Pildat report: Security-driven environment entrenches establishment’s influence

ISLAMABAD: The security-driven environment, particularly since the high-intensity brief Pakistan-India war in May 2025, has further entrenched the security establishment’s influence over all matters, including democratic institutions and governance in Pakistan, a noted research institution has stated in its latest report.

“This ‘hybrid’ model has the full endorsement of the civilian government, which increasingly views democracy through the lens of state survival,” reads the report released by Pakistan Institute of Legislative Development and Transparency (Pildat).

The report titled “Assessment of the Quality of Democracy in Pakistan 2025,” released on Wednesday, notes that the regional security developments, including tensions with India and Afghanistan, alongside persistent internal insurgencies and intense political polarisation, have all contributed to Pakistan’s reversion to becoming a security-centric state.

“Threat perceptions, internal and external, now fully override democratic norms and principles.

In 2025, executive authority in Pakistan remained formally civilian but substantively constrained, reflecting a continuation of the country’s historical trends. While the federal government demonstrated capacity for administrative action, executive power was exercised within a framework increasingly shaped by informal arrangements and security-sector influence rather than institutionalised civilian processes,” states the 24-page document.

“Pakistan’s democratic institutions remained intact in form during 2025 but were increasingly constrained in substance.

A dominant security paradigm reshaped governance priorities across institutions, limiting democratic accountability, participation, and civilian oversight. Legislative scrutiny weakened, executive authority relied on parallel arrangements, judicial independence faced structural pressures, and political and civic space continued to narrow. As political polarisation persists and avenues for meaningful dialogue remain limited, it remains to be seen whether the hybrid governance model consolidates or recedes in 2026,” according to the report.

Pakistan’s bureaucracy continued to operate within a politically influenced environment, weakening its capacity to function as a neutral, professional, and rule-bound arm of the state, says the document.

“Rather than strengthening civilian institutions, the role of hybrid entities such as the SIFC (Special Investment Facilitation Council) continued to expand, which operate outside conventional ministerial and parliamentary oversight structures. At the same time, the appointment of serving and retired military officers to civilian administrative posts, including the appointment of a serving major general to a key Interior Ministry position in August 2025, also blurs the boundary between civilian governance and security institutions,” the report points out.

Provincial-level developments in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa during 2025 further illustrated civilian executive fragility, it states.

The delayed election and oath-taking of a new chief minister exposed politicised interpretation of the Constitution by key officeholders, including the governor, says the document.

“The episode demonstrated how easily provincial governance can be disrupted in the absence of institutional restraint,” it adds.

Copyright Business Recorder, 2026