AFTER GENERAL ZIAULHAQ

The catastrophic accident of General Zia’s plane resulted in the death of 32 senior generals of Pakistan army. It was an accident of enormous proportions and had it happened elsewhere in the world many hundred individuals might have been given exemplary punishments for negligence of their duty and would have been dismissed from service. But it is a matter of anguish that President Ghulam Ishaq Khan, Mirza Aslam Baig and General Zia?s colleagues took this accident as if they were eagerly waiting for it and all this happened according to their wishes. They very calmly settled down after distributing the top positions between themselves. Some voices were raised for formal investigation of the accident but soon it cooled down. For five months it was the government of Zia?s colleagues but they never held any positive investigation in to the cause of this accident. In December 1988 Benazir Bhutto formed government at the centre but in Punjab the government of Zia’s Suprot politician Nawaz Sharif was allowed to be formed. Since the plane crashed at Bahawalpur which is situated in the province of Punjab, Punjab police should have continued investigation in spite of the fact that Army authorities had discontinued the investigations . They should have traced out the culprits. But the Punjab government did not take any step in this direction.

Federal government started working under the leadership of Benazir Bhutto. She is the daughter of the great leader, extremely intelligent person and the founder of Pakistan?s atomic programme Zulfiqar Ali Bhutto who proved himself a brave man. Due to his bravery and great service to the nation the people had voted for PPP and brought Benazir into power. But ,alas, in spite of being the first woman prime minister of a Muslim country she could not play any meaningful role. During her period the non-governmental media and well-known propagandists continued to say that she and her husband Asif Zardari were engaged in amassing wealth. The allegations were levelled against them of receiving kick-backs, looting the national exchequer and dubious dealings with foreign trade houses. Zulfiqar Ali Bhutto was a powerful prime minister. No body levelled any such charge against him or carried out any such propaganda. Then why such allegations were made against Benazir and Asif Zardari? If Bhutto was doing a good job then why such large scale protests and demonstrations took place against him? And now from all the four corners of Pakistan voices were heard against her.

Let us now consider where did the ?error? come from in the ?software? used by ZAB to run the system. What was the problem? This is computer age. Whenever an error occurs in the a computer the experts immediately check its body and inner machinery and find out the reasons of the problem. We checked it and found out that the problem with the ?software? of our dear Pakistan was as follows:
We were engaged in wrong programming of the ?software? that father of nation gave us as his programme and ideology. We were not feeding the computer of Pakistan with the right programme. The result was that this ?programme? was not accepted by the computer. Our programme is in fact based on the ideology of Pakistan but we were grafting it with Russian socialism and American capitalism. Our own programme is original. Since it was genuine one then why could a fake programme succeed. Thus day in and day out problems cropped up in our system and now after the passage of fifty two to fifty four years our programme is still ?push start? programme. Many defects have occurred in it at different points. Even then if it is running it is a miracle. It is due to the kindness of Almighty God and the sincerity and good intentions of the father of the nation. Perhaps another reason could be that some light of faith still exists among the Pakistani people. If this little light of faith gets extinguished then God forbid our computer will become dead.

In Pakistan there is a large number of faithful people who love Islam and Pakistan. Islam and faith are alive because of Pakistan otherwise all Islamic countries know fully well that the central and holiest of all places is situated elsewhere but Pakistan is the citadel of Islam. Our spiritual centres are Mecca and Medina but for the religious education and acquisition of basic knowledge of faith Pakistan is the best place. People from all over the world come to Pakistan to acquire religious knowledge but Pakistanis have no sense of realisation for it. Now we return to the system in Pakistan. The socialism of Bhutto and half-hearted Islamic system of Ziaulhaq could not run in Pakistan. Benazir Bhutto tried to run it in the name of democracy in a modern way. Following America she raised the slogan of freedom for women but Islamic society in spite of its half-baked education was not prepared to tolerate it. To run the government in Pakistan BB was working on a system which was derived from her education in England and under the influence of American culture. She made a good start by raising the slogan of freedom for women but in a country where percentage of literacy is not more than ten to twelve percent the American system of Women Lib could not fit in. BB is a shrewd lady of above average intelligence which she has inherited from her father but instead of doing every thing in a positive manner she followed a negative course.

