In 1972 with Jinnah’s truncated Pakistan, its once powerful army writhing in pain and shame of humiliating defeat, it would have been easier than done for the leaders of smaller provinces where nationalist forces had already raised their head of defiance, to declare independence encouraged by the establishment of Bangladesh. They would have been at once given recognition by the erstwhile Soviet Union, India and Bangladesh followed by many others including dozens of ‘brotherly’ Muslim countries. Bhutto Sahib appealed to the collective wisdom of the elected leaders of Balochistan, KP and Sindh to remain united for commonality of interest for survival in a region which shall always remain a bone of contention for super and regional powers either for its warm waters or for sitting at the mouth of the Gulf. We were lucky to have leaders who could understand the gravity of the situation and in the spirit of collective weal the 1973 constitution was passed unanimously. It resolved the most-thorny issue of provincial autonomy. Despite Article 6 General Ziaul Haq committed act of treason, judicially murdered ZAB and held in abeyance transference of concurrent list to the provinces by1983 as enshrined in the Constitution. Himalayan credit must be given to the PPP jiyalas for keeping alighted the flame of democracy in the darkest period of our history. When her husband had been murdered by Zia, Begum Nusrat Bhutto aided by her daughter Benazir garnered an opposition parties alliance — the Movement for the Restoration of Democracy (MRD), burying their egos, to confront Zia’s dictatorship. Since Bhutto’s province — Sindh had taken upon itself the lead role, PPP and its supporters suffered most deaths and injuries, its people were singled out for genocide by Ziaist troops, his scotch earth policy destroyed one village after another. On this, its 50th birthday — the PPP must re-enforce its commitment to secular democracy, constitutionalism, rule of law and a more vigorous reiteration for the socio-political and economic empowerment of the people irrespective of caste, creed, colour or gender Whatever, Zia had to surrender. First he held party-less elections, appointed Muhammad Khan Junejo as Prime Minister who cleverly nibbled his powers and brought about a crack in his constituency by appointing General Aslam Beg as Vice Army Chief without Zia knowing it. And Junejo would have sealed his fate and that of his coterie by exposing the mega corruption by President Zia and his generals by publishing the highly explosive findings of Federal Interior Minister Aslam Khattak Commission’s in the Ohjiri Arms Depot disaster of 1988 — much similar to that of Nuclear Supermarket under General Pervez Musharraf. General Zia dismissed Junejo fearing his impeachment. In his most recent statement that he was proud of PPP for its correct conduct in the challenges circumstances and mysteriously engineered dharnas by the clerical brigade, ongoing tussle between convicted prime minister and the Supreme Court, PPP Chairman Bilawal Bhutto has definite reasons to feel pride that his party has remained unaffected by the temptations of the ‘Chamak’ master who was known for staging a judicial coup in 1997. It has done well to be cautious of the ‘engineers’ too. Though his party and its leaders have been at the receiving end of the highest judiciary yet they had not defied its decisions-howsoever biased. PPP’s Prime Minister Yousuf Raza Gilani created history and not Nawaz Sharif, by resigning when he was convicted for contempt. Pholan Devi and her ‘hum-nawa’ are projecting PML-N as an anti-establishment party despite being two-in-one — both in opposition and government. They cry hoarse in decrying PPP and accusing it of being switched over on the side of Establishment. No party has as strong and credible anti-establishment credentials as PPP. If he were to get another chance to live in Saroor Palace, he should take with him his party and have a dip in the scented swimming pool to give a strong veneer of perfumery to cover up their stink as well. I feel PPP did right in not bailing out Nawaz again since his and Pholan Devi’s diatribe against judiciary is not for saving democracy but his and his family’s vested interests. He got trapped in the cobweb of his lies with no way out accept the current suicidal course to destroy the edifice of democracy painfully raised brick by brick by PPP. I could go on regarding his anti-democratic role since his Zia-engineered advent in politics in the early eighties to this day, how he was funded and propped up by ISI under Gen Hameed Gul in 1988 to stem Benazir Bhutto’s landslide, under General Aslam Beg and his ISI chief General Asad Durrani — again to stop PPP in 1990. And the story continues. In 2013 too PPP was denied its rightful vote though PPP questioned the poll result but did not reject it to sustain continuity. On 50th year of its foundation PPP must re-enforce its commitment to secular democracy, constitutionalism, rule of law and more vigorous reiteration for the socio-political and economic empowerment of the people including less privileged irrespective of caste, creed, colour or gender. I was shocked and hurt on the failure of political parties — excluding PTI and those whose collaborative views are well known — to raise their voice against blackmail. The clerical dharna, the abuses and hate language used by their leaders in their speeches needed to be widely telecast live 24/7 so that the nation knows who the real enemy of Pakistan is. By muting their x-rated ‘galam-galooch’ and blocking their vitriolic telecasting — the government has not done any service to democracy as a matter of fact TV channels have done a great disservice. Whoever engineered nearly three-week long dharna paralysing the Federal Capital with the motive of pressurising the judiciary to let Nawaz & Co go off the hook or to create such a law and order condition that the army would be forced to intervene — has been well-commented upon by the Islamabad High Court Judge Mr Justice Shaukat Aziz Siddiqui who questioned the legal authority for army’s intervention to broker a deal between PML-N government and the dharna parties. It is regretted that both the PML-N government and military establishment were either conniving with them or were afraid of a violent reaction. On the surface of the matter both the Interior ministry and the Defence allowed the clerics to mock at the writ of the state. I would share the view that since army was involved in combating terrorism, it should have treated the miscreants who blocked the roads as terrorists and should have punished them accordingly. The writer is former High Commissioner of Pakistan to UK and a veteran journalist This is the concluding piece of a two-part series. The first appeared yesterday Published in Daily Times, November 30th 2017.