WAITING FOR ALLAH PAKISTAN’S STRUGGLE FOR DEMOCRACY CHRISTINA LAMB Reproduced By Sani H. Panhwar Member Sindh Council, PPP CONTENTS ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS .. .. .. .. .. .. 1 MAPS .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. 2 CHRONOLOGY .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. 4 INTRODUCTION .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. 7 1. INVENTING A COUNTRY .. .. .. .. .. 18 2. GANGSTERS IN BANGLES’ COME TO ISLAMABAD .. 33 Benazir Bhutto’s inheritance 3. TICKETS TO THE MASKED BALL .. .. .. .. 44 Democracy — Pakistan style 4. THE SUPERPATRONAGE ROADSHOW .. .. .. 56 Feudal politics 5. A SUBCONTINENTAL DYNASTY .. .. .. .. 69 The White Queen and the Evil Dictator 6. ‘BUT MINISTER ...’ .. .. .. .. .. .. 85 Who rules Pakistan? 7. SINDH - LAND OF ROBIN HOODS AND WARRIOR SAINTS 103 8. DIAL-A-KALASIINIKOV .. .. .. .. .. 120 Of ethnic violence and identity problems in Karachi and Hyderabad 9. PROPHETS AND LOSSES .. .. .. .. .. 144 The immoral economy 10. THE GREAT GAME REVISITED .. .. .. .. .. 163 Of blood feuds and tribal wars 11. ‘RESISTANCE TOURS LTD’ .. .. .. .. .. 179 Afghanistan — the war on the borders 12. SQUANDERING VICTORY .. .. .. .. .. 199 Fighting to the last Afghan for a dead man’s dream 13. IN THE NAME OF THE CRESCENT .. .. .. .. 223 India — the dragon on the doorstep 14. THE EMPIRE STRIKES BACK .. .. .. .. .. 238 GLOSSARY .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. 256 SELECT BIBLIOGRAPHY .. .. .. .. .. .. 258 An Elusive Dawn This trembling light, this nightbitten dawn This is not the Dawn we waited for so long This is not the Dawn whose birth was sired By so many lives, so much blood Generations ago we started our confident march, Our hopes were young, our goal within reach After all there must be some limit To the confusing constellation of stars In the vast forest of the sky Even the lazy languid waves Must reach at last their appointed shore And so we wistfully prayed For a consummate end to our painful search. FAIZ AHMED FAIZ ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS Throughout the length and breadth of Pakistan there are many people for whose help I am grateful and because of whom I have an enduring affection for the country — so many that it is not possible to mention them all. The Arbab family, Naseem and Sehyr Saigol, Kamal Azfar, Arif Nizami, the late Brigadier Salik, Najam Sethi and Nusrat Javed were all of particular help. Not least among those to whom I owe thanks are the many Afghan mujaheddin with whom I travelled into war zones and late into the night discussed the region’s past and future. Hamid Karzay, Hamid and Ishaq Gailani and Asim Nasser-Zia were particular friends, as was Commander Abdul Haq, with whom I shared a fondness for ice- cream. Sir Nicholas Barrington, the British High Commissioner in Islamabad, also deserves a special mention for his help in trying to stop the Interior Ministry deporting me. Thanks are owed to my colleagues at the Financial Times for their support, in particular to Robin Pauley and Jurek Martin for encouraging me to give up a perfectly decent job at Central TV to go out and live in Pakistan. Professor Akbar Ahmed at Cambridge University has been an invaluable friend and sounding board. My editor, Jon Riley, has patiently guided me through my first book. Above all, thanks to my parents for putting up with a daughter frequently lost in the wilds and my endless battles with the word processor. Waiting for Allah; Copyright © www.bhutto.org 1 Waiting for Allah; Copyright © www.bhutto.org 2 Waiting for Allah; Copyright © www.bhutto.org 3 CHRONOLOGY OF PAKISTAN 1947: Independence from British Rule and formation of Pakistan from Muslim majority provinces of India. War with India over Kashmir, the only Muslim majority province to stay in India. 1948: Death of Jinnah, founder of Pakistan and first head of state. Liaquat Ali Khan takes over as first Prime Minister. 1951: Liaquat assassinated in mysterious circumstances. Civil servants become dominant force. 1952: First ethnic riots in the majority province of East Pakistan, at attempts to impose Urdu as the national language and lack of representation for Bengalis in central administration. 1953: First religious riots against minority Ahmadi sect. First martial law imposed in Lahore. 1954: Pakistan joins SEATO, a US-sponsored military alliance, and US becomes principal military supplier. 1955: Provinces of West Pakistan merged into ‘One Unit’, causing resentment among smaller provinces. 1956: First Constitution framed. 1958: First military coup under command of General Ayub Khan. Parliament dissolved and martial law imposed. 1962: Second Constitution introduced to install a centralized presidential system underwritten by the military. 1964: Ayub ‘defeats’ Fatima Jinnah, sister of the country’s founder, in Presidential election. 1965: Second war with India over Kashmir. Defeat weakens Ayub’s position. 1966: Awami League, main party of East Pakistan, proposes a confederation of the two regions. Waiting for Allah; Copyright © www.bhutto.org 4 1969: Ayub hands over to General Yahya Khan after period of unrest. 