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WEEKLY NEWSLETTER
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Pakistan
Index
Benazir Bhutto, the first woman prime minister of a
modern
Muslim state, is clearly the beneficiary of dynastic
politics and
of the emotional ties of a large section of the electorate
to her
charismatic family. However, this legacy as the daughter
of
Zulfiqar Ali Bhutto has proven to be a mixed political
blessing.
Although she inherited her father's party, the PPP, and
has led
it to victory, the party won a very narrow plurality in
the 1988
elections and was therefore forced to enter into a
coalition with
the MQM (representing Pakistan's muhajir community)
and
several other parties in order to form a government.
Benazir
wanted to repeal the Eighth Amendment in order to
strengthen her
position as prime minister but could not muster sufficient
political support and soon abandoned the effort. Benazir
also
faced not only the old problems of the political role of
the
military forces, the division of power between the central
and
provincial governments, and the role of Islam, but also
pressing
new ones, including a large budget deficit and growing
ethnic
violence.
Several early actions appeared to strengthen Benazir's
ability to deal with these problems. In choosing her
cabinet, for
example, Benazir kept the portfolios of finance and
defense for
herself but appointed a seasoned bureaucrat, Wasim Jafari,
as her
top adviser on finance and economic affairs. Her retention
of
Zia's foreign minister, Sahibzada Yaqub Khan, signaled
continuity
in pursuit of the country's policy on Afghanistan. Also,
when
working out their political coalition, the MQM agreed to
support
the PPP government at both federal and provincial levels.
The
agreement, signed by the Sindh-based MQM and the head of
the PPP
in Sindh, pledged to protect and safeguard the interests
of all
the people of Sindh, regardless of language, religion, or
origin
of birth, as well as to stamp out violence and to support
the
rule of law. The agreement--short-lived, as it turned
out--was an
effort to achieve peace and cooperation between the
indigenous
population and the muhajirs in Benazir's troubled
home
province.
Benazir's assumption of office brought great
expectations
from inside as well as outside Pakistan. In her first
address to
the nation, Benazir pledged to work for a progressive and
democratic Pakistan--one guided by Islamic principles of
brotherhood, equality, and tolerance. At the same time,
she
invoked the Quaid-i-Azam's vision for a Pakistan that
would grow
as a modern state. Benazir's rhetoric soared, promising
much to
an expectant nation: strengthened relations with the
United
States, the Soviet Union, and China; protected minority
rights;
increased provincial autonomy; improvement of education;
introduction of a comprehensive national health policy;
enhanced
rights for women, with equal pay for equal work; and the
like.
When faced with the hard realities of government, however,
most
of Benazir's rhetoric did not translate into action.
Although she
was successful in advancing the democratization process in
Pakistani politics and was able to achieve warmer
relations with
the United States and, for a short while, with India as
well,
Benazir's first term in office is usually looked back
upon, by
both foreign and domestic observers, as ineffectual--a
period of
governmental instability. Within months she had lost much
of her
political support.
The scion of the feudal elite of Sindh, the Harvardand
Oxford-educated Benazir was often described as autocratic
during
her first term. Although she spoke of healing wounds and
putting
an end to the past, she was inexorably tied to her
father's
political legacy, which included harsh repression of
political
opposition. Further, her appointment of her mother,
Nusrat, as a
senior minister without portfolio, followed by the
selection of
her father-in-law as chairman of the parliamentary public
accounts committee, was viewed in some quarters as
ill-advised
nepotism. Benazir's government also set up the
controversial
Placement Bureau, which made political appointments to the
civil
bureaucracy, although the bureau was later abolished.
Benazir let
the political legacy of her family intrude, for example,
when
able public servants, who had earlier harbored
disagreements with
her father, were dismissed for reasons other than job
performance.
Benazir also had to contend with growing political
opposition. As a political power broker, she was in the
late
1980s no match for her main rival, then chief minister of
Punjab,
Nawaz Sharif. In the 1988 elections that brought Benazir
to
power, her party had won the largest number of seats in
the
National Assembly but controlled only one of the four
provinces.
Punjab, the most populous province, with over half of
Pakistan's
population, came under the control of the opposition IJI
and of
its leader, Nawaz Sharif, who was the only major political
figure
from the Zia era to survive the reemergence of the PPP. To
maintain her power and implement her programs, Benazir
would have
needed to maneuver successfully between a powerful
president and
the military elite and to reach a political accommodation
with
Nawaz Sharif. Instead, she pursued a course of
confrontation,
including unsuccessful efforts to overthrow him in the
provincial
assembly. In addition, the failure of the PPP to share
power and
spoils with its coalition partners caused further
alienation,
including the withdrawal of the MQM from the government in
October 1989.
The public's sense of disillusionment deepened as the
government failed to deliver its promised employment and
economic
development programs. Inflation and unemployment were
high, and
the country's burgeoning population put increased pressure
on
already overburdened education and health systems. The
government
also failed to deal with the country's growing drug abuse
problem, and there was opposition from religious
conservatives
who distrusted the degree of Benazir's commitment to the
state's
Islamic principles. Despite tensions, disagreements, and
mutual
misgivings, however, Benazir continued to be supported by
the
armed forces. The chief of the army staff, General Mirza
Aslam
Beg, publicly stated his intention to maintain a
politically
neutral army.
Benazir narrowly survived a no-confidence motion in the
National Assembly in October 1989. Her government did not
compile
a record of accomplishment that might have helped to
offset her
other difficulties. No new legislation was passed, and
fewer than
a dozen bills, all minor amendments to existing
legislation,
passed the National Assembly. Benazir complained that
legislation
was stymied because the Senate was dominated by her
opposition.
Benazir's problems were further accentuated in February
1990
when an MQM-directed strike in Karachi escalated into
rioting
that virtually paralyzed the city. The strike had been
called to
protest the alleged abduction of MQM supporters by the
PPP. The
resulting loss of life and property forced Benazir to call
in the
army to restore order. In addition to the violence in
Sindh and
elsewhere, she had to cope with increasing charges of
corruption
leveled not only at her associates, but at her husband,
Asif Ali
Zardari, and father-in-law. On the international front,
Pakistan
faced heightened tensions with India over Kashmir and
problems
associated with the unresolved Afghan war.
Finally, on August 6, 1990, President Ghulam Ishaq Khan
dismissed the Benazir government, dissolved the National
Assembly
as well as the Sindh and North-West Frontier Province
provincial
assemblies, and appointed a caretaker government headed by
Ghulam
Mustafa Jatoi, the leader of the Combined Opposition
Parties in
the National Assembly. In accordance with the
constitution, the
president scheduled national and provincial elections for
October
1990. Ishaq Khan said his actions were justified because
of
corruption, incompetence, and inaction; the release of
convicted
criminals under the guise of freeing political prisoners;
a
failure to maintain law and order in Sindh; and the use of
official government machinery to promote partisan
interests. A
nationwide state of emergency was declared, citing both
"external
aggression and internal disturbance." Benazir called her
dismissal "illegal, unconstitutional, and arbitrary" and
implied
that the military was responsible. She added that the PPP
would
not take to the streets to avoid giving Ghulam Ishaq
Khan's
regime's any pretext for not holding scheduled elections.
The
military proclaimed that its only interest was in
maintaining
order.
Data as of April 1994
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