For instance, page 60: “Bhutto ventured into his first election… The ballot was grossly rigged.” In 1977, only 15 to 20 cases of rigging took place in the whole country where some rigging takes place in every election. Anyhow Bhutto conceded the demand for fresh elections, but he was nevertheless ousted from power and hanged. In contrast, four elections have been held by President Musharraf, all of which have been so heavily and defiantly rigged that even President George Bush, during his very surreptitious visit to Pakistan, had to caution that the next elections must be free and fair. Not only that President Musharraf has publicly admitted and now recorded in his book (page 168) that this referendum was rigged. He, however, did not have a fresh referendum and remains in power while no one was hanged.
Page 65: “First, whenever the army gets involved with martial law it gets distracted from its vital military duties… Second, when we superimpose martial law and place the military over the civilian government the latter ceases functioning. When martial law is later lifted the civilian functionaries remain ineffective.”
If so, why then is he, with his takeover and seven-year rule in uniform, distracting the military and destroying the machinery and structure of the state? It is no good saying there is no martial law because when a general violates the Constitution by imposing himself as head of the state and when military officers predominate not only in the civil service but also in the government, the law of the land becomes martial law.
Page 136: “Pakistan was built as a refuge and a homeland for Muslims of India” . This is not correct. There is no provision for refugees in the concept of Pakistan. In fact, there is the Liaquat-Nehru Pact of 1950, which specifically bans immigration from both sides. It cannot be denied that Pakistan was created for and by the Sindhis, Baloch, Pashtuns, Punjabis and Bengalis who contributed their wealth, rights and powers, people, and, above all, their lands, without which the country could not come into existence.
Page 149: “I set myself a seven-point agenda……1. Rebuild national confidence and morale. 2. Strengthen the federation, remove interprovincial disharmony. 3. Revive the economy and restore investors’ confidence. 4. Ensure law and order and dispense speedy justice. 5. Depoliticise state institutions. 6. Devolve power to the grassroots. 7. Ensure swift accountability across the board.”
This agenda was clearly abandoned soon after its announcement and replaced by a scheme just to stay on in power as long as possible by any means. Never before has the national confidence and morale sunk so low and the people felt so abandoned and victimised. The federation is at its weakest and provincial disharmony at its strongest, as now admitted by the president in his TV interview on October 22, 2006. So much so the government is compelled to accept the demand for conceding more power to the provinces. Such a bill moved by the PPP in the National Assembly is being fully sponsored by the government which cannot treat this demand as treason and sedition any more.
The revival of the economy remains an empty boast with poverty, unemployment, and prices at their highest, a $12 billion trade deficit, an even larger current account imbalance and a foreign debt that at $37 billion is at its peak. There is no foreign investment except through the purchase of nationalised industries.
Lawlessness is totally out of control and no one is safe, not even the president, the prime minister or the corps commanders. The law enforcement apparatus has become useless and only a means of torture for the helpless citizens. This is not surprising as notorious criminals occupy high governmental posts. The promise of speedy justice has gone into reverse gear and the complainant regrets the day he was born while the defendant ignores the proceedings.
There is no justice and cases go on forever. State institutions have been destroyed through extreme politicisation in order to appease government supporters. In Sindh, districts have been converted into constituencies for MQM and PML (Q) candidates regardless of their geographical and administrative unsuitability. Devolution is a total fraud in which powers of the provincial governments have been taken away and given to district governments. These are now directly linked to the centre thereby increasing its powers. It is not devolution unless it starts from Islamabad.
Accountability is the cruellest joke of all. Corruption is now a part of our culture. How could it be less when those serving prison sentences for corruption, or under trial or absconding from such cases, have been made ministers? In the TV interview cited above, the president shockingly declared that anti-corruption measures harmed the economy and therefore they had to be curbed. In such reckoning you cannot have a strong economy without massive corruption.
This is an insult to countries like Switzerland and Sweden which have booming economies and no corruption. The Steel Mill and oil price scandals, directly implicating the prime minister, are an international disgrace and no help to the economy.
Page 151: “I needed an organisation — a think tank — to research and recommend reforms … I felt that Lt General Tanvir Naqvi (retired) filled the bill eminently. He wrote the Local Government Ordinance… It is to General Naqvi’s credit that he produced a new Police Ordinance 2002.”
These two reforms are the only concrete and tangible steps taken by this government in seven years and both are an absolute disaster. As a result, not only are corruption and incompetence more rampant but the infrastructure of development, repair and maintenance has collapsed. Cities, towns and villages have become dirty water pools and garbage dumps, where municipal services are practically non-existent. This is so despite the fact that the district administration has been expanded at double the cost.
There is also much bickering and conflict between bureaucrats and nazims who are not only after money but unfit for the job, being the product of completely rigged elections. The only thing that has been gained is paid support for the government at the district level. Parallel police branches to deal with the same offence, set up under the new ordinance, have apart from increasing corruption, incompetence and costs, reduced crime detection to almost zero. These two reforms, instead of meeting the urgent need to streamline and simplify procedures, have complicated them to such an extent that no solutions are forthcoming for the already harassed citizens.
Page 334-4: “If you want democracy then you must also be responsible enough to vote for the right people. If you don’t, then don’t bellyache about the poor quality of parliamentarians and ministers.” The bellyache is in fact about the people’s vote not being decisive. It is superseded by the cheating that goes on in preparation for and during the polls.
Apart from the confession of rigging by the president, there is the prime minister’s election from the darkest constituency — Thar desert and remote Attock — where no one knew of his existence, and even tried to blow him up. Nevertheless, he polled far more votes than the sons of the soil who vacated their seats for him. This is testimony to massive rigging which cannot be concealed. It is not the people who elect but the SHOs, polling officers, presiding officers and returning officers, who select government candidates.
Shortage of space prevents a more detailed analysis of the 174 pages that are taken up in the book by the claim that the terrorist presence and activities in Pakistan have been severely curtailed and that Al Qaeda and the Taliban have been crushed. No one accepts this while our immediate neighbours, India and Afghanistan — and even the Americans — continue to accuse us of harbouring terrorists. On Oct 21, 2006, explosions in Peshawar killed seven and injured 41 people while, despite the truce in Waziristan, a military outpost has been attacked and two soldiers lost their lives.
As if all this were not enough, a madressah in Bajaur has been targeted by bombs killing 80 students. The government boasts of performing this misdeed, although it is generally believed to have been done by the Americans. It is also reported that the Taliban have now set up their own government in Waziristan, while killing and sabotage are daily occurrences in Balochistan. The truth is that by launching a crusade against Muslims George Bush has not only placed his own country in jeopardy but destroyed the peace and tranquillity of the world. The Pakistan government by joining this conflict has turned its own country into a battlefield.
Similarly, President Musharraf has been at pains, throughout his book, to tell the world how he has made rivers of milk and honey flow in this land, but on the very last page he gives a long list of all the major problems that still remain to be solved despite his seven-year rule. Thus almost every claim made in the preceding 334 pages stands trashed by his own testimony.
The writer is chairman, Sindh National Front.
http://www.dawn.com/2006/11/14/ed.htm