A MEETING WITH Dr.ALLAMA IQBAL

When all those things that General Musharraf had said were flashed by newspapers, I once again got surprised and thought that the wretched people of Pakistan might not be cheated another time. I placed the anthology of Allama Iqbal?s poetry under my pillow and got absorbed in the thoughts of Iqbal. Suddenly I dreamt that I was sitting in audience to Allama Iqbal. The awe of his personality was overpowering me. Allama was sitting in reclining chair and I was staring at him sitting on the carpet. A Hukka (An indigenous smoking device also known as hubble bubble) was placed near him. He took a draw and said to me, Young man. Why are you so disappointed? The problem that is disturbing you today has been disturbing me for the last one hundred years. But I had found out the solution to this problem seventy years ago. Didn?t you find it in my anthology?? Lost in the spell of his personality and the force of his voice I kept looking at him. He said,? Understand what I say. If we collect the brains of two hundred seven or two hundred fifty donkeys, will they match the human intellect? I replied while shivering, How can donkeys have the human intellect and qualities of leadership? Allama looked at me intently and said, ?Why are you sitting on the carpet ( pointing towards the sofa) Why don?t you sit on the chair?I got up and sat on the chair. He said, Go and give my message to the people of Pakistan. Tell them that if they want democracy then should elect the people to the parliament or assemblies after thorough scrutiny. If you will have shop keepers, traders, capitalists and selfish people to look after their own interest in the parliament then what can you expect them to do for the nation?

Allama Iqbal said that for traders, shop keepers, industrialists and capitalists Chambers of Commerce and Industry are enough. In the parliament and provincial assemblies you need intellectuals who share the pains of the people and knowledgeable personalities who are devoted to the service of the nation. Hadn?t the great leader Muhammad Ali Jinnah and I told the nation how to select their leadership? Hadn?t we laid the standards for national political leadership?

Trembling I told the Poet of the East, Learned Doctor, the nation is in great trouble. The people involve the nation sometimes in socialism, sometimes times in Islam and another time in democracy and the 140 million find out after two and a half to three years or some times after ten or twelve years that they have been again deceived.? On this Allama stood up in anger and started strolling in the room. Controlling his anger he said,? That nation which does not hold its accountability every morning and evening will the same fate.

To the Muslim nation of which I am an ordinary individual we and the learned clerics have always told that they should not get lost in the spell of the good words of some body rather you should see whether the one who is preaching is also acting on it or not. If he is acting on that then what is the result. If you are acting on it and the result is good then you should continue doing it. If the result is not good then you should do appraisal of both the saying and practice and see where have you faltered and correct your mistake. The nation which will not do self appraisal would be deceived time and again, We have done our duty, now it is up to you and the individuals of your nation.

Having said this Allama got up to go. I said respectfully I am a student and am quite young. Please order me what should I do. I am living with my family in Japan but my faith, my emotions and my heart weep at the plight of 140 million people. I am a helpless and weak Pakistani. Please tell me the solution to the problems that Pakistan is facing at present.? On listening to my question Allama Iqbal stopped for a while. He looked at me intently and said,? Your helplessness and sincerity are both quite evident. .Are the 140 million people united as a single entity? Are they one nation?? This was a very difficult question. Fearfully I said ,?O philosopher of the nation, I was not there before 1947 but my father and grand father tell me that for achieving Pakistan the Muslims of the sub-continent were united and their struggle was due to zealous and imaginative political leadership . You gave the philosophy and political perspicacity was provided by Quaid-e-Azam Muhammad Ali Jinnah. But after the establishment of Pakistan people became Pathans, Bengalis, Punjabis, Sindhis, Baluchis and now they have become Muhajirs. A nation got divided into five or six nationalities. Bengalis bade us good by. Among us castes, clans, tribes and family links have become dominant. Instead of being one we .now stand divided into scores of nationalities, castes, clans and tribes. And still we call ourselves as Muslims. But all this has not happened due to the fault of the common man. The common man still believes in one nation theory but our leaders have entangled the people in such a riddle that we are now involved in the prejudices of regional, provincial and linguistic nature. We are no more one entity.

On this tears trickled from Allama?s eyes. He said, Why did you come to me to tell this story. You should have let me live in the misconception that we are the servants of a nation called Muslims. You live in Japan. Don?t the Japanese have castes, clans and tribes? I told him that, ?there are too many of them but every one likes to be called a Japanese rather than being identified after his clan or tribe.? Allama Iqbal said with a sigh, Look Hinduism is not a single religion or nationality. People living there have thousands of faiths but Hindus today introduce themselves as Indian nation. People belonging to hundreds of faiths and races have become a nation. Don?t our Pakistani Muslim brothers feel any remorse or shame on knowing this? Why not those intellectuals who have become millionaires by selling my name teach the common man as to what is a nation? Have you forgotten the story of a woodcutter which is taught to the pupils of fourth or fifth standard.? On this I submitted that firstly they have changed the syllabi and secondly every province has its own curriculum. The syllabus for Shiites is different. Ahl-I-Hadis want their own syllabus. Barelvis and other sects are demanding a separate syllabus for them. Some body wants that Pakistan should be made a Sunni state and others say that the religious principles of Ahl-I-Hadis should be enforced. But the factual position is that the people in power have tried to keep away Pakistan from only one thing that is education. In today?s developed world Japan has 100 percent literacy, Africa has 100 percent, Sri Lanka has 100 percent, Bangladesh (ex- East Pakistan) has 90 percent and India has 60 percent literacy rate but in Pakistan the official figure of literacy rate is 26 percent which is a lie.. Actually the literacy is not more than six or seven percent.