If we organise a debate on democracy among the leaders of the world perhaps BB would not let any body outdo her. When in January 1996 as prime minister Benazir came to Japan as her interpreter I had an opportunity to watch her from close quarter and to listen to her ideas. Because I am a Pakistani therefore I watched her very closely when she was talking or was shopping and I observed that she had the spirit of a man rather than of a woman in her. Besides I also spent three days with her ministers as an interpreter during their stay and shopping in Tokyo. Thus I made a close study of the top leadership of PPP. Watching their intelligence, cleverness and agility I concluded that Benzair’s era would not last long. I saw their behaviour and extravagance in wasting national wealth and felt pain. I gave many suggestions to Benazir and her confidantes. I gave them examples of Japanese leaders. I told them the example of Philippine president Marcos and his wife but these leaders have their independent and individual thinking and have a madness to fulfil their desires and whims and it is not possible for a single individual to stop them from doing it. Where their personal benefit is concerned it is impossible to refrain them from doing so. Anyway it happened as I had guessed . Benazir Bhutto was removed from the government in an extremely insulting manner and Ziaulhaq’s suprot and industrialist Mian Nawaz Sharif entered the corridors of power. On exit of Benazir the people of Pakistan felt relieved that Almighty God had emancipated them from a woman?s leadership and particularly the religious leaders expressed their pleasure that a woman was gone and Nawaz Sharif had come from whom every one expected a decent behaviour.

Nawas Sharif came into power with the promise of bringing back the days Caliphate and introduction of Sharia in the country. But soon after coming into power he left the Islam and Sharia half way. He liked more to meet the rulers of Brunei, Maldive, Arab Emirates and King Husain of Jordan. Instead of understanding the political scenario of the world and other political conditions he would find out from them the secrets of prolonging their rule and also would try to know whether they were investing their capital any where so that he could also invest together with them to set up industries. So soon it became known inside and outside Pakistan that Nawaz Sharif was doing business in partnership with the rulers of the other countries of the world particularly the Arab countries. But these industries are being set up in Europe, America, Singapore, Malaysia, Tanzania and other countries instead of Pakistan. Flats and bungalows were being purchased in the neighbourhood of famous people. As reported by the world media and newspapers they borrowed millions of pounds from Al-Tawfiq Bank of London and faced a case of default and had to settle it outside the court.

Benazir Bhutto tried to conceal the purchase of Surrey Palace in London but she could not explain up till now why forty eight huge boxes were sent outside Pakistan that contained valuable rare articles. How millions of dollars were deposited in Swiss banks and what was their source. How could she purchase property worth millions of dollars in France? How did Nawaz Sharif build Raiwind palace? Is he prepared to render its accounts? It is a strange phenomenon. Many Japanese prime ministers were dismissed for misappropriating a few hundred thousands of dollars. They had to return all the money and are so ashamed that they are nowhere seen in Japanese politics. In shame they have changed the houses and their telephone numbers. They are hiding their faces from common people of Japan and perhaps if they tried to contest election they would not find a single vote in the ballot boxes .On the other hand what sort of politicians we have in Pakistan that after gulping everything they are proudly saying, thumping their breasts, that they are innocent and blameless.

Abandoning the system of decency and ideology of Pakistan Mian Nawaz Sharif tried to implement a system based on Sharif dynasty. If his thinking had not shaken the foundations of the concept of Pakistan and Founder of Pakistan?s principle ?Faith? there would not have been much trouble. He should have left that much capital in Pakistani banks that they could continue their usual transactions. But as is being alleged in Pakistani and foreign newspapers what he did was beyond the imagination of former governments and rulers. He not only tried to shake the foundations of ?faith? but also tried to uproot them. He brought all the law giving institutions as well as the ,judiciary and executive under his control so that they lost the confidence of common man. In the newspapers throughout the world such sensational stories were published that people in Pakistan started raising fingers at the judiciary. The 140 million people of Pakistan were in the grip of poverty. Unemployment was their destiny. Factories were closed. But the boys and girls of the rich and capitalist families were swarming the foreign institutions selling burgers and chickens and were thus making fun of the poor people. This all happened during the time of Benazir and Nawaz Sharif. Nawaz Sharif in these circumstances tried to develop friendship with India. In spite of the fact that sugar manufactured by Pakistani mills was being sold at Rupees twenty or twenty two per kilogram Nawaz Sharif started trading sugar with India. He signed an agreement with India for selling sugar at Rupees six per kilogram and himself issued an order that government should pay a subsidy of Rupees six per kilo to Nawaz Sharif?s factories. Time and again the people of Pakistan asked him that India being an enemy country why was he selling sugar to India and receiving a subsidy against it but he did not deem it fit to answer this question. The people of Pakistan were consuming sugar manufactured in their own mills at Rupees twenty to twenty two while Indians were having it at Rupees ten to twelve per kilo. Not only this rather Indian traders started exporting this sugar to Arab Emirates at a high price and this is still being continued. This was producing lot of pain in the heart of every patriotic citizen of Pakistan because every citizen was hoping that Nawaz Sharif would improve the economic condition of the country. He would plan to make the closed factories run again. In the country besides wheat, rice, cotton and sugar cane, the oil seeds are also produced in abundance. So Pakistan would not have to import these commodities from foreign countries and we would make so much foreign exchange by exporting these commodities that gradually we would be able to pay back our foreign debts and we would fulfil the dream of a prosperous Pakistan. Pakistani people were told that Nawaz Sharif is the Quaid-e-Azam the Second and the people said .?we are prepared to accept you as Quaid-e-Azam the Second but show us some results. But Mian Nawaz Sharif after coming into power made his younger brother Shahbaz Sharif as the Chief Minister of the province of Punjab. The elder brother was running the government at the federal level while younger brother was ruling the roost in Pakistan?s biggest province. In the whole of Pakistan the Punjabi bureaucracy and politicians were dominating. The people of Baluchistan were complaining that where was their representation in the federal government but Nawaz turned against the Chief Justice Sajjad Ali Shah of the Supreme Court in order to strengthen his authority.

