Right from its inception in 1947, Pakistan has been ruled by an elitist pattern inherited by British Colonial rule. After eleven years of authoritarian dictatorship under General Ayub Khan, the people of Pakistan launched a movement that was a class-conscious movement in its nature. The movement gave rise to Bhutto, and after the sad demise of the Eastern wing of the country, he took over the power. Though he implemented the unmatched egalitarian reforms in various sectors but espoused "Bonapartist" actions not only against his political opponents but his own party stalwarts, journalists and trade unionists, which shadowed his revolutionary reformist agenda. Such "fascist" populism paved the way for another military dictatorship which tore up the very fabric of democratic norms and civilian supremacy. The study examines the transition from elitist authoritarianism to Bonapartist populism. The regime shift was followed by the installation of various elitist groups led to the re-emergence of the same elitist authoritarian rule cultured by Gen. Ayub and his ancestors.

This study investigates the prevalence and forms of hate speech and disinformation in the posts of Pakistani populist leaders on Twitter. A total of ten populist leaders’ Twitter accounts were examined through quantitative content analysis. The variables for the hate speech and disinformation were derived from available literature. The results showed that the selected populist leaders tweets contained a sizable amount of disinformation and hate speech. This phenomenon has serious implications for democracy and social cohesion in Pakistan. We emphasize a viable legal frameworks and critical media literacy education to deal with this malaise.