On this Allama got worked up and stated ,Look, this is the condition of that nation whose prophet Muhammad(PBUH) had said that I am a city of knowledge and ordained that seek knowledge even if you have to go to China.? Then he looked at me and said,? What can I do? Go and tell General Musharraf the military leader of Pakistan that if he wants Pakistan to prosper he should spread education in Pakistan particularly technical education. Far reaching revolutionary changes should be made in the education system .It is education that can again unite this scattered and frustrated nation. Do you remember what Shiekh Saadi had said 1200 years ago?:
The illiterate can not identify God
But here there are so many things to set right. It is due to the lack of education that Pakistani nation can not identify right type of leadership. Go and spread this message in the nook and corner of the country that if an ignorant and uneducated man can not identify God how shall he tackle the complicated issues of the nation and country.
I said, O philosopher of our time you..
Allama Iqbal continued, Don?t bother. You have told me the ailment of the Pakistani nation. This is a fatal disease. Unless you try to cure this disease you can not cure other diseases. The disease of ignorance has overpowered the Pakistani nation. Tell General Musharraf that if this time God has given you the leadership of this lost nation then start its treatment from the right disease and that is ignorance and illiteracy. As the clouds of ignorance would dispel the nation would emerge in its true glittering self. It is due to the rust of illiteracy that the nation is a victim of sectarianism. And it is due to this rust of ignorance that they have forgotten the message of the prophet(PBUH). This nation needs education and due to lack of education it does not have realisation of its status and importance. You should drown every citizen of this country in the ocean of knowledge so that all the rust could be washed out.

I was still present in the audience of the Allama Iqbal (RA) that my elder son woke me up and said, Papa! Why are you unusually sleeping so long? . Were you upset during the night? Or you went to sleep late?And at that moment my Japanese wife came in smiling with a cup of tea. I looked at both of them intently. My wife is highly educated and is an equal partner in my business activities. My children are also intelligent. I told Allama Iqbal in my heart that in my home we are following your order .I shall convey your message to the Pakistani nation with great fervour and shall also pray to God to bless this prayer with his acceptance, Amen.

SPIRITUAL GUIDE ALLAMA IQBAL’S PRESCRIPTION

We were caught in such a triangle of democracy, socialism and Islam that every leader and guide deceived us. They increased the distance of our destination and made our journey vain. But the philosopher of the nation had diagnosed the ailment of 140 million people of Pakistan with the exchange of a few dialogues. As I had written earlier my grand father (May he rest in peace )was a very expert (competent) and down to earth physician. Instead of treating the patient he would cure the disease. Once a patient came to him when I was present there. God knows what was his ailment. He told that he had consulted all allopathic doctors and has tried homeopathic as well as indigenous medicine without any results. My grand father asked him ,Do you feel hungry? .He said ?I do not eat any thing for two days.? My grandfather said, OK .Use this medicine with hot milk for three days in early morning and at night before going to bed.? Then he ordered his assistant to bring hot milk from the milk shop and administered him one dose of the medicine. Next day when the patient came my grandfather told him to come back after using the medicine for three days. A friend of my grandpa was sitting there he said ,Why don?t you listen to him? My grandpa said, ?I have given him a laxative. His stomach will be free from impurities in three days then I shall listen to him.? And when that patient returned after three days his condition was much better because most of the impurities had been removed from his body. What sort of democracy we talk about? Socialism or Islam, all these can affect us when the impurities are drained out of the body. When our stomach will be clean then the liver would work. Then the blood circulation in the heart will be normal. When all the dirty gases will be discharged from our stomach then our mind will work in peace. Ignorance for a nation is like constipation. The indigenous physicians especially my grandpa used to call it the mother of all diseases.
After the dialogue with Allama Iqbal I have reached the conclusion that for our nation illiteracy is the mother of all diseases. As long as we shall not get rid of it we shall not prosper. There is a Japanese saying that the frog of a well considers well as an ocean. There is a similar saying in Urdu also. We also call an uneducated man with limited knowledge as frog of a well. And in Japanese the same saying exists similar connotation. Because some one who lives in a well has not seen the ocean and the one who has seen the ocean would not call a well as an ocean. He has the idea how big is the ocean. The same was true for me when I was in Pakistan but then I took a big jump and came to Japan. After coming here I found out the difference between a well and an ocean. And after coming here I remembered the verse of Allama Iqbal that is
?There are more worlds beyond the stars?
Concealing the moon and star of Pakistan in my heart and sticking it on the collar of my coat I got the opportunity to confront not only the Japanese but American and European oceans, cold winds and waters. Then I learnt a lot from the life. I faced lot of hurdles in life. I undertook arduous journeys. But my intentions were good. And that is why God was very kind to me. I feel myself in the lap of the almighty God who is the creator and the only one to be worshipped and am living under the umbrella of his safety. I am doing all this with the hope that almighty God might appreciate my sincere effort.
We were talking of democracy so we come back to democracy. I had seen democratic, socialist and Islamic systems of my country. After coming to Japan I made comparative study of Japanese and American democratic systems. I observed that compared to America the Japanese system is more transparent, clean and full of confidence. Although they talk of 100 percent literacy in America but the fact is that even in America the literacy is not hundred percent. There the rulers and the people need more education. The Japanese are more educated than Americans. That is they are more civilised and cultured and have better standard of morality and character. The Japanese democracy also consists of highly educated, cultured people and people of high intelligence. And in far distant villages or islands of Japan you will not find a single uneducated person. I want to elaborate one thing here. Japan got its independence in 1948 and by educated person it does not mean here the one who could sign his name or who has passed primary or middle standard. No, In Japan that person is considered as educated who has acquired such a knowledge by which he could participate in the development and progress of the country in a productive manner. Even if he has learnt typing and short hand or knows the vocation of welding. In other words one who has such an education which provides him livelihood and can also pass on his vocation to other people is considered educated and when we say Japanese are hundred percent educated then we mean this definition.
With this background those people who take part in politics are experts in industry, finance, politics, law, international trade and banking. There is not a single person among them who is not educated or has failed for many years in his graduate studies. Here the son does not join politics because his father was an industrialist or a landlord . The standard of Japanese parliamentarians is equal to the best parliamentarians of the world. They elect experts in education and technology to represent the people in the parliament .Japanese people had to learn and practise all this because America had attacked Japan with atomic power. One atom bomb was dropped on Hiroshima and the other was dropped on Nagasaki where hundred thousands of Japanese citizens were instantly killed and many hundred thousands became invalids due to dangerous diseases. The after effects of American bombs are still persisting on the social, industrial, economical and civil life of Japan. After these attacks Japan fell victim to such a large scale destruction that it became the poorest country of the world. The fertile lands became barren and the industrial life came to a standstill. Neither any thing was available to eat nor clothes were available to wear. For years the Japanese seas had the effects of radioactivity. The result was that even the sea food was not available to Japanese. But the people of Japan did not go to any country to beg for help. The treatment meted out to the conquered countries by the victorious countries after the world war is a part of history. The restrictions imposed on the citizens of Japan are still there. But the people of Japan have participated in the development and reconstruction of the country during the last fifty years not like a single nation rather like a single family. They rehabilitated every inch of Japan. The results of the world war are still fresh in the minds of Japanese but the first thing they did was to develop their industry to the level that Japan which was the poorest country of the world fifty years ago has become the richest country today.. By quality standards the things manufactured in Japan are rated as number one now. In Japan there is no indigenous iron ore but after importing steel, coal, gas and oil they have developed their industry to the extent that today America and Europe are dependent on it and acknowledge its economic superiority. The industrialised countries of the world are shy of competing with Japan and now the Europeans have united together to face its challenge. America wants to divide the world into small regions to restrict them to regional markets rather than a single international market because it can not directly compete with a country like Japan and is searching for secure regions for its trade.

