The Pakistan Muslim League ( ur, ; known as PML), is the name of several different Pakistani political parties that have dominated the right-wing platform in the country. The Muslim League (a different party) was the party of Pakistan’s founders. But it faced multiple fractures soon after the creation of Pakistan in 1947. It vanished in the 1970s. Its revival began in the mid-1980s and today several parties in Pakistan are named Muslim League.

History

First phase (1962–1969)

The first "Pakistan" Muslim League was founded by President Ayub Khan in 1962 as a successor to the original Muslim League. Just a short period after its foundation, the party broke into two factions: Convention Muslim League that supported the President and the new

Constitution A constitution is the aggregate of fundamental principles or established precedents that constitute the legal basis of a polity, organisation or other type of entity and commonly determine how that entity is to be governed. When these pr ...

, and the

Council Muslim League The Council Muslim League was a faction of the Pakistan Muslim League that divided from the Convention Muslim League that was supportive of the military regime of the President of Pakistan Gen. Ayub Khan. Sardar Muhammad Zafarullah, Mian Mumtaz ...

, that opposed the new Constitution, denouncing it as undemocratic that made the

Presidency A presidency is an administration or the executive, the collective administrative and governmental entity that exists around an office of president of a state or nation. Although often the executive branch of government, and often personified by ...

an autocratic position. Following President Ayub's resignation, Nurul Amin, a

right-wing Right-wing politics describes the range of Ideology#Political ideologies, political ideologies that view certain social orders and Social stratification, hierarchies as inevitable, natural, normal, or desirable, typically supporting this pos ...

political veteran, attempted to reunite the factions of Pakistan Muslim League. His efforts were supported by some, while opposed by others. Before the 1970 Elections, a senior leader of Council Muslim League,

Abdul Qayyum Khan Khan Abdul Qayyum Khan Kashmiri ( ur, عبدالقیوم خان کشمیری) (16 July 1901 – 23 October 1981) was a major figure in British Indian and later Pakistan politics, in particular in the North-West Frontier Province, where served a ...

formed his own variant of the Muslim League that opposed cooperation with a party that once supported a

Dictator A dictator is a political leader who possesses absolute power. A dictatorship is a state ruled by one dictator or by a small clique. The word originated as the title of a Roman dictator elected by the Roman Senate to rule the republic in time ...

. In 1973, Amin's efforts succeeded and the Functional Muslim League (PML-F) was founded.

Second phase (1969–1977)

After the resignation of President

Ayub Khan Ayub Khan is a compound masculine name; Ayub is the Arabic version of the name of the Biblical figure Job, while Khan or Khaan is taken from the title used first by the Mongol rulers and then, in particular, their Islamic and Persian-influenced s ...

, Pakistan Muslim League once again united under the leadership of the

conservative Conservatism is a cultural, social, and political philosophy that seeks to promote and to preserve traditional institutions, practices, and values. The central tenets of conservatism may vary in relation to the culture and civilization in ...

political veteran, Nurul Amin. Although they were closer ideologically, they were not ready to accept each other's domination. This is the reason that they competed against each other in 1970 elections. Following the death of Nurul Amin, the PML went into political abyss but made its notable comeback in a direct response to

nationalization Nationalization (nationalisation in British English) is the process of transforming privately-owned assets into public assets by bringing them under the public ownership of a national government or state. Nationalization usually refers to p ...

and the outgrowth of leftism in the country under the Bhutto administration. In the 1970s, the PML led by

Pir Pagara sd, , image = , caption = , office = President of Pakistan Muslim League (F) , term_start = 1985 , term_end = 10 January 2012 , predecessor = ''Position established'' , successor ...

was benefited with the financial support of industrialists, including

Nawaz Sharif Mian Muhammad Nawaz Sharif (Urdu, Punjabi: ; born 25 December 1949) is a Pakistani businessman and politician who has served as the Prime Minister of Pakistan for three non-consecutive terms. He is the longest-serving prime minister of Pak ...

and Shujat Hussain, and intelligentsia that included lawyers, Fida Mohammad and

Javed Hashmi Makhdoom Muhammad Javed Hashmi ( ur, مخدوم محمد جاوید ہاشمی; born 1 January 1948), is a Pakistani politician, political realist, and a senior conservative thinker on the platform of Pakistan Muslim League (N). After serving ...

. Efforts of Pir Pagara assimilated of majority of the factions of the Pakistan Muslim League, in a bid to mount a strong opposition to the leftist

Pakistan Peoples Party The Pakistan People's Party ( ur, , ; PPP) is a centre-left, social-democratic political party in Pakistan. It is currently the third largest party in the National Assembly and second largest in the Senate of Pakistan. The party was founded i ...

(PPP) in the 1970s. It may be noted that all factions will continue to hold their individual identities, as the PML was treated as a platform for parties to come together.

Third phase (1977–1985)

In 1977 Martial Law, General Zia-ul-Haq took power after overthrowing the Bhutto government. In 1985, after the

election An election is a formal group decision-making process by which a population chooses an individual or multiple individuals to hold public office. Elections have been the usual mechanism by which modern representative democracy has operat ...

, Zia appointed Muhammad Khan Junejo as the new

Prime Minister A prime minister, premier or chief of cabinet is the head of the cabinet and the leader of the ministers in the executive branch of government, often in a parliamentary or semi-presidential system. Under those systems, a prime minister is ...

