.