Political Role of Karachi in Formation and Removal of Federal Governments

Abstract

Karachi’s size and composition of population makes it a ‘mini Pakistan’ in many ways. Due to its unique characteristics Karachi has earned an un-ignorable and a distinctiveposition in National and Provincial politics of Pakistan and Sind. As a city it hasthe largest number of seats in national and provincial assemblies.1 It has been observed that the local developments taking shape in Karachi result in political changes on national level. There is hardly any parallel city to Karachi in terms of its political equation to overall politics of a particular country. Karachi’s political dynamics and political handling has always played its role in major political changes and developments of Pakistan.It has become imperative to study Karachi as a political catalyst to understand the nitty-gritties associated in this phenomenon. This paper particularly studies the role of various representative groups of the city in the formation and removal of the federal governments of Pakistan in a historical perspective.