Transitions need to be handled with extra-care, especially when they represent a phased return to democratic dispensation from a non-democratic one. Such transitions can never be switched on or switched off in seconds or minutes or even in months because handing over and taking over takes time even years.
In the case of Pakistan sometimes the unwillingness of some of the actors involved to hand over the reins back to civilians even in due course of time has created misunderstandings and sometimes genuine reasons have come in the way of a well-paced handing over.
On the other hand the desire on the part of the civilians to quicken the process of taking over or their failure to learn the ropes of governance within a reasonable time have tested the patience of the party handing over the powers, which invariably has resulted in the reversal of the process ending in unwelcome U-turns.
What happened in 1958 was more of a culmination of an almost decade-long tug-of-war between the civil and military bureaucracy as the latter had become too envious of the former which for obvious reasons had become the virtual rulers because of the inability of the then ruling Party to quickly undergo a qualitative change from an organization fighting the colonial rulers to a responsible ruler of an independent, sovereign state.
The transition from non-democratic dispensation to a democratic one had been completed — almost — by March 1969. All that was needed to be done by the abdicating Field Marshal was to hand over power to the Speaker of the National Assembly as envisaged in the then Constitution so as to let the handing over and taking over process to reach its logical end in due course of time. But Yahya’s ambitions and Ayub’s reluctance to trust the civilians with governing powers led to the second military take-over ending an 11-year transition phase.
What happened subsequent to this take-over need not be repeated here as the events have been documented from every angle imaginable for the posterity to sit in judgment.
The manner in which the Faizabad sit-in was ended and the terms of the agreement signed by the Government with protesters through the corroboration of the Army — all mark a disappointing watershed in the history of Pakistan, according to a recent study by Pakistan Institute of Legislative Development and Transparency on civil-military relations
The transition phase that began in December 1971 in residual Pakistan after its dismemberment lasted no more than five years as the generals led by the then Chief of Army Staff (COAS) General Ziaul Haq perhaps found the speed with which the then Prime Minister Zulfikar Ali Bhutto had wanted the handing over process to complete not to their liking. Or perhaps they were not at all prepared at that point in our chequered history to allow civilians to challenge military’s political reality.
By the time General Ziaul Haq perished in an air crash, the civilians had to an extent learnt the ropes of governance. All that was needed to be done at that point was to hold the elections, already scheduled and hand over powers to the winner.
But once again the unwillingness of the generals to part with power came in the way. And this time they chose to rule from behind the scene, turning a democratic competition into a decade long tribal war-fare between the PPP and the PMLN.
The farce finally ended when General Musharraf, a man of low intelligence but full of himself manoeuvred to elbow an elected government into exile in 1999.
The country suffered his blunders for as many as nine years. He went home in 2008 only when threatened with impeachment by an elected government.
The transition phase that began since has lasted almost a decade which saw for the first time ever a peaceful transfer of power in the country from an outgoing civilian government to an incoming elected one.
This period also saw the then Chief Justice of the Supreme Court bringing to a virtual halt the elected government of the day and two Prime Ministers losing their office, one for contempt of court and the other on suspicions of allegedly possessing assets beyond his means.
It also saw two Army chiefs retiring, one after having received extension of an extra term and his successor going home on due date but not before perceived to have destabilized the incumbent elected government to its foundations.
General Qamar Javed Bajwa has been in the office only since November, 2016 but has since been perceived by his detractors to have kept the civilian government on its toes, especially since the advent of the Panama Papers.
And since July 2017 the ousted Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif without naming either of the two institutions has been alluding that the establishment led by the Army and in collusion with the Supreme Court was trying its best to bring the transition process to an abrupt halt.
And the manner in which the Faizabad sit-in was ended and the terms of the agreement signed by the Government with protesters through the corroboration of the Army — all mark a disappointing watershed in the history of Pakistan, according to a latest Pakistan Institute of Legislative Development and Transparency (PILDAT) study on civil-military relations.
That the Army, tasked by the Federal Government, facilitated an agreement that capitulated the State to demands of a mob has all but disastrous connotations written all over it.
Subsequent statements by the leader of the protest and actions, such as the DG Rangers distributing cash amongst dharna protesters, have not only raised serious questions about the writ of the Government and the State but also about the role of the Armed Forces during the protest.
But then suddenly sanity seems to have prevailed all around. The Army Chief in order perhaps to negate the impression of being behind the Faizabad sit in went to the Senate the other day to brief the Committee of the Whole of the Upper House ostensibly on the internal and external dangers that the country was facing.
The ousted PM followed up immediately by removing himself from the equation nominating his brother, Shahbaz Sharif as the PMLN’s prospective prime ministerial candidate in the forthcoming polls. Thus, it appears as if the country today is poised to enter what appears to be the last lap of a transition phase that has survived a decade full of pitfalls and snares.
The writer is a senior journalist based in Islamabad. He served as the Executive Editor of Express Tribune until 2014
Published in Daily Times, December 23rd 2017.