Government Appointments - Internal Politics - Internal Security - Economy Foreign Relations
Total Page:16
File Type:pdf, Size:1020Kb
Keesing's Record of World Events (formerly Keesing's Contemporary Archives), Volume 33, November, 1987 Pakistan, Page 35511 © 1931-2006 Keesing's Worldwide, LLC - All Rights Reserved. Government appointments - Internal politics - Internal security - Economy Foreign relations Summary and key dates Government appointments (March 29, July 28, 1987). Resignation of Local Government Minister (June 2). Resignation of Foreign Minister (Nov. 1). Military appointments (March 29). Political party developments (April-August). Raising of voting age (May 6). By-election (September). New NWFP Cabinet (Feb. 5). Suspension of Karachi city council (Feb. 12). 1987–88 budget and amendments (June 4, 12). Assassination of Ahle Hadith leader (March 24). Karachi car bomb (July 14). Intercommunal violence in Sind province (April-August). Formation of Shia political party (July 4). Relations with India (February-October). Pakistani request for lease of US AWACS (April 16). Indictments in USA following attempted transfer of nuclear-related materials to Pakistan (July). Technical suspension of US aid (Sept. 30). Visit by Prime Minister to UK (April 5–12). Visit by Chinese Premier (June 21–24). Talks with France on nuclear dispute (May 6–7). Death of Wali of Swat (Sept. 14). Government appointments Gen. Mohammad Zia ul-Haq, the President of Pakistan, on March 29, 1987, appointed three new ministers and nine new ministers of state; following the resignation in June of the Minister of Local Government [see below] and Rural Development see below and further changes on July 28, the Cabinet was as follows, with previous different responsibilities shown in parentheses [for previous Cabinet list see 34990 A]: Mr Mohammad Khan Junejo Prime Minister; Defence; Atomic Energy Malik Nasim Ahmed Aheer (Education) Interior Mr Sahabzada Yaqub-Khan Foreign Affairs Finance, Economic Affairs, Petroleum and Mian Mohammad Yasin Khan Wattoo Natural Resources Mr Chaudhri Shujaat Hussain Industries Maj.-Gen. (retd) Mohammad Bashir Khan Production Mr Mohammad Aslam Khan Communications and Railways Khattak (Interior) Syed Qasim Shah States and Frontier Regions; Kashmir Affairs Mr Mohammad Ibrahim Khan Baluch Food, Agriculture and Co-operatives Mr Shah Mohammad Pasha Khuro (Culture Labour, Manpower and and Tourism) Overseas Pakistani Affairs Qazi Abdul Majid Abid Information and Broadcasting; Water and Power Syed Sajjad Hayder Education Mr Nisar Mohammad Khan (Railways) Culture and Tourism Haji Mohammad Hanif Tayyab Housing and Works Federal Minister; Local Government and Rural Mr Iqbal Ahmed Khan Development Dr Mahbubul Haq Commerce, Planning and Development Haji Mohammad Saifullah Khan Religious Affairs and Minorities *Appointed . **Appointed . ***Appointed . ****Resigned [see below]. In addition there were 11 Cabinet members with the rank of Minister of State. Resignation of Minister of Local Government and Rural Development Official statement on corruption Mr Anwar Aziz Chaudhury, then Minister of Local Government and Rural Development, resigned on June 2, 1987, after a government anti-corruption committee had confirmed that development funds totalling some Rs 9,500,000 ($ 1.00=Rs 17.393 as at June 3, had been diverted by him into a farmer's co-operative situated in his own constituency. Mr Chaudhury was subsequently replaced in the federal Cabinet by Mr Iqbal Ahmed Khan [see above]. Dr Mahbubul Haq had announced to the National Assembly on May 1 that some Rs 40,000 million were annually misappropriated by Pakistani officials; the announcement followed the presentation to the National Assembly in early1987 of a report by the National Taxation Reforms Commission (NTRC) which estimated that the county's ‘parallel’ or ‘black’ economy accounted for almost one-third of the country's gross national product (GNP). The report cited tax evasion, smuggling and corruption as the ‘three basic maladies’ and recommended radical changes to the country's tax structure as a means of combating tax evasion. Resignation of Minister of Foreign Affairs On Nov. 1 Mr Yaqub-Khan resigned as Minister of Foreign Affairs, a post he had held since 1982 His resignation followed his withdrawal in the second round of voting from elections to the post of Director-General of the UN Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) held in October 1987. Military appointments Gen. Zia retained the post of Chief of Army Staff in a reshuffle of senior armed forces posts effective from March 29, 1987. Gen. Akhtar Abdur Rehman Khan replaced Gen. Rahimuddin Khan as Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Committee (the country's senior staff officer) and Gen. Mirza Aslam Beg replaced Gen. Khalid Mahmud Arif as Vice-Chief of Army Staff. Charging of opposition party leaders with sedition - Reported re-emergence of Communist Party - Opposition parties’ conference in Lahore Nine leading members of the Sind-Baluchistan-Pashtoon Front (SBPF–not, as stated on the Sind-Baluchistan Patriotic Front), including Mr Mumtaz Bhutto (half-brother of the former