Pakistan Prime Ministers And Presidents Who Could Not Complete Their Full Term

While no Prime Minister in Pakistan has completed a full term, the situation is the opposite in the case of Pakistani Presidents

Pakistan has remained in a largely unstable state ever since the country came into existence in 1947. Geopolitical experts point to the ‘Triple A’ factor (Army, Allah and America), which has resulted in continued instability in the country. Naturally, the political environment in Pakistan has seen frequent changes across the top leadership. To better understand the topic, let us take a look at the Prime Ministers and Presidents of Pakistan who could not complete their full term.

Prime Ministers of Pakistan who could not complete their full term

Since the country’s formation in 1947, there have been 23 Prime Ministers of Pakistan. This excludes various caretakers that have been appointed from time to time. Given below is the complete list of Prime Ministers of Pakistan and the actual term served by them.

Name	Party	Term Start	Exit Date	Total Period Served	Reason for Exit
Liaquat Ali Khan	Muslim League	15-Aug-1947	16-Oct-1951	4y 2m 1d	Assassinated
Khawaja Nazimuddin	Muslim League	17-Oct-1951	17-Apr-1953	1y 6m	Dismissed by Governor-General
Muhammad Ali Bogra	Muslim League	17-Apr-1953	10-Aug-1955	2y 3m	Dismissed by Governor-General
Chaudhry Mohammad Ali	Muslim League	11-Aug-1955	12-Sep-1956	1y 1m	Resigned
Hussain Shaheed Suhrawardy	Awami League	12-Sep-1956	18-Oct-1957	1y 1m	Dismissed by President
Ibrahim Ismail Chundrigar	Muslim League	18-Oct-1957	16-Dec-1957	~2m	Resigned
Feroz Khan Noon	Republican Party	16-Dec-1957	07-Oct-1958	9m 21d	Dismissed by President / Martial law imposed
Nurul Amin	Pakistan Muslim League	07-Dec-1971	20-Dec-1971	13d	Office abolished (constitution change)
Zulfikar Ali Bhutto	Pakistan People’s Party	14-Aug-1973	07-Jul-1977	~3y 11m	Ousted in military coup
Muhammad Khan Junejo	Independent (PML)	23-Mar-1985	29-May-1988	3y 2m	Dismissed by President
Benazir Bhutto	PPP	02-Dec-1988	06-Aug-1990	1y 8m	Dismissed by President
Nawaz Sharif	IJI / PML-N	06-Nov-1990	18-Jul-1993	~2y 8m	Resigned (political settlement)
Benazir Bhutto (2nd term)	PPP	19-Oct-1993	05-Nov-1996	~3y	Dismissed by President
Nawaz Sharif (2nd term)	PML-N	17-Feb-1997	12-Oct-1999	~2y 8m	Ousted in military coup
Mir Zafarullah Khan Jamali	PML-Q	23-Nov-2002	26-Jun-2004	1y 7m	Resigned
Chaudhry Shujaat Hussain	PML-Q	30-Jun-2004	23-Aug-2004	~2m	Replaced by party/congress backing
Shaukat Aziz	PML-Q	28-Aug-2004	15-Nov-2007	~3y 2m	End of parliamentary term
Yousaf Raza Gillani	PPP	25-Mar-2008	19-Jun-2012	~4y 3m	Disqualified by Supreme Court
Raja Pervez Ashraf	PPP	22-Jun-2012	24-Mar-2013	~9m	End of parliamentary term
Nawaz Sharif (3rd term)	PML-N	05-Jun-2013	28-Jul-2017	~4y 1m	Disqualified by Supreme Court
Shahid Khaqan Abbasi	PML-N	01-Aug-2017	31-May-2018	~10m	End of Parliamentary term/dissolution
Imran Khan	PTI	18-Aug-2018	10-Apr-2022	~3y 8m	Removed by vote of no confidence
Shehbaz Sharif (1st term)	PML-N	11-Apr-2022	14-Aug-2023	~1y 4m	Resigned (to allow caretaker)
Shehbaz Sharif (2nd term)	PML-N	04-Mar-2024	Incumbent	Ongoing	In office

Key takeaways:

