Daily Times

Over the last one week, many media analysts were mourning and chest beating over Pakistan People Party’s (PPP) decision to reject Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz’s (PML-N) offer of bringing a consensus candidate for the post of Chairman Senate and that the party instead stood with the side of the ‘independent’ senators, most of whom were of dubious political repute. Seen in the backdrop of how things are today, certainly the PPP’s preference for an independent senator to lead the Senate was appalling and in fact anti-political in the presence of two largest parties. This looks even more bizarre for the PPP so eagerly lays monopolistic claim of being the hardcore pro-democracy party.

Irrespective of what the party leadership might claim about its democratic credentials — the heartache, the mourning exhibited by so many of the opinion leaders was more relevant to PPP’s choice in the context of Charter of Democracy that the PPP signed with PMLN, and less to the past credentials of the party itself.

For instance, let’s leave aside under whose tutelage ZA Bhutto grew in politics in 1958, but where in the world has a party with 81 seats compelled another party with twice as many seats to run from pillar to post to form a rightful government? In the aftermath of its very first elections, this is what the ZA Bhutto-led PPP did to Mujib’s Awami League in cahoots with the military establishment, which was hell bent against giving Bengalis equal right to rule this country.

It’s ironic how so many in the media paint ZA Bhutto with a broad brush — as an all-time legend, democrat, and man of the people. Indeed,he was callously murdered through a sham judicial process by a military dictator, his tragic demise certainly makes him a martyr of democracy as we see in retrospect. The fact is except for two periods, namely, 1966-69 and 1977-79, Bhutto was the very face of the establishment. Not just the Bengali, Baloch and Pashtun nationalists of his time — but the senior leaders of his very own party such as JA Rahim, Mukhtar Rana and others had to suffer personal humiliation and torture at his behest. What Zardari has done with Raza Rabbani is nothing in comparison to what Bhutto did with his own ideological stalwarts.

Like ZA Bhutto had an opportunity to let the Awami League form the government in 1971, which would have paved the way for civilian supremacy and prevented the fall of Dhaka, PPP under Zardari too had the opportunity to side with the people’s right to rule

Benazir Bhutto too showed all such tendencies in her tit-for-tat fight with Nawaz Sharif throughout the 1990’s. In 1993, Benazir connived with President Ghulam Ishaq Khan and the establishment to remove Nawaz Sharif through infamous 58-2B article of the constitution. Then, just a week after having her nominee installed as Governor of Punjab, she animated a forward block in PML-N and led a successful No-Confidence motion against PMLN in Punjab. It goes without saying, during this period; both Nawaz and Benazir were political delinquents, for they sided with the establishment against each other. By 2006 however, both of them had realized their follies and signed the Charter of Democracy (COD), where both leaders committed themselves to democratic norms and principles.

After the assassination of Benazir, when the democratic regime was restored in 2008, both parties largely stuck to COD. Still, both found it hard to resist backstabbing on certain occasions — such as in case of Governor rule in Punjab which the Zardari led PPP imposed in 2009 or the Memogate scandal, when Nawaz’s acts favoured the establishment. Despite these occasional hiccups between the two parties, they fared pretty well on strategic matters related to democratic development. It was therefore an expectation this time that the PPP leadership will not go to a level of allegiance with the establishment as it did before by becoming its proxy.

Whether it is an outright audacity or self-deception, but one finds the assertion of Bilawal Bhutto where he said ‘Zia’s opening batsman defeated’ as ludicrous if not outrageous for his party may have defeated Raja Zafarul Haq, PML-N candidate for the Chairman Senate, who around forty year back had been a minister under Zia — but in doing so PPP had to once more become a pawn of the very military establishment which had unjustly executed the founder of the party. It negates the very logic for which PPP always, and rightly, hated general Zia.

Like ZA Bhutto had an opportunity to let the Awami League form the government in 1971, which would have paved the way for civilian supremacy and prevented the fall of Dhaka, PPP under Zardari too had the opportunity to side with the people’s right to rule. Unfortunately — as with Bhutto’s greed for power won at the expense of democracy, history repeated itself with Zardari. Why curse Zardari alone?

The writer is a sociologist with interest in history and politics of Pakistan. He’s accessible at Zulfirao@yahoo.com

Published in Daily Times, March 15^th 2018.