A RETURN TO HISTORY

Once again, the popularly elected governments and assemblies have been dissolved without being allowed to fulfill the people's mandate and to complete their constitutional term. This is the fourth dissolution since 1988 and the fifth since 1977 alone. It is the third time that the Peoples Government has been undemocatically removed because it cannot be combated politically. The Eighth Amendment imposed on the Constitution of 1973 by a hated military dictator has negated the will of the people. Tragically it has been done by a President elected on the solemn pledge not to dissolve the assemblies or to allow the Presidency to become a den of conspiracies against the federal parliamentary system and the people of Pakistan. This demonstrates that the power of the 8th Amendment is so seductive that a man can break a twenty year belief in the power of the people to determine their own destiny.

The will of the people has been aborted and the right of franchise has become a joke; the supremacy of Parliament has been undermined by an autocratic system with a penchant to keep civil society as its hapless subject. The principles of government and accountability by the people are negated in one way or another - through Ayub Khan's to General Zia's prolonged martial law, through the office of the Governor General to the President of the Eighth Amendment and through EBDO and PRODA to the discriminatory Ehtesab Ordinance. In the quasi-democratic existence of Pakistan, 54 elected National and Provincial assemblies have been dissolved before they could complete their tenure, and all 13 Prime Ministers have been prematurely and arbitrarily removed from office. In all this half the country was lost.

Since the fifties dictators, military and civilian, have used alleged corruption as a tool to discredit and defame Parliaments and parliamentarians and as the ground to throw out popular elected assemblies. In the case of the Peoples Government the same allegations have been used. But it is a fact, that dictatorship has given birth to the major incidence of corruption in the country, and it is perhaps not coincidental that the Peoples Government was dismissed soon after presenting an across the board accountability bill and list of main loan defaulters before the National Assembly.

Despite a protracted struggle by the valiant people of Pakistan to determine their own fortune, both the state and society, in this our Golden Jubilee year, are marked by the absence of a viable political system. The British have left, but the colonial thought processes left behind by them continue to hamper the nation's march towards a libertarian, egalitarian, moderate, progressive and, above all, a federal, democratic, parliamentary and non-discriminatory polity, as perceived by Quaid-e-Azam Mohammed Ali Jinnah.

The November 5 Dissolution Order has caused a grave crisis by subverting the all-enveloping progress made by the Peoples Government in: attracting unprecedented foreign investment, developing energy and physical infrastructure, improving and expanding social services for human resource development and poverty eradication, undertaking courageous macro-economic and structural reforms, reducing fiscal deficit by over three per cent, withdrawing tax exemptions from incomes, restoring peace in Karachi, destroying terrorist's and drug Mafia's sanctuaries, reviving Pakistan's important position in international forums, restoring crucial Pak-US relations, placing the Kashmir issue at the centre-stage of world diplomacy, pre-empting a unilateral nuclear roll-back, taking on the corrupt by bringing a constitutional amendment bill for across-the-board accountability, revealing and taking to task the defaulters, and, finally, moving towards striking down the 8th Amendment to re-establish the supremacy and the continuity of Parliament.

The world has swiftly and fundamentally changed at all levels, but the people of Pakistan are not being allowed to break the shackles of obscurantist, fundamentalist, authoritarian and archaic feudal/tribal/ethnic/sectarian ideologies. The road to progress continues to be hampered by a four-D trap of debt-demography-dictatorship-dehumanization.

The Pakistan Peoples Party has never shirked from the tasks or the responsibilities given to it by the people of Pakistan. It has tried its utmost to perform its historic duties on both foreign and domestic fronts. However, it is pertinent to recall that the People's Government inherited seven onerous legacies from General Zia and his surrogates:

First, the supremacy of Parliament was handicapped by the 8th Amendment;

Second, Pakistan was about to be placed on the list of states sponsoring terrorism and drug trafficking since it had become a nursery of extremists and a sanctuary for terrorists of all hues, drug traffickers and kalashnikov culture. The very security of the state was endangered;

Third, fiscal mismanagement with the deficit climbing to over eight percent of GDP officially (nine and a half percent unofficially), plunder of financial sector by defaulters, spending beyond our means on non-productive areas, heavy bank-borrowings and an absolute reliance on foreign aid/loans had brought the country to the verge of insolvency and into a vicious debt-trap situation with the fiscal deficit and bank borrowings climbing to crisis proportions, leaving nothing to invest in human resources and infrastructure; there was a negative growth rate after taking into account the population increase and foreign exchange reserves had spiralled down to $ 300 million.;

