By WAJID SHAMSUL HASAN

London: It is more of an outrageous brazenness on the part of Pakistani elite that they have the sheer audacity to ritualistically celebrate late Mr Mohammed Ali Jinnah's (Quaid-i-Azam) birthdays and observe death anniversaries without much ado when the country created by him through a vote is straitjacketed into a military dictatorship. Not only that the cruelest blow was dealt to his memory when a mock show was held by the usurpers to celebrate the centenary of All-India Muslim League—the party he galvanized into a major political force and led to the establishment of a separate Muslim homeland.

The founder must be turning in his grave when a host of co-operative thugs, military’s toadies, renowned political turn-coats and other scum of the earth promoted as leaders by the Praetorian establishment gathered in Pakistan’s capital as nothing but illegitimate heirs to his political legacy--the All-India Muslim League. The fact that the great concept behind Pakistan’s mother party has been reduced from the sublime to the ridiculous was manifested adequately in the lack of seriousness and conspicuous absence of the legitimate heirs to celebrate the anniversary of its foundation (December 1906).

Pakistan Muslim League was established in Karachi soon after the country’s inception with the mission to give Mr Jinnah’s dream a practical, pragmatic and viable shape. It, however, fell into a trap laid by its military, civil and judicial bureaucracy backed by the West Pakistani feudals to take over the reins of power. In that game the power-troika systematically rendered PML and its leaders—majority of them being the founding fathers—ineffective. Calculated disorientation was forced on them and they became victims to regional and parochial currents and cross-currents. Its early break up into factions and newer parties—served a crippling blow to the sapling of federal democracy that was already being gnawed at its roots by the West Pakistani power elite for a formal take over.

Not many would have grudged the establishment of other political parties to share the national arena with PML since it was in accordance with Mr Jinnah’s pluralistic philosophy and competitive politics. What harmed most the development of civil society and strong civil institutions was fragmentation of PML into factions that too mainly representing the West Pakistani feudals and the power troika. Later, PML (Convention)—more popularly known as Convention League became a pawn in the hand of Pakistan’s first military dictator Field Marshal Ayub Khan. He sought political legitimacy under its cover to impose an over-centralized system denying federalism and autonomy to the federating units—sowing the seeds of Pakistan’s break up. The abuse of the name continues and what more humiliation could be afflicted on a political party when it proudly announces that its presidential candidate would be the army chief in uniform. That much for its commitment for Quaid’s vision and love for democracy.

On the 130th birth anniversary of Mr Jinnah instead of treating it as an occasion to perform high-sounding but hollow ritualistic rites, Pakistani people should get down to a sanguine stocktaking as to how we have come to be what we are today. No doubt the need of the hour is objectivity and not orchestrating with the band master in uniform who is presently running berserk on an election campaign blaming the political leaders of having done the most damage to Pakistan. Only a person with his audacity and suffering from foot-in-the-mouth disease could indulge in such a horrific distortion of history. Bulk of Pakistan’s existence has been under direct military rule while rest has had intermittent civilian governments with their hands and feet tied by the generals.

The General carries a widely held perception that he does not know much of what he talks. He is fond of shooting from the hip and his words are no better than loose cannon balls. Where-ever he has been going these days on an early start to his election campaign—especially in Punjab where even a child knows the criminal background of his political band wagoners. He does not realize that when he calls upon the people to vote for the so-called dubbed by him as right and moderate people—“such as them” ---pointing his finger in his public meetings at the bunch of Gujrati co-operative thugs, land grabbers, turn-coats and opportunists—he is actually letting the people know loudly and clearly how ‘clean’ he himself must be when he feels himself at home in such an ‘illustrious’ company—each vying to outdo the other—for a niche in the rogues glary.

Pakistani generals—irrespective—only surrender to a power superior to them and not their own people. This was manifested clearly when General Yahya Khan and his military coterie refused to give in to the political will of the masses. They held the elections but did not respect the electoral verdict and refused to hand over power to the elected representatives. They were, however, most shamelessly quick to surrender half of their country and be prisoners of war to a superior military force as the Indians proved themselves to be.

Much of General Musharraf’s bravado got evaporated when he was threatened by Washington following 9-11 that “you are either with us or with them”. Never before a leader had taken such a quick about-turn on vital matters as the one affected by him against the Taliban government—Pakistan being one of the three states that had extended it diplomatic recognition to it—when he got the threat that Pakistan would be bombed into stone age.

