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The Great Silent Majority

Charismatic leaders of the third world may come to power on a wave of public adulation but retain their chairs only through the support of the Great Silent Majority among the masses. This support may initially be based on the residuals of euphoria of an election campaign, can be sustained only through achievements taken note of by the masses, particularly pertaining to their economic well-being, not unrelated to a sound law and order situation. When the public confidence in hollow rhetoric starts to erode, the balloon of popularity starts to deflate fairly rapidly, the end reaction can be quite damning.

Ms Benazir Bhutto’s ascent to power was pre-ordained for several reasons, some positive and some negative. The positive reasons were her undeniable charisma, a lasting admiration for her late father, her stated manifesto and above all the massive western media support based on admiration for her brave struggle, translating into vital support within the vocal liberal wing of the political structures of the western nations, particularly in the Democratic Party in the US. Though PPP got a supposedly split mandate, she enjoyed the grudging support of even those who probably did not vote for her party. The negative support for her was because of antipathy towards late Gen Zia and his dictatorial rule, May 29 Junejo Government massacre being the last straw for even his moderate supporters. This was further accentuated by the penchant of the masses for genuine unadulterated democratic freedom and the natural inclination for change after a long hiatus, any change. After May 29, 1988 change just became a matter of time, Aug 17 was simply a tragic milestone along nature’s way to a free and fair election, as much as any election in a third world country can be called as such. To their undying credit, the military hierarchy kept the constitutional faith, strengthening the hands of the President in his clear choice of the leader of the majority party in the National Assembly, Ms Benazir of PPP, to form the Federal Government. For many reasons, again positive and negative, Ms Benazir needed to become the Prime Minister of Pakistan, despite her detractors there is no ambiguity or controversy about her ascent to power, this was as it should have been, added to that she seemingly had overwhelmed the regionalists in Sindh.

With education, background and political experience as her assets to go with mass appeal, Ms Benazir had a reservoir of goodwill to draw upon, both externally and internally. Though she struck a discordant combative note from her maiden speech to the nation over TV and radio, even this was brushed off by the Great Silent Majority as youthful exuberance and the political necessity of playing to her own party gallery who had come in from the cold after a decade plus. The subsequent election of Ghulam Ishaq Khan as President, the retention of Mandarin Sahibzada Yaqub Khan as Foreign Minister, etc, etc were pointers to her seeming moderation, the price she had to pay for mollifying the powers-that-be to obtain the seat of Federal power. Given that she had the very vocal liberal wing of the US Democratic Party rooting for her, this exposed guarded apprehension about her and her intentions within the Reagan Administration.

Benazir’s rule has brought mixed blessings to Pakistan, no doubt the publication of this article is a manifestation of the present freedom of the Press yet the initial moves came about during Junejo’s interim democracy of three years circa 1985-1988. Undoubtedly, Ms Benazir’s international credibility remained high till recently, her single-woman crusade in an Islamic country caught the imagination of the world, she remains one of the most world’s well-known leaders. Surrounding herself with old guard conservative economic advisors, she coped economically well in 1989, her open door investment policy has been a success, qualified only by lack of internal resources and some charges of nepotism in investment sanctions. While some among her political coterie went berserk, in the manner of a greedy child wolfing down too much too soon after a long lean and hungry period out in the cold, there were no real warning signals in the first few months of her rule, the revenge motive of most actions was taken as a matter of course. The Great Silent Majority brushed off the observations of keen political pundits (and various other detractors as vested interests) who saw these early portents to be alarming, the Believers decided that their motivation was suspect.

While politically Ms Benazir has been beset by major problems with the Provincial Government in Punjab, minor ones with the Balochistan Government include a failed (suspiciously looking PPP inspired) civilian coup d’ etat, early 1990 saw a severe economic drift, to be fair most of it was because of the undulating policies inherited, further even-handed observation points to her own political colleagues adding to economic disaster by going on a never ending binge, most of it spending without control or the taking of loans without collateral from DFIs and nationalised banks which had not recovered from the excesses of the previous regime, the demands paling in comparison in the extent and the mode of the new scientific siphoning.

Throughout 1989 and into 1990 rumours of nepotism and corruption have swirled around the PM in one context or the other, even the western Press (normally soft on Ms Benazir) pitched in with a vengeance. The rumours are fairly widespread and have not been confined to any section of society, industry or commerce, they include sanctions for sugar mills and the loans thereof, the sales of Airbus-es to PIA, the lease of CDA land in Islamabad at throwaway prices, the establishment of a parallel Duty Free Shop in the private sector (not a bad thing by itself as competition will bring efficiency), etc, etc. The PM’s husband has now served legal notice on a host of individuals and print media, the matter may soon become subjudice, hopefully it will be settled one way or the other. If such accusations do not cease, the PM’s ability to govern will be impaired, if nothing else her family will be used as a role model for malfeasance by others. One glaring aspect has however is of great concern, most of the appointments to DFIs and nationalised banks in the past year, controlling the faucet for bank advances, have not been on merit, the suspicion arises that trusted people were moved into sensitive places in finance (and other sectors), the better to smoothen the process of wrongdoing. The presentation of the present Federal Budget has been an unmitigated disaster, that the Opposition has not been able to muster enough votes to embarrass the Government in the National Assembly is no solace. A severe crisis of confidence has been created, by not dumping Peracha Ms Benazir has simply contributed to it, if it was political naivete it could have been pitiable, the gross result seems to be contempt for the judicial process.