Fourth, a neglect of physical infrastructure had resulted in massive load-shedding and a lack of investment in social sectors had led to the deterioration of human resources, increase in poverty and pauperization;

Fifth, a state of ethnic fascism was created within the state jeopardizing law and order in the largest city of the country and putting the integrity of Sindh and the Federation at great risk;

Sixth, due to the negation of all democratic institutions under prolonged martial law, the balance of power had shifted in favour of the proponents of the 8th Amendment and an autocratic establishment at the cost of the directly elected chief executive, negating the sovereignty of the legislature in a supposed trichotomy of power;

Seventh, negation of universally recognized human rights especially with regard to minorities, women, children had become the order of the day.

After obtaining a popular mandate for its 'Agenda for Change', the party adopted a seven-pronged strategy to rid the country of the devastation caused by General Zia's and his political successor's mis-rule:

First, after being elected on a commitment to the principle of supremacy of parliament and the federal parliamentary system, it continued to offer the opposition a constitutional package on the common points in the manifestos of the two mainstream parties, including the repeal of the 8th Amendment, restoration of the women's reserved seats, bringing the minorities into the mainstream, creating an independent Election Commission and modern electoral laws. However, the opposition took a thoughtless course of confrontation which did not allow the treasury benches, lacking the requisite two-thirds majority, to implement its constitutional package. The National Assembly were arbitrarily dissolved before it could scrap the 8th Amendment and introduce wide ranging electoral reform and pass the Constitution (Fifteenth Amendment) Bill, 1996, for an across-the-board accountability and the Provincial Assemblies were desolved before they could, as the popularly elected electoral college, legitimately elect half of the Senate in March, 1997;

Second, by portraying a moderate, democratic and progressive image of Pakistan, on the one hand, and launching a crusade against extremists, terrorists and the drug mafia, on the other, the PPP-led government won the support of democratic forces all over the world and averted the danger of being declared a rogue state. The Pressler Amendment was replaced with the Brown Amendment, held-up defence equipment was released and the Clinton administration pledged to return the money paid for the F-16s. The Kashmir dispute was brought back on the international agenda with the US showing its willingness to mediate, the OIC passed a unanimous resolution and the All Parties Hurriyat Conference representatives attended the various Contact Group meetings. The Peoples Government took a lead in breaking new ground in international diplomacy and human initiatives, such as in the Cairo Conference on Population, Beijing Conference on Women and Social Summit in Copenhagen, to quote a few;

Third, it took a courageous road to implement the Structural Adjustment Programme, it revived fiscal discipline, brought down the fiscal deficit by over three per cent, increased revenues, improved the balance of payments situation, increased investment and growth, expedited privatization in a transparent manner, invested in infrastructure, human resources and retired debt, moved from presumptive taxes to VAT and taxes on consumption (GST). The budget deficit was brought down by over three per cent from over 8%, growth was revived to 6.12% from 2.4%, inflation was kept under control and was expected to further decelerate, for the first time debt was retired, actual on ground record foreign investment of over US$ 3 billion took place, while pledges for another $22 billion were received. The IMF agreed to revive the Standby Arrangement, to provide balance of payments' stabilization, beside ESAF, and the World Bank, ADB and the other donors had agreed to vitalize the financial sector and fund the Social Action Programme (SAP).

In all this the Peoples Government acted as a dam against the tough conditionalities agreed to by Mr. Moin Qureshi as a consequence of PML-N's disastrous financial performance. The PPP Government took steps to protect and shield the people from the rigours of those agreements. The Peoples Government dam is no longer there, and the consequences can be seen and felt by all;

Fourth, the People's Government gave top most priority to neglected physical and social infrastructure and set the right priorities. Given a ten to twelve-hour load-shedding and enormous economic losses, the energy policy for private sector investment succeeded in actually attracting more than US$ 4 billion to produce over 3200 MW of electricity. With the completion of the Hubco Power Project and other projects, load-shedding was to completely end in 1997. In fact, loadsheding has ended at the time this Manifesto is announced. Beside thermal power, work on Ghazi Barotha hydel power project has been initiated. Similarly, highways, transmission lines, pipelines, communication, Gwadar deep sea port, Keti Bander port, gas and oil fields and refineries were promoted, planned and/or developed. A massive human resource development programmes , which included the deployment of 50,000 women health workers, in the area of primary health care and mass literacy, population welfare, computer education and vocational training centres, women development and participation, were launched. Campaigns against illiteracy, population explosion, epidemics, polio and drug addiction were implemented. The Social Action Programme focused on the development of basic social services and infrastructures necessary to eradicate poverty and backwardness. An unprecedented outlay of $ 8 billion was committed to SAP;

