April 5th Deal - Musharraf rethinks

Speculations are rife that some extraordinary developments took place on the 5th of April, 2007; a day after the 28th death anniversary of Zulfikar Ali Bhutto . It is believed that a senior member of the Army along with some political gurus visited Dubai to finalize the details of a 'deal' between PPP, PML-N and the government. If that is the case then the Chowdhary Brothers Inc. will be feeling a bit more than insecure.

The package which has been finalized is to be as follows:

- President Musharraf will be re-elected from the current assemblies and will shed his uniform after the elections.
- Both PPP and PML-N will help that to be achieved by their support in the assemblies.
- Benazir Bhutto and Shahbaz Sharif will be allowed to come back to the country without any serious complications, as the cases against them will be taken back.
- The elections will be conducted in a transparent manner decided by all parties.
- The next PM will be from the Frontier province in a bid to help stabilize the violence in that region.

If this is true, then it will be an achievement for the establishment considering the political crisis they are in. It is said that President Musharraf was forced into looking at these options, only recently, due to the judicial crisis. The General is not at all happy with some people in the government who may have caused the judicial chaos in order to meet their own personal interests. The extent of which is so much that it is believed that the 'non-functional' Chief Justice of Pakistan, Iftikhar Muhammad Chowdhry, will be re-instated at the end of the whole affair.

Now, the people will be wondering what about Nawaz Sharif ? I think that his role in politics was over when more than 90 percent of his top leadership turned their backs on him post-October 12 coup. What future can a leader have if his own party members are not loyal to him ? But, Sharif Sahib is not the person who should be blamed solely. The Chowdhry Brothers have a history of not allowing complete power to anyone. In Nawaz Sharif's government another infamous incident took place at the Supreme Court when it was attacked. This time a similar event took place, except that the style was different as we are living in a much more modern era. Now, they just made the Chief Justice 'non-functional.' Even this was no less than an attack on the Supreme Court. As a result, Musharraf lost some serious support from his own trusted quarters. Therefore, it is said that a few imminent changes are about to take place in the cabinet in the coming weeks to give a clear message to the ruling party.

My reading is that Musharraf has realized that he no longer can keep all his eggs in the same basket. Therefore, the next assembly will be an evenly balanced set of PPP, PML-Q, and PML-N members. The MMA may have not done serious damage to President Musharraf, but they have definitely irritated him enough to close their doors to the corridors of power. If this reading proves true, then it will be a decent arrangement for us Pakistanis. That is because there will be a system of checks and balances, amongst all the parties, which Musharraf talked about some time back. And, if the President sheds his uniform then there will automatically be a check and balance on him as well by the next Chief of Army Staff. Yes, the next Army Chief will be hand-picked by the Presidency and should be loyal to Musharraf. But time can always prove anyone wrong. We saw an illustrative example of that by the incident of Iftikhar Muhammad Chowdhry. After all, he was also hand-picked.

Zia Ul Haq - The forgotten culprit: Part II

I am not defending Bhutto on these grounds. In fact, I am defending him on other grounds. Yes, he used power to kill opponents. There is no doubt about that. But, the reason for which he was killed was unjustified. His death was unjustified. We agree that he was a charismatic leader indeed. My point of view is that in Pakistan there are a lot of problems.

Ever since our founder's death there has been a lot of corruption of all sorts in our government. They range from political corruption to financial corruption. Politics is a dirty business in our country and this is a known fact. Yes, I agree that it should not be there and Pakistan should have no corruption at all. But, the truth is that when you have so much dirt to clean we cannot be picky. You take things one at a time. As a start I believe that no change can come in Pakistan overnight. It has to be in phases. The utmost priority of our government should be to eliminate corruption. For that to happen, we need to first control the financial corruption or change the system. In Pakistan, no leader except the Army people are powerful enough to do that. Bhutto should be given the credit for uniting the nation on a constitution. This is a big achievement because a country whose politicians are so diverse and dynamic and who are not even able to settle on an LFO, then it must have been a brilliance of an extraordinary man to pass a whole set of laws, the 1973 constitution. Not only this, he organized the world's largest Islamic Summit in Lahore, which was attended by one of the most prolific leaders. In addition, he got Dr. Abdul Qadeer Khan to our country. If he was not there, would we have been the first Islamic nuclear power? Ofcourse not.

