Is it unsafe to become a prime minister in Pakistan? Many aspiring politicians would agree. In the 1950s, Pakistan's first prime minister, Liaquat Ali Khan, was killed by an assassin. In the 1970s, populist Prime Minister Zulfikar Ali Bhutto was hanged following his conviction on the controversial charge of ordering the assassination of a political foe.

Since the restoration of democracy in 1988, four elected governments have been prematurely removed before completing their terms of office, each time in the wake of serious allegations of corruption against the prime minister. Now, Nawaz Sharif, the prime minister removed in the October 1999 coup by military chief Gen. Pervez Musharraf, has been sentenced to life imprisonment after being found guilty of hijacking and terrorism.

To say Pakistan is a difficult country to govern is an understatement. Pakistan's history of being a pawn in the superpower rivalry between the Soviet Union and the United States has had a bearing on the country's political fabric. The fact that the Western alliance was always willing to embrace any regime in Islamabad as long as it served its strategic interests meant that military takeovers in Pakistan quickly became acceptable in the West.