• As is evident, none of the Prime Ministers of Pakistan were able to complete their full term. They resigned, were disqualified or dismissed or died.
• Pakistan’s first Prime Minister, Liaquat Ali Khan, was assassinated.
• The shortest serving Prime Minister of Pakistan was Nurul Amin, who served for just 13 days.
• Similarly, Chaudhry Shujaat Hussain and Ibrahim Ismail Chundrigar had a short prime ministerial term of 54 days and 55 days, respectively.
• Pakistan’s only woman Prime Minister, Benazir Bhutto, was dismissed twice in two terms by the President.
• Several Pakistani Prime Ministers were imprisoned or exiled – Hussain Shaheed Suhrawardy, Zulfikar Ali Bhutto, Nawaz Sharif, Shahid Khaqan Abbasi and Imran Khan.
• Longest serving Prime Minister of Pakistan is Nawaz Sharif who completed a total of more than 9 years across three separate, non-consecutive terms.

Presidents of Pakistan who could not complete their full term

As compared to Prime Ministers of Pakistan, none of whom could complete the full term, many Presidents of Pakistan went on to complete their full term. Below is the complete information about the various Presidents of Pakistan and their respective terms.

Name	Party	Term Start	Exit Date	Total Period Served	Reason for Exit
Iskander Mirza	Republican Party	23-Mar-1956	27-Oct-1958	~2y 7m	Forced to resign in military coup (Ayub Khan)
Ayub Khan	Army / Later PML-C	27-Oct-1958	25-Mar-1969	~10y 5m	Resigned under pressure/decline of rule
Yahya Khan	Army	25-Mar-1969	20-Dec-1971	~2y 8m	Resigned after 1971 war defeat
Zulfikar Ali Bhutto	PPP	20-Dec-1971	14-Aug-1973	~1y 8m	Stepped down under new constitution to become PM
Fazal Elahi Chaudhry	PPP	14-Aug-1973	16-Sep-1978	~5y 1m	Term ended; shift in power structure
Muhammad Zia-ul-Haq	Army	16-Sep-1978	17-Aug-1988	~9y 11m	Died in plane crash
Ghulam Ishaq Khan	Independent	17-Aug-1988	18-Jul-1993	~4y 11m	Resigned under political pressure
Wasim Sajjad (Acting)	PML-N	18-Jul-1993	14-Nov-1993	~4m	Interim — until election of Leghari
Farooq Leghari	PPP	14-Nov-1993	02-Dec-1997	~4y 0m	Resigned early
Wasim Sajjad (Acting)	PML-N	02-Dec-1997	01-Jan-1998	~1m	Interim between Leghari & Tarar
Muhammad Rafiq Tarar	PML-N	01-Jan-1998	20-Jun-2001	~3y 5m	Resigned following Musharraf coup
Pervez Musharraf	Army / PML-Q	20-Jun-2001	15-Oct-2007	~6y 4m	Stepped down under threat of impeachment
Pervez Musharraf	PML-Q	29-Nov-2007	18-Aug-2008	~8m	Interim after elections & transition
Muhammad Mian Soomro (Acting)	PML-Q	18-Aug-2008	09-Sep-2008	~22d	Interim — before Zardari
Asif Ali Zardari	PPP	09-Sep-2008	09-Sep-2013	5y 0m	Completed term
Mamnoon Hussain	PML-N	09-Sep-2013	09-Sep-2018	5y 0m	Completed term
Arif Alvi	PTI	09-Sep-2018	10-Mar-2024	~5y 6m	Exit on term completion / new election cycle
Asif Ali Zardari (2nd term)	PPP	10-Mar-2024	Incumbent	Ongoing	Elected (current)

Key takeaways:

• 10 out 14 Presidents of Pakistan (also called s̤adr-i Pakistan) did not complete their full term.
• Non completion of their full term was due to reasons such as death, dismissal, resignation or coup.
• The shortest term of a Pakistani President is 22 days of Muhammad Mian Soomro (also known as Mohammedmian Soomro).
• Longest serving President in Pakistan was Ayub Khan, who served for 10 years and 5 months.

In Pakistan, we also see that the military has the upper hand in crucial decision making. It explains why military dictators in Pakistan were relatively better off in comparison to political leaders. For context, we can look at the lives and times of military dictators such as Ayub Khan, Yahya Khan, Ziaul Haq and Pervez Musharraf. These individuals enjoyed a life of largely power, wealth and luxury.