It is believed that at certain times lists of favourite officers have been given to the Ministry of Defence, duly passed onto the Pakistan Army for posting, this practice is frowned upon, such lists being the prerogative of the Military Secretary’s Branch in GHQ. This example is just a reference point, at this time a motley crew of various shades, civil, police and military are beating individual and collective paths to certain doorsteps in Karachi, the informal Court of a certain favourite friend, one believes that this lot also includes officers of various intelligence gathering institutions. While bees tend to gather sparingly around honey, there are portents of MEDILLIN here, in short time people would have been moved into crucial areas of influence and money will have greater reach than the much vaunted discipline of the Armed Forces.

In essence, the greatest challenge to Ms Benazir comes from corruption. Her reaction (parroted by her colleagues) in the National Assembly has been to level counter-accusations of corruption against members of the Opposition. One is more than inclined to unreservedly accept what she says, some of the members of the Opposition whether under the cover of Martial Law or the democracies of PPP regime 1971-1977 or Junejo’s PML 1985-1988, did their share of looting of the public till at will when they were in power. The public will be more than happy if they are brought to book but two wrongs do not make a right, the Opposition’s corruption is no role model for PPP to emulate or take shelter behind, honest government cannot afford to get into the business of competition in the corruption sweepstakes.

The stage has not come where we may say that our Princess has no clothes, knowledgeable circles say that the Prime Minister became accessory to malfeasance when she pushed through a clean Overdraft Limit of several hundreds of millions of Rupees proportion for her husband in April 1989. This may not be true, even the rumours are a shock, while one can accept that her husband is a buccaneer of sorts (most businessmen are at heart if not practice), the knowledge that our Princess was not free from taint has been a traumatic shock. Is this the daughter of the late lamented Zulfikar Ali Bhutto, the one who was so rich in his own right that not a single hint of corruption (he had utter contempt for the corrupt) ever touched him and his family in all his years of political service, the tales of the “Court” of his so-called third wife notwithstanding. It is unbelievable, it may well be true.

A crisis stage for Ms Benazir’s political career had been reached in early 1990, the Kashmir situation acted as the proverbial bell that saved her, she is now hanging onto it for dear political life in a complete reversal of her initial soft Indian stance. While it is true that the Combined Opposition has visceral antipathy towards her, the coinciding of their views with the Great Silent Majority seems to have awakened the original forces that brought her into power into action, domestically at least. This seems to be more out of self-preservation rather than any great sudden spurt of conscience, where was this conscience in the years when loot had no accountability even during 1977-1985? The Kashmir situation has been pushed into the background by the Sindh explosion, engineered by RAW and the unfortunate failure of the Provincial Government to cope with it under the circumstances. While no Head of Government of any country can conceivably be suspected of being content with such a horror story as is true in Sindh today, both the external and internal situation helps Ms Benazir to stay in power, one hopes that is not the price Pakistan will have to pay to sustain democracy.

The time has come for all good men and women to seriously think about National Government for all the right reasons, both external and internal, after the Federal Budget Session. On the external scene, the reasons are obvious and self-explanatory, a common front of all parties is necessary to face India on the Kashmir situation, war is imminent at the end of August, beginning of September. India will make the move as the Kashmir situation gets further inflamed, the time and place being of its choosing, the present time being too hot for T-72s in the Sindh/Rajasthan desert. On the domestic front we have to meet the economic problems head on, charges of corruption are having a debilitating effect, the Sindh internal situation refuses to go away and the role of the Army therein needs clear definition.

For the sake of democratic nuances, Ms Benazir as the leader of PPP, the Majority Party, must be the Head of the National Government. The late vilified Gen Ziaul Haq had initiated one great lasting legacy other than his Afghan policy, the Ombudsman. Whether special tribunals are constituted by the Chief Justice of the Supreme Court or by the Ombudsman (maybe we can resurrect Justice Sardar Iqbal as a Special Ombudsman), there must be a swift and detailed investigation of charges of corruption traded by the politicians against each other, the bureaucracy or even the men in uniform. The National Government should then cooperate to exorcise all its individual members of the charges of corruption, the first step must be that the services of politically oriented, undeserving-on-merit appointments should be terminated.

Pakistan stands at a crossroads of sorts, the existence of a country is not a game, it cannot become subject to constitutional controversies and restrictions. While the worst democracy is better than any martial law, martial law is better having no country at all. With things happening around us and within the country, Apocalypse may not be far away. Men and women of conscience have to stand up and be counted now, as we are seeing in Kashmir, the alternative is brutal Indian rule and a life of virtual slavery. When the country is destroyed by internal subversion from within, external predators will not require much effort.

The bees along with the honey always have the option to go into semi-retirement with the “beautiful people” on some sun-swept paradise, leaving us and our children to face the music. If we and our children still manage to exist, we will have no solace in proclaiming to posterity that while we survived the destruction of our country, we had the satisfaction of having democracy at the end.

To those who prevaricate to save their own chairs and trappings thereof, one has only one scornful thought, they cannot be that naive, which means they are accessories to various misdemeanours, destiny will catch up with them eventually.

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