1970: Pakistan’s first free elections. Awami League sweeps East Pakistan and Z. A. Bhutto’s People’s Party wins majority in West Pakistan. 1971: Army refuses to transfer power to Awami League and sends in troops to East Pakistan. India goes to aid of Bengalis who secede from Pakistan to form Bangladesh. Z. A. Bhutto takes over as Martial Law Administrator of remaining Pakistan. 1972: Bhutto, now Prime Minister, devalues rupee by 131 percent and begins nationalization campaign. 1973: Third Constitution introduced, but this time with the support of all political parties. Baluchistan government dismissed and N W FP government resigns in protest. Army sent into Baluchistan to deal with insurrection. 1977: PPP government rigs country’s second parliamentary elections. Army called out to deal with resulting protest movement and martial law declared in cities. General Zia ul-Haq takes over in coup, promising elections within ninety days. Bhutto charged with murder. 1978: Islamicization process begun in attempt to legitimize military rule. 1979: Bhutto executed. Political activity banned. Soviet Union invades Afghanistan. 1980: Afghan refugees begin pouring into Pakistan. US ends Pakistan’s international isolation by declaring support. 1983: Army sent into Sindh to suppress revolt against military rule. 1984: Benazir Bhutto leaves Pakistan for London. Zia declares himself ‘elected’ President after referendum on Islamicization. 1985: Zia announces Mohammad Khan Junejo Prime Minister of Assembly elected on non-party basis to form civilian buffer for military rule. Waiting for Allah; Copyright © www.bhutto.org 5 1986: Benazir Bhutto returns to Pakistan to largest ever crowds for a political leader. 1987: Bhutto marries Asif Zardari, a Sindhi feudal. 1988: Soviet troops begin withdrawing from Afghanistan. Zia dismisses his own handpicked government, dissolves assemblies and announces elections. Ten weeks later he is killed along with entire top brass of the army and US ambassador in a mysterious plane crash. PPP emerges as the largest party in elections but not with a majority. After long delay, Bhutto is allowed to form government. 1989: Soviet troops complete withdrawal from Afghanistan but Pakistan-backed resistance fails to topple communist regime in Kabul. 1990: India and Pakistan on verge of fourth war after unrest breaks out in Kashmir. Troops once more sent into cities of Sindh to sort out ethnic violence. Bhutto government dismissed. Nawaz Sharif, army-backed former protégé of General Zia, wins election to become Prime Minister. PPP trounced. Waiting for Allah; Copyright © www.bhutto.org 6 INTRODUCTION INVITATION TO THE TAMASHA ‘Benazir Benazir Wazir-e-Azam1 Benazir!’ Thousands upon thousands of underfed bodies crushed together in Lyari stadium in one of the poorest slums of Karachi, hanging from skeletal trees, crowded on overlooking balconies, screaming frenziedly for the young woman they believed would lift them out of their miserable poverty. Above the excited din, flabby and sweat-stained members of the Pakistan People’s Party jostled for the microphone to compete with the static in obsequious songs eulogizing their leader. As Benazir Bhutto’s Japanese jeep pressed its way through crowded narrow bazaar streets-to reach the feverish audience, fireworks exploded into the night sky, reflected in thousands of burning eyes. It was impossible not to share in the excitement, as the most dormant of Western senses were dizzied and assailed by the thumping discordant music and heady Eastern aroma of sweat, jasmine and rose-petals, curling, hashish smoke and sizzling samosas. It was the tamasha to end all tamashas. But Big Brother, in the form of Pakistan’s military, was as always not far away. Among the pulsing throng slipped intelligence agents, sending back reports to the, sterile capital of Islamabad one be fingered impatiently by the slyly grinning general who was One of the world’s longest-ruling dictators. Billed the ‘People’s Wedding’, the public ceremony of the marriage of Benazir Bhutto with Asif Zardari was a barely disguised political rally. For me, a young English journalist on my first foreign assignment, the spectacle was simultaneously fascinating and repelling — what could these most marginalized of people really expect from the white-skinned feudal princess, arriving glitter- dad and attendant-surrounded on her rose-strewn stage? Yet they danced that night in the fever of hope. In contrast, barely disguising his boredom, lounging next to Benazir in starched white on a red velvet throne, was Asif, the chain- smoking playboy who would ultimately help bring her down and himself end up behind bars. 1 Wazir-e-Azam: Prime Minister Waiting for Allah; Copyright © www.bhutto.org 7 Her every move under scrutiny by General Zia’s thousand eyes, as it had been for eleven years since her father was removed from the premiership and subsequently hanged, Benazir’s courage and stamina were impressive. The wedding scene was a striking contrast to the silk-lined Kensington flat where I had interviewed her for the first time four months earlier. But even then, outlining her political plans as she sat surrounded by extravagant bouquets congratulating her on her engagement, Benazir Bhutto was clearly a woman with a destiny.