New Delhi (PTI): In the 61-year-old history of Pakistan, military dictators have ruled the country for 34 years with Pervez Musharraf going down in history as the fourth such army chief.

The first dictator Gen Ayub Khan ruled the country for the longest time as he was at the helm of affairs for 11 years after seizing power in 1958.

Khan staged a coup, merely 11 years after Pakistan came to being, to pre-empt the country's first general election in the backdrop of fears that political parties against security alliance with the US could come to power.

The coup is said to have been backed by the US.

His rule saw imprisonment and torture of dissidents and destruction of the free press. Khan had to step down after a mass movement by students and workers in 1969.

Taking over from him was Gen Yahya Khan who ruled the country for about three years before Zulfikar Ali Bhutto formed an elected government in 1972.

After a brief spell of democratic rule, the military, this time led by Gen Zia-ul-Haq, again seized power in 1977.

Bhutto was arrested, accused of conspiracy to murder, tried and hanged in 1979.

Zia was a hardcore Islamist, whose tenure saw public floggings and hangings becoming commonplace in Pakistan till he was at the helm of affairs till 1988.

Musharraf repeated history on October 12, 1999 when he overthrew the government of Nawaz Sharif after the latter sacked him and tried to prevent him from returning from Colombo. After ruling the country for nine years, he too had to step down as President under intense pressure.

He had resigned from the post of army chief on November 28 last year, taking oath as a civilian president.