Of all Pakistan’s military dictatorships, the rule of Gen Zia may be said to have impacted the country the greatest; and in the gravest possible manner. Not simply because what followed was a misguided policy of Islamism that is yet to be overcome. But because it sent an elected Prime minister to the gallows while the courts played along.
Pakistan still to recover from the dark events of April 4, 1974.
Looking back, it was inevitable that Zia would do the dirty. After all, he had no choice. Not because it was in the national interest. But, rather, it was in the military’s. And that made it personal.
After all, the Chief Martial Law Administrator had acted too rashly when he chose not to give the then ongoing Saudi mediations a full and proper chance to quell unrest on the streets. Meaning that almost immediately, he was playing on the back foot. For Zulifkar Ali Bhutto was down but not out. And this realisation dawned on the bad general rather late. This subsequently threw notions of new elections out of the window.
For had the people of Pakistan been afforded the opportunity — they would likely have brought the founder of the PPP back to power. All of which would have been a veritable slap in the face for a military high-command that that had chosen to usurp the democratic seat on the grounds of electoral irregularities. Thus a viable option had to be found. And so it was that Bhutto was charged and tried on trumped up allegations of murdering a political foe. The rest, as they say, is history at its darkest.
Yet Pakistan has much to be grateful to Bhutto for. He paved the way for a country that operates as a welfare state; at least in ideological terms. The economics of all this was still a bit shaky. Though there was talk of taking the country down a more market-oriented path. Because as everyone knows, capitalism cares in the community. Sadly, however, the country still has a long way to go towards this end.
Nevertheless, part of Bhutto’s legacy remains changing the way military coups work here. For there has only been one since: that of Gen Musharraf. And though like Zia before him, the former COAS carried on the ‘tradition’ of a bloodless coup — that is where most similarities end. Not least of all given that the latter spared the life of Nawaz Sharif; his forever since nemesis. Except that sudden geo-strategic shifts precipitated swift support from the Americans for the men in khaki who had overthrown the democratic order. Zia was fortunate enough to have the Soviet invasion across the western border. Whereas Musharraf found that his luck was in when the Islamist threat replaced the Communist one; also in neighbouring Afghanistan.
But closer to home, it seems that Pakistan’s military establishment is no more interested in flirting with the idea of coming directly out of the barracks. Though today there is talk of behind-the-scenes string-pulling; especially when it comes to the judiciary’s collision course with the King and all his men. And while this may or may not be true, of one thing the citizenry can be sure: having no boots directly on the ground is no guarantee of seeing democracy fortified. Not when the focus is promoting reformed-asset-protégés.
Today, Pakistan’s politicians are possibly confronted with an even greater task; and that is putting point-scoring behind them for democracy’s sake. For a united leadership across the great divide is the only means of ensuring national survival. For regional powers, even superpowers, come and go. Only the Pakistani people can be relied upon to be more than fair weather friends. *
Published in Daily Times, April 5th 2018.