The debate about the suitability of the presidential system to Pakistan has picked up steam. The plausibility of the presidential system ensuring efficient delivery of governance and growth has gravitated the attention of many. But the flaws hobbling parliamentary system reflect the poor performance of the Pakistani parliamentarians.

As a system, parliamentary democracy has delivered admirably well in many countries. However, some aspects of the presidential system make it more tenable, given the current scenario obtaining in the country. The fixed tenure in office enjoyed by a president under the presidential system makes for the stability of the government and the continuity of policies. A stable government also allows for both medium- and long-term planning, rather than the instability that characterises a parliamentary system of government. A presidential system is more stable than a parliamentary one as coalition governments in latter can collapse any time as has been seen in several South Asian states. Presidential system may ensure better policy implementation. The tenure of the Executive is fixed and, therefore, a policy gets carried out without any fear or favour. All growth-led economies like China, Singapore and Vietnam have a system of governance where powers are concentrated at the Centre ensuring swift policy implementation.

With this prelude, the focus of our analysis in the rest of this piece rivets on two presidents, Iskander Mirza and Zulfikar Ali Bhutto. The two became presidents in different circumstances with mandates that also differed substantially. More so, they did not enjoy the attributes of strong and stable president(s) that many of our analysts want our executive head(s) to be equipped with. Having said that, before subjecting their tenures to an interrogative gaze, it seems in order to provide the background of Iskander Mirza to put things in perspective.

The progeny of the infamous historical character Mir Jaffar of Bengal, Syed Iskander Ali Mirza was born on November 13, 1899. He obtained his undergraduate degree from Elphinstone College, Bombay, in 1918 and according to his son, Humayun Mirza, was the first Indian to graduate from Sandhurst Military College, in Kimberley, England, in 1920 with a King’s Commission. Later, he served in the Indian Political Service, while retaining his military commission. After the creation of Pakistan, he became the defense secretary in 1947, and governor of East Pakistan in 1954. Subsequently, he was interior minister in Muhammad Ali Bogra’s cabinet of talents, which followed Ghulam Muhammad’s dismissal of the Constituent Assembly. The following year, he succeeded an ailing Ghulam Muhammad as governor general.

Power had already slipped by this time from politicians to bureaucrats and their military allies. In order to provide a fig leaf for this dispensation, Iskander Mirza encouraged the formation of the Republican Party, which reveals a conspiratorial proclivity that Mirza had mastered over the years. After the promulgation of the 1956 constitution, he became Pakistan’s first president.

On March 5, 1956, he took oath as the first elected president of Pakistan, becoming the only Pakistani to serve in the capacity of a governor general as well as a president. The 1956 constitution provided for parliamentary form of government with all the executive powers placed in the hands of the prime minister. But the president had a role of overseeing the affairs of governance.

After a succession of weak prime ministers had come and gone, Mirza’s role became more central. Finally, he dissolved the National Assembly on October 7, 1958 and proclaimed martial law. This action has been seen as a pre-emptive strike to prevent elections that would have brought a threat to the establishment’s foreign policy interests. It is noteworthy that the top members of the ruling elite had been looking after the imperial interests of the United States, and Mirza was among its leading lights. Along with Ayub Khan, Mirza earnestly believed that democracy was a dispensation out of sync with the genius of the Pakistani people. He confided to the US ambassador in May 1958, that “only a dictatorship would work in Pakistan”. Having no popular support, Mirza relied on intrigue and conspiracy. His loyalty to Western powers had been his sole strength. This proved inimical to Pakistan’s long-term wellbeing.

He briefly shared power with Ayub Khan after the coup, but within three weeks he had been eased out of office and unceremoniously bundled out of the country to a London exile, where he died in 1969. Prioritisation of self-interest and personal power had been the mantra of his politics and presidency.

Zulfikar Ali Bhutto served as the ninth prime minister of Pakistan from 1973 to 1977, and prior to that as the fourth president of Pakistan from 1971 to 1973. He was also the founder of the Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP) and served as its chairman until his execution on April 4, 1979 by Zia ul Haq. Bhutto had a very solid political base. His popularity and charisma had catapulted him to the national political scene as an undisputed leader of the people.

Born to Sir Shah Nawaz Bhutto, he was educated at the University of California, Berkeley, and the University of Oxford. Bhutto was called to the bar at Lincoln’s Inn, before entering politics as one of President Iskander Mirza’s cabinet members, and was assigned several ministries, most importantly the ministry of foreign affairs, during President Ayub Khan’s military rule. In December 1971, he took over two positions from Yahya Khan, one as president and the other as the chief martial law administrator. Thus, he was the first civilian chief martial law administrator of the country.

When Bhutto assumed presidency, he was faced with an angered and demoralised nation with the country facing challenges on both internal and foreign fronts.

Bhutto placed Yahya Khan under house arrest. He ordered the release of Sheikh Mujib by reversing the verdict of his court-martial trial, in which he had been sentenced to death. Appointing a new cabinet, Bhutto appointed Lt-Gen Gul Hasan as chief of army staff.

Bhutto introduced socialist economic policies while working to prevent any further division of the country. Major heavy mechanical, chemical, and electrical engineering industries were immediately nationalised and came under direct control of the government. The Bhutto government carried out several reforms in the industrial sector. His reforms were twofold: nationalisation, and the improvement of workers’ rights. In the first phase, basic industries like steel, chemicals and cement were nationalised. This was done in 1972.

As a president, he took decisive measures including putting Pakistan on the path to acquiring a nuclear arsenal. However, he changed Pakistan’s governance system to a bicameral parliamentary form probably because a strong Centre had caused Pakistan to split in 1971. That can be the reason for the 1973 constitution in which prime minister is the executive head and all cabinet members are elected.

One may add that both systems (parliamentary and presidential) have the capacity to give good results. It all depends on the intentions behind the policy formulation and a swift and effective execution of the policy.

The author is a professor of history and a writer. He can be reached at tahir.kamran@bnu.edu.pk