Cover Story 
 

Cover Story

Beginning of the End?

As in 1971, the most powerful group, having successfully co-opted self-serving politicians, is adamant that people are not allowed to decide their future. There are differences between then and now, but the primary aim remains the same: people should not elect their representatives freely and fairly.

By Nikhat Sattar | May 2023

Over the over two decades after Pakistan’s independence in August 1947, the people of East Pakistan had been increasingly alienated from the western wing that they perceived to be represented by the central government. They had been systematically side-lined; economically discriminated against; deprived of opportunities; had low representation in the armed forces; considered socially backward and exploited. Their language and culture that they held so dear to their existence had been consistently looked down upon. The apathetic and cavalier fashion in which the government had responded to needs of the people affected by the devastating cyclone of November 1970 was perhaps the last nail in the coffin. Anger and resentment rose high among most Bengalis living in East Pakistan. Nationalist attitudes hardened with clear polarisation bordering on hatred for non-Bengalis who were commonly referred to as ‘Bihari.’

In this scenario, under the first military rule, with General Yahya Bakhtiar as President, national elections were held in East and West Pakistan between December 7, 1970 and January 17, 1971. In total, Mujib ur Rahman’s Awami League commanded 167 out of 313 seats in the national assembly, all from East Pakistan against 86 held by Zulfikar Ali Bhutto’s Pakistan People’s Party, all from the Western wing. Mujib was in a clear majority, in a position to form the government and become the Prime Minister.

A clear but strongly divided electorate between the east and west wings, major differences in political priorities and manifestos and personal rigidity and ego of the two leaders, specifically of Bhutto meant minimal chances of compromise that became increasingly dimmer over the days that followed.

Neither Bhutto nor the military powers were willing to be led by a Bengali. Mujib’s rigidity on his six points also led to a stalemate. A sudden postponement of the first session of the national assembly was announced on March 01, 1971.This was indeed “the beginning of the end of a unified Pakistan”, to borrow from the report of an American diplomat.

It was certain that power would not be transferred to the majority. For the next three weeks riots, violent protests, strikes and attacks on non-Bengalis broke out. It seemed as if Mujib who had played a major role in inciting his people could no longer control the direction of their anger. The Establishment decided to crush the uprising at all costs and thus began the Operation Searchlight that ended the possibility of any political solution to the problem. It was a brutal action not only against armed nationalists but also against the general public. Bengalis fought back with guerrilla warfare that the Pakistan Army found difficult to handle. India moved in and after only 13 days of fighting, the Pakistan Army surrendered. Bangladesh had already declared its independence on 26 March but was now free to celebrate its “liberation.”

In the truncated Pakistan, military adventurism has been a constant since then. Governments have been deposed and even though a Constitution was prepared in 1973 through a rare consensus, it has been tampered with at great cost to the country’s development. Resources of some provinces have been milked, their people have been oppressed and opportunistic men have cashed in on untimely deaths of the popular Bhutto father and daughter. Religious extremism has been actively promoted and nationalist attitudes pitching one linguistic community against another taken advantage of. More than 60 percent of the population in Pakistan is very poor and most of the country’s resources are used by the elite group that comprises the corporate sector, the military, politicians and feudal landlords.

Armed resistance against the federation in Balochistan has been on-going. It has been put down with force, leading to a permanent presence of the military. Despite a somewhat free and proliferating media, both television and social, crackdown on dissent is frequent. A nation-wide system of picking up people and holding them at undisclosed locations, sometime for years has become a constant. Militancy is rife both in KPK and Sindh.


There has been no military takeover since almost a decade but the latter have continued to manipulate formation of governments and their policies. Since April 2021, when the government of Imran Khan was removed through a no-confidence vote after buying over of several MNAs, a series of actions have brought the country to the brink, again. A coalition of parties, the Pakistan Democratic Movement (PDM) that included all who Imran Khan had been vocal against and who, in turn, had kept up the vitriol against him was set up in Islamabad. A change of guard in the military took place and although the outgoing general had avowed publicly that the military would never intervene in politics again, it is clear that they are still key players.

The PDM is fixated on removal of Khan from the political arena, even as Khan’s public support has risen sharply after his ouster. The public, especially the youth have kept aside his failures and foibles and their anger and resentment are now channelled against the PDM. The latter has done all it could to earn negative points. It has mismanaged the economy; its fiscal policies have shut down industries, reduced investment, increased unemployment and raised inflation to levels that even the better off are finding it difficult to survive.

Massive flooding in July 2021 destroyed lives and livelihoods of millions. The government responded mainly with requests for foreign aid. Flood affectees are forgotten amid the tussle for power. Two men stand out in direct opposition, Imran Khan and Nawaz Sharif, the latter supported by the PPP that was his sworn enemy during the 90s and later. Massive egos have clashed and compromise is all but given up.

A déjà vu situation with the addition of another player, the judiciary. Two provincial assemblies are dissolved; the Constitution says elections must take place within 90 days; the Election Commission postponed them in Punjab and the Supreme Court has now ruled that they must take place in mid-May. The PDM parliament has refused to follow the court’s order. Allegations of partisanship against judges are made in public by the government who has also made all out efforts to cut the powers of the Chief Justice. Judges are divided and polarized and their friction is there for all to see. A hapless, poor and hungry population looks on, standing in long lines for free flour, facing stampedes and deaths. The country is split along the lines of who is with Imran Khan and who is against him; the latter group that is in power and supported by the Establishment is also willing to defy the Constitution. But there is a layer of strong fissures underneath this obvious polarisation: the ethnic, linguistic, provincial, rural and urban, feudal and corporate fault lines have been widening and are ready to break apart when the final straw is laid.

As in 1971, the most powerful group, having successfully co-opted self-serving politicians, is adamant that people are not allowed to decide their future. There are differences between then and now, but the primary aim remains the same: people should not elect their representatives freely and fairly.

Neither Establishment nor politicians seem to have learned any lessons from what was the most traumatic and internationally humiliating debacle due entirely to military and political errors. The nation’s self-appointed rulers are ready, once again, to repeat history. This time, however, nothing might be left to recoup.

Read More