The denial of the institutionalization of political power by various civilian as well as martial law regimes has been a constant problem in Pakistan. Muhammad Ali Jinnah was the first person who could do so in an effective manner, but his eternal departure in the early phase of the history of Pakistan changed the entire course of the country, and the successor leadership had to pursue self-serving politics just to prolong their rule. The same is the case with the rule of General Pervaiz Musharraf (1999-2008), which converted the parliamentary system envisaged by the 1973 constitution of Pakistan into a quasi-presidential system just to prolong the military dictatorship. The subsequent rule of the Pakistan Peoples' Party (2008-2013) was a tough period for the political leadership since the preceding dictatorship had completely altered the socio-political landscape of the country; however, the political wisdom of Mr. Asif Ali Zardari helped the country to sail smoothly during the aftershocks of the martial law regime. In that perspective, the current study intends to analyze the political developments in Pakistan during the third rule of the Pakistan Peoples' Party over the country during the period 2008-2013.

Since its establishment in 1947, Pakistan has repeatedly been on starting point or even somewhat beyond the starting point, because of the malfunctioning or non-existence of the state institutions; on such occasions, instead of correcting or rectifying the malfunctioning, the basic infrastructure was altogether demolished while the institutions were abolished thus placing the country on a restart from zero point. Perhaps the Zero point in Islamabad indicates the psychological dimensions of the establishment that they place the country repeatedly at Zero point to start another exercise of trial and error. The military rule by General Ziaul Haq (1977-1988) provides an interesting insight of the above notion since the start of authoritative rather autocratic Islamization during the said regime turned the country back into late 1940s when the proposed Islamization under the Objectives Resolution of 1949 was criticized by the non-Muslim and neutral foreign observers alike. The instant study aims to evaluate whether the state institutions were empowered or strengthened by the Zia regime. It will also evaluate how General Zia’s arbitrary use of power affected the performance of government functionaries and public departments.