Fifth, the Nawaz Sharif government launched a clean-up operation by the army in June 1992, but miserably failed to restore law and order and nab the terrorists since the PML-N was (and continues to be) in collaboration with the ethnic fascists. The Peoples Government withdrew the army and appointed an Urdu-speaking governor on MQM-A's demand, but the terrorists were not ready to abandon the dream of Jinnahpur or their bloody confrontation. They, rather, intensified the massacre of innocent people, kidnappings for ransom and unbridled terrorism. Instead of choosing the political and legal path for a just political settlement acceptable to all in Sindh, they took the road of open insurgency through urban guerrilla warfare.

The largest city and major port of Pakistan, the integrity of both Sindh and the Federation and the life and security of the people could not be made a hapless hostage to terrorism. Fulfilling its lawful responsibilities, the People's Government came to the rescue of the people of Karachi and restored peace. Consequently, as compared to 2043 persons killed and 2436 injured in 1995, including hundreds of brave law enforcing personnel, the numbers of killed and injured drastically came down to 399 and 559 respectively in 1996. Belying the President's claim of large numbers of extra judicial killings, the Courts remained open to all to challenge any death in suspicious circumstances. Given the economic dimension of the crisis, the Federal Government initiated a Rs.121 billion economic package for Karachi. The backbone of the terrorists having been broken, unless they receive a fresh lease of life under the Caretakers and the Co-Federationists, a situation conducive to a political settlement among different ethnic communities in Sindh has been created, provided ofcourse that the political elements in the MQM-A separated from the terrorists, reciprocate in good faith;

Sixth, though with the return of democracy and the ostensible transfer of power of the Chief Executive's powers from the President to the Prime Minister, institutional overlapping continued under the 8th Amendment at the cost of Parliament and the elected chief executive. It was during the People's Government that the system of defacto troika rule came to an end with the revival of the Cabinet's Defense Committee. Thanks to the interplay of forces in parliamentary democracy, it was the People's Government which separated the judiciary from the executive and the March 20 judgement of the Supreme Court was implemented, despite a Presidential Reference questioning the prerogative of the Prime Minister in the appointment of judges to the superior judiciary. This judgement has vindicated the Prime Minister's position that her/his advice is binding on the President;

Seventh, eradication of marginalisation of women, the minorities and the poor and discrimination against the vulnerable sections of society remained one of the main concerns of the Peoples Government. Prime Minister Benazir Bhutto took a courageous position in the Cairo conference on Population and Development and Beijing Conference on Women. New programs of action and agendas were set to empower women, ensure their participation in all walks of life and to improve their lot-Muslim Women Parliamentary Conference was held, the CEDAW was signed by Pakistan, women judges were appointed, a Ministry for Women Development was created, women police stations were established, 50,000 women health workers were trained for mother and child care, population planning programme helped bring down growth rate to 2.8 per cent and all-sided efforts were made against gender bias and to create necessary conditions for a status equal to men. But efforts to restore the women's reserved seats and strike down some discriminatory laws were frustrated by the PML-N and their extremist allies.

Similarly, the religious minorities heaved a sigh of relief during the Peoples Government and steps were taken to safeguard the rights of the most deprived minorities. A full minister was inducted and electoral reforms were initiated to bring voters from the minorities into the mainstream of the electoral process. However, the initiative was again rejected by PML-N. Misuse of blasphemy laws against the members of minorities was discouraged. On the contrary the PML-N joined a broad-based religious front (TTNR) to further strangulate the minorities in stark contradiction of the humanitarian teachings of Islam and the liberal guidelines of the Founder of the Nation.

