Last week I made the statement in these pages that as far as I can see there is no longer any ‘major’ ideological difference between the Pakistan People’s Party (PPP) and its two major political opponents at this time, the Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PM-N) and the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaaf (PTI). (“The friendly opposition?”, Daily Times, April 23, 2012.) For all practical purposes, these three parties essentially support the same sort of things with minor variations, mostly of emphasis.
The PPP was born at a time when the political left still mattered and the cold war was a reality. The PPP came into being as an ‘Islamic-Socialist’ party. In the tricolour of the PPP, black represented democracy, red represented socialism and green represented Islam. Under Zulfiqar Ali Bhutto (ZAB), when the PPP came to power, it did embark on nationalisation of many industrial, financial and educational institutions, but it also declared the Ahmedis to be non-Muslims, a long-standing Islamist demand. And yes, ZAB also outlawed Freemasonry! Here in the interest of full disclosure I must state that I supported the PPP and voted for it in the 1970 elections but did not stay in Pakistan long enough to see the ZAB government at work.
By the time the PPP came back into power in December 1988, the world as well as the PPP had changed. Socialism was fast losing its appeal, the Soviet Union was collapsing and even in China, classical socialist doctrines were being put aside. I first saw and heard Ms Benazir Bhutto speak at an Asia Society dinner in New York City on June 10, 1989. What was to be a triumphal visit by the first democratically elected female prime minister of a Muslim country to the US was overshadowed by the Tiananmen Square ‘massacre’ in China that occurred a few days earlier. However, for me at least the most striking part of her speech at the dinner was an outright abandonment of all ‘socialist’ economic principles that the PPP was founded on and full support for ‘free markets’.
Most of the ‘left’ was withering away at that time and in a few years, Francis Fukuyama would famously declare that ‘liberal democracy’ had finally emerged victorious over all other forms of government (End of History and the Last Man). This idea was challenged by Professor Samuel Huntington in his essay, later a book, called The Clash of Civilisations and the Coming World Order. Much has been written about these two since then but it is appropriate to state that ‘socialism’ as an accepted form of government became dormant and about the same time ‘laissez faire’ economics took over the driver’s seat from what were called ‘mixed or controlled economies’. Socialist or ‘liberal’ parties all over the world moved to the centre. The Democrats in the US under Bill Clinton and Labour in the UK under Tony Blair are two obvious examples. So I suppose the PPP was no exception.
The other centre-left party that is in coalition with the PPP is the Awami National Party (ANP). The ANP is the successor to the National Awami Party (NAP) of Wali Khan that was openly socialist but pro-Moscow compared to the NAP-Bhashani that was pro-China. After being banned and reincarnated as the ANP, it still has some of its centre-left flavour but is obviously not out there advocating socialism. The third component of the ruling coalition is the Muttahida Qaumi Mahaz (MQM). This is a non-ideological party that represents a particular ethno-linguistic group made up mostly of middle and lower income immigrants and now their children that came to Pakistan from India. However, the PPP, the ANP as well as the MQM are all pro-minority, pro-women and of course emphasise the rights of the impoverished majority of this country. And even though they all support ‘Islam’, none of them advocates the imposition of an Islamic system of governance.
Of the opposition parties, the PML-N is a distant and perhaps unrecognisable descendant of the original Pakistan Muslim League (PML) that helped create Pakistan and was once led by M A Jinnah. The PML was essentially a movement that supported the creation of Pakistan. After having achieved its goal of the creation of Pakistan, the PML became a party in search of an ideology. It was only after the PPP emerged as a major ‘leftist’ political force that the PML in reaction evolved as a centre-right political party that today finds its support primarily among medium-sized farm owners and businessmen. Of the other political parties on the right, there are the Islamist parties, which except for their brief ascendancy in the former Frontier Province as the Muttahida Majlis-e-Amal (MMA) under army tutelage, have rarely played an important role in government.
Finally, we come to Imran Khan’s PTI. The PTI at this time is more of a ‘protest movement’ against the established political parties and at best can be described as a ‘work-in-progress’. From an ideological point of view, the PTI is literally all over the place. It is Islamist, it is populist, it is supported by the educated middle class as well as the conservative religious sorts and perhaps by the ‘infamous’ establishment. The future of the PTI will depend on its ability to find a coherent ideological platform. Whether that happens remains to be seen.
So what then is an ‘unreconstructed’ 1960s liberal like me supposed to do? Nawaz Sharif who tried to pass the ‘Sharia Bill’ (Tenth Amendment) and whose party openly consorts with and supports religious extremists is not going to get my vote. Imran Khan who wants to implement an ‘Islamic welfare system’ also seems a bit dicey. Therefore, I will most likely vote for the ‘arrow’ as I did for the ‘sword’ forty odd years ago, albeit with a lot less enthusiasm, Mr Gilani, his present troubles and those of his cohorts notwithstanding.
The writer has practised and taught medicine in the US and in Pakistan. He can be reached at [email protected]