A STUDY OF IDEOLOGICAL SHIFTS OF PAKISTAN PEOPLE'S PARTY FROM SOCIALISM TO PRAGMATISM (1967-2024)

Abstract

The political parties are not just a group of people but they have a clear organization structure, ideas, beliefs & interests which make a party individual from existing once. The presence of political parties are necessary to run the modern democratic structural government.The political parties work for the organizational structure of the country, its masses and play a crucial role to run the government.Political actors and parties have often had to face the complex realities leading to the rise of “pragmatism” which provides a guiding structure to the political arena. Pragmatism in politics refers to the adoption of a practical and realistic approach toward political affairs, where decisions are shaped by what works best for gaining strength from the masses and avoid being stuck on their rigid ideological commitments. Socialism is a political & economic idea of Karl Marx. The Socialist goal is to cooperate and serve society collectively. It was against the ideas of capitalism whose central goal is to own private property and to earn more profit. In the Socialistic society big industries, public Utilities & natural resources should be owned & controlled by the state. So that state should manage the economy for the benefit of the common good. This global socialist influence can't be exempted from Pakistan. Pakistan suffering under the one-men authoritarian rule so, socialism concidered as the solution to deep rooted economic problems created by the Ayub Khan military regime. Zulfiqar Ali Bhutto emerged as a prominent figure who decided to led the foundation of Pakistan People's party founded on 30 November 1967 on the basis of the Socialistic ideology of Karl Marx and sought to introduce a locally and culturally acceptable form of socialism in Pakistan. But this socialist approach was challenged by several right wing groups like ML,JI,JUP & JUI political parties; according to them Socialism was “un-Islamic”. Further Z.A Bhutto supports his ideology by giving the example that the word “Democracy” used for “jamhuuriyat” so why not the word “Socialism” used as “maswat”.Socialism based on Masawat which is taught by Islam teaching.The Pakistan People's Party during the period of 1970 to 1977 frequently used slogans like "Roti, Kapra & Makan" to attract the working class of Pakistan. During Zia-ul-Haq's military regime he encouraged Islamic norms and tried to counter Bhutto's Socialist ideology. The Pakistan People's party Pragmatism approach reflects during the time period of 2002-2008 when they decided to cooperate with the PML-N right wing party and signed the “Charter of democracy” in April 2006 which aimed to revive civilian politics and prevent future military interventions. Later on Benazir Bhutto strategically negotiated with Musharraf under the National Reconciliation Ordinance (NRO) the re-enter into the political landscape. The Pragmatic orientation reached its fullest expression in the decade from 2008 to 2024 which may be called the “era of Pragmatism".During these years the party continuously prioritised practical, context-driven decision making over rigid ideological commitments of the Pakistan peoples party. This pragmatic approach helped PPP to become the first political party to complete its full civil government term(2008-2013)and still played a crucial role as an oppositional party. This article aims to study the ideological evolution of Pakistan People's Party and examine the ideological shift of PPP from socialism towards a more pragmatic political approach. This research traces the shift in the ideology under the various leadership phases of Pakistan People's party starts from Z.A Bhutto, Benazir Bhutto, Asif Ali Zardari till Bilawal Bhutto. The study tries to highlight how changing political pressures, global conditions and domestic realities reshaped the party’s orientation. In doing so this study not only fills a gap in the existing literature on party ideology of Pakistan People’s Party and its pragmatic approach in Pakistan, but also offers a framework for understanding how political parties balance ideals with practical governance needs.