KARACHI, Oct 23: The lawyers’ movement, sparked by the ouster of Justice Iftikhar Mohammad Chaudhry from the office of the country’s chief justice last year, managed to galvanize the masses and – to an extent – filled the void caused by the dearth of an ideology amongst Pakistan’s leading political parties.
This was stated by leading academic and historian Dr Syed Jaffer Ahmed at a seminar on the topic of ‘Resistance movements and their impact on societies,’ held at the Pakistan Institute of International Affairs here on Thursday. The event was organized by Badalti Dunya, a monthly magazine.
Dr Ahmed, who spoke about the resistance movements faced by General Ayub Khan, Zulfikar Ali Bhutto, Gen Ziaul Haq and Gen Pervez Musharraf, said that the nation’s political parties failed to work at the grass roots level and instead focussed on observing birthdays and death anniversaries.
“All parties have experienced a death of political ideology. They think the road to Islamabad runs through Washington, Jeddah or Riyadh. However, the lawyers’ movement managed to escape the establishment’s efforts” to neutralize it, he said.
Discussing the anti-Ayub Khan movement, the senior historian said that after independence, the state acquired a very authoritarian character as a pseudo-parliamentary system existed for the first 11 years of Pakistan’s history. Dr Ahmed said the military and the bureaucracy shared power between them, describing Ayub’s martial law as a “joint venture,” which resulted in the de-politicization of the nation.
As for the much heralded economic growth during the Ayub Khan era, he said the growth failed to translate into development and only benefited one particular class, specifically the oft-quoted 22 richest families of Pakistan, who, between them, carved up 70 per cent of the nation’s wealth. Similarly, he said the ‘Green Revolution’ also favoured large land-owners. He was of the opinion that even during the anti-Ayub agitation, representatives from various segments of the population were far ahead of the political parties.
As for the movement against Mr Bhutto, Dr Jaffer Ahmed said that the late premier had come to power during a time when the nation faced massive economic problems following the fall of Dhaka. He said that nationalization failed to address the country’s economic ills and that merchants, along with students and professionals, were at the forefront of the Pakistan National Alliance, which agitated against Bhutto.
He said that though Mr Bhutto served the army, the armed forces in fact supported those elements agitating against him. He added that when Pakistan decided to go nuclear during Mr Bhutto’s rule, the country became a national security state, which ensured that that those controlling the security apparatus would call the shots.
Coming to Gen Zia, the historian said that where in the previous two martial laws the army shared power with the bureaucracy, this time it was solely in control. “Zia followed Machiavelli very faithfully. He ruled people through fear.”
Middle East factor
He added that people became even more de-politicized during the period when Pakistan began to export labour en masse to the Arabian Gulf states as these countries had no political culture. “The Middle East factor helped de-politicize Pakistan. Remittances weren’t the only thing being sent. A consumer economy was created. People didn’t want to take part in politics as they thought it would affect their consumer lifestyle.”
Concerning Gen Musharraf’s rule, he said that the political set-up the general engineered in 2002 was even more farcical than Ayub Khan’s Muslim League Convention.
Noted historian Dr Mubarak Ali gave an overview of resistance movements throughout history. He said there were two types of resistance movements: armed struggle and non-violent agitation. He said that at times peaceful struggles also resorted to violent means, citing the division of Bengal.
“Why do people resist? Whenever resistance movements begin, those resisting know there is a good chance of failure. Still they resist. Court historians have never mentioned these rebellions in detail. But today history is being re-examined,” he said. “Revolts are put down, but the ideas behind them live on,” he added.
In the modern age, Dr Mubarak Ali said that when nations gained freedom from their colonizers, often the new rulers adopted the policies of their erstwhile colonial masters. Such was the case in Burma, the Arab world and indeed in Pakistan. “However, the fact that there is resistance is a sign that people are alive.”
Economic disparity
Retired Justice Fakhruddin G. Ebrahim, who presided over the event, denounced the fact that the government was securing aid from different quarters, saying that it would ensure the nation’s perpetual slavery. He slated the fact that the common people were being taxed while the rich were exempted, adding that the root cause of Pakistan’s problems today was the disparity in wealth.
“No holder of public office should be allowed to hold property outside of Pakistan. We need to control our spending. The powerful are insensitive. They must demonstrate that they are sensitive to the people’s problems, or the people will rise up against them,” he said.
Speaking earlier, senior journalist Ahfaz-ur-Rehman said that there had been lawyers’ movements in the past, but none had been as big as the current movement, considering the huge numbers it had brought to the streets.
Launching a scathing critique of both the current and past government, he said the National Reconciliation Ordinance (NRO) had been a “bone” Pervez Musharraf had thrown to save his rule, but it was a move that had failed. He said the lawyers’ movement had begun to be slowly poisoned after the February 18 elections and that President Asif Ali Zardari did not want to see Justice Chaudhry restored as the former chief justice would open up the cases swept away by the NRO.
He added that the lawyers’ movement was being sabotaged from within.
“Until there is internal democracy within parties and until the dynastic transfer of power ends within political parties, there will be no democracy,” he observed.
He said that leaders of political parties had succeeded in shrinking the minds of their workers in a fashion similar to the Bonsai method of maintaining miniature plants.
The editor of Badalti Dunya, Tauseef Ahmed Khan, and a member of the magazine’s editorial board, Ayub Malik, also spoke.
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