Seven iconic moments from the seven decades
Pakistan has just celebrated its 70th birthday, and I have a suspicion it was observed with more fervor this year than is usually the case. But my judgment may be clouded because I had the misfortune of being stuck in a particularly enthusiastic manchala rally, something that took me around two hours to get out of. Like all previous I-Day anniversaries however, this year’s edition failed to answer the fundamental question of how we won Independence on 14th August – in back date, that is.
On this special occasion of Pakistan completing seven decades, I have decided to list seven memorable (or infamous) moments that define each decade, and by extension the whole of our history. So here goes:
The defining moment of the 1947-1957 decade is the episode of the burqa clad petitioner. Maulvi Tamizuddin Khan wanted to challenge the 1954 dissolution of the Constituent Assembly, but he was afraid Governor General Ghulam Muhammad may not take it in the right spirit. Fearing he would be barred from entering the Court, Khan donned a burqa and thus managed to fool the authorities. (Some historians maintain that it was a courier, not Khan himself, that filed the petition. The burqa part is not disputed.) The Federal Court reversed the Sindh High Court’s decision of upholding Khan’s petition. It would be five decades later that burqa would again make history at the hands – or rather outside – Maulana Abdul Aziz of Lal Mosque, but the political farce of the 1950s continued until General Ayub finally decided to take matters into his own hands.
Ayub in the US is the highlight of the 1957-1967 decade. Ayub had made quick work of Iskandar Mirza, who had abrogated the constitution and had declared Martial Law with his help. He was now the undisputed President with a new constitution. This US trip of 1962 is arguably the highest point of the Ayyub era. The economy was booming, and Ayub was sitting pretty. The economy would boom some more but the tide was about to change. The 1965 war with India would wreck the economy, lead to the Tashkent Declaration and public discontent. Bhutto would emerge as a threat, and the relations with the US would also deteriorate.
The lowlight of the 1967-1977 decade, as indeed the whole history of the nation, was the Instrument of Surrender signed at the Ramna Race Course in Dhaka on 16 Dec 1971. Mujeeb’s Bangladesh (the old East Pakistan) would go its merry way and it would fall upon Zulfiqar Ali Bhutto to bring about the rehabilitation of the remaining Pakistan. He would start well, but would soon lose his way owing to a variety of reasons. Ironically, despite being the most well-read and educated of all Pakistani leaders after Jinnah, he would not only lose power but end up with a hangman’s noose around his neck.
The referendum of 1984 remains the lingering image of the 1977-1987 decade. Voters were asked whether they wanted the Islamization of the country to be continued, and it was announced that the voters had turned out in unprecedented numbers and 98% of them had said yes. This apparently meant that the nation had ‘elected’ General Zia as their president for another five years. The referendum was immortalized by Jalib’s sheher mein hoo ka aalam thaa – jin thaa yaa referendum thaa. Zia had earlier removed Bhutto and unlike the 1958 Martial Law, had merely held certain sections of the constitution in abeyance. The referendum would be followed by non-party-based elections designed to keep Benazir Bhutto out of power, and the political ‘leadership’ that would be allowed to emerge would continue to thrive for decades after Zia, as indeed the violence, extremism, and laws such as the Hudood Ordinances.
The 1987-1997 decade was epitomized by Operation Midnight Jackal. Although this particular operation failed, there would be others that would succeed. Horse-trading and conspiring to overthrow governments would become the norm, and the field would be tilted to help one party. Benazir would choose – or would find herself compelled – to follow Sharif’s suit. More tragically, being from Singh, she would still be no match for Sharif, for she would never have the support of the establishment. Sharif would come out stronger after every fight, and there would be no shortage of people around him to congratulate him on his fighting abilities. Sharif would take the compliments to heart, and would go on to lose his next big fight.
PIA’s Flight PK-805 from Columbo remains the enduring memory of the 1997-2007 decade. Kargil had happened and the tension in Islamabad was palpable. What happened on Oct 12, 1999, when Pervez Musharraf was on his way back to Pakistan on a commercial flight, has potential to put many thriller novels to shame. The bottom line was that Sharif soon opted exile to jail, and the nation found itself in the Musharraf era, which would later see things such as the sacking of judges, emergency and NRO that would loosen his grip on power. There would be some good things as well: the advent of private electronic media would finally rid the nation of the tyranny and boredom of the PTV.
The killing of Salmaan Taseer was arguably the most unforgettable moment of the 2007-2017 decade, for nothing could have highlighted the polarized, some would say confused, state of the nation on this important issue as this incident did. While numerous people could not condone somebody being judge, jury and executioner at the same time, there were numerous others who thought of it as the ultimately noble act. The same polarization came to the fore on the occasion of the killer’s hanging.
