Former US President, Late Abraham Lincoln, has once described democracy as, “the government by the people, of the people and for the people.”
In Pakistan, we have had never functional democracy in its real sense but had some spells of civilian rules.
The governments, which came into power, were voted by the people to power, but these never proved to be of the people and for the people.
The political parties of the country have most of the time been warring for coming into power. The over centralization of powers and lack of consensus among civilian and military establishment regarding devolution of powers to gross root level to strengthen democracy, resulted in the dismembering of the country in 1971. Had the people of the then East Pakistan were given their due rights and the ruling junta in Islamabad not exploited them, they would have not gone for the extreme step of ceation of Bangladesh.
Mainstream political parties regardless of their ideological inclination (whether they are leftists or rightists) exploited the people of Pakistan. The military and civilian establishments have been ruling the show in Islamabad most of time directly and some time indirectly remaining behind the scene.
Much of Pakistan’s history has been marred with dictatorship. From self-proclaimed Field Marshall, General Ayub Khan to the so called Chief Executive, General Pervez Musharaf, the total duration of military rule is more than 32 years.
Though Pakistan’s founding father Muhammad Ali Jinnah once said
“Do not forget that the armed forces are the servants of the people and you do not make national policy; it is we, the civilians, who decide these issues and it is your duty to carry out these tasks with which you are entrusted”
But Ayub Khan took over the charge only after eight years of Jinnah’s demise, throwing the future of infant country in uncertainty. He ruled the country as he wanted and after more than a decade handed over the charge to his successor, General Agha Yayah Muhammad Khan
Muhammad Yahya Khan, the Deputy Commander-in-Chief, imposed Martial Law on 25th March 1969 and succeeded Muhammad Ayub Khan as Head of the State. He dismissed the National Assembly and the Provincial Legislatures and the Cabinets at the Centre and the provinces. He also removed the Constitution of 1962. On 26 March, he pledged the nation to hold general elections. On 25th March, he announced Legal FrameWork Order (LFO).
On 3rd December 1971, India attacked Pakistan. On 8th December, the U.N. passed a resolution for cease-fire but India rejected it. The Indian forces entered Dhakka. On 17th December 1971, General A.A. K. Niazi surrendered to Indian Lieutenant General Jagjit Singh Arora alongwith 90,000 troops. Thus, the fall of Dhakka was completed. East Pakistan (Bangla Desh) emerged as an independent state which Pakistan recognized in 1974.
Z A. Bhutto stepped in as Chief Martial Law Administrator On 20th December 1971, Muhammad Yahya Khan was arrested and jailed. Z.A. Bhutto was appointed the Chief Martial Law Administrator and the President of Pakistan.
The seed of East Pakistan’s separation was sown with the first martial law and that proved to be an improvised explosive device beneath the foundation of Pakistan. The martial law led to sense of alienation and deprivation among the people of Bangladesh and they felt that they were being treated as second rate citizens of Pakistan. The continuous exploitation and abuse of people right by the ruling junta in Islamabad led the people of then East Pakistan think otherwise. The explosive planted beneath during Ayub Martial Law was detonated by General Yahya Kahn by refusing to handover power to the majority party in the Assembly which was Mujeeb-ur-Rehman of Awami League. That led to the greatest tragedy of Muslims history, disintegration of Pakistan with worst kind of military defeat.
Zulfiqar Ali Bhutto, chairman Pakistan People’s Party, provided the despaired nation with unanimous constitution on April 1973 and ruled the country till July 5th military coup by General Muhammad Zia ul Haq, who, he divided the nation on the basis of ethnicity and sectarianism.
Similarly General Pervaiz Musharraf ruled Pakistan nearly 9 years having support of US and western world for his unconditional logistic support to US during its invasion of Afghanistan.
The military rulers neglected small provinces in decision making, creating disparity among the people of federating units.
The unilateralism, usurping of people rights and use of state machinery to oppress the people of Pakistan especially of small provinces by the rulers especially the military rulers have led Pakistan to such a situation like that of East Pakistan crisis. Due to the wrong policies of General Musharraf, Baluchistan is on the verge of separation and insurgency is going on over there. There is no realization of the gravity of the situation among the rulers.
The assassination of Nawab Akbar Bugti fuel the fire of insurgency and sense of alienation. The national parties, who were doing parliamentary politics remaining under the constitutional framework, have abandoned the political process, showing their no-confidence over the process following the assassination of Nawab Bugti. More and more people are joining the ongoing insurgency in Balochistan and there seemed no realization of the gravity of the situation.
What is going on in Balochisatn today is the result of denial of rights to people especially of small provinces, over centralization of powers, lack of provincial autonomy and the despotic and totalitarian rule of the military dictators.
Though there has been a major development in respect to the provincial autonomy in the shape of 18th Constitutional Amendments, under which many subjects of Concurrent Lists and ministries have been devolved to province. This is a step in right direction, but it is not enough. Besides, giving provincial autonomy, there is a dire need to take practical steps to address the issues and reservations, which are compelling people ( Balochisatn) to resort to insurgency.
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