The last of the Mohicans!
The Pakistan Movement was conceived, created and brought to successful conclusion by the Muslim masses of South Asia, ably led by a dedicated group of politicians, the momentum carried forward by the youthful exuberance of Muslim students throughout undivided India. Many eminent personalities contributed to the creation of Pakistan as the first sovereign, independent entity on ideological basis in the world. Ultimately, it was the indomitable will of Quaid-e-Azam Muhammad Ali Jinnah and his powers of negotiation that the finest experiment in nationhood in its time came into being.
The discipline of service and the lack of real intention to buck the system reduced the pro-rata participation of our educated class, whether in the civilian bureaucracy, the military or the landowner gentry category, considerably less than the visible street power displayed by the nameless masses. Yet to govern a new nation one had to depend upon the educated elite, the civil servants who had very efficiently served their British masters. The process of selection by the British had ensured that the best and the brightest came into the civilian administrative cadre, unswerving loyalty to the Crown was the most redeeming feature. The majority of these hard-working and dedicated public servants have contributed tremendously to continuity in State administration and national development since 1947, the quality gradually tapering off over the years. The early death of the Quaid-e-Azam put unfortunate administrative strain on the Quaid-e-Millat Liaquat Ali Khan Shaheed. Increasingly he had to include bureaucrats in the Federal Cabinet itself to sustain smooth governance of a diverse country, the two halves of which were separated by a hostile India. His assassination in 1951 created a vacuum in which the civilian administrative cadre quickly established themselves as uncontested rulers.
Before the assassination of the Shaheed-e-Millat, a bipartisan coup attempt composed of politicians, bureaucrats and service personnel was foiled in the incipient stage of conspiracy. The left leaning of most of the participants gave a propaganda advantage to the government in power, exploited ruthlessly by the civilian bureaucracy after the death of Liaquat Ali Khan. The Governor General (GG), Khwaja Nazimuddin, was coaxed into stepping down and becoming a powerless Prime Minister, replaced as GG by a dyed-in-the-wool bureaucrat, Ghulam Mohammad. Then followed four years of chess-playing with the elected representatives, the Muslim League being hijacked by the Establishment and its more democratic segments becoming factions.
With Ghulam Mohammad having become certifiably insane during the last year or so of his reign as an all-powerful GG, another bureaucrat, Iskander Mirza, manoeuvred his way into the seat of power, supported by his friend in the increasingly powerful post of the C-in-C Pakistan Army, General (later Field Marshal) Mohammad Ayub Khan. The C-in-C even became Defence Minister for a short time in a political government in 1955. The ducks and drakes with Prime Ministers and cabinets continued, some bureaucrats even became PM for short periods. Having become President in 1956 when Pakistan became a Republic, Iskander Mirza decided not to pay any more lip-service to democracy. Having run the Army in 1957 through a full fledged dress rehearsal with its “Operation Close Door” to stop smuggling in East Pakistan, Iskander Mirza went for a full martial law with the C-in-C as Chief Martial Law Administrator (CMLA) in October 1958. Within days, Ayub Khan’s closest military aides had decided that the real problem was Iskander Mirza himself and they convinced Ayub Khan that as CMLA, Ayub Khan should also be President. Iskander Mirza was packed off into oblivion.
The generals close to Ayub Khan in those first heady days of Martial Law were clean, honest and upright people without political ambitions themselves. Sent to East Pakistan as Governor, Lt Gen Azam Khan set a record of honest administration that is spoken of with respect still, thirty years and one country later. His other close collaborators, Lt Gens Shaikh and Burki were in the Federal Cabinet and maintained their reputations of integrity. Very few service personnel came into contact with the administration at any level. The Martial Law Courts which established a reputation for quick, honest justice were soon wound up, respected public figures were hand-picked by the bureaucracy and brought into the rejuvenated Establishment-supported faction of the Muslim League in a show of restoration of democracy. Within several months of Ayub Khan’s ascent to the Presidency, the civilian bureaucracy was again in full control of all the organs of the State, sometimes by proxy through “elected” (or nominated) surrogates but increasingly directly. Ayub Khan’s tremendous personality ensured that the Armed Forces remained in line. If the leader-glorification exercise (which was the done thing in third world countries in the 60s) had not escalated into an over-kill in 1968 with the celebrations of the Decade of Reforms, Ayub Khan may have kept going beyond 1969. The adverse reaction of the masses combined with many other centrifugal forces, especially the East Pakistan situation, lost him the support of Ayub’s hand-picked C-in-C Pakistan Army, General Agha Mohammad Yahya Khan.
