Bhutto’s Peoples’ Party on the Wane?

PPP – a party running in loss?

The Pakistan Peoples’ Party (PPP), Pakistan’s largest political entity founded in 1967 by former Prime Minister (PM) Zulfiqar Ali Bhutto, currently finds a double crisis. On the one hand the party faces a serious crisis of credibility among the masses that it represents and the second is a crisis of commitment, or lack of it, to the ideals that Bhutto and later his charismatic daughter Benazir Bhutto stood and struggled for. The image and the performance of the party is revolving around the personality and performance of it’s co-chairman and President, Asif Ali Zardari who “has no feel of the pulse of the people – he has become completely detached from reality and (is) living in a bunker” and “there is probably not much space there for making more mistakes,” Ahmed Bilal Mehboob, Pakistan’s prominent political commentator noted in a news item to The Age.[1] The news item said that Zardari’s approval rating was 19% in January 2009 against his predecessor, military dictator-president General (r) Musharraf’s 17%.

PPP’s brief background

Political circumstances surrounding the party: At a time when the socialist-led students movement was sweeping the world in the late 1960s, Bhutto’s populist manifesto galvanized people in the length and breadth of Pakistan, giving his party the second largest chunk of seats in the then parliament that comprised East and West Pakistan in 1970. The nationalist Awami League led by Sheikh Mujeebur Rehman from what is Bangladesh today had won the majority but Bhutto’s reluctance to share power with Rehman and the military president General Yahya Khan’s reservations on Rehman’s closeness with archrival India, resulted in a power struggle that stoked the already simmering separatist movement beyond control. Active support by the Indian intelligence agencies for the League’s militant wing Mukti Bahni and the eventual Indian invasion of East Pakistan led to the break up and resulted in the emergence of Bangladesh as an independent country in December 1971 and the capitulation of over 90,000 Pakistani soldiers to the Indian army.

Bhutto rises to the occasion: The disgraced President, General Yahya Khan handed over power to Bhutto, who embarked on a painful journey of rubbing off the humiliation of defeat, reviving Pakistanis’ confidence, convening the national parliament and negotiating 90,000 prisoners out of the Indian captivity. Bhutto also successfully led the preparation and implementation of a consensus Constitution in 1973, under which he became the first elected PM of Pakistan, until General Ziaul Haq ousted him in July 1977. Bhutto was hanged in April 1979 after a controversial ruling by the Supreme Court, which had found him guilty of murdering a political opponent. From then on, his wife Nusrat Bhutto and daughter Benazir Bhutto took the reins of the party and waged a struggle that climaxed in December 1988 with Benazir Bhutto becoming the PM after winning the majority in the general elections. She also won a second term in October 1993. In the general elections on February 18, 2008, the PPP again secured a simple majority, probably riding on the wave of sympathy generated by the gruesome assassination of Benazir Bhutto minutes after an election rally in Rawalpindi on Dec 27, 2007.

Party becoming from stronger to weaker: Now, the PPPs’ journey from scratch in 1967 to four stints in power – one under Bhutto senior, two under daughter Benazir Bhutto and the current one practically under Asif Ali Zardari, Ms. Bhutto’s widower, is based on a legacy that Mr. Bhutto had left behind; Roti, Kapra Aur Makaan (bread, clothing, and shelter) was the slogan that touched hearts and minds and lives on even today. Through the socialist-style nationalization of industries and radical workers’ rights reforms, Bhutto also endeared himself with millions of workers in the industrial and agricultural sectors. Regardless of the disastrous impact that the nationalization had on Pakistan’s economy and politics in the years to come, millions of poor Pakistanis looked at Bhutto as someone who had given them dignity. That, in short, is why thousands endured rigorous jail terms, many immolated themselves and scores committed suicides to protest Bhutto’s execution. With the passage of time party’s vote bank has considerably shrunk, yet the PPP still prides itself as an entity that sits deep in the working class, probably because Bhutto senior had promised the common man what he yearns for the whole life; work, shelter and self-respect above all. Yet, since returning to power in March 2008, the PPP, led by President Zardari, seems to be on a drift away from the common man.

