Historical Account of the National Democratic Front (1962) in the Framework of Structural Functionalism

Abstract

The urge for a democratic system and constitutionalism has always been cherished by the political
parties and their leadership in Pakistan despite differences in their ideological orientations and
political approaches. This urge became more vivid whenever the military toon over. This paper
looks at the activities of the opposition political leaders and government from the broader
perspective of structural functionalism. National Democratic Front (NDF) was the first united effort
to oppose the martial law of General Muhammad Ayub Khan (1958-1969) as a system and a new
structure imposed on the country. A unique feature of the Front was that in the absence of political
parties; individual politicians set a platform for opposing the militay law regime and pressed for
restoration of parliamentary democracy in Pakistan, an adjusted functionality to the superstructure
imposed by martial law authorities. Within this framework, the present paper deals with the
background and the new constitutional structure of 1962. It further deals with the changed
functionality of the political opposition from the prism of strategy, strength, weakness, and ultimate
achievements of the front along with various structural changes of the government to counter the
opposition politicians and parties. The NDF adopted itself each time the rulers denied any space for
political activities having control of the structure. Even in the scarcity of space NDF and its
associated leadership sneaked opportunities for themselves to outmaneuver the government in
their strive for constitutionalism, democracy, electoral politics and revival of party politics in
Pakistan.