When the anchor person on Capital TV said that during the presidency of Ghulam Ishaque Khan, Nawaz Sharif had been made to resign at gun point, Hamid Mir came out with a funny version that NS resigned because he had agreed with Abdul Waheed Kakar that if the president resigned, he too would resign.
How could he have done that when the president had not even called for his resignation until he had been summoned to the presidency? He was not even on talking terms with Kakar after the president had revealed in his speech that NS had opposed the appointment of Kakar as the army chief.
And why was the army chief present in the meeting between the president and the prime minister if not to pressurise NS? And why did GIK arrange for Benazir Bhutto to be flown in an army helicopter to meet Kakar at the GHQ.
The plot that was cooked up was that Benazir would go on a long march and Kakar would refuse to intervene on the pretense of avoiding excessive civilian casualties. The resulting threat of a law and order situation would give the president an excuse to ask for Nawaz Sharif’s resignation.
This is exactly the drama that was played out in the presidency where the resignation paper had already been prepared. When NS refused to resign and started to walk out, Kakar said, “Mian sahib, your either sign your resignation or I will put you behind bars.”
That is when Nawaz Sharif knew that the game was up and he insisted that the president resign too.
For his part in the drama Benazir promised GIK that he would be her candidate for the presidency. When she nominated Farooq Khan Leghari, GIK publicly complained to the reporters about her promise to him. Kakar was also promised an extension in service but he refused perhaps because of a guilty conscience.
This was the much touted ‘Kakar Formula’. None of this is hearsay, and was reported in the newspapers at the time.
KHURSHID ANWER
Lahore