President and Prime Minister, Mr Zulfiqar AliBhutto) and Mr Abdul Hafiz Pirzada (a senior Cabinet Minister in 1971–77), were charged in Karachi on April 9, 1987, with sedition and anti-state activities. The Times of May 16 reported that the Communist Party of Pakistan, which had been banned in 1954 [see 13746 A] and had become greatly weakened as a result of the secession of Bangladesh from Pakistan in 1971; [for which see 24565 A; 25053 A; 25019 A;, had recently applied for membership of the opposition grouping Movement for the Restoration of Democracy (MRD, originally formed in 1981–see page 31071; for membership in late 1986 see page 34994). An opposition ‘all parties conference’ held in Lahore on Aug. 16 attempted to unite Pakistan's divided opposition and increase pressure on the government to hold general elections, but succeeded only in accentuating party differences. The conference had first been proposed by Mr Maulana Shah Ahmad Noorani, the president of the Jamiatul-Ulema-e-Pakistan (JUP, a progressive Sunni Moslem party). After meeting with other opposition leaders Mr Noorani had announced that the conference would be open to all parties which had denounced the current Constitution (for March 1985 amendments to which, thereby effectively excluding the dominant (pro-Zia) faction of the Pakistan Moslem League (PML) and the right-wing orthodox Sunni Moslem Jamaat-i-Islami (JI). Disagreements between the JUP and the MRD prior to the meeting meant that the Jamiatul-Ulema-e-Islam (JUI, the JUP's MRD- affiliated political rival) took over responsibility for the conference. The JUI's president, Mr Maulana Fazlur Rahman, subsequently held an unscheduled meeting with Mr Junejo (the Prime Minister) which led a number of parties (including the JUP) to boycott the conference. Of the 12 parties which eventually attended the conference the Pakistan People's Party (PPP) and the Awami National Party (ANP, for the formation of which in July 1986 did so only as observers, both refusing to sign a joint declaration calling for President Zia's resignation and the dissolution of the national and provincial assemblies. Raising of voting age By-election The National Assembly on May 6, 1987, voted to raise the voting age for the electorate from 18 to 21 years. Opposition MPs claimed that the decision was an attempt by the government to eliminate a potentially hostile section of the electorate. A by-election held in late September 1987 for the Mian Channu (Punjab province) National Assembly seat resulted in an overwhelming victory for Pir Mohammad Aslam Badola, the candidate supported by the pro-Zia faction of the PML (the by- election having officially been held on a non-party basis). According to the Far Eastern Economic Review of Oct. 8, 1987, Pir Mohammad's victory raised doubts about the ability of the PPP (the main opposition party) seriously to challenge the PML in a general election. New NWFP Cabinet Suspension of Karachi city council A new 10-member North-West Frontier Province (NWFP) Cabinet headed by Mr Arbab Mohammad Jehangir Khan was sworn in on Feb. 5, 1987, by the provincial Governor, Mr Fida Mohammad Khan (by April 24 the Cabinet had been expanded to 15 members). The mayor of Karachi, Mr Abdul Sattar Afghani, and 99 members of the opposition- dominated Karachi metropolitan corporation (ie the elected city council) were arrested on Feb. 12 after clashing with police during a demonstration in protest at the size of the allocation to Karachi of central government revenues. Later that day the government of Sind province suspended the Karachi metropolitan corporation for six months. Presentation of controversial 1987/88 budget - Subsequent amendments to budget following widespread criticism The 1987/88 budget, presented by Mian Wattoo to the National Assembly on June 4, 1987, included the imposition of a controversial ‘defence tax’ and increases in the price of oil, gas and electricity. Mian Wattoo cited ‘threatening circumstances on Pakistan's eastern and western borders’ as justification for the introduction of the defence tax, which consisted of a surcharge of 10 per cent on net income and corporate tax and of 5 per cent of the duty- paid price of imports. Increased outlays on defence, development and debt servicing meant that expenditure was estimated at 13 per cent higher than in 1986/87, at Rs 199,360 million. Total federal receipts were estimated at Rs 176,010 million, leaving an estimated budget deficit of Rs 23,350 million. The Agence France-Presse (AFP) news agency reported that demonstrations against the budget (which had caused prices to rise sharply) took place in Karachi on June 5– 6. In response to the mounting criticism Mr Junejo appointed a 14-member committee of PML MPs to revise the budget and on July 12 he announced the withdrawal of the defence tax and the lowering of the price of oil, gas and electricity. Mr Junejo urged the business community to lower the prices of essential commodities, and also announced that as part of an austerity drive all government officials (including ministers and members of the armed forces) would be equipped with less expensive and smaller motor cars.