. Junejo, with a large group of pro-Zia conservatives founded an entirely new party by the name of Pakistan Muslim League. Junejo however soon started to lose the support of party due to his opposition to Zia. Meanwhile, other influential politicians like Nawaz Sharif and

Fida Mohammad Khan Mufti Fida Mohammad Khan ( ur, مفتی فدا محمد خان 24 November 1919 – 20 December 2007) was a Pakistani conservative economist and lawyer who served as the Governor of the Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa Province under the military governme ...

started to gain power. After the Death of Zia-ul-Haq in 1988, democracy returned and new 1988 Pakistani general election elections were supposed to be held. Junejo split away from the party and formed Pakistan Muslim League (J). Meanwhile, Fida became the party chairman and Sharif the General-Secretary. Pakistan Muslim League allied with

Jamaat-e-Islami Jamaat-e-Islami ( ur, ) () is an Islamic movement founded in 1941 in British India by the Islamic theologian and socio-political philosopher, Syed Abul Ala Maududi.van der Veer P. and Munshi S. (eds.''Media, War, and Terrorism: Responses fr ...

and other right-wing parties to form the

Islamic Democratic Alliance The Islami Jamhoori Ittehad ( Islamic Democratic Alliance; acronym: IJI; ur, ) was a right-wing conservative alliance formed in September 1988 to oppose the democratic socialist Pakistan Peoples Party in elections that year. The alliance compri ...

against the left-wing PPP. This event marked the end of the Pakistan Muslim League. The Pakistan Muslim League formally dissolved alongside other parties following the 1977 Martial Law, though it supported it. However, it was restored in 1985, when General Zia organised his supporters into a formal party under the leadership of Muhammad Khan Junejo. In 1988, Zia dismissed Junejo and the party split between

Pakistan Muslim League (N) The Pakistan Muslim League (Nawaz) ( ur, , translit=Pākistān Muslim Līg (Nūn) PML(N) or PML-N) is a Centre-right politics, centre-right and Liberal conservatism, liberal conservative political party in Pakistan. Alongside the Pakistan Teh ...

and Pakistan Muslim League (J). In 1990, after Zia's death, Pakistan Muslim League came under the leadership of

and joined the

. In 1993, after the Alliance has been dissolved. After the 1999 Coup, PML-N went into a temporary decline and three new factions of Pakistan Muslim League were founded: Anti- Musharraf PML (Zia), Pro-Musharraf conservative Awami Muslim League and Pro-Musharraf liberal

Pakistan Muslim League (Q) The Pakistan Muslim League (Quaid e Azam Group) ur, ; ''Pākistān Muslim Līg (Qāf)'', Acronyms: PML(Q), PML-Q, PMLQ, "Q League") is a Conservative nationalist political party in Pakistan. As of the 2018 parliamentary election, it has a ...

(PML-Q). In 2004, the PML-Q and the PML-F briefly reunited as the Pakistan Muslim League. However, the reunion was unsuccessful and within few days, both the parties went off in separate directions once again.

List of breakaway factions

List of Defunct factions

* All Pakistan Awami Muslim League *Jinnah Muslim League *Jinnah Awami Muslim League *Sindh Muslim League * Conventional Muslim League *

Pakistan Muslim League (Qayyum) The Pakistan Muslim League (Qayyum), also referred as Qayyum Muslim League (QML) or Muslim League (Qayyum) was a Pakistani political party. After an attempt to neutralize the Pakistan Peoples Party and the Awami League by uniting the PML-Conventi ...

*Muslim League (Functional) *Pakistan Muslim League (Qasim) *Pakistan Muslim League (1985–1988) *

Pakistan Muslim League (Jinnah) The Pakistan Muslim League (Jinnah) (Urdu: پاکستان مسلم لیگ جناح) was a political party in Pakistan. It was one of the factions of the original Pakistan Muslim League, named after the founder of Pakistan Muhammad Ali Jinnah. PML ...

* Pakistan Muslim League (Like-Minded) later renamed to Pakistan Peoples Muslim League

List of Current Active factions

Pakistan Muslim League (F) The Pakistan Muslim League (F) ( ur, , acronym: PMLF, PML-F, PML (F)) is a nationalist and pro-Hurs clan political party in Pakistan. It is one of the Pakistan Muslim Leagues. The letter 'F' in its name stands for ''functional''. It is primarily ...

Pakistan Muslim League (Z) Pakistan Muslim League (Zia-ul-Haq Shaheed) ( ur, ) is a political party in Pakistan formed in 2002. It is named after General Zia-ul-Haq, Pakistan's president from 1978 to 1988. With the general elections of 2002, Ijaz-ul-Haq won the National ...

* Pakistan Muslim League (J) *

Awami Muslim League (Pakistan) Awami Muslim League Pakistan ( ur, ) is a Pakistani political party formed in June 2008 by Shaikh Rasheed Ahmad. The party tends to have close relations with the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf party. Former party This was also the name of the polit ...

All Pakistan Muslim League All Pakistan Muslim League (Urdu: ; APML) is a political party in Pakistan founded by Pervez Musharraf in 2010. The launching ceremony of the party was held in London, but the central secretariat of APML is located in Islamabad, Pakistan. Hist ...

References

{{Pakistani political parties Muslim League breakaway groups Political parties in Pakistan Muslim League *Main *Main2 Conservative parties in Pakistan