Demons of democracy

Only when we can get rid of them, the country can move forward

Demons of democracy (siasat ke shaitan) are in total control of politics in the Islamic Republic of Pakistan. Where did they come from? Certainly the founding fathers of the country were not instrumental in producing them. Quaid-e-Azam, the first Governor General, and Liaquat Ali Khan, the founding prime minister, were both men of impeccable integrity and honesty and resisted demonisation of democracy in the motherland.

Liaquat Ali, during his first visit to the USA, was given a script to govern the first Islamic democracy of the world. Upon his refusal a plan was formulated to get rid of him. Only demons were fit enough to derail the democratic order and then keep it derailed for all times to come. Today Pakistan has (some of) the richest politicians, generals, bureaucrats and scientists in the world and, perhaps, the poorest, suffering nation. The situation is mind boggling. The demon producing factories seem to be running in full production while the nation sinks.

Ayub Khan was handed over the task of first eliminating the entire political leadership of the country (Liaquat Ali, Abdur Rab Nishtar, Hussain Shaheed Suharwardy, Khawaja Nazimuddin, Maulana Fazal-ul-Haq, Qayyum Khan, Wali Khan, Maulana Bhashani, GM Syed, Sattar Pirzada, Khan of Kalat, Akbar Bugti etc) and then replace them with demons (Chaudhry Zahoor Elahi, Chaudhry Muhammad Hussain, Yasin Wattoo, Anwar Bhinder, Munim Khan, Sheikh Mujib-ur-Rehman, Aslam Khattak, Ayub Khorro, Nawab Kalabagh, Sharif-ud-Din Pirzada, Ghulam Muhammed, Chaudhry Muhammed Ali, Muhammed Ali Bogra, Iskander Mirza, Muhammed Shoaib, Gohar, Ayub, Habibullah, Khattak etc.

Yahya Khan was unable to contain the demons and Quaid’s Pakistan was dismembered. Zia continued with the production of fresh demons (Nawaz Sharif, Shahbaz Sharif, Manzoor Wattoo, Ijaz-ul-Haq, Humayun Akhtar Khan, Chaudhry Shujaat, Parvez Elahi, Khawaja Asif, Saad Rafiq, Nisar Ali Khan, Nawab Hoti, Ghulam Ishaq Khan, Anwar Saifullah, Irfan ullah Marwat, Saeed Qadir, Jam Sadiq etc, this along with various organisations (MQM, TTP, LEJ, LET, Sunni Tehrik etc).

After failing to deal with Zia’s demons, Musharraf decided to create his own. Again, the list is long. Some of them took refuge in ‘lotacracy’ and entered the ranks of other political parties. Only a fragmented PML-Q remains under the Chaudhrys of Gujrat and assisted by journalist-turned-politician Mushahid Hussain. Once again the demons and their designers are not seeing eye to eye. Another demon producing exercise will be disastrous for the country and must be avoided.

Like Mujib, Zulfikar Ali Bhutto (ZAB) also emerged from the demons producing factory of Ayub Khan but he saw through their evil designs. He founded his Peoples Party (PPP) as an anti-establishment force and decided to challenge the first usurper and founder of Demon Dynasty. PPP took the country like a storm. ZAB was able to end khaki hegemony after the East Pakistan debacle in which the armed forces were defeated by a demon they themselves created: Sheikh Mujib-ur-Rehman. In the first free and fair elections of 1970, almost all the demons were politically annihilated. The reluctance of the khakis to hand over power to the elected representatives caused the break up of Quaid’s Pakistan which could have been avoided. Later, ZAB picked up the pieces of what remained.

Initial years of the first ZAB regime saw the rise of the democratic order and the demise of the demons. The unanimous 1973 constitution has kept Pakistan together despite two unholy onslaughts. Except for the few Zia amendments, the document has been cleansed once again to move the country in the direction of constitutional democracy.

By 1975 the demons were back. First it was military action in Balochistan and then the dissolution of the first elected assembly, followed by elections. This time the demons were in total control on both sides. Some of them were sitting with ZAB as ticket holders while others were leading the PNA movement. In the end the demons producing factory of Zia prevailed, whose products continue to haunt us till today.

For Pakistan to move forward this process of producing demons has to end as it has totally failed. The country has to be cleansed of the demons and the khakis moved back to the barracks. Cleansing can start from 1985 when the party-less elections were held to produce new demons. It was during this period that the richest politicians, generals, bureaucrats, scientists emerged – siasat turned from khidmat to “munafah”. Before the next elections, following steps should be taken: Mass cleansing of candidates to include scrutiny of growth of assets before and after 1985, loan and tax defaults, criminal charges, fool proof election commission to hold an honest ballot, formula for the retreat of the khakis to the barracks to put a permanent end to demonising democracy in the country and shutting down these factories. The task is daunting but it can be done. The sacrifices and struggle of the founding fathers and their children should not go in vain. Quaid’s Pakistan can still emerge from the ashes of these demons.