Cover Story
Salvaging the Nuclear Honour
How can we protect our nuclear assets from those we ask for alms and aids every so often?
“We will eat grass, but make a nuclear bomb.”
Zulfikar Ali Bhutto is remembered for saying the above words at the Punjab Governor’s House in Lahore in 1974. Staying true to his word, Z.A. Bhutto invited Dr. Abdul Qadeer Khan from the Netherlands to Pakistan to make an atomic bomb. Much to the world’s surprise, Pakistan successfully made the bomb, however, both Bhutto and Dr. Khan were also made an example for pursuing their nuclear ambitions. Today, Pakistan is a nuclear power, but its nuclear assets are hanging in the balance at the hands of global powers looking desperate to deprive Pakistan of its nuclear capability. In his autobiography, Professor Fateh Muhammad Malik, who is Pakistan’s prominent intellectual, researcher and academician, has narrated many historical events, of which he is an eyewitness.
In 1974, when Hanif Ramay was the Chief Minister of Punjab, he brought Professor Fateh Muhammad Malik on deputation from the Department of Education to the Department of Information and Prof. Malik became the Chief Minister’s Special Assistant for Information on the day when India carried out its nuclear tests in Pokhran in the state of Rajasthan, India. The next day, Prime Minister Zulfikar Ali Bhutto came to Lahore to give the country’s official reaction to India’s nuclear tests. A huge stage was prepared for him in the Governor’s House, on which representatives of all the provincial governments were present. Speaking on the occasion, Z.A. Bhutto said that Pakistan would get its own nuclear bomb even if we had to eat grass.
Prof. Fateh Muhammad Malik’s autobiography titled “Ashiana Ghubart Se Ashiyan Dar Ashiyan” has recently been published and is easily available in bookstores across the country. In his autobiography, Prof. Malik writes that when Bhutto made this announcement, there was so much excitement in the audience, however, the authorities sitting on the stage seemed to be quite worried and started looking at each other. Then within a brief period of time, many important personalities including Hanif Ramay left the Pakistan People’s Party (PPP). Prof. Malik has taught at some of the world’s leading universities such as Columbia University in America, Heidelberg University in Germany, and St. Petersburg University in Russia, in addition to many educational institutions of repute in Pakistan, and that is why he does not make any claims without substantial proof.
He believes that Bhutto was threatened by the US Secretary of State Henry Kissinger to stop the nuclear programme, but when Bhutto did not abandon the programme, he met a terrible fate. When a political leader reaches the peak of his popularity, then maintaining the fame becomes a formidable challenge for him as a slight error or a discrepancy between words and actions may immediately turn him from a revered hero to an evil figure. In 1970, according to Prof. Malik. Zulfikar Ali Bhutto was so popular in Punjab that some grey-headed citizens would say, “If Bhutto hangs his party’s ticket around a dog’s neck, people will vote for that dog too.”
When Bhutto came to power, he could not strengthen his party and it weakened further due to the infighting between ideological workers and opportunistic landlords. In his book, Prof. Malik says it is a pity that the people of the Pakistan People’s Party did not realize that General Yahya Khan and his imperialist American patrons had given power to Bhutto under compulsion after their successive failures and when Bhutto enraged the imperialist forces, General Ziaul Haq was deployed to topple Z. A. Bhutto.
He writes that on the one hand, an enlightened man like Dr. Mubasher Hassan could not tolerate a respectable figure like Malik Meraj Khalid, and on the other hand, Maulana Kausar Niazi forced ideological people like Khurshid Hasan Mir to quit the party. Prof. Fateh Muhammad Malik was a close friend of many prominent poets and writers, including Faiz Ahmed Faiz, Ahmed Nadeem Qasmi and Ahmed Faraz.
Ahmed Nadeem Qasmi was a progressive but he was not happy with Faiz Ahmed Faiz. Both Faiz and Ahmed Faraz were annoyed by Minister of Education Abdul Hafeez Pirzada and Information Minister Kausar Niazi.
Z.A. Bhutto appointed Faiz as his cultural advisor but Abdul Hafeez Pirzada forced him to leave the post. Amed Faraz was associated with a subsidiary organization of the Information Department, however, Kausar Niazi transferred him to Kalat. When the Ill-intentioned move could not achieve its purpose, Kausar Niazi got frustrated with losing to Faraz and tried to frame him for blasphemy, but Prof. Malik rose to the occasion to save Ahmad Faraz from this conspiracy. When the Bhutto government was dethroned, Pirzada and Kausar Niazi were the first ones to leave the People’s Party in the lurch, but people like Faiz and Faraz continued to resist the dictatorship.
Prof. Malik says that during the reign of General Ziaul Haq, Faiz Ahmad Faiz was unofficially sentenced to the punishment of exile and during the banishment, he was repeatedly offered big positions in various Indian universities by the Indian government, but he refused. Once the Indian prime minister Indira Gandhi celebrated Faiz Ahmed Faiz’s birthday in Delhi, he said that the great respect and honour accorded to him was actually because of his beloved country Pakistan. When this news reached Pakistan, General Zia invited him to return to Pakistan. He did and had a secret meeting with General Zia, the details of which were provided by Faiz only to Prof. Malik and Begum Sarfraz Iqbal. The autobiography of Professor Fateh Muhammad Malik is replete with many such events which corroborate the greatness of people of high stature of that era.
During the era of Z.A. Bhutto, permits were issued to buy a new car, the fee of which was ten thousand rupees. Renowned journalist Shorish Kashmiri wanted to buy a car. When Professor Malik came to know about it, he arranged a permit for Kashmiri and personally presented it to him. However, Shorish Kashmiri returned the permit straightaway. In a case related to the Tehreek Khatme-e-Nubuwwat, the Punjab Police were looking for Javed Hashmi. Mujibur Rehman Shami, a veteran Urdu journalist, hid Javed Hashmi in his house, however, Professor Malik forbade the police from arresting Hashmi. When the federal government asked him the reason for not arresting him, Prof. Malik argued that Hashmi was hiding in a house and was not making any speech, so what was the need to arrest him?
The autobiography has a whole chapter on the book ‘Azadi-e-Mohoom, written by Z.A. Bhutto in 1969. In the book, Bhutto said that America is not our friend but the friend of our enemy and the slavery of the enemy’s friend is dangerous for Pakistan since America wants to reduce Pakistan into a slave of its eastern neighbour. Perhaps Prof. Malik wrote these things for today’s PPP. In 2012, Professor Malik was the rector of the International Islamic University, Islamabad. However, the then PPP government dismissed him from his position reportedly on the pressure of an Arab country. The event has also been mentioned in WikiLeaks’ cables.
At the end of his autobiography, Professor Malik advises the nation that we must change our slavish way of thinking and muster some courage to chart the course of our destiny on our own terms, instead of repeatedly begging Western imperialist powers or Arab monarchies. The question arises, ‘How can we protect our nuclear assets from those we ask for alms and aids every so often?
The writer is a well known senior journalist and columnist. He can be reached at hamid.mir@geo.tv
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