WHY JAPAN ?

After going through my observations the readers might wonder why I refer to the example of Japan every time. The reason is that I have studied two countries very thoroughly. One is Pakistan where I was born and studied and where my parents and other members of family live and I my self can not snap my ties with Pakistan. The other is Japan where my business and family life began. I saw that like me every one here is working hard day and night and I observed in Pakistan that people work for making their personal lives and status better. In Pakistan the wealthy people form co-operative societies and trusts in order to avoid the government tax and keep their income secret. In Pakistan people do not shirk from hard work rather explore other alternative methods. On the other hand the feelings of Japanese are different from this. Here people do lot of work to establish themselves as a nation or to strengthen their nationality. Here no one stops working or forms trust to avoid taxes to be paid to the government. The people themselves are not shy of paying their taxes and their system is such that any body even the prime minister of Japan can not escape from the tax net. Japanese do small work as well. Where ever I talk of good things about Japan it should be taken as outcome of my desire to see the same things happening in Pakistan. How did Japan make progress? How did it reach the present level of development? I want to tell my Pakistani compatriots about the good policies of Japan.

The first thing the Japanese politicians did after the second world war was to make education compulsory by law. The primary education is totally free and essential. Those who tried to avoid it were taught after shutting them up in jails. The primary school pupils get high quality lunch free and there is no distinction between the rich and the poor in that. My children also go to the primary school and every day on returning from school they very happily tell what was the menu on that day. Every day a different menu is served. The children eat in the company of their teachers. One glass of milk is officially given every morning to the child. They take care of their health. Their teeth are checked periodically. They are provided with vitamins. Japanese population is almost equal to Pakistan but Pakistan has more resources than Japan. Then why shouldn?t we make our resources and means better by hard work. This is my desire as well that our Pakistan be a new Pakistan ,more developed and richer than Japan In order to reach this goal our foremost mission should be to make education universal. The education shall create a sense of realisation in the people for good and bad. They will be able to distinguish between good and bad. They shall be able to identify the distinction between legal and illegal or permissible and not permissible. When the whole nation will be educated then they will feel the dignity of labour and real democracy shall prevail in the country. The people will elect the good and enlightened leadership without any consideration of greed, pressure or rigging. Good planners will emerge and the economic condition of Pakistan will change.

IN Japan they had planned fifty years ahead as to what would they achieve by the year 2000.Today Japanese leaders have told their people what would they be in 2050. And the people of Japan are devotedly working in that direction. Fifty years ago when the planners of Japanese nation sent the good and intelligent children to Europe and America for higher education, then they did not go there after spending the savings of their parents to earn money . No, they were sent on government expenses for higher education in superior vocations and technology and when these children returned to Japan after completing their education then using the technology learnt in America they produced cheaper and better Radios, Television sets ,VCR?s , Cars, Computers and other articles than America and England. What ever was manufactured in America and Britain its quality control was carried out in Japan. Here I shall mention an interesting thing. My mother says that,? The people all over the world love Japanese things. Some one proudly says that I have Japanese TV another one mentions that I have a Japanese refrigerator or a Japanese VCR but I say that I have a Japanese daughter in law. I have Japanese grand sons and grand daughters.? May be she says these things to please my wife.

I want to tell my Pakistani brothers and sisters that they should think about Pakistan from the bottom of their hearts. We shall have to move forward after planning for next fifty years. In my opinion education should be given priority. Those who avoid education should be severely dealt with. They should get good education. It is also imperative to acquire religious knowledge. Allama Iqbal considers education as the most important thing and according to Quaid-e-Azam the foundations of a strong faith can only be laid on superior worldly and religious education.

The next saying of the father of the nation is unity. The whole nation can get united only when it has the ability to think that its destiny is one and it has one goal. But the homogeneity of thought and concept can only be on the basis if education. The religious beliefs could be on individual basis. Education tells us that religious beliefs are for the satisfaction of an individual and nations are not created on the basis of religion but on a broad based manifesto. We are all Muslims and Islam teaches us to become a single nation. But when the education is denied to some people then they fall prey to discord and dissension. Education tells us that we should not bring pain to any body nor should we ridicule the beliefs of any one . More over we should not distract the nation from its goal by entangling it in wrong debates. When the education will be universal then most of the problems will be automatically solved. The father of the nation has used the word faith so that every one should be honest with himself and his country and should fully respect others. This will create homogeneity in the nation and harmony and homogeneity is the first step towards national unity.

WE ARE PAKISTANIS

Our subject anyway is Pakistan even if we talk of Japan or Iran. The purpose is that we should set our matters right just as the other countries have done it. I was a student in Pakistan when late Zulfiqar Ali Bhutto came to power. Those days there was lot of talk that Bhutto has imported a Roti Plant which would produce baked breads to be sold to the people at very cheap price. Whether Bhutto did a good deed by importing Roti Plant or not the fact remains that the best job he did was the import of an Atomic Plant along with the Roti Plant. It is due to that atomic programme that we can walk with pride in the present day world and today on the international level if the people are for or against Pakistan it is due to this atomic plant. It will be parsimony on our part not to accept the fact that such a step could only be taken by a brave leader who loved his people. What Bhutto did was a great fiat. However during his period suddenly the people got freedom in different sectors and they were introduced to a type of democracy wherein they were informed of their rights but unfortunately they were not taught any thing about the collective rights and obligations as a nation. Although the first step in democracy is to tell the people about the interests of the nation and the country. What are the demands and rights of the country and the soil. But God knows why Bhutto was in such a hurry. Instead of passing the nation through a period of training he introduced us with a democracy which was not suitable for us rather it was meant for America and Europe. In Pakistan along with the interest of our nation and country there exist religious values as well. We are not yet fully conversant with our Islam. We talk of Islam but do not act on it. If we enforce Islam in our lives then we shall not need any communism or socialism or any hypocritical democracy.

