Political Image of  Pakistan.

Mubasher Mir

The political history of Pakistan is not so surprising that it cannot be understood, although a lot has been written on it, but still the aspects of research are not over, everyone has a different way of thinking, understanding and explaining. 

After 90 years of slavery in India, two independent states came into existence, but why Pakistan remained under scrutiny? Why did the world power America and its Allies, especially Great Britain and the Western nations, make Pakistan a mockery? What did they want from Pakistan at the time of establishment of Pakistan? There are many such questions, although soon after the establishment of Pakistan, the founder of Pakistan  Quaid e Azam Muhammad Ali Jinnah made it clear that our foreign policy would be associated with America and Great Britain, so we did not go towards the socialist bloc. But the socialist lobby continuously tried to strengthen its roots in Pakistan but failed because the state of Pakistan adopted a strict approach towards the socialists, even the leftist politicians faced fatwas of infidelity. People did not call them godly, they were called  anti-religionists, atheists by the rightist or religious element of the society. After the fall of the Soviet Union, leftist politics died,

 Pakistan did not formulate its own constitution, due to which a permanent formula for the distribution of power between East and West Pakistan could not be decided and the people of East Pakistan suffered deprivations.

India formed its constitution in 1950 and continued the series of elections, Quaid-e-Azam Muhammad Ali Jinnah got less time and his health was not able to work more and live longer. British army generals were also not too concerned about the defense of the fledgling state, their approach to the armed struggle in Kashmir was different. The assassination of the first Prime Minister of the country, Khan Liaquat Ali Khan, was an indication that the state would be kept in a certain frame, where political opinion would not be valued. Therefore, the development of democracy was not possible. After the demise of the Quaid-e-Azam, the Objective Resolution was passed, from this it can be estimated that the character of the state was envisioned.

During the regime of President General Ayub Khan, the process of brutally crushing government opponents continued. The treatment of East Pakistan was very bad. During his regime, the most popular leader of East Pakistan, Hussain Shaheed Suhrawardy, died mysteriously in a hotel in Beirut, while Foreign Minister Zulfiqar Ali Bhutto met him a day before. When his dead body arrived in Dhaka, anti-Pakistan slogans were raised in the funeral prayer. The gulf between East and West Pakistan widened. The election of Ms. Fatima Jinnah is a black mark on the face of Pakistan's political history which can never be washed away, the votes received by Ms. Fatima Jinnah were despised and the state imposed its decision. Clashes were started with India in Kashmir to control the atmosphere of hatred towards the establishment in the country. Zulfiqar Ali Bhutto and a few Military Officers  planned a war with India but as a result the country became economically weak. India deliberately did not open a front in East Pakistan in 1965 and continued to try to build support there. India provided support to the Mukti Bahini movement, but Pakistan's security agencies and Government failed to expose this movement of India to the world.

General Ayub Khan had differences with Zulfiqar Ali Bhutto and after the Tashkent Agreement, a movement against him was launched, which continued mostly in West Pakistan. Zulfiqar Ali Bhutto founded his party People's Party during this time, so the Socialists were given the impression that there is relief for you but they later realized that they were deceived.

General Ayub Khan made another mistake and instead of handing over power to the people, he handed it over to a general. General Yahya proved to be a very weak and incompetent person politically. He broke one unit and made four provinces of West Pakistan while letting Bengal remain a single province, General Yahya Khan also continued to make wrong decisions in his greed for power. He completely failed to implement the results of the 1970 elections, failed to transfer power to the majority party, the Awami League, and became a victim of conspiracies. Zulfiqar Ali Bhutto's political pressure could not cope with the situation. General Yahya Khan made a historic mistake,He started military opertion  in East Pakistan. General Ayub Khan founded the Bengal Regiment during his tenure and did not include officers and Soldiers from other races as in other regiments. Bengal Regement adopted the idealogy of Awami League. So, an Army was available to them. 

East Pakistan seceded and became Bangladesh, as if democracy and politics had failed. The country broke up and the incompetence of a military ruler distorted the face of the country's political culture, in which the feudal politicians of West Pakistan sided with General Yahya Khan, the same people who opposed Ms. Fatima Jinnah with General Ayub Khan. They used to do it, then they supported those who broke the country. It is as if they supported power and not justice, which caused damage to the country.

People had high hopes for Zulfiqar Ali Bhutto, but he nationalized the business organizations and  institutions, which destroyed industry, landlords became more powerful, reformed agricultural lands in Punjab province but refrained from doing so in Sindh province, his party was very popular. but did not try to organize it, at first the socialists were disappointed, then when he raised the slogan of Islam and brought constitution amendment to show the Islamization of State, that  did not work to save power, although there were a few successes, in which he started to form the constitution and tried to become a nuclear power, but he failed to strengthen democracy mainly because local government system was not introduced and the attitude towards political opponents was very strict. He got fame at the international level but did not succeed in controlling the situation in the country. Ignoring ideological people in the party, capitalists, landlords, vaderas, chiefs were given a prominent place, due to which the democratic institutions remained weak.

