“A  wobbly nuclear Pakistan is acting like a drunk with the car keys,” is the latest label from The New York Times.

How did the 170 million Pakistanis of the Islamic Republic reach this `drunken` state? That`s an easy one. Our rulers - yesterday`s and today`s - got drunk on power. Instead of being trotted to rehab centers to detoxify their brains, excoriate their power demons and kept on a tight leash, the faujis simply kicked them out with a military coup.

But our `Emperor Akbars` don`t learn, do they? They are in power blackouts all the time when sitting on the hot seat. Not surprisingly then, the Americans and their media keeps freaking out about our nukes getting into the hands of nutty people. Pakistan`s past is so recent, so graspable and simple to study for anyone caring to dig through the power houses of Islamabad/Rawalpindi. Yes, the old book stores have a stack full of juicy autobiographies, histories and memoirs of the past 60 years but nothing can beat oral history. There are a lot of `reliable narrators` still alive who will tell you what went wrong.

Prince Miangul Aurangzeb appeared in this space last week. He is an outspokenly defiant and (hopefully) honest narrator of Ayub Khan, Zulfi Bhutto and Mian Nawaz Sharif era. He doesn`t think his father-in-law, the field marshal, was a dictator as most historians call him. He doesn`t think his brothers-in-law “looted” the state treasury as became the fulltime occupation of First Sons following Ayub Khan`s decade. “If I wanted I too could have made millions during that time,” says the 80 plus prince seated in his tiny teak-lined library that looks woefully antique as does the depressing dug-up lawn in front. His daughters and sons - the grandchildren of Ayub Khan - don`t own palatial homes in posh-multi-million-dollar sectors of Islamabad. They live in apartments like the other middle-class families who lead ordinary lives. The late Nasim and her husband Aurangzeb could have grabbed plots and businesses to build an empire as did the sons of army generals, admirals, air marshals through kickbacks. When the First Daughter and the Prince accompanied the president on his state visits, they would not have enough foreign exchange for shopping. “Once we stayed back in London and moved from Claridge`s Hotel where the Pakistani delegation was put up, in a cheap hotel because we were paying from our own pockets.”

Today, our Foreign Office factotums posted abroad would lose their jobs if they let the First Family to fend for itself!

But, before I proceed further with quoting Miangul Aurangzeb, in the interest of truth, I must reproduce his email which he wrote to me from Swat “I read your article today, based on our meeting earlier. Naturally part of it is what I said, but you have added much from your imagination. In defense of the Ayub Khan family I did not by name mention others to be corrupt. I have never heard the name Moonis (Moonis Elahi). I never said that I did not talk to my father till his death. Regarding the house (Marble Palace) it is still a joint property. It is a habit with our media to write something that they wanted one to say, but was not said, but added by the interviewer. Sure the other half of your article (today`s) is not expected to be truthful either.”

Since the interview was not taped, I have therefore excised a chunk regarding his detailed discussion with me about his in-laws. I don`t wish to enter into any further controversy with Miangul Aurangzeb. Having said that let me pick up from where I left off...

When Ayub shifted the capital from Karachi to Islamabad, he picked the best plot for himself. It was on a hill overlooking the vales and dales of beautiful Potohar Plateau. He built his home that son Gohar Ayub later sold to Sadru Hashwani. Even if Aurangzeb and Gohar`s politics don`t meet, the former defends his brother-in-law. He also vouches for Ayub Khan`s honesty. “I have been his ADC and I can swear that the president had a zero-tolerance for corruption by his family members.” The same goes with his moral character. “He was a handsome man, you know. But I never saw him flirt with any woman despite temptations being thrown his way.”

A relative of Ayub Khan rang up Gen Hayauddin, managing director of PIA, for a favor. The call came from the President`s House in Karachi. Gen Hayauddin, according to Aurangzeb snubbed the caller saying, “Just because you are calling me from the President`s House, I reject your request.” He knew that the “request” was made without Ayub Khans knowledge.

Today, dare any official reject a request coming from the Presidency?

It is common knowledge that the son of a president smuggled 175 cars from Rakhni, near Fort Monroe check post. It would be interesting to find out how our past and present VVIPs smuggle cars from across the Iranian border and sell these SUVs (Sports Utility Vehicles) at phenomenal prices to any wadera, jagirdar and sirmayakar - the lot that exploit the poor. It`s a vicious cycle where no one ever gets caught.

Ayub inherited Zulfi Bhutto (ZAB) from Iskander Mirza who had inducted him in his cabinet earlier. Just as the former UN Secretary-General Kurt Waldheim`s autobiography misses out four years of his life (when he was with the Gestapo) similarly details of ZAB`s life from 1958-1965 are glossed over by his supporters,” according to Aurangzeb. But Pakistanis well know that ZAB was Ayub`s `humble servant` all this time. Aurangzeb blames ZAB for Ayub`s downfall by plotting the 1965 war. “Just as Musharraf`s Kargil ousted Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif.” Ayub was not a vindictive man, says the son-in-law. “When Zulfi`s sister Mumtaz fell ill with cancer, Ayub had Colonel Mustafa transferred to Germany so that he could get his wife treated.” Ayub Khan always travelled on commercial flights for his state visits abroad. Once when the presidential party went to Turkey, France and Romania in autumn of `67, Air Chief Air Marshal Asghar Khan, then head of PIA flew the plane carrying the president and his entourage.

Today, try imagining President Zardari being flown by the Air Chief or PIA head on a commercial PIA flight?
Aurangzeb served Nawaz Sharif as his governor in Balochistan and the Frontier. While he does not speak ill of his former boss, yet he gives me names of people who were corrupt. We know that one of his successors as governor Frontier was an SDO (superintendent divisional officer) notorious for his corruption. It`s also well-known that sons and sons-in-law of party high-ups were appointed to lucrative posts from where smuggling of cars and other contrabands was easy. Such people ended up blood sucking Pakistanis.

The line separating good and evil passes not through states, nor between classes, nor between political parties either, but right through every human heart, and through all human hearts ----Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn (1918-2008)

aniaz@fas.harvard.edu