Prime Ministers of Islamic Republic of Pakistan

Prime Ministers of Pakistan

In a parliamentary system of government, the prime minister is the administrative and legislative head of government. The Prime Minister has a cabinet of various ministers. All ministries work under the supervision of the Prime Minister and are accountable to him.

The Islamic Republic of Pakistan also has a parliamentary system of government. So, under this system, the Prime Minister is the administrative head and the chief executive of the Government of Pakistan.

According to the Constitution of Pakistan:

The Prime Minister shall be elected by the votes of the majority of the total membership of the National Assembly.

The said total membership of the National Assembly refers to the total number of all elected members as well as the members elected on the reserved seats for women and non-Muslims.

The Prime Minister of Pakistan and his subordinate Ministers of the Federal Cabinet perform their duties within the limits prescribed by the Constitution of Pakistan.

According to the Constitution of Pakistan:

Government, consisting of the Prime Minister and the Federal Ministers, which shall act through the Prime Minister, who shall be the chief executive of the Federation.

If we look at the history of Pakistan, the Honorable Prime Ministers who have been in the service as prime ministers of Pakistan since independence, their names, their tenures, and their political affiliations are briefly explained by the list given below.

Prime Ministers of Pakistan: Names, Tenures, and Political Affiliations

No.	Names	Tenure Start	Tenure End	Political Party / Status
1	Liaqat Ali Khan	Aug 15, 1947	Oct 16, 1951	Muslim League
2	Khawaja Nizamuddin	Oct 17, 1951	Apr 17, 1953	Muslim League
3	Muhammad Ali Bogra	Apr 17, 1953	Aug 12, 1955	Muslim League
4	Chaudhary Muhammad Ali	Aug 12, 1955	Sep 12, 1956	Muslim League
5	Huseyn Shaheed Suharwardi	Sep 12, 1956	Oct 17, 1957	Awami League
6	Ibrahim Ismail Chundrigar	Oct 17, 1957	Dec 16, 1957	Muslim League
7	Feroze Khan Noon	Dec 16, 1957	Oct 7, 1958	Republican Party
8	Nur-ul-Amin	Dec 7, 1971	Dec 20, 1971	Pakistan Muslim League
9	Zulfiqar Ali Bhutto	Aug 14, 1973	July 5, 1977	Pakistan People’s Party
10	Muhammad Khan Junejo	March 24, 1985	May 29, 1988	Independent
11	Benazir Bhutto	Dec 2, 1988	Aug 6, 1990	Pakistan People’s Party
12	Ghulam Mustafa Khan Jatoi	Aug 6, 1990	Nov 6, 1990	(1st Caretaker Prime Minister of Pakistan)
13	Muhammad Nawaz Sharif	Nov 6, 1990	Apr 18, 1993	Pakistan Muslim League (N)
14	Mir Balakh Sher Mazari	Apr 18, 1993	May 26, 1993	(2nd Caretaker PM)
15	Muhammad Nawaz Sharif	May 26, 1993	July 8, 1993	Pakistan Muslim League (N)
16	Moin Qureshi	July 8, 1993	Oct 19, 1993	(3rd Caretaker PM)
17	Benazir Bhutto	Oct 19, 1993	Nov 5, 1996	Pakistan People’s Party
18	Malik Mairaj Khalid	Nov 6, 1996	Feb 17, 1997	(4th Caretaker PM)
19	Muhammad Nawaz Sharif	Feb 17, 1997	Oct 12, 1999	Pakistan Muslim League (N)
20	Mir Zafrullah Khan Jamali	Nov 23, 2002	June 26, 2004	Pakistan Muslim League (Q)
21	Chaudhry Shujaat Hussain	June 30, 2004	Aug 26, 2004	Pakistan Muslim League (Q)
22	Shaukat Aziz	Aug 28, 2004	Nov 15, 2007	Pakistan Muslim League (Q)
23	Mian Muhammad Soomro	Nov 16, 2007	March 24, 2008	(5th Caretaker PM)
24	Sayed Yousaf Raza Gilani	March 25, 2008	June 19, 2012	Pakistan People’s Party
25	Raja Parvez Ashraf	June 22, 2012	March 24, 2013	Pakistan People’s Party
26	Mir Hazar Khan Khoso	March 25, 2013	June 5, 2013	(6th Caretaker PM)
27	Muhammad Nawaz Sharif	June 5, 2013	July 28, 2017	Pakistan Muslim League (N)
28	Shahid Khaqan Abbasi	Aug 1, 2017	May 31, 2018	Pakistan Muslim League (N)
29	Justice (R) Nasir-ul-Mulk	June 1, 2018	Aug 18, 2018	(7th Caretaker PM)
30	Imran Khan	Aug 18, 2018	Till Date	Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf

