Games Generals Play

“The country was going to the dogs,” General Ayub Khan surmised his reasons for usurping power in 1958 from the already fragile and vulnerable democratic setup. His real reason was of course that the general elections were due in 1959 and he had had to protect the interests of the oligarchy that controlled the wealth and power in Pakistan. Since the powerful elite’s debacle in the 1956 elections of East Pakistan (now Bangladesh), their further defeat was imminent in the national elections as well.

General Ayub probably stopped halfway of what he really meant: “The country was going to the dogs so the wolves are taking over.” Dogs at least are considered man’s best friends.

General Ayub not only aborted democracy but also planted the seeds that led to the eventual partition of Pakistan. He created the West Pakistan as one unit to neutralize the majority of East Pakistan. One unit did not last long as it was based on expediency and exploitation of the smaller provinces, rather than equality and justice. Unfortunately what we are left post 1971 is the same one unit that was undone by the popular uprising of the smaller provinces as Pakistan. Is there a lesson for all of us? There is but has it sunken in as yet—32 years down the downhill.

Ayub Khan imposed the system of “Basic Democracy” declaring as only Generals and dictators are found of declaring “in the best interests of the country.” Basic Democracy according to the General “suited the genius of the people of Pakistan.” He spent billions of rupees of the poor nation’s finances to justify, promote and implement Basic Democracy. After squandering away so much precious national wealth he completed ten years of his dictatorship.

Then one of his cronies (some say it was Altaf Gauhar) came up with a brilliant idea that any adman would be proud of. He suggested that the General celebrate his ten years of staying in power. He even coined an advertising slogan: “Decade Of Development.” Soon all the country’s resources and the nation’s money were committed to an extensive nationwide campaign to dupe the people once again. The electronic and print media were fully exploited including the publication of special Decade Of Development supplements in all the newspapers of the country. More than 70 supplements were printed at a huge cost. While all this hoopla delighted the advertising and print media bosses, to the people of Pakistan it was like rubbing salt in their wounds. They had greatly suffered at the General’s devious and dictatorial rule for ten full years. They could not stomach this façade any longer.

For the first time in the history of Pakistan its people from almost all walks of life came out protesting on the streets. Led by the students who had bitter memories of Ayub Khan’s tyranny, they also included labourers, teachers, lawyers, doctors, politicians, etc. You name them and they were there. The popular uprising made the self proclaimed Field Marshal forget all his bravado and his precious Basic Democracy. So instead of holding elections under his much-touted system, Basic Democracy, Ayub Khan quickly handed power over to another General, Yahya Khan.

Amazingly some people are still pretty nostalgic about General Ayub Khan’s era. Including General Pervez Musharraf.

General Yahya Khan was a soldier of wine and roses. He took the presidency to the medieval era of hedonistic pleasure and wanted to usher in the decade of debauchery. To his credit he held the only general elections (1970) in the history of a united Pakistan. More to his credit, the only elections those were truly free, fair and transparent. When the results were out, Mujeeb-ur-Rahman’s Awami League came out as overwhelming winners. General Yahya was quick to hail Mujib as the elected future prime minister of Pakistan. Alas this was not to be. Zulfiqar Ali Bhutto the pet protégé of Ayub Khan, in his unbridled lust for power, collaborated with the now powerful military-feudal oligarchy to deny a peaceful and democratic transfer of power to the Awami League. When the elected Parliament was to meet in Decca (now Dhaka), Bhutto threatened in no uncertain terms that he would break the legs of any elected parliamentarian from the provinces of western Pakistan who dared to proceed to Decca.

Bhutto and the Generals’ greedy self-indulgence was not only limited to denial of power to the elected representatives. It unleashed its military might against a largely ragtag band of militants and millions of unarmed and defenseless civilians. The intellectuals, writers, poets, artists, academics were specially targeted. Thus in less than a quarter of a century of the partition of India, the horrified people of Pakistan suffered the partition of their own country with a similar orgy of rape and bloodshed.