Plummeting ratings of the party & leadership: If approval ratings are indicative enough of the political trends in Pakistan, then no other government, in the recent political history of Pakistan, has slipped as sharply as Yousaf Raza Gillani-led PPP’s government has – 64% in June 2008 and 19% in December 2008.[2] Party’s co-chairman and President of Pakistan, Asif Ali Zardari’s approval ratings also indicated the sharp decline on the basis of his perceived credibility by the people of Pakistan – 45% in June 2008 and 20% in December 2008. While his main political contender, Mian Nawaz Sharif’s approval ratings were 60% in December 2008.[3] According to a New York Times report in the last week of February 2009: “Mr. Sharif’s approval ratings outstripped Mr. Zardari’s by large margins.”[4] In an essay on the World Socialist Website, Zardari’s approval rating was noted as 13% against Nawaz Sharif’s 86%.[5] Zardari is also the Vice President of Socialist International, according the last paragraph of his official bio.[6]

Is PPP what its leadership is? As the party and its leadership face tumultuous political times, the party’s leadership took extremely unpopular decisions over the past one year that included it’s co-chairman’s backtracking from three written agreements with Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N), PPP’s then coalition partner in the Center and Punjab, mainly on the issue of restoration of judiciary to November 2, 2007’s position. Political agreements are “not like Quran or Hadith,” Zardari had said in August 2008 referring to the agreements that he had earlier inked with Nawaz Sharif.[7] Pakistan is an honor-based society and these words will haunt PPP for a long time with nothing in defense coming from the party.

President Zardari, who has become the face of the party and was unanimously chosen by the party as party’s co-chairman, also made himself unpopular with the powerful Pakistani establishment by issuing statements on key Pakistani issues including Kashmir and the nuclear doctrine.[8] In his inaugural address to the joint session of the Parliament, Zardari said that he would be the first ever president willing to “surrender” the presidential powers his predecessor military dictator President, General (r) Musharraf had accumulated under the 17th Constitutional Amendment that included the power to dismiss the government and dissolve the Parliament. Once in the office, Zardari did not move anything as he had promised and his close aides, including then Law Minister Farooq Hamid Naek, carved out an argument that the political parties in the National Assembly should bring in a “consensus bill” for the 18th Constitutional Amendment to reverse the powers back to the Parliament and Prime Minister.

Character assassination or reality? A Wall Street Journal story in February 2009 said that President Zardari continuously insulted the senior cabinet ministers and party leaders. These included former Information Minister, Sherry Rahman and former leader of the House in Senate, Senator Raza Rabbani. Sherry was called a “witch” and Rabbani “impotent.”[9] The spokesperson to the President, Farhatullah Babar rejected the story but the atmosphere prevails among the political observers that this could have been true. Later, both the leaders resigned from their political titles and Sherry was also removed unceremoniously from her party office of the Secretary Information. A hawkish Fauzia Wahab replaced her and in her first ever press conference as the Secretary Information demanded “self censorship” from the media.[10] Sherry’s removal did not promote the democratic credentials and the inside management of the party. It is commonly believed that Zardari’s inner circle of friends also play the role of his political aides and advisors. Most of them are hawks in key administrative positions with absolutely no or very-little political training. In the presence of these people, the larger view and input from the party workers, parliamentarians and leaders was simply ignored that pushed the party, its government and leadership deeper in the hole of unpopularity.

