my  block

where uzairs roam

Ardeshir Cowasjee’s latest column in Dawn, ‘The maker and the shakers’ is a one-page summary of the presidents and prime ministers Pakistan has suffered since independence. Having heard Benazir Bhutto sing her father’s praises a few weeks ago here at the LSE, I was extremely interested to hear someone as blunt and (relatively) unaligned as Mr. Cowasjee describe his service to the nation. His description, though brief, did not disappoint:

Zulfikar Ali Bhutto: The first ever civilian martial law administrator holding conjointly the post of president of the republic, which dual post he held from December 20, 1971, to August 14, 1973, on which date he promulgated a constitution at noon, which he effectively distorted some four hours later, and declared himself prime minister. He is remembered for all the wrong things, for the evil he did, and for being hanged. His younger son died in mysterious circumstances during the presidency of his successor and executor, his elder son was murdered during the prime ministership of his daughter Benazir.

I also emailed Mr. Cowasjee separately to ask if he could expand on this paragraph, asking specifically about the oft-repeated threat on national radio to break the legs of any PPP leader who dared attend the National Assembly. Again, Mr. Cowasjee was brief:

My opinion:
Bhutto was an absolute Bastard.
Good wishes
AC

Incidentally, if you’re at all interested in the machinations that led to Bangladesh’s independence, this article by the AP bureau chief is excellent and quite short.

Mr. Cowasjee also has a paragraph on Nawaz Sharif’s administration:

Nawaz Sharif: Prime minister, twice elected, twice dismissed for the same reasons, alternating with Benazir — November 6, 1990, to July 17, 1993, (with a short break between the dismissal of his government on April 18, 1993, and its restoration on May 26, 1993) and from February 17, 1997, to October 12, 1999. The only ‘democratic’ prime minister to have organised a storming of his Supreme Court by his partymen.

It’s amazing that that last fact is so often ignored. The PPP’s two administrations were certainly more brazenly corrupt, but it’s amazing how many apologists for Nawaz Sharif you meet. The fact is he was just as bad for democracy, undermining the process by constantly playing politics with the President (Farooq Leghari) and the Supreme Court. The case can also be made that he was equally corrupt, though perhaps in less obvious, more indirect ways such as altering tax policies to suit his own industries.

Mr. Cowasjee’s thesis is that Pakistan’s leaders have been self-serving and tragically incompetent. How ironic then that Pakistan’s ambassador to the United States should say proclaim that India’s devotion to democracy is a model that Pakistan should pursue, and follow that up with:

Our political leadership was not as well developed. They had the good fortune of having a narrow family leadership guiding that country for 30 years.
(Emphasis mine.)

Update: More good reading…‘Judicial Murder of a Prime Minister’ and Mr. Cowasjee’s ‘Keeping the record straight’.