Like Ayub Khan and Zulfiqar Ali Bhutto, Nawaz Sharif can’t see the writing on the wall

Published in the Express Tribune blogs on November 30, 2017

He thinks he can bounce back and become the prime minister of this benighted country for the fourth time. PHOTO: AFP 

I have never considered Nawaz Sharif as an intelligent man. Considering the events that have taken place this year alone, he should have learnt the lesson that he cannot continue looting the nation anymore. In fact, he should just spend the rest of his days in the holy land (Saudi Arabia) or he could go to London and guide his party members from there, like Altaf Hussain.

Furthermore, with the humiliation he has suffered after being disqualified as the prime minister of Pakistan and from contesting future elections, he should have at least had the grace and dignity to admit his defeat. But like General Ayub Khan and Zulfiqar Ali Bhutto, he can’t see the writing on the wall. He thinks he can bounce back and take on the premiership of this benighted country for the fourth time.

So what does he do?

First, he amends the Constitution which would enable him to remain the party chief of Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N). This apparently is to ensure that he bags the prime minister position when (more like if) his party wins the upcoming general election. Moreover, he wants to establish his power as “the boss” over his party members and allies, so that they know that this isn’t the end of Nawaz Sharif and hence they should continue following his orders.

In any other democratic country, he would have had to resign immediately after the Panama leaks surfaced. But that is clearly not the case in Pakistan though. For some parties like Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP) and Pakistan Muslim League-Quaid (PML-Q), however, we have seen the complete rout of them which resulted in them losing popularity in Pakistan. Looking at the events that are currently taking place, it seems that PML-N might be following in their footsteps and tumbling down.

To save his place in PML-N, Nawaz got the National Assembly to pass the Elections Act 2017 bill, after removing the clause preventing a disqualified person from heading a political party. No one from the opposition objected to it at that time, but when the bill came for approval by the Senate, Aitzaz Ahsan noticed the missing clause and contested to have it included. The Senate rejected his move and passed the bill, though with a very narrow margin, but later, however, decided to adopt Ahsan’s objection and barred disqualified persons from leading their political parties.

Hence, the National Assembly recently passed the law, making it possible for Nawaz to head the PML-N. The bill will be presented to a joint sitting of both houses, but since his party has an overall majority, it will be implemented by law. However, it is now up to the Supreme Court to decide if the law is in accordance with the provisions of the Constitution.

Even a layman could have told Nawaz that his preoccupation with being the head of his political party was bad for the country. It seems that he and his supporters, including those in government, thought that this was the only issue the nation was facing, and hence they should go all out to ensure that Nawaz remains the chief of his party.

Furthermore, no one is surprised by the government’s inadequacy to effectively deal with the Tehreek-e-Labaik protesters during the 22-day long Faizabad sit-in which had paralysed the country. Despite boasting that he could disperse the crowd and end the dharna within three hours, Interior Minister Ahsan Iqbal was compelled to ask the Army to deal with the situation. When the army had reservations about doing so, he surrendered to those who were indulging in what the court called “anti-state activity” and “an act of terrorism”. One would have thought, after ruling Punjab continuously for 10 years, the party would at least have gained enough experience to enforce law and order (which is what every government should be able to do), and even more so after the Model Town clash of 2014.

Due to the ruling government’s failure to control the protesting mob, November 25, 2017 will go down as the blackest day in our country’s history. Now, instead of being penalised for terrorism, we shall see such people creating mayhem and paralysing the country, demanding that the government should resign on some flimsy pretext. Our enemies must be enjoying themselves, watching our helplessness against those who do not want the country to prosper.

Before Nawaz cries wolf over how the dharna was a means to prevent him from returning to power again, or how it was a conspiracy by the establishment, or how the country is crumbling without him being in power, he should know that his own party was divided on the issue; his own son-in-law, Captain Safdar Awan, was firmly supporting the protesters. He should have seen the writing on the wall when in the recent vote in the National Assembly, his party and its supporters were able to garner only 163 votes. Fifty of his own party members did not turn up to vote, this coupled with the fact that at least 10 PML-N lawmakers have resigned from the party, prove that his party is not united and he is not suitable to be the party chief of the PML-N.

There is now no choice for Nawaz Sharif but to quit politics. To paraphrase a British parliamentarian, “You have done enough harm. In the name of God, go!”

