None of the 24 prime ministers of Pakistan so far completed their full five-year term. Most of them were dismissed, disqualified from holding office or died – others resigned.
Liaquat Ali Khan, the first Prime Minister of Pakistan was assassinated.
Nurul Amin of the Muslim League served for the shortest period – just 13 days. Ibrahim Ismail Chundrigar – the 6th Prime Minister of Pakistan remained in office for just 55 days.
Chaudhry Shujaat Hussain served for a 54-day period as the 14th PM before Shaukat Aziz replaced him.
Atleast five prime ministers of Pakistan have been imprisoned or exiled in the recent past. These include:
Hussain Shaheed Suhrawardy – the fifth prime minister who was arrested in January 1962 and put in solitary confinement without even a trial for “anti-state activities”. The actual reason was that he refused to support General Ayub Khan. He died in a Bairut hotel while in exile.
Zulfikar Ali Bhutto — the ninth prime minister was arrested and hanged on April 4, 1979.
Benazir Bhutto – the only woman Prime Minister from 1988 -1990 and from 1993-1996 was arrested several times and put under house arrest. She remained in self-exile to evade arrest.
Nawaz Sharif — the longest-serving prime minister in the history of Pakistan – for three non-consecutive terms in 1990-93, 1997-99, and 2013-17 was ousted in a military coup. He was sentenced to life imprisonment and lived in exile in Saudi Arabia and London.
Shahid Khaqan Abbasi was arrested by the National Accountability Bureau, Pakistan‘s anti-corruption watchdog in July 2019 for alleged corrupt practices in the signing of LNG contracts during his tenure.
Even Pakistan’s current Prime Minister Shahbaz Sharif, his two sons, Hamza and Suleman and daughter Javaria have been accused by the Federal Investigation Agency (FIA) for laundering 16.3 billion rupees (nearly $200m) through 28 bank accounts. The corruption case was filed by the NAB in 2020 during the tenure of Imran Khan’s Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf government.
Imran Khan the 19th Prime Minister was arrested by Pakistani Rangers from the Islamabad High Court premisis on May 9, 2023. Khan has more than 100 FIRs filed against him, the these include corrruption charges leveled against him and his wife, Bushra Biwi by the National Accountability Bureau (NAB).
Prime Ministers of Pakistan who could not complete a five year term
| Name | Term | Reason For Leaving Office | |
| 1 | Liaquat Ali Khan | August 15, 1947–October 16, 1951 | Assassinated |
| 2 | Khwaja Nazimuddin | October 19, 1951–April 16, 1953 | Dismissed by governor-general |
| 3 | Muhammad Ali Bogra | April 17, 1953–August 10, 1955 | Dismissed by governor-general |
| 4 | Chaudhry Mohammad Ali | August 11, 1955–September 12, 1956 | Resigned |
| 5 | Hussain Shaheed Suhrawardy | September 12, 1956–October 18, 1957 | Dismissed by president |
| 6 | Ibrahim Ismail Chundrigar | October 18–December 16, 1957 | Resigned |
| 7 | Malik Feroz Khan Noon | December 16, 1957–October 7, 1958 | Dismissed by president |
| 8 | Nurul Amin | December 7–20, 1971 | Office abrogated |
| 9 | Zulfikar Ali Bhutto | August 14, 1973–July 7, 1977 | Dismissed by army chief of staff |
| 10 | Muhammad Khan Junejo | March 23, 1985–May 29, 1988 | Dismissed by president |
| 11 | Benazir Bhutto | December 2, 1988–August 6, 1990 | Dismissed by president |