WHAT DOES THE ISLAM TEACH ?

Islam teaches us that it is not the name of rituals only. It is a complete political ,social and economic system. It is a complete code of life.
True Muslim is one:
Who does not deceive any body
Who does not usurp any body?s right
Who always speaks truth even if he has to lose his life in it
Who keeps before him the Allah and prophet?s orders
Who cares for other?s right like rights of his own self and family
Who while reciting Quran and saying prayers if promises any thing then applies it to his every act, his business and his utterances and statements
The thing he can not do openly he should not do it in seclusion.
Islam’s order is:
A Muslim should cause pain to the other Muslim rather a Muslim should not cause pain to any human being
A Muslim must satisfy himself before taking his meals that his neighbours have also taken the food
Any money earned through fraud and dishonesty is not legitimate for a Muslim and he never consumes any ill-gotten wealth
A Muslim will follow the life pattern of the holy prophet according to Quran and Sunnah and will obey the orders of Quran
He is Muslim who enforces the orders of Quran and Sunnah on his person.
Worship
A Muslim is not exempted from Kalima(Affirmation in faith), Namaz( Prayers) Roza (Fasting) Haj(Pilgrimage to Mecca) and Zakat (Charity).
The Standard of faith
It is stated that Hazrat Imam Abu Hanifa(RA) came to know that there is a man in Mecca who knows an order of the holy prophet(PBUH) which he heard with his own ears. Imam-e-Azam went personally to Mecca to meet him and to hear the order of the prophet(PBUH). There he saw a man who was carrying his sack in such a manner as if it had fodder for catching a running horse. As the horse drew near it he caught him and inverted the sack which was empty. When Imam Abu Hanifa asked for the person he wanted to meet he was told it is the same man who had caught the horse. He refused to believe the authenticity of his statement and said that one who can deceive an innocent animal can also deceive a human being and believing in a liar?s statement means inviting trouble. Just imagine if in Islam there are so many filters to ascertain the veracity of a statement then there is no scope for any worldly ism.

We declared Islam as our code of life but could not adopt it because to own Islam we have to surrender all that is not ours and we are embracing it for our benefit. WE shall have to give up all those ways and means which are not Islamic and adopt hundred percent Islam. It is not possible that we adopt only those parts of Islam which are beneficial for us and put the remaining one in our cupboards . No, that is not possible. Almighty God points out in Quran those who usurp the rights of orphans and shove them away. Our superior courts give decisions that an orphan grandson can not share the property of his grand father. You talk of which Quran and Shariah? Our holy prophet (PBUH) has ordered so many rights for the neighbour that without being true Muslims we can not practise them. Is the orphan grand son so bad that he should be thrown out mercilessly? Curse be on Satan we are going towards an Islam which is not the Islam of God and prophet. . Why?don?t we have any one to tell us that this is the wrong way. Once upon a time there used be a board hanging at important points in our streets and market places on which a verse of Holy Quran was written with its translation which read like this,? Why the people do not ponder over Quran. Are their minds blocked?? And under this they had written ,? Read Quran yourself and understand its translation so that you can save yourselves from being misled.? There was a person who was doing this. I do not know whether he is still alive or has left for his heavenly abode. This man in Lahore would install this board on a bicycle and stand at the crowded spots and would draw passer-bys? attention towards it. Some times he would repeat this performance in Rawalpindi and would go away after touring different streets and market places. I am remembering that man today and praying for him from my heart that may God accept his sacrifices.

We were discussing that why did we stop from acting on Islam. Let us look at Europe, America , former Soviet Union and its freed territories and People?s Republic of China. In these countries people are provided jobs. The students are also given part-time jobs. They are not given any concession or latitude. Two hour?s work means 120 minute full work and honest remuneration for it. There are many people in Britain who receive unemployment allowance. There are many who receive medicines and doctor?s fee under social security laws and financial assistance for food and also receive unemployment allowance. Islam says that every citizen will be provided security by the state. The state will provide you respectable livelihood and shelter and state can also requisition the services of any one on payment and without payment. Except for the Islamic countries every non-Islamic country is providing these facilities to its citizens. Millions of our Pakistani brothers are availing this facility in America and U.K. and look at our rich Islamic countries. Can you get their citizenship? Can you get job in these countries as a Muslim? Today all Arab and Islamic countries are offering jobs to men and women who are Indian Hindus, Filipinos ,or Thais or Koreans. They are turning out Pakistani Muslims from their countries. They do not like even the Indian Muslims. Why is it so? We Muslims are supposed to be brothers of other Muslims, then why this hatred? I live outside Pakistan in such a country where there is hundred percent rule of law and where people work under certain rules and regulations.

Japan is the most important country in the world from industrial point of view. The citizens here are registered by the registering authority. The government knows how many people are living in which city. How many are employed and how many work in offices or industries. How many do business and how many of them are doing private jobs. They also know that how many are unemployed in every village, town or city. They have detailed information about every one of them. The Japanese government receives enquiries from factories and industrial units that they require so may skilled, semi-skilled or un-skilled workers. The experts of the government then recruit these people from India, Sri Lanka, Bangladesh and other countries and give them respectable salaries. But they never turn to our country for this purpose. If we tell them then they ask for excuse that they do not recruit labour from Pakistan. Why don?t they seek labour from Pakistan? Why do they forcibly deport Pakistanis who come to Japan?. Why don?t they give them jobs and get work out of them?. After all they get work from others.

But we, Pakistanis, when listen to stories about the doings of our compatriots hang our heads in shame. In Budhism there is much importance to moral character but not too much. For Hindus morality means business. The other religions also give much importance to moral character. But these are our Pakistani brothers only who are undergoing sentences in jails of the different countries of the world on the charges of keeping narcotics and smuggling. They are facing charges of moral turpitude. In the prisons of the world there are few inmates belonging to other religions. There are lots of Pakistanis. And most shameful thing is that our embassies do not bother about these people at all. When some one has passport of your country why do you let him languish and suffer in foreign prisons. But alas it happens nowhere. We started talking about Islam. Why the followers of Islam are so miserable and wretched in the world today? Why can?t they themselves defend their self respect? The reason is that in Pakistan we do not train our citizens.