At the very core of Gen Yahya’s Martial Law were a handful of “whiz-kid” Major Generals and Brigadiers. Good staff officers, they were the first real military equivalent of bureaucrats, they did not remain as honest as their (smaller in number) predecessors during the first Martial Law. They set a pattern of military-civilian rule that continued uptill 1985 except for the brief period between 1972 and 1977 of Bhutto’s rule where the bureaucracy did not need the discredited military (of 1971) and established an alliance with politicians (and a couple of hold over former military men) that continued after 1985 till date. The actual reins of power were in the hands of an elite group within the civilian bureaucracy though the military ruled from 1977 to 1985. This was an ideal combination, the obvious muscle of the military meant that the Armed Forces got the blame for the Martial Law, the civilian bureaucrats remained all powerful behind the scenes. The 1977-1985 Martial Law was the first one in which large number of military officers became involved for lengths of time, one can clearly identify this burgeoning military administration as less than honest. The Pakistan Army got a bad reputation because of a handful of dishonest military officers who made use of their position to make much more money than their cumulative salaries.
Ghulam Ishaq Khan was elected to the Presidency supported by the then political Government of the PPP. The PPP did not realise till late that they had been manipulated by a master craftsman. With the legal mandate of a fair and overwhelming Parliamentary majority vote firmly in his hands, the President gradually got estranged from the ruling PPP regime, whether inadvertently or by design one will never know. As Secretary General for Finance and Economic Affairs under Zia, Ghulam Ishaq Khan had been the indomitable rock behind a public sector dominated economy, as President he has turned around a full 180 degrees and encouraged the dismantling of the public sector empire. That is political pragmatism beyond compare, if that merit be the yardstick for becoming President, Ghulam Ishaq Khan rightfully occupies the high seat. As a bureaucrat, he has dominated the Pakistan scene from 1977 onwards, the military totally trusted him, some even say that Zia remained in awe of him throughout his period of rule. Needless to say, it was a mutually beneficial relationship. Despite its contempt for the military, the bureaucracy remained loyal to Zia throughout his rule, Ghulam Ishaq Khan in turn made sure that the bureaucracy prospered during Martial Law, having the pick of cushy jobs in the vast public sector. The person of Ghulam Ishaq Khan remained free from taint of corruption, no one can point to any residential plot that he has acquired or any industries sanctioned in his name, in contrast to some bureaucrats who had really gone berserk in this respect. Not one single bureaucrat remains in service who can assume his dominant mantle, he is the last of the great civil servants that have played a larger than life role since the existence of Pakistan. In that sense, he is the “Last of the Mohicans” (with apologies to James Fenimore Cooper).
The Office of the President of Pakistan is meant to be a respected pedestal, a neutral station of last resort. The President and the Armed Forces remained mainly free of any great controversy from December 2, 1988 to August 6, 1990. Ms Benazir’s fall was only possible because the Armed Forces went along with the President, who only took action when the mass perception seemed to support the President’s moves. The President managed to remain above the fray till recently, over the last year he has increasingly been drawn into the on-going political brawl, his supposed partisan attitude becoming the subject of public debate while the Armed Forces have continued to maintain their neutral posture.
The President’s actions must be so modulated that the two great institutions surviving in Pakistan, the Presidency and the Armed Forces, remain controversy free. It also behooves politicians of all parties and factions not to keep on attacking the person of the President, the destruction of the respect for this august Office will be a calamity for democracy in Pakistan. It is important for us that Ghulam Ishaq Khan, who carefully husbanded democracy back into the body politics of Pakistan, no doubt with the historical support of the Army and its then COAS, should go into retirement in due course in the normal manner as did his then COAS. These are the healthy precedents necessary for solidifying democratic processes in Pakistan.
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