The Peoples Government presided over a very difficult transition while facing a hostile opposition. Due to the early removal of the Peoples Government and the dissolution of the assemblies in some areas, the "Agenda for Change" remained partially unfulfilled, despite concerted efforts. Yet, despite infinite constraints, a limited mandate and compulsions of coalition, the Peoples Government was able to accomplish much in a short period of 36 months. Had it been allowed to complete its tenure, it would have been in a much better position to fully implement its 'Agenda for Change'. On balance, the Peoples Government was able to deliver on major and vital issues and challenges, such as foreign policy, defense, investment, energy, physical infrastructures, human resource development, growth, macro-economic reforms, human rights, peace in Karachi and flushing out and fighting extremism.

The Peoples Government ministers were barred from taking any loans. The Peoples Government published the list of defaulters of Rs 130 billion and brought an effective bill against corruption and for the accountability of all -from PRESIDENT TO PEON- without exception. But, as in 1990, a smear campaign was launched to destabilize the government and the President stabbed the democratic process in the back and made every effort to re-establish a Presidential form of Government.

The 8th Amendment is a time bomb ticking in the body politic of Pakistan. It was placed in the Constitution by a dictator who was supported by fanaticism and having failed to impose his pseudo Islamic agenda on the people needed an instrument to repress representative political forces whenever democracy started to flourish. Gen. Zia died having had a chance to use the 8th Amendment only once and although his legacy was defeated in the elections of 1988, the forces that he nurtured and represented went underground, infiltrating all sections of society and all institutions, including political parties. Their agenda is clear. They want a secetarian state. They believe that only fanactics like them, steeped in their special sense of Islam, have the right to rule the country. They want military confrontation with our neighbours. They reorganised, prepared and in 1990 used the 8th Amendment to remove the Peoples Government. They rigged the 1990 election. Yousuf Ramzi a known terroist tried to kill Benazir Bhutto during the 1993 elections when it was obvious she would lead the Pakistan Peoples Party to victory. When the Peoples Government was returned to office in 1993, they escalated ethnic and secretrian violence. When this was put down by the Peoples Government they tried to overthrow the Peoples Government in 1994 but renowned social worker Abdus Sattar Edhi revealed the plan. In 1995 there was the failed "Islamic coup" attempt of Gen. Abbassi. In 1996 the brother of the Prime Minister was killed to destabalise the Peoples Government. With the Peoples Government acting decisively to deal with these fanatics and terrorists by extraditions and by closing down the bases used by them to export terorism and narcotics the extremists had to act to remove Prime Minister Benazir Bhutto.

The 8th Amendment has also provided fertile ground for political opportunists. Falling prey to the overtures of those forces, who encouraged the President to believe that he and his batch mates could run the country better than the elected representatives and who provided street demonstrations, a media campaign against the Peoples Government and the death of the Prime Minister's brother to lay the ground work for the dismissal, the President, reminisent of Gen. Zia's imposition of martial law, at 2.00 a.m. on November 5, 1996, removed the Peoples Government, dismissed the National Assembly and placed the elected Prime Minister under prospective custody. There followed, thereafter, an obcene operation for preparing the grounds and finding the agents to dissolve the provincial assemblies. Since the dissolution the President has become the de facto Prime Minister amending election laws at will, openly organising and encouraging his own "King's Party", causing the only upright man in the cabinet to resign, and laying the groundwork for a "hung" parliament. However, President Leghari is a pawn in the hands of the extremists and he is being encouraged by them and his own ambitions to either cancel the elections or have a hung parliament. He thinks he will be succesful in the February 3 polls by ensuring that candidates from the major political parties are disqualified. Mr. Nawaz Sharif , having been protected from disqualification by an adroit and timely amendment of the election laws, also thinks that he can make gains in the elections and is oblivious of what is in store for him, his party and the country. Both are wrong. A delay in elections or a hung parliament will only cause economic disruption and bring the political system to the point of collapse. This is exactly what the extremists want.

In the meanwhile, co-federationist and seccessionists are being given a free hand. Sectarian violence is stalking the country. There is talk of shifting the capital of Sindh. The Caretaker Prime Minister sees no future for Pakistan after 20 years. Will we let the same thing that happened to East Pakistan happen to us again?

The Pakistan Peoples Party is following the situation closely and urges other democratic forces to do likewise.

The continuation of the "Agenda for Change" for the sustaining Pakistan, its democratic institutions, for the alleviation of human misery, despair and for the development of infrastructure and human resources on a large scale, alongwith structural, electoral, institutional and constitutional reforms has become vital not only to radically transform the relationship between the state and society but also to find a sustainable basis for national security .

