It seems as if the leadership of Pakistan is dilapidating fast and furiously. Its destruction started way back in 1958, when the Armed forces, according to a well-laid plan, decimated the elected constitutional institutions of Pakistan and removed the people who had the will and ability to run these institutions from the political scene. Most of these capable politicians had to face decade-long bans, 10 years being the political life of any shrewd and seasoned politician. As envisaged by the military establishment, these 10-year long bans witnessed the deaths of these politicians, both mortally and politically. Those who rebelled against these prohibitions were Hussain Shaheed Suhrawardy and Maulvi Tameezuddin. One of them was poisoned in a hotel in Beirut.
It should be remembered that Ayub Khan was imposed on Pakistan by the CIA so that our region and resources could be at the disposal of the US. The CIA spared nothing in keeping their front-man Ayub Khan happy. Indeed, the murder of Suhrawardy was part and parcel of this entire scheme and Tameezuddin wasted his breath searching for justice in the matter. After Pakistans entire senior political cadre was removed by hook or by crook, Pakistan was now without any institutional political leadership. Unfortunately, the region that Pakistan belongs to did not have a noteworthy history of social and political movements. Only East Pakistan had a history of political movements. There were farmer and worker unions over there too. But the brutality of martial law also dissipated them and polluted the crop of people that were capable of producing political leadership.
I wont go into the details of the 1971 tragedy. In the era of decline of the military government, Zulfikar Ali Bhutto emerged as a lofty political personality and with him rose a class of first and second tier political workers who couldve potentially been the future political leadership material for Pakistan. It was in Bhuttos time that trade unions got a measure of independence. Student movements also became active. The training of parliamentary leaders was underway and workers who could man political movements emerged. A lot of these were independent-minded and did not express affiliation with a political party. Nonetheless, they still groomed for politics as they participated in the political process. People like Javed Hashmi, Masood Poswal, Barakullah, Ahsaan Wynne, Afrasiab Khattak, Haji Adeel, Zahid Khan and many others like them were prepared during this time. But this process of cultivating leaders and workers which had begun from scratch and was flourishing was again trampled under tanks. Bhutto Saheb was hanged and this new generation of optimistic political workers was the victim of imprisonments, lashings, hangings and banishments. After this, there was a long stretch of time when no political leadership took shape. The people who had the ability to run the democratic system were obliterated during the 11-year long Zia era. Those that were cultivated under the shadow of the martial law and under the influence of the military did not have the ability to fashion an independent political environment.
In these Dark Ages, two rays of hope emerged. One was Mohtarama Benazir Bhutto. She risked her life to illuminate the squalor of obscurantism and raged against the vice like grip of dictators to restart the democratic process. At that point in time, political forces were weak and inexperienced whereas dictatorial forces had pervasive influence and its agents were effective and organised. Consequently, democracy hadnt even gained a foothold when the blows of dictatorial forces dislodged it and replaced it with assemblies peopled by underlings of the dictatorial forces.
The forces assembled for this pseudo-democratic setup instead of a genuine democracy were led by Mr Nawaz Sharif. He was a young and modern and believed in industrialisation-driven progress. Unhindered by political biases and ideologies, he worked on projects of economic and industrial development. This alerted the forces of the status quo and conspiracies were now being hatched against Nawaz Sharif. Nawaz Sharif who had no political aims beyond progress and development was enraged by these forces creating hurdles in his way. He then rebelled against the very forces that had propped him up for their own interests. He was kicked out because of this rebellion. Resultantly, a great majority of the people came out in his support and Pakistan now had its second leader who had popular support from people who werent the constituency of the PPP.
Every country has two main political ideologies. One is adopted by political forces which aim to bring a change in the status quo while the second is adopted by people who want to preserve the status quo. In the PPPs heydays, the proponents of the second ideology were disintegrating and the centres of power provided them with clandestine refuge to organise them. An example of this would be the formation of JI. But when Nawaz Sharif surfaced as a leader, the proponents of the status quo had finally found their leader.
If the political process that was shaping up under the leadership Benazir Shaheed and Nawaz Sharif had continued, then our country would have seen the resumption of normal political activities and we would have established the democratic setup that our country needed. But the generals struck again and before this democratic crop could grow, it was trampled. Both these leaders which led different ends of the political spectrum were forced into exile and Pakistani politics was left helpless again. In the long period of dictatorship that was to follow, only half-baked and restricted politics and the conditions werent favourable for a new political leadership and workforce to shape up.
When these leaders came back, Benazir was martyred very soon after she set foot on this soil and Nawaz Sharif was embroiled in the problem of whether he was allowed or not allowed to take part in politics. This tied his hands and he couldnt act freely. Therefore, there was still a leadership vacuum and the democratic setup that took root in this vacuum did not live up to the expectations of the people.
Now the situation is something like this. Nawaz Sharif, while enjoying public support, is no longer the man of choice for forces that control the status quo. On the other hand, Zardari is not meeting the hopes of the people who challenge the status quo. The elements that will run and maintain Pakistani politics have now been weakened. That is why when Pir Pagara says that after any impending change, Pakistan will not see any election for another 20 or 25 years, he isnt altogether wrong. Political resistance forces have neither the ability nor the drive and dynamism. The Pakistani public will now have to find new paths for the fulfillment of its dreams. What paths? That remains to be seen
The writer is one of Pakistans most widely read columnists.