We do not educate them and do not give them religious education and tell them their obligations.
My wife is Japanese. She received Islamic education from me after our marriage. I have told her that this is Quran, read it as such and its translation. If she is not clear about any thing we discuss it between ourselves or go to the learned man in the local Islamic centre. When Pakistan government issues passports it should also assume some responsibility on its shoulders. They should know where the passport seeker would go and what would he do. We shall have to impose some control on these people who go abroad and bring bad name to themselves, Pakistan and Islam.

WHAT HAPPENED TO US ?

Let us patiently think about our fault. The biggest fault with Muslims is that they never sit together and examine themselves nor they like to be evaluated. We think that if we shall examine ourselves then the culprit will be caught– the culprit which is hiding in our hearts. After Quaid-e-Azam we gave up the political morality that he had taught us. When I ponder over it I feel proud that we Muslims believe in that prophet and God?s messenger who asked the infidels of Mecca as to what did they think about him. To this the infidels of Mecca replied,? O Mohammad , You are true. You are honest. Your childhood and youth was spent before our eyes. And in front of us you have attained the middle age. You are the one who always speaks truth and takes care of our deposits. You are true, honest and a man of likeable habits and character .?Upon this the prophet told them,Look. If I tell you that a big army of enemy is behind this mountain getting ready to attack you then The Infidels said, ?If you will say this we shall believe it because you have never told a lie.

Isn?t it a matter of pride that the fellow citizens, friends and enemies all believed in his truth and honesty. Then the dialogue between Harqal the Great and Abu Sufian is part of history. The King Harqal put all sorts of questions to Abu Sufian. Abu Sufian told him about the holy prophet that he was honest, true and had a remarkable character. He said that he had never talked more than necessary that his ancestors ever talked throughout their lives and Mohammad (PBUH) was before us all the time. He possesses a pure and clean character and personality. Harqal said, ?Then why don?t you accept him as God?s messenger??. Upon this Abu Sufian remained silent. Our prophet Mohammad was a solid and clean person and after him with reference to Islam Almighty God gave a leader to the Muslims of the Indo-Pak subcontinent named Mohammad Ali Jinnah. Neither a Hindu nor a British nor a Sikh could find any fault in his personality. He was truth and straightforwardness personified.

Almighty God blessed us with such great guide and leader in the person of the holy prophet whose compatriots and those who saw him would swear on his purity and Almighty God gave us a leader in the person of Jinnah whose even enemies commend his honesty and truth. Now we have to see how we became liars? How we became deceivers and how we and our leaders became dishonest? How our traders, capitalists, feudals, landlords, farmers, government employees, our political leaders and workers became dishonest and unpatriotic?. How our leaders became used to usurping the national wealth after looting it? How those who had such a great prophet and such an outstanding leader became dishonest? What happened that the nation which was follower of such a great prophet is today considered as the most untrustworthy nation in the world. Its passport is not honoured any where in the world. One can understand the hatred and enmity of Europe, America and Non Muslim countries for a Muslim country but even the Islamic countries don?t honour a Pakistani passport. They also look down upon Pakistanis. This is the reason why we the expatriate Pakistanis are unhappy. We should review what is happening to us. Let us take stock of the situation in detail.

THE FIRST PERIOD OF PAKISTAN’S POLITICAL LIFE

THE FIRST PERIOD OF PAKISTAN’S POLITICAL LIFE
( From 14th August 1947 to October 1958)