| Ghulam Mustafa Jatoi (caretaker) | August 6–November 6, 1990 | ||
| 12 | Nawaz Sharif | November 6, 1990–July 17, 1993 | Resigned |
| Balakh Sher Mazari (caretaker) | April 18–May 26, 1993 | ||
| Moeen Qureshi (caretaker) | July 18–October 19, 1993 | ||
| 13 | Benazir Bhutto | October 19, 1993–November 5, 1996 | Dismissed by president |
| Malik Meraj Khalid (caretaker) | October 6, 1996–February 17, 1997 | ||
| 14 | Nawaz Sharif | February 17, 1997–October 12, 1999 | Dismissed by army chief of staff |
| 15 | Zafarullah Khan Jamali | November 11, 2002–June 26, 2004 | Resigned |
| 16 | Chaudhry Shujaat Hussain | June 30–August 26, 2004 | Resigned |
| 17 | Shaukat Aziz | August 28, 2004–November 15, 2007 | End of parliamentary term |
| Muhammad Mian Soomro (caretaker) | November 16, 2007–March 24, 2008 | ||
| 18 | Yousaf Raza Gillani | March 25, 2008–April 25, 2012 | Disqualified by Supreme Court |
| 19 | Raja Pervez Ashraf | June 22, 2012–March 24, 2013 | End of parliamentary term |
| Hazar Khan Khoso (caretaker) | March 25–June 5, 2013 | ||
| 20 | Nawaz Sharif | June 5, 2013–July 28, 2017 | Disqualified by Supreme Court |
| 21 | Shahid Khaqan Abbasi | August 1, 2017–May 31, 2018 | End of parliamentary term |
| Nasir-ul-Mulk (caretaker) | June 1–August 18, 2018 | ||
| 22 | Imran Khan | August 18, 2018–April 9, 2022 | Removed by vote of confidence |
| 23 | Shehbaz Sharif | April 11, 2022–August 13, 2023 | National Assembly dissolved |
| Anwaar-ul-Haq Kakar (caretaker) | August 14, 2023–March 4, 2024 | ||
| 24 | Shehbaz Sharif | March 4, 2024– Present |
Likewise 10 out of 14 presidents also called s̤adr-i Pākistān from Iskander Mirza to Asif Ali Zardari the 14th and current president of Pakistan following the proclamation of the Islamic Republic of Pakistan in 1956– did not complete their term of 5 years which was cut short by resignation, dismissal, death, or coup.
Presidents of Pakistan through history
| Rank | Presidents of Pakistan | Term in Office |
| 1 | Iskander Mirza | 1956-1958 |
| 2 | Ayub Khan | 1958-1969 |
| 3 | Yahya Khan | 1969-1971 |
| 4 | Zulfikar Ali Bhutto | 1971-1973 |
| 5 | Fazal Ilahi Chaudhry | 1973-1978 |
| 6 | Muhammad Zia-ul-Haq | 1978-1988 |
| 7 | Ghulam Ishaq Khan | 1988-1993 |
| 8 | Farooq Leghari | 1993-1997 |
| 9 | Muhammad Rafiq Tarar | 1998-2001 |
| 10 | Pervez Musharraf | 2001-2008 |
| 11 | Asif Ali Zardari | 2008-2013 |
| 12 | Mamnoon Hussain | 2013-2018 |
| 13 | Arif Alvi | 2018-2024 |
| 14 | Asif Ali Zardari | 2024- present |
Presidents Who Did Not Complete Full Term:
Iskander Mirza – Removed by Ayub Khan in a coup (1956–1958)
Ayub Khan – Resigned under pressure (1958–1969)
Yahya Khan – Forced to resign after 1971 war (1969–1971)
Zulfikar Ali Bhutto (interim president, 1971–1973) – Stepped down to become Prime Minister
Zia-ul-Haq – Died in a plane crash (1978–1988)
Ghulam Ishaq Khan – Resigned under pressure (1988–1993)
Wasim Sajjad – Acting President (twice, 1993 and 1997); never elected for full term
Farooq Leghari – Resigned before term ended (1993–1997)
Pervez Musharraf – Resigned to avoid impeachment (2001–2008)
On the contrary, none of the four military dictators – Auyb Khan, Yahya Khan, Ziaul Haq and Pervez Musharraf who staged coups and imposed military rule for nearly 33 years from 1958–1971, 1977–1988, 1999–2008 were taken to task for toppling elected governments and subverting the Constitution.
