Back To ‘Boot ko Izzat Do’ : Pakistan Betrayed Again By Its People, A Nation Gets The Leaders It Deserves

Back To ‘Boot ko Izzat Do’ : Pakistan Betrayed Again By Its People, A Nation Gets The Leaders It Deserves

Rajiv Upadhyay 

With the both PML(Nawaz/ Noon) and People’s Party of Zardari/Bhutto, agreeing to throw away the opportunity given to them by the Pakistan’s Supreme Court , of salvaging the supremacy of parliament and tamely passing the Army Chief Service Extension bill in the both the houses of Parliament , the supporters of both the major parties are totally confounded . In spite of the repression unleashed by the army’s selected government and jailing of the entire opposition ,the support base and the  prime cadre of both the parties was intact because they were hurt by the way PM Nawaz Sharief was removed  and were motivated by the slogan of PML(N) of ‘Vote Ko Izzat Do ‘. They realised that at the end , inspite of the all pervasive corruption stories , the fact remained that  no elected and popular Prime Minister of Pakistan was allowed to complete his term by the conspirators in ISI and Army and several of them were assassinated or killed or jailed in collusion . The politicians too made their task easier by their perpetual feuds and conspiracies which could put Mughal courts to shame . But this time , by arresting and jailing the entire leadership of both the parties including past president and Prime Ministers , it was the return of Aurangzeb’s era  when the  father Shah Jahan was imprisoned and all the brothers were killed . The Mughal Empire collapsed  soon after the death of Aurangzeb . Likewise it is doubtful if the Pakistan will survive very long as  even a sham democratic nation .

The current round of confrontation was started by a victorious and confident  Nawaz Sharief , over ruling the army and attending the PM Modi’s oath taking ceremony,  thus taking a very big gamble for peace , matching the Bus Trip to Lahore undertaken by the Indian Prime Minister Vajpayee. It was his way of thanking and letting bygones be bygones and hopefully charting a new  path of peaceful relationship  between the two biggest south east Asian countries . Just like Zardari’s initial over zealous peace initiative was scuttled for ever by the ISI planned Mumbai attack , Nawaz was taught a lesson by unleashing a massive de stablisation campaign by a mysterious foreign clergy soon after his return from Delhi . Similarly Zardari , hurt by the arrest of his trusted party members ,added fuel to the fire and  warned the then army chief Raheel Shareef that his term is just three years while PPP is there too stay . His choice of words ‘Int se Int Baja Denge ‘was particularly offensive to an army treating all  Pakistani leaders contemptuously as ‘bloody civilians ‘ and not worthy of their salute  .

In spite of his boisterous background, Imran Khan was the obvious choice of the army due to his western education , immense personal popularity and clean image . His charities , winning world cup and British wife Jemina had made him very popular. He did not let his selectors down and started a virulent campaign against Nawaz Sharief focussing on corruption and rigging . He had waited for twenty years and now it was his time and turn even with army’s support.But he was not succeeding as Nawaz was a very experienced politician and had Bhutto’s example before him . He faced Imran even humiliatingly but did not give army any excuse to interfere . So the desperate ISI / Army staged a judicial coup with the help of an obliging  CJP , Saqib Nissar . He not only removed Nawaz without adequate proof  but also covered his tracks well by his  illegal but popular campaigns like ‘Dam Fund ‘ to make dams by raising contributions,  a la Imran making of the  Cancer Hospital. ISI meanwhile was busy tracing and clandestinely investigating the  corruption cases against all politicians and  collecting as much evidence in advance . Suddenly when Saqib Nissar as CJP , allowed NAB / SIT to use the services of ISI and Military intelligence for investigation , the fate of all politicians was effectively sealed . Army  had a lot of accounts to settle from the time of Benazir’s assasination to Nawaz call of ‘Vote ko Izzat Do ‘ and ‘Khalai Makhluq’ . It is not that Nawaz and Zardari were not corrupt . But in that nation no one in power is honest . They never had a Lal Bahadur Shastri dying  in debt due to not having fully paid the car loan . If Nawaz had an apartment in London so did Pervez Musharraf . Kayani as army chief was equally corrupt . Army never made any audit of Afghan war money. Army spends half of the Pakistan’s budget and is no saint as it draws its offices from same social milieu. But ‘ who will bell the army’. The army this time had bigger objectives . piqued by the insolence of civilian leaders ,it wanted to dig the grave of both the parties for ever . The ever pliant election commission allowed army to post soldiers inside booths in voting areas . It is never done in any country claiming to be a fair democracy.

Nawaz Sharief and his heir apparent daughter Maryam Nawaz were handed over long jail sentences  and banned from contesting elections or leading the party by the pliant judiciary. However in a surprise but very bold move they returned from UK before the elections . It did inspire its cadres .They possibly were led to believe that Pakistani people , like Turkish people after military coup , will welcome him in huge numbers and a revolution against army will be completed peacefully . But army was not to be  fooled  .It made sure their  defeat and they languished in jail till Nawaz really broke down due to poor health .Marayam , like any princess, was not used to the hardship of jail . But when her spirited speeches became a rallying war cry against army, in a disillusioned nation , the empire struck back with vengeance with the support of captive media  . Finally they both broke and surrendered and allowed brother Shahbaaz Sharief to negotiate truce .

Once the selected government of Imran Khan was installed it completed the political demolition process by arresting all the leaders including Zardari, his sister, Shabaz Sharief, his  son and even the second rung leadership of both parties . The army condoned these arrests on judicial orders and  like British hanging of severed heads of Bahadur Shah Zaffar’s son on red fort , was gleefully satisfied by the pulverised politicians languishng in jails till another chief justice of Pakistan , Justice Khosa , struck down the extension order of General Bajwa , the COAS . It was an  uniquely calculated move as in the army also there was a lot of silent opposition to this unjustified and uncalled for extension . Justice Khosa had insured himself as he planned to leave Pakistan and settle in USA just as his predecessor Saquib Nissar had settled in UK  after retirement and General Kayani had settled in Australia. He did not  ruffle the  feathers too hard as he only asked Parliament to pass an act for ratification of an executive order . The mighty army arranged it in no time . All politicians surrendered leaving their followers dumbfounded . ‘Vote ki Izzat’ had now become ‘Boot ki Izzat’.

A nation gets the leaders it deserves . Turkey , whose population comes out and faces army tanks gets an Erdogan . Pakistanis, who do not come out when democracy is killed , when a Bhutto is hanged , when Nawaz , Zardari and the entire civilian  leadership is is jailed , get the army boots and civilian leaders it deserves . Now that there can be no solution of their economic woes till the army size and defence budget is halved. Corruption was not the main cause of economic crisis  and Imran Khan cannot deliver economic recovery by just focusing on a non problem like corruption . Recovery will need huge sacrifice and political sagacity .

Till then the Pakistani population can just eat one meal hoping for a miracle to solve their problems.

But miracles too happen in the deserving lands and Pakistan is not likely to be one .