This is the period in which Pakistan attained political stability with difficulty. After the father of the nation Quaid-e-Azam and Khan Liaquat Ali Khan we completed the constitution making stage and in order to consolidate the democracy we declared it ? Islamic Republic of Pakistan? and selected the year 1959 to hold election in the country after 12 years of its inception. These are good points but the negative things that happened were as follows:
We did not show any gesture of magnanimity and tolerance because every citizen living in this country was supposed to be equal according to the saying of Quaid-e-Azam. But we refused to accept this. We continued the debate after the partition that those who opposed the Pakistan movement were traitors and enemies. If we had decided to forget and forgive and had started our journey of independence without prejudice as desired by Quaid-e-Azam, then all these capable people would have worked shoulder to shoulder with us for consolidating the democratic system of this newly born country . When the great leaders like Husain Shaeed Suhrawardy and Mian Iftikharuddin started playing the role of opposition in the Pakistan parliament we should have welcomed it and could improve and purify the system in the light of their criticism. If we had started the tradition of welcoming the criticism the democratic system could be strengthened. But we saw the successor of the Quaid-e-Azam , Mr Liaquat Ali Khan being murdered before our eyes and we allowed the murderers to abscond from the scene of crime. We started calling our Pakistani brothers as traitors and dishonest. This political immaturity cost us heavily. Our assemblies became hot beds of disturbances and fights and it became obvious that democracy did not suit us.
During this period we made another mistake that we appointed ?needy? people as Custodians of Evacuee Properties. To fulfil their own needs and the needs of their kith and kin they usurped the rights of many deserving people. And to become rich overnight many groups of usurpers came into being. They openly traded in the evacuee properties in the Punjab and other parts of Pakistan and took possession of lot many properties. The deserving people were loitering in the streets and the illegitimate property holders are enjoying themselves even today and they started spending this illegitimate wealth in building their political stature. The result was that in Pakistan politics became the hand maiden of the rich people only. The poor and capable people because of the non availability of sufficient funds became subservient to the usurpers groups and these usurper groups in spite of their incapability became important in politics due to their wealth thus creating confusion in the national politics. In assemblies chairs were thrown on members. The members were murdered. In one assembly the deputy speaker was killed by members of the assembly. It resulted in the imposition of martial law in whole of the country in October 1958.
The martial law of October 1958 in spite of some good points was full of many defects. Due to martial law the political confusion was forestalled and the lawlessness was curbed but the martial law government decided to remove all reputed people instead of the dishonest persons. All those escaped accountability who had indulged in illegal business of evacuee property and the many important leaders of the Pakistan movement came in the purview of the Electoral Bodies Disqualification Ordinance(EBDO).Those who understood the federal structure and politics went into background. Second and third grade leaders emerged on the political scene in place of these people. They were neither trained for politics nor they were fully conversant with the aims and objectives of the Pakistan movement. They were those who came of age after the establishment of Pakistan. They were Punjabis, Bengalis, Sindhis Pathans and Baluchis but none of them was a Pakistani. When Ayub Khan introduced the basic democracies system then initially it was meant to strengthen the local bodies . But Field Marshal Ayub Khan converted it into electoral college. The result was that the common man stood alienated from the mainstream of politics and our politics was being run by only forty thousand B.D. members. Gradually the selfishness of these people made them into a separate class and this class became a symbol of hatred of Islam. On the other hand the number of ethnic and regional parties and its leaders swelled up into a majority. So instead of practising national politics they became engaged in internal rivalries and clashes. Thus ultimately the regional and lingual politics overshadowed the national political scene.
What is the difference between national and regional politics?
When a balanced political leadership operates in a country then its roots are embedded in streets, lanes and villages and due to balanced political leadership a unified country emerges. It?s results are found in every federal unit and in every village, town, sub-division and district development work is undertaken with the same speed. The people get employment. With the setting up of industries every part of the country benefits. Proper planning is done and in the area where sugar cane grows sugar mills are installed. Where cotton grows in abundance there cotton ginning and textile factories are established. At the place where more rice is grown rice husking mills are installed and where wheat grows in abundance flour mills are set up. In the areas where mineral resources exist the work on mining is undertaken . Where oil is expected to be found there the oil exploration is carried out. In the agricultural areas the canal system is improved. New dams are constructed. For industrial development new power houses are built. To improve the national resources industries are set up in backward areas. Thus the economic and developmental work is spread out in such a manner among the people that the people of every part of the country feel their participation in it.
Whenever roads are constructed in the country then cognisance is taken of the industrial and economic prosperity and convenience of the country. The basic purpose of every road is to provide the best means of transport and communication from farm to the market. All other objectives are made subservient to this. More development takes place where the majority of people live . This is the basic principle of civic facilities. Where the railway facility is available there this system should be made more modern and progressive because besides transporting the people the railway system is also the cheapest and convenient means of transporting the industrial products and trade. Where railway system does not exist there the roads are improved and widened and where railway system exists there railways are given preference as a means of communication and in other areas other means of communication are activated. The objective of the government is to provide employment, housing and social security to the citizens. They are also supposed to provide a just and independent legal system. The most important duty of every government is to provide education to the people even if they live in the remotest part of the country. In every village separate schools for boys and girls should be established and local teachers should be engaged in those schools. The local bodies and their office holders should supervise these schools. Instead of a single person local bodies education committees should be set up consisting of educated members of the local councils who keep an eye on the results and also on the working of the teachers. They should also make recommendations about the financial matters of the schools. There should be free education up to the matriculation level. The poor students should be provided free books and after matriculation the students should be given technical and vocational education. They should be trained in such vocations so that after the training of a year or two they should be able to earn their livelihood. Those boys and girls who want to go for higher education should be provided facilities accordingly. There should be a college after every eight or ten miles.
In the fields of education and housing the industrialists can help the government a lot In the industrial zones in addition to mills, factories and manufacturing units, housing colonies for the workers can be built. The buildings for schools and colleges can be constructed in these colonies with the help of industrialists and local people. The teaching staff should be provided by the government. While appointing teachers preference should be given to local people particularly the lady teachers so that they do not have to come from far away places.
The government needs to work in agricultural sector on revolutionary footings. An Agricultural Task Force should be created in the villages. They should undertake the desilting and strengthening the lining of the canals and water channels. The local landlord or the departments of agriculture, irrigation or revenue should pay the wages to the workers on daily basis. The Agricultural Task Force along with the representatives of the agriculture, irrigation and revenue department should supervise their work and pool up their efforts to get work out of them. In this manner the village youth and the farm workers who remain jobless for some part of the year shall get part time work and the irrigation system will also improve which would have a positive effect on the production of agricultural commodities. There are only a couple of Agricultural Universities in the country including the one in Faisalabad. There should be an agricultural college and research centre in every division which should try to develop better seeds for the crops and vegetables and other commodities that are grown in that area. There should be orchards and forests in every division and trees should be planted by the sides of irrigation channels. The local bodies should be associated in this work at all levels and should organise the Task Forces on divisional level.
Pakistan?s population is increasing at a great pace every year. To forestall this growth it is imperative that there are more opportunities of employment and education is promoted at all level .Another factor is the expansion of habitats in an unorganised manner. For example the city of Lahore is spread over many hundred square miles. Look at Karachi and other cities. People are selling the agricultural land for residential schemes at high prices.. This is a wrong trend. The human habitats should not expand indiscriminately and should now extend in the horizontal direction. Law should be framed to secure the agricultural land so that only agricultural people should be able to purchase agricultural land. A ban should be imposed on utilising agricultural land for housing purpose.. The old colonies should be demolished and in their place multi-storied buildings should be constructed and flat system should be introduced throughout Pakistan. In cities eight storied and in villages six storied building should be constructed. For this purpose Co-operative Societies system should be introduced on local level and these societies should build big plazas and residential flats. People should join these societies on self-help basis. Government should gradually discourage the construction of small houses. The Housing Department should provide loans to co-operative societies who should build eight storied buildings on the Flats System. The government should also gradually convert the government housing colonies into Flat System. This will increase the availability of residential accommodation in the cities and the homeless government employees will be able to get houses on government rents instead of hiring private houses This will also reduce the rates of rents in the cities. Moreover people will be able to purchase residential flats on easy instalments under the co-operative scheme. This is not a new system. In every developing and developed country of the word this system is working. It will be useful to seek information from those countries.
Now the Banks are under government control. Instead of selling these banks to private parties these should be converted into multi-purpose financial institutions and loans should be given to the individuals and local societies of the area where the banks are situated by the local bodies and co-operative societies through these banks .In short there are unlimited suggestions for an exemplary government. If the government undertakes to follow these suggestions then many countries will come to their assistance and would tender better advice and give better schemes but the condition is that the government should work on these schemes with sincerity of purpose. In the previous pages we have discussed in details the post-Quaid democratic system, Ayub Khan?s martial law and his system of basic democracies and the causes of the separation of East Pakistan. We have also commented on the positive and negative aspects of Zulfiqar Ali Bhutto?s period in the name of democracy and socialism. However it is necessary to talk about General Ziaulhaq?s period because most of the ills of the present system can be traced back to his period.

