Apparently, the PPP is indulging in power politics similar to that of the 1990s. Allegedly, the ISI under General Hameed Gul had helped Nawaz Sharif to win the 1990 elections but only after two years, Nawaz Sharif fell out with his mentor generals and the establishment’s Godfather, then president Ghulam Ishaq Khan.
General Ziaul Haq’s spiritual son stood up to men in uniform and their supreme commander in sherwani. The PPP took advantage of the wrangling between the old gin and his disciple by developing an understanding with powers that be through Farooq Ahmed Leghari and Aftab Khan Sherpao. Then army chief Abdul General Waheed Kakar had family links with Aftab Sherpao.
After a brief stalemate Nawaz Sharif and Ishaq Khan both had to leave. Moeen Quershi, a former World Bank vice president, was imported to Pakistan and installed as the interim prime minister on July 18, 1993. The interior ministry had to prepare a Pakistani ID card and passport on urgent basis for Moeen Quershi, who oversaw the 1993 elections. After the elections, Benazir Bhutto became the prime minister for the second time.
Forces which had removed Nawaz Sharif were never going to accept Benazir Bhutto as an independent civilian prime minister but they needed her for a purpose. Benazir Bhutto got Pakistan missile technology from North Korea through an interesting deal.
Soon she was a ‘security threat’ again. It could only happen in Pakistan where brother of a sitting prime minister was killed near his house by security personnel and Benazir Bhutto’s husband Asif Ali Zardari was accused of Mir Murtaza Bhutto’s murder. Imran Khan’s favourite officer Shoaib Suddle was the then head of Karachi police. In fact, Asif Zardari had nothing to do with Mir Murtaza’s murder but the aim was to get the prime minister and her family. Few weeks after Mir Murtaza Bhutto’s murder, Benazir Bhutto’s elected government was dismissed. Brutus was Benazir’s confidant Farooq Leghari.
In 1997, Nawaz Sharif was brought in again. But a year after he conducted the nuclear tests he, too, became useless and was sent to prison.
This was the background and the context in which the Charter of Democracy was signed in London between Benazir Bhutto and Nawaz Sharif in 2006. No one could understand better than Benazir Bhutto and Nawaz Sharif why civilian governments were not allowed to work in Pakistan. The Charter of Democracy was not an ordinary step; it was an extraordinary and historic agreement where the both leaders explicitly expressed their will to give Pakistan back to its people. They agreed that only the will of Pakistan people shall prevail. They were determined to resist the establishment’s hegemony.
On the eve of December 27, 2007, standing next to the blood soaked body of Benazir Bhutto at a Rawalpindi Hospital, Nawaz Sharif cried. The cruelty against Benazir Bhutto was a reason of his pain but perhaps he also cried because he knew the Charter of Democracy was, in some ways, a reason behind the death.
In Pakistan democracy and modernity are seen as threats. For the last 69 years, dirty and deadly games are played to prevent Pakistan becoming a modern democratic state. Calculated efforts have been made to give a superficial touch of modernity and create an impression of democracy. General Ayub Khan and General Ziaul Haq created fake democracies through local bodies, and throughout the ‘90s generals became back-seat drivers and imposed controlled democracy.
To our civil and military, bureaucracy English language and Victorian manners are signs of modernity. After toppling the elected government of Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif, General Pervez Musharraf posed for cameras holding dogs in his arms. The purpose was to show the world that he was modern man. The military establishment condemned Fatima Jinnah but it promoted Begum Rana Liaqat Ali Khan as a symbol of modern women in Pakistan.
For communicating with the West, the military establishment used people such as Mushahid Hussain Syed, Maleeha Lodhi, Begum Abida Husain and many others as modern public faces of Pakistan. Imran Khan is a new addition in this strategy of appearing modern. I have heard several of my friends belonging to civil and military bureaucracy saying Pakistan and democracy are not compatible and that Pakistan is a fortress of Islam. The military establishment doesn’t feel comfortable with democracy or modernity that is accepted in the world.
Members of the Pakistani establishment and ruling elite don’t practice religion in their private lives but they use religion as the main tool to maintaining political and social control. Historical, political and social narrative in Pakistan is loaded with religious connotations and religious parties have been playing a central role in the scheme of political arrangement. These parties were always used against the PPP.
The Pakistani establishment and the PPP have different visions for Pakistan that is why till date, the PPP is considered an anti-establishment party. Zulfikar Ali Bhutto and Benazir Bhutto were murdered because they were transforming Pakistan into a modern federal democratic state.
Nawaz Sharif’s case is more interesting. The establishment and Nawaz Sharif have been bedfellows. Nawaz Sharif is overtly religious, socially conservative and strongly believes in right-wing politics. Ironically, it is him who is loathed the most in the power circles of Pakistan because of his independent nature and his transformation into a leader who wants the supremacy of civilian rule in Pakistan.
Politically, PPP and PML-N have marked ideological differences but they have learned to co-exist in a democratic system and the Charter of Democracy was an expression of that understanding.
But recent developments show that some in the PPP want to use a short-cut to get relief and are willing to sacrifice what was achieved through the Charter of Democracy. It’d be, however, be a grave mistake. It is a historical moment, the PPP must hold ground and it must not go back to the 1990s tactics and form alliances for short term benefits. Such moves and opportunistic politics will hurt the spirit of the Charter of Democracy and derail democracy in Pakistan.
Shiraz Paracha is an analyst and a journalism professor. He can be reached at [email protected]