The government under General Pervez Musharraf in Pakistan cannot be called a democracy. Why?
The reasons for not calling the government under General Pervez Musharraf in Pakistan a democracy were as follows:
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General Pervez Musharraf overthrew a popularly elected government by a military coup in October, 1999 and became the Chief Executive of Pakistan. He changed his designation to President and in 2002 held a referendum granting him a five year extension.
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In August, 2002, he issued a ‘Legal Framework Order’ which gave powers to the President to dismiss the national or provincial assemblies. The work of the civilian cabinet was supervised by a National Security Council which was dominated by military officers.
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There were elected representatives, but the final power rested with the military officers and General Musharraf himself. None of them were elected by the people of Pakistan.