Party’s silence on a constitutional aberration: On the day of the oath-taking of the new 50 Senators on March 12, 2009, the copy of the constitution given to the House included the constitutional amendments that General (r) Musharraf had brought under his Emergency Order on November 3, 2007. Senator Ibrahim Khan, Jamaat-e-Islami, pointed to this fact as these were made the part of the Constitution without following the due parliamentary procedure but his concerns fell on the deaf ears. The oath was administered. The government and the party did not say anything and this was misnomer-ed as constitutional. Referring to the President, one of Pakistan’s leading commentators, Talat Masood said that Zardari was “destroying Bhutto’s legacy.”[11] It was PM Zulfiqar Ali Bhutto, President Zardari’s hanged and politically-immortalized father in law who made the Constitution that all the political entities of Pakistan had mutually agreed on in 1973.

Issues that party-ranks failed to take the right-side on: Among a few others, the following make the most important issues which the party and its leadership should have stood on the right side:

1. Zardari’s agreements with Nawaz Sharif: These either shouldn’t have been inked or must have been adhered to. PPP’s late Chairperson, Mohtarma Benazir Bhutto, also signed a political-policy document called, Charter of Democracy in May 2006; the present government should have respected its articles.

2. Reversal of the 17th Amendment to empower the Parliament: President Zardari should have kept his words to “surrender” his powers under the 17th Amendment.

3. Restoration of the judges: All the deposed judges, especially the Chief Justice Iftikhar Muhammad Chaudhry, should have been restored as promised by late Benazir Bhutto and various other PPP leaders when they were in opposition. People of Pakistan got them restored, via the unprecedented non-violent Long March, in the wee hours of March 16 via an Executive Order of the Prime Minister. The lawyers and the opposition were demanding this action for over a year. Islamabad was completely sealed and according to news reports, containers around Islamabad were welded together so that they could not be moved as it happened in Lahore where a lifter kept removing them from the roads. Pakistan’s Army Chief also played an important role in “getting the deal done.” This is not interpreted as a good sign for Pakistan’s fledgling democracy. For Pakistan to become a democracy, “civilian leaders will be required to display a level of tact and competence that has not yet been evident.”[12] The competence level was exposed on the mismanagement of a political issue via administrative crackdown that gravely destabilized Pakistan on the occasion of Long March.

4. Imposition of the governor’s rule in Punjab: The party and its leadership totally failed in preventing what is termed as totally unnecessary, uncalled for and noted as an insult to the mandate of nearly 90 million people of the Punjab province. As of March 22, 2009, the hawks in the party have failed to “deliver Punjab.”

5. Expulsion of and issuance of a show-cause notice to Barrister Aitzaz Ahsan: Aitzaz is among the most senior politicians of Pakistan and the PPP. On February 17, 2009, the party leadership expelled him from the Central Executive Committee. He was also issued a show-cause notice by party’s Secretary General, Jehangir Badar.[13]

Late Benazir Bhutto’s political secretary, Nahid Khan, said on March 22, 2009, at the occasion of hoisting the Pakistani flag at the restored Chief Justice’s residence that: “PPP is a party of the people of Pakistan but I see that the gap between the leadership and people has increased. This needs to be bridged.” Nahid, her husband along with many other mainstream PPP leaders who once were close to late Benazir Bhutto are now pushed outside the arena and those are now ruling inside the party who are Zardari’s favorites.

A political party is being run in a non-political manner and silence prevails within.

References

[1] http://www.theage.com.au/world/bungling-zardari-squanders-the-bhutto-legacy-20090320-94h3.html?page=-1. Last accessed on March 21, 2009.

[2] IRI surveys

[3] Ibid.

[4] NYT, February 25, 2009.

[5] http://www.wsws.org/articles/2008/jul2008/pak-j01.shtml. Last accessed on March 20, 2009.

[6] http://www.presidentofpakistan.gov.pk/default.aspx. Last accessed on March 22, 2009.

[7] Daily Times, August 24, 2008.

[8] President Zardari hinted at “some good news” by the end of this month in his press conference on September 9, 2008. And “We will most certainly not use it first,” in a video conference interview with Indian notables on November 22, 2008. “This is the first time that Pakistan has advocated the policy of no-first use of nuclear weapons,” India’s prestigious The Hindu’s front page read on November 23, 2008.