GENERAL ZIA’S MARTIAL LAW IN THE NAME OF ISLAM

The future historian will determine that what were the intentions of General Ziaulhaq when he assumed control of the government and how far did he succeed in fulfilling his objectives. On 5th July 1977 General Ziaulhaq enforced martial law in Pakistan with the announcement that he would restore democracy in the country after holding general elections with in ninety days but he remained the dictator of the country for eleven years. During this period he announced that he would hold accountability of all corrupt people but neither he organised elections nor he held accountability of any one. However he awarded death sentence to Zulfiqar Ali Bhutto accusing him for the murder of Nawab Muhammad Ahmad Khan. This case and all related proofs were doubtful. Outside Pakistan and within the country all judicial and legal circles have consensus that the name of law and judiciary was misused in this case and Bhutto was hanged for a murder in which he was not involved. In this connection Mr Justice Raja Ratnam a judge of the Supreme Court of Sri Lanka in his book ?Judiciary in crisis? has carried out a detailed analysis and has lambasted this case and the decision. Bhutto was hanged on 4th April 1979. As a repercussion a confrontation with in the country cropped up. People Party and its supporting circles took the shape of a permanent political group. In response to this Gen. Zia collected the anti- Bhutto, anti- socialism and Islamic forces on one platform. This practice amounted to not only muddying the political water but making it filthy. Instead of dividing the people into groups comprising good and bad people it created a spirit of intolerance between these groups.

This political scenario was most conducive for Gen. Ziaulhaq, so he started work under the name of Islamic reforms. Even an ordinary supporter of Islamic system of government knows it fully well that in Islam the first emphasis is on Islamic teachings and their practice. The Islamic atmosphere and social order comes later. When the blessings and benefits of Islamic system reach the common man then the Islamic penal code is enforced. But Gen. Ziaulhaq enforced the Islamic punishment system and Shariat courts first of all. He forcibly collected Zakat through banks and distributed it to the Zakat Committees, Ushr(Agri-tax) Committees and Salat(Prayers) Committees of clerics. Thus he gathered round him a professional crowd of clerics and emotional public speakers in the name of Islam. Gen. Zia was using this crowd for his own political support and political opposition to Bhutto. In this connection he involved Jamait-e-Islami under the leadership of Mian Tufail Mohammd and Jamait-e-Islami got perpetually engaged in physical fighting against other political parties. During this period revolutions took place in Afghanistan one after the other. First of all Nur Mohammad Tarkai was the leader of the communist revolution, then his comrade Hafizullah Amin became the protagonist of second revolution and they killed Nur Mohammad Tarkai and his compatriots .Hafizullah was removed by the revolt of Babrak Karmal who sought help of Soviet Union and Soviet armies entered Afghanistan. Hundreds of thousands of displaced persons from Afghanistan entered Pakistan and formed Mujahid(Fighter) groups who started the struggle against the Russian forces .General Zia joined this Jehad(struggle) in the name of Islam. The US government opened its coffers for the aid of Afghan freedom fighters. Gen Zia was a good administrator. He organised all the freedom fighting groups and gave them asylum in Pakistan giving America the impression that all these groups are at his beck and call. Thus American ammunition and monetary aid was distributed to these Mujahid groups through Gen. Zia. The Afghan Mujahid groups thus entrenched themselves in Pakistan and introduced Pakistanis to the Klashnikov and heroin culture. The trade in narcotics spread every where in Pakistan and a lot of illegal arms were enmassed. The arms being distributed to the Afghan fighting groups were being bought by criminals cheaply in the open market. Thus the beginning of armed terrorism and violence was made in Pakistan.

Surely Gen. Zia did not mean it. He was not aware of the catastrophe being inflicted on Pakistani people but when these forces were set into motion he had no cure for this ailment. He shook the world particularly the Islamic world for the freedom fight in Afghanistan and aid in the form of cash, useful articles and arms started pouring in. How much of it reached the concerned quarters and how much was pilfered no one has the clue.

Gen Zia might have succeeded in implementing the Islamic system in the country but due to the flood of illegal arms and narcotics a new class of people emerged who became billionaires on the basis of indulging in unlawful trade in arms and narcotics. They were talking of Islam but were practically doing illegal things. That created a dilemma and confusion for those Pakistanis who were sincere to Islam. They were in fact neither prepared to tolerate opposition to Islam nor accepted the conditions being created in the country in the name of Islam. The sources near Gen. Zia say that the General was himself upset with this flood of illegal arms and narcotics but he was powerless in this connection. He continuously tried to stop this practice as much as he could but he had another goal before him. He thought that after the evacuation of Russian forces there would be an administrative vacuum in Afghanistan. So he had obtained an undertaking from the Mujahid groups that after attaining freedom they would form a loose confederation between Pakistan and Afghanistan and it was also possible that Pashtu speaking tribes of Afghanistan might join Pakistan permanently thus giving Pakistan a sense of security and depth along the Western borders. This would also open up the route to Central Asian countries which was necessary from the point of view of trade and commerce.

Irrespective of what happened in this region in the name of Afghanistan, the thought of General Zia was very positive but unfortunately what actually transpired was extremely negative. There is a possibility that had he not been killed under a conspiracy, perhaps the history of this region would have been different because his grip on the Afghan freedom fighting groups was more than that of Afghans themselves. Had he remained alive the future of democracy in Pakistan might have been dark but new avenues of prosperity might have opened. The process of Islamisation he initiated in Pakistan remained temporary and inconclusive. He could not enforce any part of Islamic system. Thus the result is that today people blame Bhutto for Islamic Socialism and Gen. Zia for Islamisation for their own political ends of prolonging their personal hold on governments . During Zia?s rule the concept of Pakistani nationalism weakened and regional and linguistic prejudices strengthened and have now acquired dangerous dimensions .

GENERAL ZIAULHAQ IN THE LIGHT OF RESULTS

Instead of the person of General Ziaulhaq we are critics of his actions which resulted in the present difficulties that Pakistan is suffering from. The biggest problem is the terrorism in the name of religion. During his lifetime General was holding meetings after collecting all Islam lovers and tried to create unity among Muslims. But it did not produce the desired results rather it resulted in religious harshness and the tolerance for each other gradually disappeared. It was during General Ziaulhaq?s period that first time incidents of terrorism happened in mosques, shrines and religious meetings and processions .Thousands of people were killed in such incidents. These included people belonging to all religious schools of thought and big clergy men and common citizens, political leaders and social workers, the Imams of mosques and their followers, and the children, women and other street by-passers.