Some Unique Aspects

If we take a closer look at this list, we see some unique things in it:

1. Lack of continuity in the Prime Minister's Office.

2. Incomplete tenures of Prime Ministers.

3. Caretaker Prime Ministers.

1. Lack of continuity in the Prime Minister's Office

The first notable thing is the lack of continuity in the Prime Minister's Office. The reason for this is that in addition to the parliamentary system, the presidential system was in force in Pakistan for some time, as was the case in the 1960s when the presidential system was introduced. Martial law was also imposed in the country a few times due to unavoidable circumstances, such as in 1958 and 1977. In both the presidential system and the martial law, unlike the parliamentary system of government, the head of state was the president and the military ruler, rather than the prime minister. Therefore, during the presidential system and the martial laws, the post of Prime Minister remained vacant. However, this does not mean that the country was running without an administrative head at that time. The administrative heads held other positions than the Prime Minister at that time.

2. Incomplete tenures of Prime Ministers

According to the Constitution of Pakistan:

The National Assembly shall, unless sooner dissolved, continue for a term of five years from the day of its first meeting and shall stand dissolved at the expiration of its term.

So, according to the Constitution of Pakistan, the term of an elected National Assembly is up to five years. Therefore, the term of the elected members of the National Assembly, Ministers, and the Prime Minister of Pakistan is also up to five years. However, it is notable that there is no Prime Minister on the list who has completed the five-year term of the Prime Minister in his capacity as the only one Prime Minister for the whole term. Circumstances became such that for various reasons he had to resign before the expiration of this term.

However, the status of a political party has twice been such that a party has completed five years of its rule. For the first time, from 2008 to 2013, the PPP completed its term in office. Meanwhile, Syed Yousuf Raza Gilani and Raja Pervez Ashraf, two prime ministers appointed by the Pakistan People's Party, served as the Prime Ministers of Pakistan. The second opportunity is for the Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N), the winner of the 2013 general elections, which completed five years of its rule from 2013 to 2018. Meanwhile, on behalf of the Muslim League, two Prime Ministers Muhammad Nawaz Sharif and Shahid Khaqan Abbasi fulfilled their responsibilities as the Prime Ministers of Pakistan.

If incumbent Prime Minister Imran Khan succeeds in completing his five-year term, it will be the first time in Pakistan's parliamentary history that an elected prime minister will complete his term as prime minister, and the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaaf will be the third party be included in this list as a party.

3. Caretaker Prime Ministers

The third highlight of the list is the caretaker Prime Ministers. They are interim executive chiefs in the duration when until one prime minister retires or leaves his office, and another takes over. So far, seven caretaker Prime Ministers have been appointed in Pakistan. Their names and status have been highlighted in the above-mentioned list of Prime Ministers of Pakistan.

______________________

#PrimeMinisterofPakistan #CaretakerPrimeMinistersofPakistan #NationalAssembly #ConstitutionofPakistan #LiaqatAliKhan #KhawajaNizamuddin #MuhammadAliBogra #ChaudharyMuhammadAli #HuseynShaheedSuharwardi #IbrahimIsmailChundrigar #FerozeKhanNoon #NurulAmin #ZulfiqarAliBhutto #MuhammadKhanJunejo #BenazirBhutto #GhulamMustafaKhanJatoi #MuhammadNawazSharif #MirBalakhSherMazari #MoinQureshi #MalikMairajKhalid #MirZafrullahKhanJamali #ChaudhryShujaatHussain #ShaukatAziz #MianMuhammadSoomro #SayedYousafRazaGilani #RajaParvezAshraf #MirHazarKhanKhoso #ShahidKhaqanAbbasi #Justice(R)NasirulMulk #ImranKhan #MuslimLeague #AwamiLeague #RepublicanParty #PakistanMuslimLeague #PakistanPeoplesParty #PPP #Independent #PakistanMuslimLeague(N) #PMLN #PakistanMuslimLeague(Q) #PMLQ #PakistanTehreekeInsaf #PTI #Tenure #PrimeMinisterOffice #Research #pak-tm #pak-tm.blogspot #pak-tm.blogspot.com #https://pak-tm.blogspot.com #TahirMahmood