All through his seven years of rule, women and minorities have been clamoring upon him to do away the Zia imposed oppressive laws against them. He did not do it when he could have done it in one go without being questioned by any one and saved hundreds of women of being raped and untold sufferings. It had to be an order from Washington that had to be complied. “Prove your enlightened moderation by doing away the oppressive Hadood laws.” He dilly-dallied until he had to present himself again before his Lord Bush. A reminder was in good order and a diluted WPB other than PPP’s private bill comprehensively dealing with the women rights issues, was hurriedly adopted as an act.

There is a great deal of talk lately of his commitment to hold “mother of all elections”. He is doing this not to concede to the Pakistani people their democratic right to have a government of their choice. He has been “ordered” by his foreign masters to hold “free, fair and transparent elections by 2007 and to accord even playing field to the opposition parties including Ms Benazir Bhutto’s PPP and Mian Nawaz Sharif’s PML-N. This perception has been confirmed by him time and again that the “general elections in 2007 would be crucial as they would send out a message to the outside world whether Pakistan wanted moderate and progressive forces in power or the extremists”. He would not give up his military uniform since Washington has made it known that it is a matter to be resolved by him internally while they would prefer to deal with him in Khaki than otherwise.

Notwithstanding the foreign pressure for fair elections, analysts and political circles apprehend that the 2007 polls would neither be free nor transparent. These would be much more of the same or even worse than what we have had in the past since he continues to parrot with a religious zeal, that he would not allow both the former Prime Ministers Benazir Bhutto and Nawaz Sharif to participate in 2007 elections. Obviously his would not be an election but a selection. They say taste of pudding is in eating it. While the General and his band wagoners are romping around the country, holding public meetings and rallies, using extensively official machinery and transport to carry crowds from one place to another to swell his meetings and on top of it, he and his chief ministers are doling out huge funds and announcing development schemes—seven years much too late—to appease the people while the opposition parties are refused permission to even hold corner meetings.

Besides that, special laws and regulatory Gestapo-like organization—PAPRA—is being established to make surprise raids on newspapers to prune effectively their freedom of expression. It may be mentioned here that another organization on the pattern of PAPRA to control the electronic media—PEMRA—is already functioning. What must be the nature of its working can be judged from the fact that its head is an ex-IG police while other officials under him are also from police service. One of them—a superseded Superintendent of Police—currently holding a number 3 position in PEMRA—was in UK recently—lecturing out of the blue on terrorism and posing as a general of Pakistan army. His control in the Pak-based electronic media was visible by the huge quantum of the TV coverage of his lectures on terrorism and not a word about his being an impostor-general.

While there is no doubt that the “mother of all elections” would either make or mar Pakistan’s future, the crucial bid to save the country from a sure denouement will have to be a do-or-die battle. Mr Jinnah had established Pakistan through a prolonged constitutional struggle through popular vote despite the strong opposition by the Mullahs and the powerful religious centers. He had single-handedly raised the “dignity of the Muslims of India” to enable them to have an “honourable place in the affairs of the country”. He imbibed among the Indian Muslims “a spirit of discipline, self-respect and self-reliance”. He had “given Muslim India.... a correct perspective of the grave issues which are affecting the Muslim nation today." Not only that, his greatest contribution was to give them a raison d’etre –an ideology based on liberalism and secularism” . He unshackled them from the stranglehold of “flunkies of the British government or the traitors in the Congress camp” (this included those Mullahs who dubbed him as a Kafir and Unionists of Punjab who opposed creation of Pakistan)

Following Muslim League's victory on almost all the Muslim seats of the Indian Constituent Assembly and the provincial assemblies in the 1946 elections, Mr Jinnah was reassured of the democratic credentials of his people, that they would never support the mullahs or their idea of making Pakistan a theocratic state. He made his democratic, secular and egalitarian vision of Pakistan very clear in his historic speech of August 11, 1947. It stood for undiluted democratic polity, equality, social justice and tolerance to all its citizens—irrespective of caste, creed or color. He was equally emphatic about keeping the military from interfering in state affairs.

For most of Pakistan’s 59 years it is a tragedy that a democratic Mr Jinnah’s Pakistan has remained under the heels of military dictators.
Despite the fact that he knows too well that under military rule Pakistan’s days are numbered, the General does not want to give it up.
This means that the 2007 elections would no doubt be the “mother of all elections” and decisive too. Notwithstanding the fact that massive pre-polls rigging is on, 2007 would perhaps be the last window of opportunity for the nation to plunge itself headlong—to decide the core issue as to who is the sole arbiter of power—the people who drive their strength from the ballot or the military that rules by the barrel of the gun.

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