Great nations progress when they learn lessons from their mistakes. We have not even learnt from tragedies and that took country’s biggest tragedy, 1971 break-up of East Pakistan, now Bangladesh. The only lesson seems to have been learnt is, ‘not to learn’.
Fall of Dhaka, was the outcome of our national failure as a state. Neither had we accepted the ‘majority’ nor majority’s mandate. Had we given respect to the majority province in 1948, 1956, 1960 and 1971, the tragedy of East Pakistan would not have occurred. Their grievances were not based on ‘myth’ but on reality. But, the mindset among our ‘civil and military’ bureaucracy was not to give ‘due share’ to majority, either in resources or in politics.
In the last 46 years the four pillars of the state have not been able to play their responsible role and learnt from mistakes. On the contrary we are repeating similar mistakes. It is still time to ‘wake up’. Following were supposed to be learnt from 1971 mistakes but we repeated the same from 1947 to 1971.
(1) Respect for majority and majority’s view.
(2) Respect for people’s mandate even if it is against someone wishes.
(3) Respect the Constitution in its true spirit.
(4) Respect for rule of law.
(5) Respect for the Parliament.
(6) Respect for democratic values.
(7) All four pillars of the state must act in responsible manner.
(8) Judiciary must not give legitimacy to any illegal and unconstitutional rule.
(9) Press or media should not misinform people and plays in the hands of other as we witnessed its irresponsible role in 1971 crisis.
(10) Look for political solution and not military, when it comes to political crisis or conflicts.
But, what happened from 1971 to 2017. Two military rules, from 1977 to 1988 and from 1999 to 2007. In between civilian governments from 1988 to 1990, from 1993 to 1996 and from 1997 to 1999, could not complete their terms and dismissed, most due to non-political interference. It completely changed the political and social dynamics of Pakistani society, sadly, from bad to worst. Democratic system still on ‘ventilator’.
Judiciary also failed and did not learn any lesson till the rise of judges and lawyers movement in 2007. It gave legitimacy to both the military rulers Gen Ziaul Haq and Gen Pervez Musharraf.
Both abrogated the Constitution and made amendments. Those responsible never faced the trial of violating Article VI. While Gen Zia died in a crash, Musharraf living in exile. Their rule divided the country in ethnic, sectarian, cast and ‘Biradari’ system and made feudalism more strong. Their rule also led to gun and drug culture and corrupted the society.
Parliament and politicians also failed in their role in safeguarding the Constitutional rule, establishing good moral standard, good governance. Instead of challenging the dictatorship, one party or the other, one group or the other become part of conspiracy to dislodge others. They welcome ‘military rule’, in order to get some ‘benefits and positions’. They played in the hands of the state organs in creating split in the national parties and groups, which suited dictators.
Politicians and civilian rulers also failed in building the democratic institutions and as a result their track record as ‘clean rulers’, remained very poor.
Thus, after the first elected government following 1970 elections, corruption became the ‘hallmark’ of our political culture. The 1972 assemblies and politicians faced lot of criticism and even Zulfikar Ali Bhutto was accused of suppressing his opponents and Press, but, he had never been accused of ‘corruption’.
On the contrary, the breed of the post non-party based elections amended 1973 Constitution through the elected parliament.
The fourth pillar of the state ie Press, also need to learn from their mistakes. In 1970-71 crisis its role remained ‘questionable’.
Reporting based on ‘facts’ became the casualty. During 1970 elections, Press was not under censorship but, media too became polarised as politics between East and West Pakistan.
Censorship imposed in 1971, during the war and the biggest and tragic news for Pakistan, ‘Fall of Dhaka’, was almost blackout and some national papers reported it in ‘single or double column’.
It is Pakistan’s misfortune that democracy could not take roots since its birth in 1947, and as a result we could not set our direction. What happened in 1971 was the ultimate outcome of this misdirection. As a nation the tragedy of the than East Pakistan now Bangladesh was the result of what happened in the last 70 years, we hardly have a party with complete national character or roots in all provinces. Lesson of 1971, was simple respect and accept the mandate. What happened some 46 years back was a collective failure of our national character.
Pakistan cannot afford political experiments as we already have too many. Let’s admit that we had neither accepted nor had respected the mandate of 1970 elections. Let’s also admit that we had also not respected majority’s view since the death of Quaid-i-Azam. Had we done that since 1956, perhaps, 1971 would not have occurred. But it would be wrong to blame one institution for all ills. Responsibility need to be shared by all but, yes, prime responsibility goes to the state institutions like establishment, bureaucracy and executive.
Had we learnt any lesson from the crisis of 1971, we would have not had the crisis of 1977, when politicians had reached the agreement on elections. No lesson was learnt and martial law was imposed in just six years. Even if elections were held within 90 days, as promised; Pakistan could have been on democratic path. Worst occurred when a military dictator hanged the most popular leader, ignoring all international concerns.
What bigger political tragedy would be than what happened with Pakistan Muslim League (PML) in the last 70 years. The party which was supposed to give the direction became directionless, soon after the death of Quaid-i-Azam.
After division in the PML, no national party could emerged and even parties like the PPP and the than Awami League confined to respective provinces and areas.
What the state needs to understand today is that the failure of mainstream parties would actually harm the ‘national interest’ and open the floodgate for negative politics. This is exactly what we have witnessed since 1985, when elections were held on non-party basis, a deep-rooted conspiracy to crush national politics and till this day, we are paying the price.
Quaid’s sister, Mohtarma Fatima Jinnah’s entry into politics was an attempt to unite the nation and perhaps the last hope to keep country’s national political character alive.
Politics was polarised on ethnic and nationalist line and resulted in the rise of Awami League (AL) in former East Pakistan. National politics eroded with the result of 1970 elections, but, by not accepting results and handing over power to majority further deepened Pakistan’s political crisis.
Pakistani politics would have been different had our ‘civil and military establishment’, comprising people from the than West Pakistan, recognised majority, both in terms of politics and elections. The biased was very evident from the word go since 1948.
Late Zulfikar Ali Bhutto, who often been blamed for aggravating 1971 crisis along with military establishment, rebuild a ‘Naya Pakistan’. He brought some national character in politics and for the first time the country got a unanimous 1973 Constitution.
During 1977 crisis, both the PPP and the PNA had national political character but martial law once again created dent in national politics. Bhutto’s execution in a controversial trial did help Gen Zia to prolong his rule but at the cost of national politics.
The PPP remained as country’s only national party and the establishment soon realised the vacuum of any other party with a national character. It gave birth to another PML, comprising members elected in non-party based elections and elected late Mohammad Khan Junejo, as party president and prime minister.
Politics had been polarised on nationalist and ethnic lines since 1985, and it also left its impact on parties like the PPP and the PML. PPP’s politics in Sindh saw the making and rise of the MQM in the backdrop of rural-urban divide.
While rise of Imran Khan is a positive political development but, if what happened to the PPP in 2013, happens with the PML-N in 2018, one wonders how politics would reshape in coming years. The next elections if held in August 2018 are a challenge for national parties and national politics. Elections will determine as where Pakistani politics is heading for? Let the system run and transform itself.
The writer is the senior columnist and analyst of Geo, The News and Jang
Twitter: @MazharAbbasGEO
