Power Dynamics of State Institutions in Pakistan, Discourse Analysis of Bureaucracy and the Legislature (1971-1977)

Abstract

The Parliament of Pakistan from 1971 to 1977 was the first Parliament of present day Pakistan and the first bicameral Parliament in the history of the state. Therefore this Parliament seemed to have developed as a powerful institution in contrast to other institutions of the state. The mutual confrontation between the two major institutions of the state namely the bureaucracy and the parliament in order to get thedriving position of the state will be the focus of this study. It will discuss the mutual relationship of the institutions of bureaucracy and the parliament in the presence of more powerful institution of Chief Executive at the time. The paper will try to analyze the influence and powers of the parliament which was apparently strong but in fact was weaker than bureaucracy. The functions of parliamentary institution were highlighted and projected to be stronger than those of bureaucracy but in fact the real functionary was the bureaucracy. The key sources of the paper are the parliamentary debates, reliable works of research, statements of various key players and various documents from the Pakistani, British and US archives.