Reuters
Policemen detain a supporter of opposition Jamaat-e-Islami party during a protest in Peshawar November 8, 2007. Former Pakistani Prime Minister Benazir Bhutto's party said on Thursday that police had arrested thousands of its activists overnight, hours after U.S. President George W. Bush urged President Pervez Musharraf to hold elections and quit as army chief.
Zia Mian, Contributor
"... countrymen, lend me your ears; I come to bury Caesar, not to praise him.
The evil that men do lives after them; The good is oft interred with their bones; ..."
- Julius Caesar: Shakespeare
Thursday December 27, 2007 will be remembered as another sad day in the history of Pakistan, political or otherwise. On this day Benazir Bhutto (BB), the chairperson for life of the Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP - a mainstream political party founded in 1967 by her father Zulfiqar Ali Bhutto - ZAB), was tragically assassinated after addressing a political rally at the Liaquat Bagh (Park).
Benazir's death has convulsed the nation into a frenzy which so far has claimed about 60 additional lives. So far BB's return has caused over 220 deaths (over 130 on October 18, 2007 - the night she returned to Pakistan).
"When beggars die, there are no comets seen;
The heavens themselves blaze forth the death of princes"
- Julius Caesar: Shakespeare
The authorities' attempt to pressure the medical personnel to remain silent and removal of her treatment records from the hospital (as reported by Washington Post on January 1) speak a volume about the Government's desire to find out who was behind this assassination. Official version is that she died by banging her head into her car's sun-roof. However, videos and eye witness accounts cast doubts on this version.
It is reported (Daily Dawn January 1 - Karachi) that on the night of December 27, BB was scheduled to meet two visiting U.S. lawmakers over dinner and give to them documents proving that the ISI (Inter Services Intelligence) was planning to rig the January 8, 2008 elections. What BB's death means for the return of democracy in Pakistan? In a series of articles I would present the historic perspective and consequences of this tragic event, if any, for the restitution of democracy and ensuing political sustainability.
The Liaquat Bagh (Park) is named after the first Prime Minister of Pakistan, Liaquat Ali Khan, who was brutally assassinated at this location on October 16, 1951. Indeed that was the most tragic day in the political history of Pakistan. It is on this day that the painting of the political landscape by the continued blood shed was deeply entrenched in to the future politics and demise of democracy in Pakistan. Liaquat was shot by a lone assassin, Saad Akbar, while addressing a political rally. Rather than arresting the assassin, the security forces immediately shot him dead then and there. To date Liaquat's assassination remains an un solved mystery, like many other political assassinations thereafter.
That day Pakistan charted a course that has seen army men and feudalists elite treating the country as their personal fiefdom. Many continue to seek life presidency or premiership as their birth right.
Study time
I have a special affinity to the Liaquat Bagh. When studying at the Gordon College Rawalpindi (a missionary educational institution situated near the Park) I used to board with an uncle who had many sons. Younger ones always needed extra cash which they found convenient to raise by selling my text books to a second hand book dealer in Urdu Bazaar, for Annas (pennies). I had to pay rupees to retrieve them. After losing my books a few times I decided that I would be better off leaving my books with a friend. So the Liaquat Bagh became a regular hangout for me.
Every afternoon, after the classes, I would head to the park. There I would join a friend and we would study economics and English. The peanut man did good business with us by ensuring continued supply of freshly roasted peanuts throughout the study period. After finishing, I would leave my books with the friend and head home empty-handed.
There is a long history of half-hearted efforts to bring democracy to Pakistani politics. During the past 60 years of its existence, military has ruled the country longer than civilian governments. So far no democratically-elected administration has been allowed to complete its mandated term. The constitution has been suspended or amended so many times that I have lost the count. As a matter of fact Zulfiqar (ZAB - Bainazir's father) assumed the Presidency of Pakistan in 1971 as the first civilian martial law administrator. He took the control of the country from General Yahya Khan who had lost East Pakistan to India (later independent Bangladesh). The political unrest in East Pakistan and its cessation resulted from ZAB's refusal to let the Awami League form the national government despite absolute majority. But this is a story for another time. I witnessed the riots and crackdowns in Dacca in 1969-70 and almost became a statistic.
Zulfiqar held this position for three years. His many actions (particularly the persecution of opposition) during this period would come back to haunt him after his overthrow by General Zia ul-Haq, whom he had appointed to administer Marshall Law just before Zia decided to turn around and assume the power for himself. He threw ZAB into prison and hung him two years later. The army generals are good at creating martyrs.
While America would like to see a democratic Pakistan, her political interests are closely intertwined with the army which provides support against terrorists, while keeping an eye on Pakistan's nuclear arsenal. No one wants to see the nuclear weapons to go under the control of elected governments which could allow it to fall in the hands of fanatics. After all most nationalists are fanatics.
Short memories
We have short memories and one hardly remembers that it was ZAB who had embarked on a covert operation to build nuclear bomb for Pakistan as an answer to India's nuclear programme. He had boasted that even if Pakis had to starve, the country would have a nuclear bomb and encouraged all possible means to obtain the technology.
A pseudo-democracy could serve dual purpose of keeping the army in control, while giving the civil rulers some say in the affairs of the country. President Musharraf (under urging of western powers), invited BB to return to Pakistan and form a political alliance with him. He dropped all charges of corruption to allow her return to the country. She returned home from eight years of self imposed exile on October 18, 2007 to contest parliamentary elections. As Musharraf has lost all credibility with the masses, her return to Pakistan was perceived to be a beginning of an un-holy alliance between the army and her party to provide legitimacy to Musharraf's rule. Her arrival in Pakistan was marked with two suicide bomb attacks killing over 130 persons.
Having remained out of the country for so many years, BB was aware of the risks she faced upon her return. Her many friends warned her of these risks. But like her father, she remained defiant and never believed that any one could dare to touch her personally. I once had a long chat with Chief Justice Mushtaq who had signed the death warrant for ZAB. He told me that Bhutto refused to defend himself and believed that the Zia administration could not afford to hang him. I asked him that he owed to the country to put in writing his perspective and put the record straight. I believe that he would have done so, if he had not died before the general himself. BB defied death. She believed:
"Cowards die many times before their deaths; The valiant never taste of death but once.
Of all the wonders that I yet have heard.
It seems to me most strange that men should fear; Seeing that death, a necessary end, Will come when it will come."
- Julius Caesar: Shakespeare
Zia Mian, a retired senior World Bank official, is an international consultant on information technology and energy. He writes on issues of national, regional and international interest. Views expressed in this column are those of the author and do not directly or indirectly reflect those of the Government. Send your comments to mian_zia@hotmail.com
