President Pervez Musharraf's resignation as army chief on Wednesday brings to an end the fourth period of military rule in Pakistan's chequered 60-year history. Since the army first grabbed power, a decade after the South Asian country gained independence from Britain in 1947, civilians have ruled Pakistan for only 25 years.
Musharraf toppled prime minister Nawaz Sharif in a bloodless coup in 1999 and only agreed to quit the military amid growing pressure over his November 3 imposition of emergency rule. "The choice in Pakistan has always been between military leadership or political corruption. It is not a great choice," said analyst Clive Williams from Australia's Macquarie University.
Country's first military ruler was General Ayub Khan, who took over in 1958 when then-president Iskandar Mirza abolished the constitution and surrendered power amid tensions with arch-rival India and a poor economy.
Khan later became president and abolished the office of the prime minister. He lifted martial law in 1962 and gave up power in the face of mass public unrest in 1969. General Yahya Khan, the army commander-in-chief, replaced Ayub and reimposed martial law but had to step down in late 1971 following a war with India which resulted in the division of Pakistan and the creation of Bangladesh.
There was a brief spell of civilian rule for six years when Zulfikar Ali Bhutto, father of current opposition leader Benazir Bhutto, served as president and prime minister. His government was thrown out by General Zia-ul Haq who imposed martial law in July 1977 following widespread unrest over election results.
-- Zia-ul-Haq had Zulfikar
-- Ali Bhutto executed two years later.
Haq's totalitarian rule - during which he imposed Islamic laws and supervised the foreign-funded jihad (holy war) in Afghanistan against the Soviet Union - lasted until 1985. In August 1988, Haq was killed in a mysterious plane crash and Benazir Bhutto became the first woman prime minister of an Islamic nation.