74 Years Since the Failed Rawalpindi Conspiracy—How Military Coups Became a Recurring Theme in Pakistan

Rawalpindi, Pakistan - Seventy-four years ago, on March 9, 1951, Major General Akbar Khan and a group of military officers and left-leaning civilians hatched a plan to overthrow Prime Minister Liaquat Ali Khan’s government. It was supposed to be Pakistan’s first military coup—but it failed before it could even begin. Fast forward seven decades and the script has played out differently time and again. The 1951 conspiracy may not have succeeded, but it set a dangerous precedent: civilian rule in Pakistan was never truly safe from military intervention.

Maj. Gen. Akbar Khan was no ordinary officer—he had led tribal forces into Kashmir in 1947 under the alias General Tariq and was deeply frustrated with what he saw as a weak and indecisive government. Liaquat Ali Khan’s acceptance of the UN-mediated ceasefire in Kashmir was, to him, an unforgivable betrayal. Along with Faiz Ahmed Faiz, Sajjad Zaheer, and several military officers, Akbar Khan plotted to seize power and 'fix' Pakistan.

The plan never made it past the drawing board. One of their own ratted them out to the ISI, and within hours, the entire conspiracy collapsed. Before they could make a single move, the government had them arrested. What followed was a trial, prison sentences, and a short-lived scandal. But this was just the beginning of Pakistan’s long and complicated relationship with military takeovers.

A Legacy of Coups: What Akbar Khan Couldn’t Do, Others Did

If history is any indication, the Rawalpindi Conspiracy wasn’t an anomaly—it was an omen. Seven years later, in 1958, General Ayub Khan did what Akbar Khan couldn’t. He staged Pakistan’s first successful military coup, overthrowing President Iskander Mirza and establishing direct military rule. That coup worked—and it worked so well that it set a pattern for the future.

Since then, Pakistan has had four full-fledged military coups:

1. 1958 – General Ayub Khan threw out Iskander Mirza and took charge.
2. 1977 – General Zia-ul-Haq ousted Zulfikar Ali Bhutto and later had him hanged.
3. 1999 – General Pervez Musharraf dismissed Nawaz Sharif and ruled for nearly a decade.
4. 2022 – A ‘soft coup’ saw the military backing political shifts that removed Imran Khan from power.

For a country that began its journey with a failed coup attempt, Pakistan has since perfected the art of successful ones.

A Civilian Government That’s Never Really in Control

Since the 1951 conspiracy, civilian leaders in Pakistan have always ruled under the shadow of the military. Every elected government has had to navigate the tightrope of military influence, and those who stepped out of line—like Zulfikar Ali Bhutto, Nawaz Sharif, and Imran Khan—found themselves removed, exiled, or worse.

Even today, while Pakistan’s military may not always be directly in power, it remains the ultimate kingmaker. Political parties rise and fall based on their relationship with the establishment, and every civilian leader knows that stepping too far outside the military’s comfort zone comes with consequences.

The Rawalpindi Conspiracy of 1951 was a blip in Pakistan’s history, but it was also a sign of things to come. The very idea of a military takeover was unthinkable back then, yet today, it has become almost expected. Pakistan’s democratic history is not measured by elections, policies, or governance—it is measured by the gaps between military interventions.

As Pakistan marks 74 years since its first failed coup attempt, the bigger question remains: Has anything really changed?