THE countless hours being put in by politicians, the security establishment and other state institutions to ensure a compliant executive will in all likelihood amount to nothing if history is any indicator.

Pakistan is a constitutional parliamentary democracy, where, at any given point, over the past three decades and more, the civilian (and elected) chief executive’s efforts to have a free hand in shaping the country’s policies have been constrained by the security establishment and other state institutions.

Before some of you jump down my throat, allow me to share what I mean by a free hand to shape policies. It means just that; not for a minute should it be read as a licence to loot and plunder and promote and patronise corrupt practices.

Being in power and backed by the security establishment, the Sharifs could patronise all kinds of groups.

But, tell me, which individual among the ruling elite has been penalised for actually being corrupt. In fact, if civilian politicians are prepared to play second fiddle to other institutions, they are left free to amass fortunes with no concern as to the means.

Look at the travails of the top leaders of the governing PML-N. Yes, the Panama Papers leaks may have focused the spotlight on the issue recently but isn’t it true that most of the allegations of accumulation of unexplained wealth and assets against them date back to when the party and its key leaders were the establishment’s hot favourites.

Remember a fairly straightforward, low-key politician who never once faced an allegation of corruption? In fact, he remains the country’s only chief executive in my memory at least to have sacked two sitting federal ministers when corruption allegations emerged against them.

Mohammad Khan Junejo was chosen from near (political) obscurity after the partyless National Assembly came into being in 1985, and was named prime minister. In spite of the fact that the infamous Eighth Amendment had been appended to the Constitution, halfway into his term, Junejo started to assert himself.

All his attempts at asserting himself were viewed with disdain by Gen Zia, who saw himself as an all-powerful army chief-president, but when his handpicked prime minister ‘transgressed’ the boundary a civilian should never dare to, he was promptly removed from office.

And what was this boundary? He made public pledges to force generals to travel in Suzuki cars like civil servants and not in expensive luxury limos; he also ordered an inquiry into the Ojhri camp explosion in April 1988.

Ojhri camp was an intelligence facility on Murree Road in Rawalpindi used for training and stockpiling of missiles, other ammo meant for Afghan Mujahideen. The explosion caused rockets and missiles to rain down on the twin cities amid allegations that a US team was en route to Pakistan for stock-taking after reports of pilferage.

Of course, Junejo had to go before the probe report (blaming Zia’s blue-eyed former ISI chief Gen Akhtar Abdur Rehman and his successor Hamid Gul) could be made public. Zia dismissed Junejo and dissolved parliament in May 1985. Soon, Zia’s civilian collaborator-in-chief, the then Punjab chief minister Nawaz Sharif, staged a coup in the PML-N and replaced Junejo as leader.

There is no point going through the rest of the history of that period as you’d be familiar with it but suffice it to say that throughout the late 1980s and well into the 1990s (where most of the current problems of the Sharif are rooted), the Sharifs and their party happily played junior partner to the establishment in the latter’s game to undermine Benazir Bhutto. The PPP and Asif Zardari’s alleged corruption were the main issues.

Being in power and backed by the powerful military, the Sharifs were in a position to patronise all kinds of groups and before long created a constituency of their own and got a huge ‘mandate’ in the 1996 elections. This would prove to be their undoing.

With a two-thirds majority under his belt, Nawaz Sharif started to assert himself, riding roughshod over the opposition and getting legislation prepared which would have proclaimed him amirul momineen.

However, when a super-confident Nawaz Sharif ‘transgressed’ the boundary and tried to replace his army chief after the Kargil fiasco, he was promptly send packing by Musharraf who declared himself the country’s chief executive.

We all know that it took international pressure and some astute moves on the political chessboard by former prime minister Benazir Bhutto (and tragically her death) to see relatively free and fair elections in the country whose results were respected by all institutions.

When Asif Ali Zardari became president and his party formed governments either by itself or in coalition at the centre and in three (junior partner in one) of the four provinces, he was quite comfortable despite being constantly at the receiving end of the wrath of the Iftikhar Chaudhry-led Supreme Court.

The PPP may have sacrificed a prime minister at the altar of the court to save its leader but the party never once appeared to be nervous or tentative till Zardari ran afoul of then ISI chief Shuja Pasha over the so-called Memogate scandal and its aftermath.

That was the only period the government appeared teetering on the brink, with Zardari taking off for a prolonged stay abroad on health grounds, while still officially head of state. Even when he returned, he spent many days in the PPP Sindh government seat of Karachi.

A few years later, his party and his own alleged corruption are suddenly not so earth-shattering. He seems to be gaining in confidence as he finds himself apparently on the right side of the political engineering experts as he is helping them cut to size an assertive Sharif who may have lost the prime minister’s office but seems to be gaining popular traction.

However, no matter who rules the Senate and whosoever is able to form a government after this year’s election after all the engineering that is in evidence, one need only glance at history to know that until all institutions accept their constitutionally defined role, responsibilities and even restrictions, tomorrow will mirror today.

The writer is a former editor of Dawn.
abbas.nasir@hotmail.com

Published in Dawn, March 10th, 2018