Second, there is no doubt in my mind that Bhutto played a certain role in splitting the country. I will not even say anything else to justify that. But, I do not defend him on this ground. I defend him because after the separation he made us powerful again. He picked a country from bits and pieces. Yes, he came to politics through Army, Mr. Ayub Khan who belongs from my maternal roots, but he came to power through the people. And, we all know that Army was already involved in its atrocities with the Bengalis way before the separation. This was bound to happen anyway. If we did not, do you think the Western powers would have allowed such an arrangement of a divided country to take place? Would India have not tried its level best to separate us at some point in time? The truth is that East and West Pakistan was never a reality. But, yes the separation was one of the saddest time in our country. But, we recovered after that. And, we recovered well only because of one man; Zulfikar Ali Bhutto.

Yes, he nationalized everything and that hurt the industrialists in Pakistan. But, that also was necessary during that era. Because, 22 families in Pakistan had 90 percent of the wealth of Pakistan. He did not loot them but he only took over their business with not so appropriate compensation. We all know that if Bhutto was born in this era then he would have been in favor of privatization because times have changed. At that time, we were against the imperialists and we were starting from scratch.

I do not understand some people. They tend to overlook the fact that Z.A. Bhutto had never been allegedly involved in any financial corruption. Is this not enough to prove a leader's worth? Again, in a country where billions of dollars have been looted during the 1990s it is a shame that people overlook the financial aspect. There is no rocket science involved in it. The money which has been stolen from our national treasuries, if recovered can make a significant difference on our poverty levels. We, the blessed class of Pakistan, can sit in our air-conditioned rooms and talk about the minute issues such as Bhutto killed opponents. Or, he separated our country even though it was bound to happen. But, we do not represent the masses of Pakistan. The masses of Pakistan are impoverished and deprived. Their utmost concern is being able to eat 2 times a day - 'do wakt ki roti.' I have seen these people closely because I, myself, do not belong from the metropolitan cities.

Bhutto, a man who slapped his own cousin because he wanted to study abroad in Germany on governments expense, could not have been a man of financial greed. Yes, he was hungry for power. But, if a man has a desire to serve the people and that is his appetite, then doesn't he be rightful of that hunger for power ? If a man understands the need of our masses and says he will provide them with 'Roti,Kapra Aur Makan' - (Food, clothes, and shelter) - then isn't he a class of its own. I would suggest everyone to read the manifesto of Pakistan Peoples Party and discover what Bhutto really was.

Again, Bhutto was not the factor that caused the separation infact he was the catalyst who caused it. If the Bangladeshi administration was ever loyal then they would not have allowed India to enter the war. We all know that we would have surrendered anyway. See, if a father and a son in their house and the neighbors are involved, it takes the matter into another context. This is what happened with West and East Pakistan. No family likes the interference of outsiders in their internal matters. But by calling the neighbor you make the thing more public and therefore more egos are involved. Therefore, no sensitive matter is successful if it is publicized too much.

Now at the end about Zia Ul Haq. He was not forced to come in. If he hanged Bhutto and would have left power, I assure you I would have respected him a bit more. But he stayed in the country for 11 years after taking oath on the Holy Quran. If people are so concerned about killing people who opposed Bhutto, then is this not a biggest 'sin' to move away from an oath taken on the most religious book for our people. Isn't that more embarrassing for Pakistan when a nation is lied on religious grounds? Or is it more embarrassing to have elections rigged to gain an overwhelming victory? We all know that even in fair and free elections Bhutto would have won with a majority. But, his problem was that he wanted complete power which would have extended to around 90 percent. Again, I never claim he was an angel. But, he was one of an intelligent devil's mind who was dealing with fire when our country separated. I reiterate that we are not Denmark or Sweden where there is no sorts of corruption at all. We have to make the most out of what we have. Moving on, about the 'achievement' Zia Ul Haq in getting the American government sided with us.

Please do not tell me that America came to us because of Zia. Zia was so unpopular at the beginning that no one was talking to him at international level. Americans needed us and we helped them. I support Zia on this decision. But, what about the aftermath ? Did we forget the Ojri Camp 'accident' ? The amount of people killed from early 90s to today through countless AK 47. The bullets have come from where? Do you know that ? The whole culture of guns came from where? Karachi has become a playground but where did the toys come from ? Who killed Zia in plane crash ? Are we so insane now that we still think that America can be of our help ?

