Political parties are being controlled by a few fuedals in Pakistan. They always opposed democracy in Pakistan. If democracy is introduced, in a real sense, then these feudals will lose their power. The real power is in their hands. They are terrorists. Though President Pervez Musharraf was the general of Pakistan Army, the real power remained in the hands of others.
Discussing the situation of Pakistani politics after election, Daily Times wrote in its editorial that the decision taken by the Awami National Party (ANP) to choose Mr Amir Haider Hoti of the party’s ruling family instead of Mr Bashir Bilour for the post of chief minister in the NWFP has upset many among the party’s rank and file. In a parallel move, the PPP has decided not to nominate its vice-chairman Mr Amin Fahim as its candidate for the job of prime minister at the centre and the crown is now expected to fall to the share of a Punjabi from among three front runners, Ahmad Mukhtar, Shah Mahmood Qureshi and Yusuf Raza Gilani. This was perhaps not stated earlier because the martyrdom of Ms Benazir Bhutto had filled the people of Sindh with a sense of grievance which could be assuaged only through the nomination of a Sindhi prime minister. Until now, when the voter in Pakistan has chosen the PPP, he has subconsciously voted for a prime minister from Sindh.
But in the present case, it is being said that the Punjabi prime minister would be a stop-gap personality obliged to step aside in favour of Mr Asif Ali Zardari after he has fought and won a by-election in Sindh. It was also apparently argued that a Punjabi prime minister would help strengthen the party in Punjab where it is weak.
Whatever may be the real story the fact remains that the two parties in Pakistan have taken decisions that emphasise their identity as “family parties”. When discussing party politics on TV, most guests tend to decry the dynastic nature of our political parties. This is understandable because being controlled by one family and its succeeding scions doesn’t look very democratic, if we are constantly to accept Western democracy as our model. Looking at the political scene in South Asia, however, one has to acknowledge that most political parties that have kept the democratic torch burning have been family parties. In societies still deeply involved in such informal institutions as biradari and ethnicity that tend to freeze the vote, “family control” is still the best guarantee for a party’s survival.
In the NWFP, Abdul Ghaffar Khan the founder of the NAP-ANP produced a party that represented the psyche and the spirit of the Pushtun nationality. He was succeeded by his son Wali Khan, himself a charismatic leader, much like Indira Gandhi after Nehru in India and Benazir Bhutto after Zulfikar Ali Bhutto in Pakistan. Stretching from the SAARC countries down to Myanmar , there is a persistence of lineal charisma that we cannot ignore. It enables politicians of a less evolved social landscape in the region to take decisions in violation of the passions of the voting supporters. The abandonment of socialist economics by Rajiv Gandhi and Benazir Bhutto as an act of statesmanship contrasts favourably with the inability of the Indian communist and left parties to change tack in tune with times. Indeed, the example of the modifications made in the economic management of West Bengal only proves the point.
There are demerits too which can’t be ignored. Family parties tend to behave like individuals, freezing disputes into vendettas and showing inflexibility where suppleness is required. While one accepts that without the Bhutto family the PPP would have splintered and disappeared — just as the splintered Muslim League would have disappeared if it hadn’t given birth to family-directed “N” and “Q” Leagues — we must state that some of the current inability to compromise after the February 18 elections is also owed to this “personalisation”. The memory of each party is actually the memoir of its lineal chief.
In the coming days, when a PPP government takes all the tough decisions relating to the national economy, the sediment of old dynastic memories is going to hurt the country through another bout of instability. Mr Zardari may find that the PMLN supporting it “from the outside” is going to reap indirect political advantage by not being inside the cabinet; and that its government in Punjab can shift the blame easily to the PPP at the centre when hard times descend on the people there. By insisting on reinstating the old Supreme Court, Mr Nawaz Sharif may be thinking of making things tougher still for an incumbent PPP, knowing full well that the latter doesn’t feel easy with the old judges.
The End
Muhammad Khurshid, a resident of Bajaur Agency, tribal areas situated on Pak-Afghan border is journalist by profession. He contributes articles and news stories to various online and print newspapers. His subject matter is terrorism. He is also heading Voice For Peace working against terrorism in tribal areas. The aim of the Voice For Peace is restoration of peace in Bajaur Agency, tribal areas and whole world.
"Crushing of Feudalism A must for Controlling Terrorism"
Dear Mr. Khurshid,
The following is the text of an e-mail which I written for Benazir Bhutto. Read it carefully and try to visualise the many problems in your Bajaur Agency you write about so often in a much larger context and more confusing back drop.
Draft Text of Speech which if delivered by BB immediately upon setting her foot on Pakistani Soil, will save Pakistan and put its Politics on the Right Path, a Path that has deluded Pakistan since its Independence, in 1947.My brothers, sisters, uncles, aunts, nieces and nephews!Assalaamu Aleikum wa Rahmatullahwa Barakatahu! I have come in PEACE with a Message of Peace for the sake of Peace for Pakistan and all Pakistanis; Punjabis, Pathans, Balochis, Sindhis and Mohajirs; for the Sunnis, the Shiites, the Ismailis, the Qadianis, the Parsees, the Christians and the Hindus just as the Father of our Nation, Mohammed Ali Jinnah had envisaged and pleaded for 60 years ago, here in Karachi. I come in PEACE with a Message of Peace and Progress for Pakistan and all Pakistanis; members of our brave and disciplined Armed Forces, members of our hard working civil services, our businessmen, our industrialists, our bankers, our landlords, our tribals & tribal chiefs, our politicians, our workers, our peasants, our lawyers, our engineers, our doctors, our nurses, our pharmacists, ALL Pakistanis, ALL Equal with Equal Rights & Equal Duties, One in ALL and All in ONE. I have not come to settle scores. Settling of scores has been going on for 60 years and if Pakistan is to survive as a Nation, this has to stop, once and for all. I have not come back to promote the interests of one or more ethnic, linguistic, regional, religious and professional segments in the matrix of our Nation, against those of others. With the sad experience of 1971 when we failed to address in time our ethnic, linguistic and regional clashes of interests, we simply cannot envisage another civil war like we did in Bangladesh.I have not come back to promote the interests of our workers and our peasants against our businessmen, our industrialists and landlords. I have returned to help them reconcile their divergent interests so that, together, with mutual understanding they benefit from each other and benefit Pakistan. I have not returned to promote the re- nationalizing of industries, banks and insurance companies, nor to put ceilings on land and real estate holdings NOR to allow rampant and uncontrolled capitalism to run wild with the livelyhoods of our workers and peasants.I have come back sobered and humbled to turn a NEW PAGE in the History of Pakistan with YOUR Support and Your Approval at the ballots AND today, from this point of my re-entry I invite ALL Pakistanis, ALL politicians, ALL political parties to join hands with me, put the past behind us, however acrimonious, and bloody AND usher in a NEW DEAL, a DEAL for ALL of Pakistan and ALL Pakistanis. I have not come back to promote the interests of ANY foreign country, I repeat, ANY Foreign country, be it from the West or the East, from the North or South. My return has not been funded by ANY. I have not come back to place ANY country's interests above those of Pakistan's. Insha Allah, together, we shall DEFEND and fight for our NATIONAL INTERESTS at ALL COSTS but not at the cost of the legitimate interests of our neighbors, ALL neighbors, the ones to our North, our North West, our West and our East. Geography dictates this. Our history and our common future demand this. We live in the SAME neighborhood and we have enough in COMMON, hence, much we can agree on.
by
syed mahdi (1 articles, 0 quicklinks, 0 diaries, 125 comments)
on Tuesday, March 4, 2008 at 10:50:12 AM
1 comments
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