MQM
AGAINST INTERFERENCE
ARMED FORCES IN POLITICS
Principally
and as a policy MQM is against any interference of Armed Forces in the politics
and political affairs of the country covertly or overtly. The issue of President
General Pervez Musharraf having one or two posts is meaningless and the debate
on this matter is nothing but waste of time.
Since
the inception of Pakistan it has been the practice and tradition that the Army,
with the collaboration of other Armed Forces and bureaucracy, has been involved
in politics and political affairs of the country directly or indirectly.
From
1947 till 1958 seven Prime Ministers have been removed so far from their posts.
The term of each of these Prime Minister was quite short, for example:
Khan
Liaquat Ali Khan
August 14, 1947 to
October 16, 1951
Khwaja
Nizamuddin
October
17,1951 to
April17, 1953
Mohammad
Ali Bogra
April 17, 1953
to
August 12, 1955
Ch
Mohammad Ali
Aug
12, 1955
to
Sept 12, 1956
Hussain
Shaheed Suharwardy Sept 12, 1956
to
Oct 17, 1957
Ibrahim
Ismail Chundrigar
Oct 17, 1957
to
Dec 16, 1957
Feroze
Khan Noon
Dec
16, 1957
to
Oct 7, 1958
Finally
in 1958, the Army directly took over the power structure of the country. Martial
Law was imposed and General Ayub Khan became the Field Marshall. After Ayub
Khan, General Yahya Khan took over the power. Zulfikar Ali Bhutto used to call
himself the son of General Ayub Khan and was also a member of his cabinet as a
foreign minister and the minister for natural resources. He was also a key
member of Gen Yahya Khan’s cabinet, again as a foreign minister.
After
the dismemberment of Pakistan, Z A Bhutto was instated in power by the army and
became the Chief Martial Law Administrator (CMLA) on Dec 20, 1971.
This was the first time in the history that a civilian declared himself
as the Chief Martial Law Administrator. The question arises as to how a civilian
dared to announce himself as the CMLA? Of course it was with the connivance of
the armed forces. Another important point is that after passing the 1973
Constitution on April 1973, Z A Bhutto made the announcement to suspend the
fundamental rights and imposed emergency again with the connivance and support
of the army generals. He did all this without taking the opposition into
confidence and later on he also arrested almost all the opposition leaders.
In 1977, Gen Zia ul Haq imposed martial law in the country and suspended the constitution. Under the martial law, Gen Zia ul Haq conducted the elections in 1985 on non-party basis. As a result of these elections, Mohammad Khan Junejo became the prime minister of Pakistan but was removed in 1988, by General Zia ul Haq (hero of religious parties). In fact, the army or close allies of the armed forces created these religious parties, PPP and Muslim League. It is on record that Jamat-e-Islami participated in the 1970 Elections but refused to accept the majority party mandate of Awami League. Similarly, the Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP) of Z A Bhutto, the so-called democratic party, refused to accept the majority party mandate and raised the slogan “idhar hum udhur tum”.
Z
A Bhutto also threatened the parliamentarians of former West Pakistan that if
any one from West Pakistan tried to attend the assembly session in Dhaka then on
their return to Pakistan, their legs will be broken. Jamaat-e-Islami not only
supported the army action against Bengali Muslim brethren but also formed armed
terrorist groups like Al-Shams and Al-Badr who took full participation along
with the armed forces in the killings and raping of hundreds and thousands of
Muslim Bengali men and raping thousands of women, even children were not spared.
Benazir was allowed to enter the country from exile in 1986 in collusion of the army. The PPP came to power in 1988 and PPP’s Government was removed in August 1990. Army’s handpicked Nawaz Sharif was brought into power by rigging the elections in 1990. In 1992, Nawaz Sharif started the army operation against the MQM with the help of COAS General Asif Nawaz Janjua. MQM was then the coalition partner in the federal and provincial government with Nawaz Sharif. In 1993, Nawaz Sharif was removed and elections were held. MQM was not allowed to take part in the elections by the Corps Commander Karachi Gen Naseer Akhtar. MQM had no choice but to boycott the elections. After the successful and historical boycott of national assembly elections, the then army generals were compelled under the pressure of international community to approach the MQM leaders including the Founder Leader Mr Altaf Hussain through former MI Chief Brigadier Aman. MQM was allowed to participate in the provincial assembly elections.
