"Does the bullet deliver where the ballot has failed?"

– Attempting to explain political assassinations in Pakistan

Abstract

Political assassinations in Pakistan have been a systematic challenge ever since the country’s independence from Great Britain in 1947. While state actors formed unlikely alliances with Western Powers in the aftermaths of the Afghan War and during the War on Terror, non-state actors, like Islamist jihadi groups, used the country for domestic and foreign terrorist attacks and to spread violence, thus demonstrating the conflict between the different players in Pakistan. When the country was transformed into a young democracy in 2007/2008, the number of assassinations did not decrease, but rather increased by ninefold.

This article analyses the case of political assassinations in Pakistan and attempts to explain the prevalence of political assassinations in the country. First, the overall pattern and seriousness of political murders is identified with help from a self-created dataset. Then said pattern is explained by arguing that the main explanatory factors at play in Pakistan are socioeconomic conditions, social conflict, elections, military and religion, sectarianism and blasphemy laws. Lastly, a brief discussion of long- and short-term measures is done.