[9] http://online.wsj.com/article/SB123561113179577559.html. Last accessed on March 18, 2009.

[10] Broadcasted live on TV channels on March 19, 2009.

[11] Ibid to # 2.

[12] The Idea of Pakistan by Stephen P. Cohen; page 278.

[13] PPP’s Secretary Information hinted that if Aitzaz would “appeal” to party leadership, he expulsion from the CEC might be reconsidered. The News, March 22, 2009.

Comments/remarks: pager@crss.pk

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Pakistan's politics: Just like the bad old days

Feb 26th 2009 | LAHORE

From The Economist print edition

The two big mainstream parties are at each other’s throats again

'PAKISTANIS! Rise and revolt!' Thus thundered Nawaz Sharif, the popular opposition leader and former prime minister of Pakistan, after he was disqualified from holding public office by the Supreme Court on February 25th. The court also turfed his younger brother, Shahbaz Sharif, out of Punjab’s provincial parliament and his post as its chief minister.

The court upheld a ban on the elder Sharif because he was convicted in 2000 of ordering the hijacking of a plane carrying the then army chief, General Pervez Musharraf, moments before his seizure of power the previous year. Under the constitution, convicts cannot contest elections. Therefore, having failed to launch an appeal against his conviction, as part of a deal he struck with Mr Musharraf at the time, to go into exile rather than languish in a Pakistani prison, Mr Sharif was disqualified.

His younger brother, Shahbaz, was also debarred by the court. So Punjab will now be run by its governor, Salman Taseer, until a coalition of the ruling People’s Party of Pakistan (PPP) and the Pakistan Muslim League (Q), once Mr Musharraf’s “king’s party”, proves it has a parliamentary majority there. Legally, the court’s rulings against the Sharifs seem sound. But they are nakedly political, making them hugely unpopular, and may prove destabilising.

The case follows a falling-out between Mr Sharif and President Asif Zardari of the PPP (husband of the late Benazir Bhutto) who joined forces last year to oust Mr Musharraf, then the president. They also set up coalition governments in Islamabad, Pakistan’s capital, and Punjab. Many doubted their two parties could ever work together, even in the national interest. So it proved. Defying Mr Zardari, Mr Sharif continued to insist on the reinstatement of Iftikhar Chaudhry, a deposed chief justice who has vowed to undo everything Mr Musharraf did, including his legal reprieve for Mr Zardari from corruption charges. Understandably, the president was against this. In an effort to circumvent his supposed ally, he therefore reinstated 56 other judges deposed by Mr Musharraf—but not their former leader, Mr Chaudhry.

Annoyed, Mr Sharif pulled out of the federal government several months ago. When the country’s lawyers recently announced plans for a giant rally in support of Mr Chaudhry on March 12th, he vowed to support them. Unnerved by the prospect of his coalition partner in Punjab sponsoring an agitation against the PPP-led federal government, he encouraged the Supreme Court to rule against Mr Sharif.

Mr Sharif’s response was blunt. “Zardari offered us a deal last month,” he declared shortly after the court’s ruling. “Ditch Iftikhar Chaudhry and support Hameed Dogar [the current chief justice, a Zardari favourite], and the court will absolve you.” But, said Mr Sharif self-righteously, “we refused to budge on principles.” He did not add the particular reason why he wants Mr Chaudhry back: to scrap changes Mr Musharraf made to the constitution, which at present forbid him from becoming prime minister for a third time.

Protests broke out across the main urban areas of Punjab following the judgment. Mr Sharif’s Pakistan Muslim League (Nawaz) and other opposition parties are planning to band together with the protesting lawyers to raise hell. The press is also sympathetic to Mr Sharif. So in the short term, domestic Pakistani politics are going to get even uglier. That is the last thing America wants as President Barack Obama gets ready to unfurl a regional strategy for Afghanistan. At its core will be the necessity for a political consensus in Pakistan. No wonder Mr Sharif’s first visitor after the court’s decision was Bryan Hunt, the American consul-general in Lahore.