In the aftermath of Partition 2 the halved Pakistan haplessly watched the crowning of the first civilian martial law chief, Zulfiqar Ali Bhutto. The Jiyalas and admirers of Bhutto (yes he has many just like the Ayub lovers) may falsely claim him to be the first elected prime minister of Pakistan. The truth is that he was never elected as such. In 1977 Bhutto did win the elections but they were largely rigged. Mr. Bhutto’s tenure in power turned out to be the most corrupt, divisive, destructive and degenerate in the history of Pakistan. Most of country’s institutions including schools, colleges, universities, banks, insurance companies, industries, etc. were totally deformed and decapicitated in the name of nationalization with only one purpose in mind—to serve the interests of Mr. Bhutto and his diehard supporters. The National Assembly was made a handmaiden and passed the most intolerant and discriminating laws, including the one against the members of the Ahmediya sect. As the (late) Begum Shaista Ikramullah, boldly commented in one of the sessions of an International Conference on Tolerance and Human Rights held in Karachi in 1995: “The passage of the bill in the National Assembly declaring the followers of the Ahmediya Tehreek to be Non-Muslims was the beginning of the era of Intolerance and bigotry.” Mr. Bhutto in order to please the Mullahs and continue in power by any means also banned the sale of liquor.

The puritans of religion may have applauded this but the ban led to many ills in our society—not the least to the ultimate rise of religious fanaticism. Much more unimaginable mess was to follow in the form of the next General to stage a military coup.

General Zia-ul-Haq on assuming power imprisoned Bhutto, calling it ‘protective custody,’ and swore under oath on the Holy Koran, that he will hold General Elections within 90 days. He not only violated the country’s Constitution and the sacred oath he had undertaken, but saw to it that Bhutto’s protective custody took the former prime minister to the gallows. General Zia was not satisfied with the grave sins he had already committed. He went on to let loose a reign of terror, corruption, destruction and decimation of whatever was left of Pakistan’s legal, educational, judicial and other systems and institutions. The irony was that he did this all in the name of Islam. While countless innocent people have been falsely charged and many have suffered torture and even death, under Pakistan’s controversial law of Blasphemy, the one who truly committed the biggest blasphemy went on to rule for eleven years. You can imagine how terrible and hated was General Zia that he resurrected Bhutto’s image as a popular and democratic leader in peoples’ eyes. Something that made it possible for Bhutto’s daughter, Benazir, to win the General Elections in 1989 after the General was killed in a plane crash.

Benazir Bhutto, like her father, rekindled hopes of salvation in the hearts of the long-suffering people of Pakistan. She again, so much like her father, not only betrayed the trust of the people reposed in her, but also reduced Pakistan to an ungovernable mess of nepotism and corruption. She alternated with Nawaz Sharif in making Pakistan a pitiable, pauper, failed State. Nawaz Sharif was no stranger to dictatorship, corruption and misuse of power. After all he was groomed and raised by the dreadful General Zia-ul-Haq.

Nawaz Sharif wanted to set the stage of total autocratic reign by destroying even the judiciary and the military hierarchy. Much to the relief of the people Nawaz Sharif’s reign came to an abrupt end at the hands of the current General in power, Pervez Musharraf.

General Pervez Musharraf started confidently but cautiously. He formed a reasonably competent and honest cabinet of ministers. He tried to build a peace bridge between India and Pakistan. The Indians suspicious at first, because of General Musharraf’s Kargil misadventure in Kashmir, gave in and invited him to Agra. Everything went on smoothly and the people of the two countries became very excited and ecstatic that finally they were going to live in peace and harmony together. But the General being a General and Indian Government being in the stranglehold of fundamentalists and fascists, the whole summit ended in bitter acrimony. Both, Indian and Pakistani Governments behave like juvenile and immature delinquents, in trying to upstage each other, at every available opportunity. The Agra summit’s end and the current battle of the witless between the two countries, amply demonstrate that.

Lets get back to our General Musharraf. After winning a wide support across Pakistan in spite of the suspicions and misgivings of military rule, the General foolishly threw it all away by holding a dubious and much maligned referendum. His ad-nausea repetition of ushering in a true and genuine democracy and the recent ‘flawed’ elections, have also done much harm to his once rising popularity.

On the other hand, Pakistan’s political parties must be the most undemocratic political parties clamouring for democracy. These parties are more of individual persons’ political fiefdoms. It is then somewhat of an irony that democratic, legal and human rights groups, while being justifiably critical of military rule, have very little to say about the undemocratic, intolerant and autocratic political leaders and their hand-picked political followers. Thus the General deserves to be applauded for forcing a semblance of democracy to the working of political parties. Also at no time was the media, particularly television so free and so lively (in political debates and interviews) as it is at present under General Musharraf. A great deal more has to be done to make these ‘champions of democracy’ democratic, tolerant and transparent first. However the results of the elections have made it possible for General Musharraf to sit back, relax and have the last laugh.