In order to counter the peoples party, General Ziaulhaq gave lot of financial aid to Sindh?s principal linguistic party and Jiye Sindh movement of G.M.Syed and provided them government patronage. In spite of his shrewdness General Ziaulhaq was a non-political personality. The purpose of courting the regional, linguistic and separatists movements by General Zia was perhaps to make them patriots and bring them in the mainstream of country?s politics and thus undo the influence of peoples party in their areas of influence. But what happened was exactly opposite to this. The objectives of these linguistic and separatist parties were diametrically different from General Ziaulhaq?s objectives. In these areas People Party became weaker but it was replaced by anti-Pakistan elements. The steps taken by those, who do not understand national objectives and are non-political, damage the country beyond measures. It is therefore imperative for the rulers to think dispassionately about the outcome and result of their actions before undertaking the steps of their liking or disliking. In American system the most interesting thing is that when the president or any cabinet member wants to take any step then the matter is referred to the three committees comprising the personal staff of the president. There is a committee of twenty five to thirty intellectuals, university professors and others who have a deep knowledge of international affairs constituted for the purpose who study the pros and cons of the action and its negative and positive consequnces. This committee thoroughly analyses and debates the suggestion for its application on the regional level or for other parts of America and presents its negative implications in writing to the president. Whether the president on his part either undertakes measures to counter the negative effects of the proposal or altogether cancels it is a separate matter. But those who are now dreaming of ruling over the whole world give so much thought to their affairs and what do we do? We first take the step and later think about the consequences or pay the penalty.

Islam has taught us to first weigh and then speak out. The weighing means that what ever action you propose to take you must thoroughly ponder over it. You should say some thing after thorough thinking about the consequences so that you might not have to suffer later on. During Gen. Zia?s period many such steps were taken which had to be retrieved afterwards. For example he held party-less elections for the assembly but had to form Muslim League and later on had to dismiss this government on the charges of corruption, bribery and moral turpitude . The sudden death of Gen. Zia had very bad effect on the conditions in Pakistan. Because he had planned many schemes whose script was in his custody. After his departure no one was prepared to implement these schemes. This included the matters related to Afghanistan which he tackled with the help of couple of his colleagues from the army and those colleagues also met their end in the plane crash along with the General. That is why Afghan problem is still lying unresolved.

General Zia created an anti-Bhutto force although he had already hanged him. After Bhutto there was no leader of his stature who could fill his place. But due to these steps of Gen. Zia Pakistan is still divided into pro and ant- Bhutto camps and as a result of political confrontation Pakistan politics is in a gloomy state for affairs for the last sixteen years. That is why no political party has succeeded in Pakistan. The political leaders who are politically immature hurl such frivolous charges on each other that people do not want to see their faces after that. And then the Ziaulhaq- trained politicians in spite of democracy take such steps which a person can not imagine even in dictatorship. Throughout his life Late Ziaulhaq took every step in the name of Islam and for the pleasure of Allah and his prophet(PBUH) but not a single step was taken with the sincerity of purpose and love for Islam. He did every thing in the name of Islam to prolong his rule. But one thing that goes in favour of forgiving all his self-aggrandisement is his sincerity with the Atomic Programme. He turned the dream of Zulfiqar Ali Bhutto about Atomic programme into reality with full sincerity maintaining its secrecy.

Like an expert in diplomatic affairs he established good relations with India. In secret he continued working on the Kashmir front but extolling traditional relations and diplomacy with them he tstarted talking about trade relations with them. And on the other hand he occupied Siachin glacier which is situated at a height of 26 thousand feet above sea level. Gen. Zia was any way a patriot and atrue soldier. In 1983 he took strong measures to forestall the Indian army?s advance but he could not repulse Indians from Siachin and with retaliation he inflicted heavy losses to Indian forces and chose the highest situated arena of war in the world for tug of war and got vacated much of the area and India had to bear heavy loss. General also received F-16 planes from America which resulted in making Pakistan?s air power stronger than India?s air force. During Indira Gandhi?s period and thereafter the General used to visit India to watch cricket matches without invitation. It is said that Indian government felt embarrassed due to such a step. Whenever he liked he would visit India without any prior programme and Indian government felt constrained to provide him full protocol.

In 1986 the activities of freedom fighter increased on the Kashmir front and in Siachin also Pakistan army showing unprecedented gallantry inflicted heavy losses to Indian forces. Those days the news was in circulation in the world media that India is planning to attack Pakistan. On this General Zia went to India to watch cricket test match and in his short meeting with Rajiv Gandhi conveyed to him that Pakistan had made a bigger atomic cracker with Uranium augmentation than what they had done. ?Because Uranium is quite cheap so we have ample stock of this material. If some one dares to cross Pakistan?s border and there is any danger to the security of the country we shall by grace of God very successfully strike the desired targets with it because we have already manufactured launchers for this purpose.? It is said that Rajiv Gandhi got flabbergasted on hearing this and he thought in his mind that this old man was trying to bluff him. He sent an Indian journalist Kuldip Nayyar to Pakistan who had very cordial relations with many Pakistanis here. He met General Zia and expressed his desire to meet Pakistani scientist Dr Abdul Qadeer Khan. On this General advised Kuldip to see renowned journalist Mushahid Husain and the later took Kuldip to see Abdul Qadeer Khan. Kuldip interviewed Dr Khan and Khan warned Indian leaders that Pakistan was fully prepared to face any challenge from India.

A lot of dust was raised as to why Mushahid Husain arranged a meeting of Dr Khan with the journalist of an enemy country and for many weeks Mushahid had to face the allegations and abuses of people. Later on this interview was released through BBC and Indian media. After a few months it was confirmed that Mushahid had arranged this meeting at the behest of the government so that Kuldip could verify the hint given by Zia to Rajiv Gandhi during their short meeting in Delhi. After this Zia ruled peacefully and visited India when ever he wanted like visiting a friendly country.

General Zia had made the right of the Pakistani people to vote subservient to his own will and exploited the name of Islam and faith more and took less measures in that direction. If Zia wanted he could enforce Islam during his rule and Pakistan could be made a model Muslim country in the world but it could not happen. After Zia?s death Pakistan came to square one. Zia snatched the government from Bhutto and after his death it went back to Bhutto’s daughter.

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.

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