With
the abortive exceptions of 1956 and 1962 constitutions. Pakistan practically
remained without a democratic constitution until 1973. Earlier, Field Marshall
Ayub Khan had come up with his system of Basic Democracies in the wake of the
imposition of martial law in 1958. It was an attempt to legitimize his brand of
dictatorship. He delivered a venomous parting kick to the cause of democracy by
handing over power to General Yahiya Khan, the uncouth, unprincipled and
morally corrupt person who turned the Presidency into a whorehouse. He
perpetrated the loss of half of the country by disregarding the simple
democratic principle under which he was supposed to transfer power to the party
that had gained majority in the general elections of 1980, which he did riot.
‘or his turn, General Zia-ul-Haq took advantage of the failure of the democratic
regime of Zul1ikr Ali Bhutto for his worst kind of despotic rule.
Bhutto
too, in collusion with Yahiya had contributed towards the separation of East
Pakistan to satisfy his fascistic ambitions. Zia held out a solemn promise to
the nation to establish Islamic democracy in the country within 90 days but
continued to rule as an absolute autocrat for a number of years. During this
long tenure he did not even spell out what he really meant by Islamic democracy
until he blew up in mid-air in 1988 along with his dreams, if at all he had
any. He only promoted cult of sectarianism and extremism in the name of Islam
that was to curse the social, political and religious life of the nation during
the coming years. The latest in the line of military takeovers was of General
Pervez Musharraf, which was of unique and unprecedented nature. The manner in
which he was made to relinquish power was also without parallel. As a master
military strategist he tried to apply his skill in the political field w1th
disastrous results. The aim of his strategy was to perpetuate his rule for
another term. He hatched a deal with Benazir Bhutto, who was then living in
exile in the USA. to permit her return as Prime Minister, with all corruption
cases, against her and her husband Asif Zardari. quashed, provided he could
continue as President of Pakistan.
This
sinister move took the form of National Reconciliation Ordinance (NRO).
However, it was frustrated by destiny. Benazir returned to Pakistan but fell
victim to a master hit of terrorists. This accident of history brought Ash
Zardari to power with a trail of corruption cases behind him to his discredit.
He formed a cabinet largest ever in the history of Pakistan. Quite a number of
his ministers too 11 had been involved in corruption in the past. They who were
now to face the Judiciary.
However,
cases of corruption could not be opened against Mr. Zardari since he, as
President, enjoyed constitutional immunity. This was the kind of government
that had come to power through a so called democratic process. Could ‘t be
termed as the return of democracy by any stretch of imagination? A section of
media termed it as a rogue government.
Musharraf,
with his military background displayed despotic tendencies on assuming power.
He could not do otherwise because professionally he had been trained that way.
He had learnt to give orders and get them obeyed. But why the sworn democrats
like ZA Bhutto, Nawaz Sharif and Benazir who returned to power with heavy
popular mandate did not lose time to throw off their cloak of democracy to
emerge as patent dictators. As slaves of their whims and wishes they did what
they felt like doing without a shred of fear of the public opinion. They
destroyed their opponents mercilessly, looted the government treasury greedily,
misappropriated national resources relentlessly, curbed media’s freedom and
crushed the common man with high-handed economic and political policies to
favour the elite. They were completely insensitive to the popular sentiment and
displayed scant regard for constitutional imperatives.