Democracy is the basic thing in any country. But in Pakistan, the Army has broken the system many times. First, General Ayub Khan overthrew Iskander Mirza's government on October 7, 1958. Then, on 25th of March 1969, after ten years of Ayub rule, General Yahya Khan took over. After the country got divided in two parts i. e Bangladesh and Pakistan in 1971, Z.A. Bhutto deposed him to form a democratic government. Bhutto was, then, removed by General Zia-ul-Haq on July 5, 1977. On 17th of August 1988, when Zia died in an aircraft accident, he had derailed the country so much that democracy never actually took hold here. Another general came after wards and this string of takeovers has damaged the constitution so much that nothing seems to work now. All this has happened because the democratic parties of our country allow the Army to take interest in politics. -RIZWAN SALEEM, via e-mail, January 1.