Judiciary is such an institution in Pakistan that every government tried to keep it neutral and independent. Even the absolute dictator Ayub Khan did not touch this institution. Hazrat Ali (R.A) had said that it was difficult to live in a country where justice did not prevail. During the second world war when German planes were bombing London some body asked the prime minister Sir Winston Churchill that would England survive under these difficult circumstances? On this Churchill said, ? Are the courts operating in England? Are the people getting justice in these difficult and trivial times?? The questioner replied that certainly they were getting justice and upon this Churchill said,? if people are getting justice then there is no danger to our country.?

This is the importance of law giving institutions in an independent and free country but during the reign of Benazir and Nawaz Sharif the judiciary was made an object of mockery. Favourites and incapable people were appointed in these institutions and lot of propaganda was carried out about the corruption and moral weaknesses of the people working in these institutions. So much so that all dubious methods were employed to make other judges act against their own chief justice. The whole world was laughing that the judges of the Pakistan?s Supreme Court were proceeding against their own chief justice and the things reached the stage that an attack on the supreme court was manoeuvred through the political workers and the judges rescued themselves by running and hiding themselves in their chambers. Under these circumstances not a single institution of the government came to the help of the chief justice. So the chief justice resigned. In a matter of few minutes such amendments were made in the constitution that all the powers concerning the president, chief justice and other affairs of the country were given to the prime minister only. The balance between the powers of the prime minister and other state institutions was totally finished. All the power was concentrated in the office of the prime minister. No appointment could be made in the country without his permission. The poor people of Pakistan were protesting at the rampant unemployment. An educated man could not get the job of a peon but the relatives and henchmen of the prime minister, ministers and assembly members were given jobs of five and ten hundred thousand or ten hundred thousand per month. The relatives, sons and kith and kin of the senior government officials were being directly appointed to the jobs in the police, customs and foreign ministry and other state-owned banks. Such news appeared in newspapers every day.

There were hundreds of vacancies lying vacant in the educational institutions but the rulers were allowing private educational institutions to operate and charge huge fees after receiving bribes from them. The purpose was that if there would be no teachers in the government run educational institutions the people would naturally admit their children in the private institutions. The efficiency of the railways was reduced so that the private transporters could run their transport on lucrative routes of their choice after paying bribe to the high officials and the railway discontinued their service on these routes. The government nowhere in the world was so much ineffective and object of disrepute as it was in Pakistan. The result was that the whole nation sank into the deep chasm of frustration, disillusionment and pessimism. During this time the incidents of lawlessness, robbery, murder, violence and theft enormously increased. Before 12th October within two months religious terrorists killed 36 people in broad day light in front of every one and in the whole of the country the police failed to arrest any robber, religious terrorist or highwayman.

Under these circumstances the political leaders of all other parties and even some members of the ruling party were appealing to the army to remove this corrupt and ineffective government so that the people could live with self respect. Then a rumour came into circulation that the commander in chief and the chairman of joint chiefs of staff committee was being dismissed. But in the first week of October Nawaz Sharif announced that the army chief would retire at the proper time of his retirement and he had been appointed as permanent chairman of the joint chiefs of staff committee. Then the army chief was sent to Sri Lanka to attend an important SAARC military conference. On 12th October before the return of the army chief a news was broadcast in a special news bulletin on the television that the prime minister had dismissed the army chief and a new army chief had been appointed. This news created a stir in the country because before this Nawaz Sharif had dismissed
1. Chief Justice Sajjad Ali Shah
2. President Farooq Ahmad Leghari
3. Army Chief general Jahangir Karamat.
In this context people were talking every where that he has become an Iron man in Pakistan. Army chief General Musharraf was still in the aeroplane that reacting to this news the senior officials of the army took over control of the television, prime minister house, president house and other strategic places. It is reported that the army chief was returning to Karachi from Sri Lanka in a PIA plane like other ordinary passengers and the plane had to land at Karachi airport but as was disclosed by army sources later that barriers were installed at Karachi airport and power was switched off and the pilot was directed to take the plane to some other place. On this the corps commander Karachi and other army officials acting in emergency got the airport opened and the runway was cleared for landing. Thus the army chief, his staff members and 200 passengers could safely land at Karachi airport. And before the army chief landed in Pakistan the responsible authorities of army had arrested the prime minister and his colleagues who connived with him in this incident and thus Nawaz Sharif who claimed to have a heavy mandate and who tried to concentrate all powers in his own hands was arrested and sent to Jail.