BY: Shakir Lakhani
Engineer, former visiting lecturer at NED Engineering College, industrialist, associated with petroleum/chemical industries for many years. Loves writing, and (in the opinion of most of those who know him), mentally unbalanced. He tweets @shakirlakhani (https://twitter.com/shakirlakhani)

https://tribune.com.pk/article/60736/like-ayub-khan-and-zulfiqar-ali-bhutto-nawaz-sharif-cant-see-the-writing-on-the-wall

“Corruption is our right”: Have you not looted Sindh enough already, PPP?

Published in The Express Tribune Blogs on July 6, 2017

Embed from Getty Images

Really, the scale of corruption in Sindh is mind-boggling.

Ask any schoolboy in Pakistan which political party is the most corrupt and he will reply at once, “Pakistan People’s Party (PPP).”

Even before a Swiss court convicted the former president and his wife Benazir Bhutto of money laundering, the leaders of this party have been known to be highly corrupt. It was not for nothing that former President Asif Ali Zardari was known as Mr 10%.

So it was highly ironical to see PPP stalwarts such as Aitzaz Ahsan in Parliament demanding accountability of Nawaz Sharif. Either he forgot the rampant corruption in his own party or deliberately chose to ignore it. Mr Ahsan, how can we ever forget your party’s Prime Minister Raja Ashraf’s corruption in the rental power case?

And surely you remember that payment of Ayyan Ali’s air ticket was made from the same bank account as that of Bilwal Bhutto Zardari’s? Have you never wondered how an ordinary low-paid Water and Power Development Authority (WAPDA) meter reader (Syed Khurshid Shah) became so wealthy?

So why should we be surprised that the shameless PPP majority party in the Sindh Assembly passed the bill to repeal the applicability of the National Accountability Ordinance, preventing the National Accountability Bureau (NAB) from taking action against corruption by its ministers?

After all, it was a PPP stalwart (Abdul Qayyum Jatoi) who said, “Corruption is our right!” What he really meant, of course, was, “Corruption is our religion!”

https://youtu.be/OEQZ_iZs3NQ

While tabling the bill, Sindh Law Minister Ziaul Hasan Lanjar said,

“The Sindh government will introduce a new anti-corruption law in 30 days… to eliminate corruption from the province.”

If the recent past is any guide, the Sindh government will probably appoint someone like Superintendent of Police (SP) Fida Hussain Shah (who is himself facing corruption charges) to investigate corruption in the province.

And we should not forget the strong resistance put up by the Sindh government towards the appointment of Inspector General of Police (IGP) AD Khawaja. You cannot appoint your party activists as policemen as long as you have an honest officer heading the police department, can you, Mr Murad Ali Shah? Nor can you have ghost teachers in ghost schools if NAB is constantly looking over your shoulder.

Really, the scale of corruption in Sindh is mind-boggling. From sale of parks in Karachi to mismanagement of water purification plants in Thar, there is looting and plundering everywhere.

Gangsters like Uzair Baloch have been freely used to further the agenda of Sindh’s rulers, while a little known Sindh government employee (Sharjeel Memon) became a billionaire within three years.

Even though property prices have shot up numerous times and the common man can no longer afford to buy a house, the Sindh government charges taxes and stamp duties at the old prices (which are only 2% of the actual values). Government employees in the Sindh Building Control Authority (SBCA) and the land department take huge bribes from builders as well.

So, by making NAB ineffective in the province, the Sindh government wants to ensure that the loot and plunder of Karachi continues. It doesn’t want to be held accountable for the garbage on the streets of Karachi, nor does it want anyone to prevent the sale of amenity parks at throwaway prices to builders.

So I wasn’t surprised at all to see a glum and despondent Shah in the apex committee meeting with the army chief, which was held to impress upon him the need for, amongst other things, improvements in the functioning of the police department and to appoint police officers on merit.

I know that he was upset because he had never thought that there would be resistance from any quarter to his ministers’ aims to further enrich themselves, nor to his power to appoint unqualified louts in the provincial police department. He thought that by exempting Sindh from NAB, people like Memon, Dr Asim Hussain, and former SBCA Director General Manzoor Qadir Kaka would now be immune from prosecution.

Well, he is wrong, as he will soon find out when the proposed law is struck down by the courts.

Get real, Mr Shah, the people who voted for your party are not ignorant. They can see that there has been no development at all in Sindh, when compared to the other provinces. They know that your party has failed them.

You still have about a year to do something for the people of your province, Mr Shah. Stop thinking of protecting the corrupt, start accountability, get rid of those who are bent upon making themselves rich. Otherwise it will be too late, and the people will come out on the streets to remove your party from power, as they did in the times of Ayub Khan and Zulfikar Ali Bhutto.