>NewsClots<

PAKISTAN: Judicial obedience and a weak rule of law continue under the new government

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE February 24, 2009 ALRC-CWS-10-10-2009

HUMAN RIGHTS COUNCIL Tenth session

A written statement submitted by the Asian Legal Resource Centre (ALRC), a non-governmental organisation with general consultative status

PAKISTAN: Judicial obedience and a weak rule of law continue under the new government

When the People's Party of Pakistan swept into power in April 2008, it did so promising to right the wrongs of the constitutional amendments made by former President Pervez Musharraf, when he sacked the chief justice and disbanded the courts under emergency rule on November 3, 2007. It even cited a time period for the clean-up: 30 days.

Ten months on, the government has reinstated some of the rebel judges (those who had refused to sign the new oath under Musharraf), but it has not restored them to their pre-emergency rule working environment. Emergency restrictions remain, and the promised constitutional amendments have not yet been reversed.

These include those that granted the president the power to overthrow the assembly (through Article 58 (2) (b)), fire members of the judiciary, and -- along with the federal law minister -- appoint judges. The 17th amendment, which allows the president to hold two offices, such as army chief, has also not been repealed.

Five judges, including former Chief Justice Iftikhar Chaudhry, have refused to accept reinstatement under the new conditions, and they remain deposed. The current chief justice, Abdul Hameed Dogar, has kept his seat despite being undemocratically hand-picked by the former president.

The legal community in Pakistan has maintained its two-year campaign for an independent judiciary, with many bar associations refusing entry to government-compliant judges and continually inviting the former chief justice to give addresses. Every Thursday court boycotts are being held across the country, from district levels to the high court. In short, the legal system is fractured and floundering.

Severe long term damage is being done to the rule of law in Pakistan as a result. Under Iftikhar Chaudhry the supreme judicial counsel -- now disbanded -- had formed a human rights committee, with judges taking an increasing number of suo moto cases relating to forced disappearances by state intelligence agencies, land grabbing by the military and the privatisation of the steel mills. The judiciary asserted an unprecedented call for independence, where in the past it had been a tool of the armed forces and the government. Genuine progress was being made against corruption and human rights abuses.

But now judges are hireable and fire-able by government officials, and the recommendations of the judiciary hold little weight. Public confidence in the legal system -- very high at the peak of the hard-fought lawyers' movement last year -- is waning, as seen in the increase of violent vigilante incidents. Corruption is finding little challenge in the courts, and even the right to demonstrate has been revoked in certain places. Lawyers planning a second 'long march' across the country to the capital, Islamabad, and a sit-in, on 12 March this year, are being met with the government's activation of section 144 of the Criminal Procedure Code (CrPC), which bans gatherings of over five people. Furthermore, it has made little headway in investigating the burning of six people, including two lawyers, during the protests. These are disturbing signs of the turn the country is taking under President Zardari, and is contrary to the will of many civilians, who expressed their desire for democratic rule last year by joining the lawyers in the streets.

With the judiciary cowed and acting as tools of the ruling party, and the legitimate chief justice deposed, respect for the rule of law is already sputtering, as is the credibility of Pakistan's new rulers.

The government needs to restore the judiciary to its position on 2nd November, 2007. To not do so, will leave it vulnerable to those autocrats, particularly within the military, who have plagued the country for so much of its history.

Rather than taking the country into a new era -- one which protects and implements the fundamental rights of the people of Pakistan -- President Zardari and his supporters are directing the country and its judiciary on a course to catastrophe.

About ALRC: The Asian Legal Resource Centre is an independent regional non-governmental organisation holding general consultative status with the Economic and Social Council of the United Nations. It is the sister organisation of the Asian Human Rights Commission. The Hong Kong-based group seeks to strengthen and encourage positive action on legal and human rights issues at local and national levels throughout Asia.

Posted on 2009-02-24 www.ahrchk.net