Pakistan through the decades: Governor Generals and Presidents of Pakistan

Although Pakistan had become independent in 1947, it continued to follow the Government of India Act 1935 according to which the Governor General being the head of the state was the resident representative of the monarch of Great Britain. The Governor General was recommended by the Prime Minister and appointed by the Monarch.

Quaid-e-Azam Mohammed Ali Jinnah was the first governor general of Pakistan and after him came Khawaja Nazimuddin (14^th September, 1948-17^th October, 1951), Ghulam Mohammed (17^th October, 1951 to 6^th October, 1955) and Iskander Mirza (6^th October, 1955 to 23^rd March, 1956).

In 1956, Pakistan became a republic and formed its own constitution in which the post of the governor general was replaced by that of the President and Iskander Mirza was appointed as the first President of Pakistan.

Since then the list of people who have served as the president of Pakistan is as follows:

• Iskander Mirza (23^rd March, 1956 to 27^th October, 1958)
• General Ayub Khan (27^th October, 1958 to 25^th March, 1969)
• Yahya Khan (25^th March, 1969 to 20^th December, 1971)
• Zulfiqar Ali Bhutto (20^th December, 1971 to 13^th August, 1973)
• Fazal Illahi Chaudhry (13^th August, 1973 to 16^th September, 1978)
• Gen Zia ul Haq (16^th September, 1978 to 17^th August, 1988)
• Ghulam Ishaq Khan (17^th August, 1988 to 18^th July, 1993)
• Wasim Sajjad (18^th July, 1993 to 14^th November, 1993) First Term
• Farooq Leghari (14^th November, 1993 to 2^nd December, 1997)
• Wasim Sajjad (2^nd December, 1997 to 1^st January, 1998) Second Term
• Mohammad Rafiq Tarrar (1^st January, 1998 to 20^th June, 2001)
• Pervaiz Musharraf (20^th June, 2001 to 18^th August, 2008)
• Asif Ali Zardari (9^th September, 2008 to 9^th September, 2013)
• Mamnoon Hussain (9^th September, 2013 to 9^th September, 2018)
• Arif Alvi (9^th September, 2018 – present)

The President in Pakistan enjoyed more power than the prime minister and on a couple of occasions exercised this power by dismissing the elected prime ministers on various charges such as corruption, incompetence etc.

Ghulam Ishaq Khan dismissed Benazir Bhutto’s and Nawaz Sharif’s government and Farooq Leghari dismissed Benazir’s government. Zia-ul-Haq and President Musharraf also used their powers excessively.

In 2010, however the eighteenth amendment to the Constitution of Pakistan gave more power to the prime minister making him the most powerful man in Pakistan.