By

Shakir Lakhani

Engineer, former visiting lecturer at NED Engineering College, industrialist, associated with petroleum/chemical industries for many years. Loves writing, and (in the opinion of most of those who know him), mentally unbalanced. He tweets @shakirlakhani (https://twitter.com/shakirlakhani)

https://tribune.com.pk/article/52693/corruption-is-our-right-have-you-not-looted-sindh-enough-already-ppp

Ayub Khan's Martial Law days

Martial law days

Published in DAWN on January 7, 2015

Embed from Getty Images

THIS refers to the news item ‘Multi-billion- rupee mangrove forest land grab: the sequel’ (Dec 28). The proposed military courts should begin by trying criminals involved. During the early years of Ayub Khan’s martial law smugglers faced the death penalty and many civilians were given long-term imprisonment and were whipped, sometimes for traffic violations also.

S.L.

Karachi

https://www.dawn.com/news/1155317/martial-law-days

Disband the Council of Islamic Ideology!

Published in Daily Times on March 15, 2014

Sir: This is with reference to your editorial ‘Disband the CII’ (Daily Times, March 13, 2014). It was during Ayub Khan’s reign that the law was made, making it necessary for a man to take his wife’s consent before marrying another woman. This law is also part of the 1973 Constitution, which was approved by all the religious parties after heated debate. Even though scholars like Maulana Maudoodi, Maulana Noorani and Maulana Mufti Mahmood were active politicians at the time, none of them objected to this clause. Neither did Qazi Hussain Ahmed of the Jamaat-e-Islami. And none of them ever objected to the fixing of the minimum marriage age of 18 for boys and 16 for women.

So why has this issue suddenly surfaced? Is it to divert our attention from those who cut off people’s heads to play football with? Or to make people forget that those whom the government is presently appeasing are the very same who were recently bombing girls’ schools? If we allow children as young as five or 10 to get married, what difference is there between us and the pre-Islamic people who also used to kill baby girls at birth? Is that what they will ask us to do next? I have always wondered why some people are convinced that women are the root cause of all evil. Such people definitely need psychiatric treatment.

SHAKIR LAKHANI

Karachi

Strikes should be banned!

The strike mania

Published in DAWN on June 27, 2012

THIS is apropos of your editorial ‘The strike mania’ (June 15), I recall fondly the early years of the 1958 martial law period, when giving a call for a strike was punishable by death.

The nation truly became disciplined in the first two or three years, and even though fundamental rights were suspended, the country did make remarkable progress during Ayub Khan’s 10-year rule.

Unfortunately, he became highly unpopular and had to be sent home, one of the reasons for his unpopularity being the alleged rampant corruption by one of his sons. 

SHAKIR LAKHANI

Karachi

The Family Laws ordinance

Back in 1958, General (later Field Marshal) Ayub Khan staged a coup and took over the country. He couldn't have made a bigger mistake. As a result of that event, the country was split into two and Pakistan would always be under autocratic rule (even under civilians). One of Ayub Khan's much trumpeted achievements was the promulgation of the Family Laws Ordinance, which prevented a man from taking another wife without his current wife's permission. Now this was not such a major evil that a special law was needed to prevent it. I have so far known only five men who have two wives, although I have no doubt that in the rural areas polygamy is very common. For one thing, no ordinary man can even think of taking a second wife, what with the cost of living going up exponentially after every budget. With feudal lords, of course, this is not a problem, they have all the money they want, and I often wonder why they don't have hundreds of wives (maybe they do, only the "wives" are slave girls).

The thing I find odd about the Family Laws Ordinance is that a man is required to take permission from his wife if he wants to take another one. All mullahs are of course against this law. And the ordinary Muslim would rather kill himself than ask his wife for permission to do anything. I know perfectly normal Muslims who fly into a rage when told that they must ask their wives before they can spend money on anything (like a new car, for instance). It seems Muslims have the divine right to do whatever they want, whether their wives like it or not. As for permission to marry another woman, what if the first wife refuses to give it? The poor woman knows that he'll immediately divorce her (or might even kill her) if she says no. So what's the use of such a law?

Curbs on the media

Published in The News on August 14, 2010

I've noticed that whenever conditions deteriorate so much that the people want the government to resign, the media is attacked. This happened even in the days when Ayub Khan, Zulfiqar Ali Bhutto, Benazir Bhutto and Nawaz Sharif were the rulers. Apparently our politicians believe that it's the newspapers and TV channels that are responsible for their predicaments, not their own misdeeds.

