Warning that a “coup is knocking” has been favorite mantra for Pakistani politicians over the years, to their occasional benefit. Creating panic in the name of a coup is the best remedy to stay in power even when a politician’s reign is encumbered with feeble governance, corruption, and mismanagement. But portraying themselves as oppressed and stranded because of the permanent threat of coups has been of little use for Pakistan’s political parties historically. In fact, the ever-present sense of a possible coup in Pakistan is not only because the coup makers are ever ready, but even more because the politicians themselves provided room for military adventurism. Three reasons have long been paving the way for military rule in Pakistan.
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