Political continuity and apolitical changes: A retrogressive study of political participation in Pakistani Punjab

• Main Author: Awan, Sajid
• Format: Conference or Workshop Item
• Language: English
• Published: 2014
• Subjects: DS Asia
• Online Access: http://repo.uum.edu.my/14502/1/19.pdf; http://repo.uum.edu.my/14502/; http://www.iaha2014.uum.edu.my/

Pakistan has got a checkered political history since its inception. Political continuity has always been checked by apolitical changes with subsequent coups of 1958, 1977 and 1999. An apolitical nexus of praetorian class, civil bureaucracy and feudal clout has never let the political continuity lost even for a single term with an exception of the last one which too could survive only under the auspices of the same nexus.It is generally believed that they never let the process of political participation increase a certain level.Central argument of the present paper is quite opposite.