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| Governors-General and Presidents of Pakistan |
Governors-General and Presidents of Pakistan
The President of a state also holds the highest civilian office, like the Prime Minister. In the previous article, it was explained that the Prime Minister is the administrative head of the government. In the same way, the president is the head of state, not only the government. So, the difference between their designations is that the Prime Minister is the head of government while the President is the head of state.
According to the Constitution of the Islamic
Republic of Pakistan:
There shall be a President of Pakistan who shall be the Head of State and shall represent the unity of the Republic.
The first Prime Minister of Pakistan, Mr. Liaquat Ali Khan, was appointed on the very next day after the independence
of Pakistan. It means that the head of the government of Pakistan was appointed
on August 15, 1947, while the first appointment of the President of Pakistan as
the head of state was made in 1956. Major General Iskander Mirza became the
first President of Pakistan on March 23, 1956. Thus, from August 1947 to March
1956, there was no President of the State of Pakistan.
But does this mean that the state of Pakistan was deprived of a head of
state for almost nine years? The answer is an absolute no because very few
people today know the fact that the office of the President of Pakistan began
in 1956, but before that the powers and responsibilities of the office were
vested in the name of the Governor-General.
Therefore, after the independence of Pakistan, the head of state was the
Governor-General. Four people served in this position. This position lasted for
almost nine years, from independence until 1956. Then in 1956, the post of
Governor-General of Pakistan was replaced by the designation of the President of
Pakistan which continues to this day.
Here two separate lists of names of the Honorable Governors-General and the Presidents of the State
of Pakistan, their tenures of service, and their political affiliations, are
given.
Governors-General of Pakistan: Names and Tenures of Service
|
No. |
Names |
Tenure
Start |
Tenure
End |
|
1 |
Quaid-e-Azam
Muhammad Ali Jinnah |
Aug
14, 1947 |
Sep
11, 1948 |
|
2 |
Khawaja Nizamuddin
(Acting
Governor General) |
Sep
14, 1948 |
Nov
11, 1948 |
|
Khawaja Nizamuddin (Governor
General) |
Nov
12, 1948 |
Oct
18, 1951 |
|
|
3 |
Ghulam
Muhammad |
Oct
19, 1951 |
Aug
6, 1955 |
|
4 |
Major General
Iskandar Mirza (Acting
Governor General) |
Aug
7, 1955 |
Oct
5, 1955 |
|
Major General
Iskandar Mirza (Governor
General) |
Oct
6, 1955 |
March
22, 1956 |
Presidents of Pakistan: Names, Tenures of Service, and Affiliations
|
No. |
Names |
Tenure
Start |
Tenure
End |
Affiliation |
|
1 |
Major General
Iskandar Mirza |
March
23, 1956 |
Oct
27, 1958 |
Republican
Party |
|
2 |
General Ayyub
Khan |
Oct
27, 1958 |
March
24, 1969 |
Military |
|
3 |
General Yahya
Khan |
March
25, 1969 |
Dec
19, 1971 |
Military |
|
4 |
Zulfiqar Ali
Bhutto |
Dec
20, 1971 |
Aug
13, 1973 |
Pakistan
People’s Party (PPP) |
|
5 |
Fazal Elahi
Chaudhry |
Aug
14, 1973 |
Sep
15, 1978 |
Pakistan
People’s Party (PPP) |
|
6 |
General
Muhammad Zia-ul-Haq |
Sep
16, 1978 |
Aug
16, 1988 |
Military |
|
7 |
Ghulam Ishaq
Khan |
Aug
17, 1988 |
July
18, 1993 |
Independent |
|
8 |
Wasim Sajjad
(Acting President) |
July
18, 1993 |
Nov
14, 1993 |
Pakistan
Muslim League (N) |
|
9 |
Sardar Farooq
Ahmed Leghari |
Nov
14, 1993 |
Dec
2, 1997 |
Pakistan
People’s Party (PPP) |
|
10 |
Wasim Sajjad
(Acting President) |
Dec
2, 1997 |
Jan
1, 1998 |
Pakistan
Muslim League (N) |
|
11 |
Justice (R)
Muhammad Rafiq Tarar |
Jan
1, 1998 |
June
20, 2001 |
Pakistan
Muslim League (N) |
|
12 |
General Parvez
Musharraf |
June
20, 2001 |
Oct
15, 2007 |
Military |
|
13 |
General (R) Parvez
Musharraf (Second Term) |
Nov
29, 2007 |
Aug
18, 2008 |
Military |
|
14 |
Muhammad Mian
Soomro (Acting
President) |
Aug
18, 2008 |
Sep
9, 2008 |
Pakistan
Muslim League (N) |
|
15 |
Asif Ali
Zardari |
Sep
9, 2008 |
Sep
9, 2013 |
Pakistan
People’s Party (PPP) |
|
16 |
Mamnoon
Hussain |
Sep
9, 2013 |
Sep
9, 2018 |
Pakistan
Muslim League (N) |
|
17 |
Dr.
Arif-ur-Rehman Alvi |
Sep
9, 2018 |
Till
Date |
Pakistan
Tehreek-e-Insaaf (PTI) |
Tenure of the President Office
Tenure of the President’s Office
is essentially for a term of five years. However, it may be extended under
certain conditions and circumstances.
According to the Constitution of Pakistan:
Subject to the Constitution, the President shall hold office for a term of five years from the day he enters upon his office, provided that the President shall, notwithstanding the expiration of his terms, continue to hold office until his successor enters upon his office.
Powers of the President of the Islamic Republic of Pakistan
In a parliamentary system, the president does not have as extensive powers as the presidential system, rather has relatively limited powers. However, despite the parliamentary system in Pakistan, the President used to have a lot of powers which may be very well understood by the fact that he could use his powers to dismiss the government and dissolve the National Assembly as was the case when President Farooq Ahmed Leghari ended the government of Prime Minister Benazir Bhutto by using his powers. Given these powers of the President, it could be called a semi-presidential system.
That is why several attempts were made to restrict presidential powers through constitutional amendments. This was also a matter of concern for the ruling parties because the president sometimes did not belong to the ruling party. In that case, the ruling party could not have considered itself safe because of his presidential powers. Therefore, they tried to limit his powers to protect their positions.
However, after the 18th Amendment to the Constitution of Pakistan, the
powers of the President have diminished considerably. Now the powers of the
Prime Minister and Parliament are more or less equal to those of the President.
Now it can be safely said that Pakistan has considerably moved from a
semi-presidential to a dominant parliamentary republic.
Nonetheless, the president still holds the highest civilian
state post as head of state.
___________________
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