With Zulfikar Ali Bhutto arrested, the PPP leadership sprung into action — both for their incarcerated leader and for the future of the party itself.

Abdul Hafeez Pirzada temporarily took up the reigns of the party while Begum Nusrat Bhutto stepped to the fore too. A PPP working committee meeting was convened on Sept 4, the day following Bhutto’s arrest; the three-hour moot concluded that despite Bhutto’s arrest, the PPP would take part in the forthcoming elections. Former information minister, Maulana Kausar Niazi, also told the gathered journalists that the party was seeking legal recourse to secure the release of their arrested leader.

A bail application for Bhutto was moved in the Lahore High Court (LHC) the same day.

Just two days later, on Sept 7, the PPP held another meeting in Lahore to reiterate its position of participating in the polls, irrespective of Bhutto’s freedom. A team of six lawyers, including Hafeez Pirzada, Shaikh Rasheed, Yahaya Bakhtiar, S.M. Dogar and Badiuzaman, met Bhutto in detention to apprise him of his legal strategy.

While Zia heads to Saudi Arabia to clarify his position with the monarch, the Lahore High Court creates more problems

Meanwhile, a team of the Federal Intelligence Agency (FIA) also began investigating Bhutto in Lahore. With Bhutto in the docks, the Chief Martial Law Administrator (CMLA) General Ziaul Haq promulgated another regulation decreeing all members and senators from 1970 to 1977 to file their assets declaration within 15 days.

On Sept 6, Intelligence Bureau (IB) Director General Chaudhry Mahmood Ali met with members of the Election Cell in the presence of Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI) chief General Ghulam Gilani. Ali wanted to warn Gilani that if political activities were allowed during electioneering, there would be a bloodbath in all likelihood. He also called for banning the Federal Security Force (FSF), and alleged that some political parties were being aided from abroad.

With politicking gathering pace, Gen Zia sought to allay any fears that the Saudi Arabian monarch might have. It was of course King Khalid’s efforts to keep Pakistan’s political atmosphere free of violence that had initially brought the PPP and the Pakistan National Alliance (PNA) to the negotiating table. On Sept 8, Gen Zia left for Saudi Arabia, on the pretext of performing Umrah, but the basic purpose was to satisfy the ruling Saudi family about the fallout of the overthrow of the Bhutto government. Here too, Gen Zia reaffirmed his resolve to conduct elections on Oct18.

Back in Pakistan, the PNA met at Kingri House, Pir Pagara’s Karachi residence, and demanded that elections be held on the scheduled date and the transfer of power completed on Oct 28, as has been pledged. The PNA supported accountability but wanted no postponement of polls on that account. It vehemently rejected Zia’s proposal of a presidential form of government, demanding instead that the parliamentary system be allowed to thrive. It also urged the army to stay away from politics and return to the barracks once power was transferred.

No politician — neither from the PPP nor from the PNA — had forgotten that an all-parties moot was being summoned by the CMLA. This meeting took place on Sept 13, with 24 parties represented by their chiefs or representatives.

Nusrat Bhutto represented PPP along with Dr Ghulam Hussain, Hafeez Pirzada, and Maulana Kausar Niazi, while the PNA was represented by Mufti Mahmood, Shah Ahmad Noorani and Professor Ghafoor Ahmad. Others participants included Khan Abdul Qayyum, Maulana Ghulam Ghaus Hazarvi, Khurshid Hassan Mir, C R Aslam, Eric George, Fazil Rahu, Zafarullah Khan Jamali, Jahangir Khatoon and Bashir Ahmad Siddiqui.

The meeting aimed at discussing the code of conduct for the elections. While PNA leaders spoke about the administrative measures, Begum Bhutto questioned the veracity of fair and free elections as, according to her, a large number of their political workers had been jailed. She also demanded that further arrests should be stopped, as in that case, no fair elections could be expected. Pirzada wanted the military government’s draft of code of conduct in paper, so that the PPP could vet it and draw its proposals.

Gen Zia began his talk to the gathered politicians, reaffirming that elections would be held on Oct18. He demanded, however, that political parties should abide by his code of conduct. He clarified that the proposal for a presidential form of government was his personal viewpoint, and he could not impose his view over the people with force. On the complaint of political workers still languishing in jails, Gen Zia sought a list of those under incarceration.

During the meeting Zia kept his tone soft for almost all the time as he did not want uproar at a time when all parties were at one place.

On the day of all parties moot, the hearing of the bail application of Bhutto’s detention was also fixed in the LHC. The hearing was fixed before the single bench of Justice Khwaja Mohammad Ahmad Samdani.

During the all parties conference Brigadier Zafar, personal secretary to Gen Zia, entered the premises and handed over a chit seemingly meant for the CMLA. When it reached Zia, he became nervous. The chit had a single-sentence: “Mr Bhutto has been released by the Lahore High Court.”

Immediately a message was sent to the Punjab Martial Law Administrator (MLA) Gen Iqbal, ordering him to re-arrest Bhutto in case the deposed premier had been released. The message was passed along, but within moments, a reply arrived to inform Gen Zia that Bhutto had left the LHC premises before he could be apprehended again.

Despite being occupied with the all-parties moot, Gen Zia was very disturbed at the latest developments. He continued to conduct the discussions at the moot but was visibly upset.

After the conference, Gen Zia appeared before the press again. His message: the Emergency and Defence of Pakistan Rules would be lifted on Sept 18, thus signaling the resumption of political activities; and second, elections would be held on Oct 18. Gen Zia reiterated that political parties would be allowed to display banners and posters during electioneering, that publicity would be allowed and that prior permission would be required for holding public meetings.

But Bhutto continued to linger. There was a much bigger battle that was looming.

Next week: The legal fight

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Published in Dawn, Sunday Magazine, June 1st, 2014