I support Bhutto for what positive he has given. Yes he had flaws like any other human being. But, to even his opponents he was the most intelligent they have ever encountered. He was the youngest minister when we became the Energy Minister during General Ayub Khan's reign, at the age of just 29. I support him because he had achievements. Importantly, he got Dr. Abdul Qadeer Khan to Pakistan. If there was no N-bomb then India would have been one, ruling Pakistan, God forbid. Yes, N-bomb should not be our priority because we are a poor nation. But when you have to choose between standing up against a size three times bigger than you, and going to slavery I will never hesitate in choosing the former.

Zia Ul Haq - The forgotten culprit: Part I

Today, I will be talking about an issue which is something related to the past; Zulfikar Ali Bhutto. I just saw the interview of a man who has seen the events surrounding Bhutto's last days in jail. He is no one other than (Retd.) Colonel Rafiuddin Ahmed. He was the military personnel in charge of Bhutto's monitoring during his last days before execution, or should I say his assassination. This person has written a book called 'Bhutto kay akhri 323 din', which I would highly recommend to everyone.

It seems like General Zia Ul Haq was a ruthless leader who did not realize that he was shedding one of this nation's most valued blood. The blood which was simply priceless. After watching the programme 'Jawab De' on Geo TV, in which Iftikhar Ahmed(host) takes an interview of (Retd.) Colonel Rafi, I am obliged to write a blog about the forgotten culprit.

In his interview he states that in the 'khotri' (cell), in which Bhutto was kept, was first installed with all sorts of bugging devices to monitor every activity of his. The complexity of the devices was so high that even the scrapping of papers was to be heard at the control room. Even till today, none of those recordings have come out and the public is still not aware of their whereabouts. Anyhow, what does this tell us? It tells us that Zulfikar Ali Bhutto created such an intense enigma around the dictator that he was obliged to monitor him 24/7. How great was this Bhutto? How great was this leader? The answer is very simple. He was the greatest after, ofcourse, Mohammad Ali Jinnah. No one can doubt that Bhutto was an extraordinary person. Even though, Colonel Rafi is not supposed to have positive feelings for his prisoner he still states that he was the most intelligent person he had ever met. Then why was this blood wasted? Why have people forgotten that General Zia Ul Haq was by far the most ruthless leader? In fact, Pakistan had its darkest times during his rule. The General died in a plane crash some time back but he should not be forgotten. We need to realize that this man has taken away our national treasure by executing Zulfikar Ali Bhutto. And any person who takes away the national treasure of our country does not deserve sympathy. That is because no one person is above our country; Pakistan.

In the interview Colonel Rafi is asked when did Bhutto realize that the people in the jail, who were in charge of monitoring, where from the Army. The Colonel moves forward in the urge to state the obvious. Bhutto realized from day one that Colonel Rafi was from the Army, even though they were disguised as a normal jail superintendent. No matter how smart General Zia Ul Haq may have perceived himself to be, he was not even worth a comparison to the great leader. In fact, Bhutto had so much ability of creating an aura of his control around him that the doctor who used to visit him for his medical checkups had also started to support him. The doctor was Major Khattak from the Army itself. When the bugging devices tapped some disliked conversation between the prisoner and the doctor General Zia ordered a notice saying that no doctor from the army personnel will be assigned to check Bhutto. Now, what does this say to us? The man by the name of Zulfikar Ali Bhutto was not against the Army. In fact he was the true representative of the people of Pakistan. The people who consist of poor people, armed forces, lawyers, doctors and all those whose hearts motion at the same moments; the Pakistanis. Why was such a great leader executed? Because, if he was not then he would have come to power again. Not through elections but by the peoples' choice and will.

Bhutto may have committed countless sins in his life but in a country where all sorts of corruption is so widespread, they may be of small significance. I believe that if a leader in Pakistan is not financially corrupt then he is a great leader of our country. No matter how many allegations General Zia's government may have put against him but no one has stated that he was financially corrupt. And, this to me is a great achievement for any leader.

I believe that April 4, 1979, was one of the darkest days in our history. In fact, it was the darkest night of our history as the dawn never came that time. Zulfikar Ali Bhutto was definitely the greatest leader of our country after our founder, Quaid-e-Azam. Zulfikar Ali Bhutto was truly the Quaid-e-Awam as stated by many. He may have short-lived according to many, but he lived a lion's life for our country; for our people. To sum it all 'a day's life of a lion is better than a 100 days life of a jackal.' May Allah rest his soul in peace and forgive him of his sins. Ameen.