SHAKIR LAKHANI

Karachi

The more things change, the more they remain the same

Posted on Chowrangi.com on February 23, 2008 

Those who thought that a new era will begin after the elections will have to think again. Already there is talk of defections and horse trading is sure to follow. If Musharraf doesn’t resign and Nawaz insists that he should go or the judges should be restored, the people may protest in the streets (like they did to remove Ayub Khan and Bhutto).

Whatever happens, one thing is certain: there will be a great deal of uncertainty, inflation will continue, petrol will get more and more expensive and it will be very difficult for the common man to balance the budget. Loadshedding will increase and the people will have to suffer. And no one will demand that those who are responsible for our misery should be brought to justice. The U.S. will bomb the tribal areas to target militants without our permission (they have done it more than once already). People like Sheikh Rashid will now appear on TV to give their views on what the government should do or should have done (or not done). Someone once said, “The more things change, the more they remain the same.” How right he was.

Shakir Lakhani

I remember!

Published in Chowrangi blogs on November 17, 2007

I remember the political crisis in the 50’s in Pakistan. Every other month a new government would be formed. One prime minister (I. I. Chundrigar) was prime minister for only thirty days. Politicians used to quarrel like children fighting over candy. I remember President Iskander Mirza proclaiming martial law and being replaced a few days later by General (later Field Marshal) Ayub Khan. For sometime, the country became normal, and Karachi was declared the “cleanest city in the world” by a German writer (apparently he didn’t go to Lyari or Lea Market to see the filthy conditions there).

I remember taking part in student demonstrations against dictatorship in 1961. I was surprised when the police threw tear gas shells at us and I was rescued from the police by the people living on the ground floor of a building in Burns Road. I remember the massively rigged presidential elections in which Mohatrama Fatima Jinnah was defeated by Ayub Khan. How we hated him after his son took out a victory procession, firing in the air, as a result of which many Nazimabad residents were killed!

I remember the war of 1965. It was very frightening to see Indian planes over Karachi early in the morning. Perhaps that was Pakistan’s finest hour. The nation was united because we had been attacked by an enemy which was five times stronger than us. And how proud we felt when the Indian Defence Minister announced in the Lok Sabha that their army had been forced to retreat from Lahore! In that war, at least, we were undefeated.

I remember the day sugar disappeared from the country. There were rumours that it had all been smuggled to India by influential people (sounds familiar, doesn’t it?). And so it began, the movement to oust Ayub Khan. Finally, the old man decided to go, violating his own constitution in the process by handing power to his army chief. I remember the 1970 elections which resulted in the break-up of the country. We, who saw everything first hand, knew that the situation could have been saved if the politicians and the generals had agreed to Mujib (the winner of the elections) being prime minister. But alas, as usual, we didn’t know what hit us. Oh, the shame of it all! The Pakistan of Jinnah was no more. All because we had leaders who were selfish and didn’t care what happened to the country.

Is Pakistan ready for Democracy?

Is Pakistan ready for democracy? Not yet.

For more than half its existence, Pakistan has been under military rule. The first time a coup took place, General (later Field Marshal) Ayub Khan snatched power in 1958 because the civilians couldn’t run the country without quarreling among themselves. In those days, governments used to fall whenever a demonstration took place. There was one politician (I. I. Chundrigar) who was prime minister for one month only. It is well known that countries where illiteracy is high always prosper under military or autocratic rule. South Korea, Taiwan and Malaysia made tremendous progress under dictatorships. This was the case with Pakistan as well.

The eleven years under Ayub Khan saw Pakistan being heavily industrialized and described as a role model for other Third World countries. Unfortunately for Ayub, his reign ended after allegations of corruption against his sons. After the secession of Bangladesh (another event which was the direct result of politicians not being able to agree on vital issues), we had six years of so-called democracy under a man who was the only civilian martial law administrator in the country (Z. A. Bhutto). As expected, his rule was also riddled with corruption, and he had to pay with his life for not realizing how unpopular he was. Then followed eleven years of prosperity under General Zia, followed again by ten years of corrupt civilian rule. The problem with Pakistan is that it has a very low literacy rate. In a country where half the people subsist on one meal a day, and most men don’t have enough money to send their children to schools, you can’t expect people to elect the right people to lead them. Which is why Pakistan will not be ready for democratic rule as long as its people remain heavily illiterate.