The country once again went under the control of a military ruler. The Afghan policy of General Zia-ul-Haq left the country in the grip of terrorism internally. His policy towards India was very strict but Pakistan suffered the wound of Siachen, General Zia-ul-Haq was able to compete and save Pakistan's nuclear program from other western countries including America, but the face of democracy was further distorted during his tenure. He adopted the path of controlled democracy, but globally Pakistan was seen as a deep state. He made the most corrupt people powerful in politics who are still the strongest people today and continue to undermine the true democratic principles.

The social, political and economic situation of Pakistan has become a disaster due to major mistakes in the Afghan policy. Mian Nawaz Sharif and Mutharma Benazir Bhutto ruled for almost 11 years twice, it made the people suspicious of democracy. As if the two Prime Ministers were conspiring with the military establishment to topple each other's government and accusing each other of destroying the country. Both of them did not do any fundamental work in developing the democratic culture, but new stories of corruption became public. The power generation contracts made during these periods chained the economy and the people of Pakistan The two Prime Ministers failed to develop the basic democratic system of local government system, thus the democracy almost died at the grass roots, across the country. Democratic Nurseries,like  Bar Councils, Press Clubs, Students Unions, Labor Unions, Arts Councils, Chambers of Commerce and Industry and other public associations also began to operate on the basis of power rather than popular vote. Thus the whole society got used to understanding the language of power.

In 1997, Nawaz Sharif was given an unexpected two-thirds majority, but he failed to consolidate democracy and once again faced the then Army Chief General Pervez Musharraf, who after the Kargil war, Relations were strained. Nawaz Sharif tried to build friendly relations with India in foreign policy, but he could not succeed in this. The military establishment prevailed once again when Nawaz Sharif tried to remove the army chief, General Pervez Musharraf overthrew the throne with the help of his fellow Generals  and came to power himself, thus democracy in Pakistan was once again derailed by force. 

After 9/11 in America, Afghanistan was attacked in the name of war against terrorism worldwide and the debris of Afghan policy fell on Pakistan, during which General Pervez Musharraf became stronger as a military ruler. He introduced his own style of democracy,with an improvement that introduced the local government system. Ms. Benazir Bhutto and Nawaz Sharif in exile made an agreement called the Charter of Democracy in London that democracy will be strengthened in the country but they could not bring anything called democracy in their parties. Mian Nawaz Sharif supported the lawyers movement against General Pervez Musharraf, General Pervez Kayani also played a role in removing General Pervez Musharraf from power. . Benazir Bhutto left this mortal world in the assassination attack. Although the People's Party got power, but the democratic traditions were not continue to grow.

The heads of political parties became very powerful in their parties through the 18th constitution amendment, provincial autonomy was declared a victory for democracy but the local government system was abolished. Later elections were held at the behest of the Supreme Court but the provinces were given to the political parties to solve their problems, but  they failed.

The way MQM adopted  violence in politics was similar to how individual political families throughout the country are doing , but MQM created an atmosphere of violence at the party level, which made Karachi a city where the young generation 

 was destroyed. The ruling institutions tried to maintain their dominance with the help of the judiciary. In the same way, the political families and parties also went far away from the democratic traditions and values.

During this time, the third force that was being mentioned emerged , Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) became popular with the people under the leadership of Imran Khan at least fifteen years after its establishment. It was sad, but the Secretariat of Tehreek-e-Insaf could not become the custodian of democratic traditions. However, Nawaz Sharif once again lost power under the system of controlled accountability, and the atmosphere of terrorism in the country subsided slightly with the efforts of General Raheel Sharif. The third force, Tehreek-e-Insaf got power in the federation, but once again the military establishment under the leadership of General Javed Bajwah  managed to end Imran Khan's government by colluding with the opposition and the face of democracy was distorted because of this. Because with the support of the country's establishment, the opposition did the worst horse trading, but Imran Khan did not commit the crime to save his government  . After that, in this way that was followed throughout the country, the Constitution of Pakistan was trampled.

Constitutionally, the term of the caretaker governments exceeded 90 days, the election commission did not conduct the election under the order of the Supreme Court, the census and terrorism were used as excuses.

On February 8, 2024, elections were finally held while former Prime Minister Imran Khan was in jail, former Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif was brought back under government patronage, but a surprising situation arose. Tehreek-e-Insaf, which was faced with the worst situation for the election, a large number of people came out to vote in his favor. The stains on the face of democracy could have been erased, but once again the election results were interfered with using force and instead of giving power to the majority party, a situation was created that did not have the support of the people.

In all these situations, democracy has died, and governments have been established with the support of force. The election process in Pakistan has become a joke all over the world, despite restrictions on the media, people have set a high example of communication through social media. The show of force in the country is still ongoing. Fundamental human rights are virtually suspended across the country. Democracy now looks like a dead body emitting a foul smell. The people want real democracy but the powerful institutions of Pakistan are not ready to accept the decision of the people. This is the path of destruction. This fight does not seem to end until one force is completely dominant. The opinion of the people cannot be suppressed for long. If the people are the source of power, then their words should be accepted