Destiny’s selected prime minister

“Mr. Ahmad, we’d like you to come to BBC News studios today at 4 pm to discuss today’s general election in Pakistan”. This was 25 July 2018 in London, England and it was a BBC News producer who was calling me.

“But at that time, it would be 8 pm in Pakistan and not a single result would have been finalized. Wouldn’t it be more productive if we did that tomorrow morning, or better still at this time tomorrow?” I responded. He didn’t agree and their cab took me to their Central London studios.

As the cue was given, newscaster Geeta Guru-Murthy turned to me after news reports of the general elections in Pakistan and shot me a question: ‘’Aren’t Pakistan’s elections today influenced by the Pakistan army?”

I said that Pakistan’s politics has been influenced by the Pakistan army ever since its inception. I gave the example that the very first elected Prime Minister of Pakistan, Zulfikar Ali Bhutto used to call Field Martial Ayub Khan, the president of Pakistan – his daddy.

During the martial law of Gen Yahya Khan, Bhutto became the foreign minister and deputy prime minister of Pakistan in 1971.

Years later, Nawaz Sharif was chosen, groomed and elevated in politics by General Jilani, one of the trusted companions of Gen Ziaul Haq.

Benazir Bhutto accepted the dictates of the army before being sworn in as the first female PM of Pakistan. She agreed to the army’s terms of keeping Ghulam Ishaq Khan as the president, keeping General Yaqub Ali Khan as the foreign minister, and a long list of dos and don’ts. She bowed before them all. I personally felt the effect of her limitations in my own personal case where the army was involved.

Asif Zardari couldn’t become President without changing an election rule on someone’s bidding. To be elected as the President of Pakistan or a Governor, one has to be qualified to be a member of the parliament – and to be a member of Parliament one had to be a graduate, and regrettably Zardari was not one. So, he became elected when the graduation requirement was quietly expunged from the rules.

Democracy started in the presidential form with Zulfikar Ali Bhutto as the President and the Martial Law Administrator of Pakistan. It was the promulgation of the 1973 constitution of Pakistan when parliamentary democracy of the Westminster style came into being.

All the aforementioned leaders were essentially “selected” first and “elected” later. Bilawal Zardari may be too young to recall all of this.

The influence of the army on Pakistan’s politics effectively fortified between 1958-72 when, during Ayub Khan’s rule, all major development projects were undertaken during that period. All three major dams of Warsak, Mangla and Tarbela and Karachi Nuclear Power Plant, generating most electric power in the country, were constructed during these years.

The Pakistan army was active in each major disastrous flood crisis that hit Pakistan –  about 20 times in the nation’s history. Rescue efforts in raging floods can easily be suicidal, and yet there were umpteen internal disturbances where the political government felt helpless and that resulted in army helping with the affairs of the government.

Lest we forget, the construction of Karakorum Highway, a jewel in Pakistan’s crown, took the lives of 40,000 army’s FWO and the Chinese workers. The Chinese Belt and Road flagship project, CPEC’s construction and its security, would only have been possible under army’s management.

The army’s influence in the affairs of the state continued when, at the drop of a hat, the army was called in aid of civil power provided for under the constitution. When the help and indulgence by the army and other forces becomes a relief for civil leaders, then we must not forget that the influence of the army – more recently and rather fashionably called “establishment” – can’t just be dismissed out of hand. You cannot have your cake and eat it.

The pity is that many retired socialists and anti-imperialists a.k.a. “right thinking” or ‘Liberal class” have taken short courses in pro-West theories, and not to mentioned taken abode in those “bloody imperialist” democracies.

Neo-colonialism institutionalised control over countries like us and succeeded in constructing illiterate, greedy, and amoral leadership in the name of democracy. It has also partially succeeded in making dents in the military leadership’s influence (General Kiyani’s period) to virtually control Pakistan.

The West has sought to occupy through Blackwater and other mercenaries and aligned itself with our so-called liberal and right-thinking class in order to fuel hatred against the army. The recent bloody face the US had to get in Afghanistan, where after 20 years of war against the people of Afghanistan, it just bolted  and conveniently fixed the blame on Pakistan and ISI – sadly leaning on the same “anti-establishment” class.

The truth remains that, after a hand-in-glove exchange of rule between the PPP and PMLN for 11 years, the likes of Ayaan Ali, the Omni Group, front men masquerading as bankers to become serving cabinet members, national leaders holding UAE residence to handle suspect money and financial fraud, the army has to show some concern.

Since this most recent political debacle, the army may well have sought to put its weight behind a political leader of integrity and resolve. Thus, the so-called “selected” Imran Khan and PTI came to power. However, it’s interesting that the elections of 2018 were never challenged by the losing side, who accepted the results.

In fact, the PPP have been shouting “selected” at Imran Khan who still chose to “selectively” assume power in Sindh on the basis of the same 2018 elections.

Yes, Imran Khan has been selected. He has been chosen and singled out by destiny to save this country from imposters and dishonest politicians who should never have held the reign of power in this country.

The writer is a former senator and a practicing lawyer in England and Pakistan