The
MQM not only retained its popular support but also gained more seats compared to
previous elections. The PPP came into power at both federal and in Sindh
province. At the behest of government sponsored powerful agencies, Benazir
intensified the operation against the MQM and extra judicial killings of MQM
leaders and workers became the order of the day. More than 15000 MQM workers,
leaders, supporters and their relatives were extra judicially killed and
thousands were put behind bars on false and fabricated charges. However, PPP
Govt was removed in 1996 and general elections were held in 1997. The powerful
“hidden hands” brought Nawaz Sharif again into power with two third majority
through the use of “jharlu” (rigged) again with the connivance of the
powerful agencies. He suspended the Sindh Assembly and imposed Governor Rule in
1998. The army sacked Nawaz Sharif again on 12 Oct 1999.
This
is brief factual history of army’s intervention in the national political
affairs and its collaboration with the religious and political parties.
Recently, the PPP Chairperson Benazir Zardari is on record for saying that she
is waiting for the green signal from the GHQ for her return to the country from
exile.
After the incident of 9/11 in the United States the global political scenario has completely changed. Pakistan is passing through a serious critical phase. USA has become the unipolar power of the world. The religious and political parties of Pakistan played a key role in making the USA the uni-polar power of the world during the Cold War between USA and USSR. In this scenario when country’s security and its survival is at stake it is the duty of every political and religious party to get involved and use all their efforts for the promotion of national integration rather than to make the present condition even worse by keeping themselves preoccupied in a debate of “wardy” or “no wardy”. After 9/11 Gen Pervez Musharraf is constantly in touch with the Governments of the USA, the UK and other European countries and is dealing with the situation of terrorism and using all his efforts to combat terrorism nationally and internationally.
Time
and again all the religious and political parties have supported the army –
why they cannot bear “wardy” in this crucial phase? If all the religious and
political parties are ready to start united struggle for complete elimination of
interference by armed forces in the political affairs of the country and
establish true democracy then they should come forward, resign from all the
legislative bodies. Gen Pervez Musharraf has been dealing with the situation
after 9/11; therefore, he is better experienced and so in this special and
crucial time, the MQM thinks that General Pervez Musharraf should have both the
posts. If Gen Pervez Musharraf
holds two posts then this will not be anything new because in the regime of
Mohammad Ali Bogra, Gen Ayub Khan held the post of Chief of Army Staff as well
as of the defence minister. Similarly, Gen. Zia-ul-Haq is on record having two
portfolios at the same time of President and COAS and Jamat-e-Islami was part
and parcel of this “wardiful” (uniform) era.
In
1977, PNA (Pakistan National Alliance), comprising of nine political and
religious parties, launched a countrywide massive agitation campaign in the name
of Islam. As a result of their campaign, country had to face/bear loss of
Millions of rupees. But when Gen Zia-ul-Haq imposed martial law in the country,
none of the nine party alliance opposed the imposition of martial law instead of
launching another movement against this martial law for the restoration of
democracy. None of the Nine Political and religious parties launched a movement
against the martial law instead hailed martial law. They joined Gen
Zia-ul-Haq’s regime, the question arises that did the PNA launch this movement
for Islam or for the imposition of Martial Law?
In
this manner these Nine Religious and political parties, not only
cheated/deceived the people of Pakistan but also established a shameful example
in the history of Pakistan. In short, these nine political and religious parties
including Jamat-e-Islami were wholly and solely
responsible for the imposition of martial law, which are now becoming
champion against the wardy (Uniform)
They
are trying to fool the nation once again. Now the people of Pakistan are fully
aware about their ill intentions, forged slogans and this time all their forged
slogans will go in vain.