The Interior Minister Ahsan Iqbal suggested that some hidden hands are attempting to sabotage democratic process in the country but the nation would break the cycle of political instability in a post on his face book account. The Minister said Pakistan’s history has fluctuated between democracy and Martial Laws and it became a pattern of our political culture. He claimed that some hidden hands and inertia are trying to drift the democratic process to the same old design.
The alternation of between elected governments and one man rule is not desirable, but the oligarchic political elite have to share most of the blame for the imposition of Martial Laws in the country. Former East Pakistan was a majority province but the feudal politicians of Punjab and Sindh did not give much respect to Bengali Prime Minister like Khwaja Nazim-u-Din, and Hussain Shaheed Soharwardi. The Punjab Chief Minister Mumtaz Daultana used to defy the authority of Bengali and Urdu speaking Prime Ministers. It was the political instability created by the feudal politicians that necessitated the declaration of 1958 Martial Law.
The fair and transparent general elections of 1970 gave majority to political leadership from East Pakistan. The feudal political clique under the umbrella of Z .A Bhutto did not accept the mandate of Bengalis and pushed the country to dismemberment. After the promulgation of 1973 Constitution, the then Prime Minister ZA Bhutto dismissed the elected NAP provincial government of Baluchistan which triggered the political insatiability and the provincial coalition government of NAP and JUI in KP (the Then NWFP) resigned in protest. The NAP leadership was put behind the bars in Hyderabad Prison and trial under treason charges was initiated against them. The rigged elections of March 1977 provided an opportunity to the opposition political parties to launch a violent agitation the PPP government. Delaying tactics were made in the talks between the negotiating teams of the government and opposition. In a massive use of force more than one hundred political workers were killed in single incident of firing by government forces in Lahore. The total breakdown of law and order paved the way for Martial Law on 5th July 1977. A PIA flight carrying the sitting COAS General Pervez Musharraf along with some 200 passengers was not allowed to land at Karachi Airport. The pilot was directed to land the plane in some foreign country risking the lives of the passengers and crew. Hence, military takeover was inevitable like necessary evil. The democracy is now flourishing due to rule of law and measures of transparency. The theory of hidden hands does not reflect the reality as the country is moving towards the destination of true functional democracy.