Decades of dependence on foreign resources mobilization strategy has completely arrested the creativity of our people and taken away from them their right to make collective decisions in matters crucial to their future. Our people have been depending on local elite and national bureaucracy for decision making and have been struggling for devolution of authority to the village and mohalla level. Now through structural adjustments periodically entered into by successive caretaker governments, even the elite and national bureaucracy have forfeited their decision making rights and transferred this authority to foreign institutions.

The isolation and remoteness of the people of Pakistan and their elected representatives from the task of shaping their own destiny is evident from the fact that IMF conditionalities imposed upon elected governments by successive care taker governments have virtually acted as the national budgets for successive years, which leave little if no manoeuvring room for elected governments to implement the agenda on which they receive the mandate of the people.

Members of a society suppressed by long years of military rule have lost all perception of their rights. Continuos abuse of power has created a class, which only believes in privileges. Getting away with violations of law has become an indicator of respect and influence. Large scale tax evasion, theft of utilities, default on repayment of bank loans , misuse of state funds and resources, open embezzlements are some of the measures through which the affluent consolidate their wealth and power at the cost of the nation. The bureaucracy, not answerable to anyone, bought away by the affluent and having their own large share in the loot of the plunderers, provides them with the administrative cover to carry on their plunder. All this breeds dissatisfaction.

Social satisfaction is depleting with growing social disparities. Distinction between the needs and wants is disappearing fast. Growing wants of the inessential items is contributing heavily to moral degradation of all sections of our society. All this is providing a fertile ground for extremist elements promising an Islamic revolution. The revolution is the apple of temptation given by Eve to Adam

The state, therefore, has to provide a policy framework, as well as resources to act through a grand coalition of non-governmental organisation of the people (specially those belonging to the deprived section of society), financial institutions, co-operative and decentralized government agencies working under new norms, so that the weaker strata of our society are meaningful empowered. It is only through massive involvement of the people, working hand and hand with the state apparatus and the remodelling of the latter that the damaging side effects of open-economy industrialisation can be controlled.

A lasting solution has to be found to get out of a debt-demographic-dictatorship-dehumanization trap with a debt retirement plan, bringing population growth to less than two per cent and consolidating democratic governance. A dynamic balance has to be found between democracy and development, rural and urban areas, the Federation and the Provinces and the Provinces and the Districts, authority and accountability. A sustainable model of development, high rate of savings and investment for a much needed higher growth rate should help eradicate poverty and underdevelopment. In the meanwhile, peace in the region and an equal and collective end to a lethal arms race, accompanied by the just resolution of disputes, can release tremendous resources to bring prosperity for the hundreds of million people living below the poverty line in the sub-continent.

As we enter the new millennium with Asia at its centre-stage with its vast resources, human and material, markets and ingenuity, the people of Pakistan are not fated to live in misery, poverty, backwardness, hatred, conflicts or parochial tensions. There is no basis or reason to stop the people of our part of Asia from joining the ranks of the fast developing South East Asian countries in an emerging interdependent world of co-operating nations.

To reach that goal , the people of South Asia need to take daring initiatives in transcending our material and historical limitatations. Instead of wasting our energies and bountiful but precious resources in allowing chauvinist, annexationist and hegemonic agendas to flourish, we should focus on peace, democracy, free enterprise and progress, to avert military conflicts, revert an arms race, and forge just and lasting solutions to disputes, such a Kashmir and the civil war in Afghanistan. We must let open the gates of people to people co-operation, communication, trade and investment.

We, the people of Pakistan, for our part, should be ready to take historical initiatives at every level to settle disputes and difference, such as on Kashmir and nuclear proliferation in South Asia, with our neigbours, on a reciprocal basis, universally recognized principles of justice, even-handedness and non-discriminatory standards, international law and United Nations' initiated processes and resolutions. A new beginning has to be made if the peoples of South Asia are to live in peace and harmony, divert their resources to poverty eradication, mutually beneficial economic collaboration and development.

Who can accept this enormous challenge and lead the nation to take a great leap forward in a most competitive and fast developing world of today? The Pakistan Peoples Party is the only party which has shown a unique sense of history, dynamism and adaptability to take up ever new challenges in an ever changing environment. At each historical stage, it formulated a new theorem in accordance with the objective conditions of our time, such as socialism in the late '60s and the '70s, liberal democracy in the '80s, privatization-liberalization in the '90s, and humanism, peace, modernization, private-public partnership, economics-in-command while entering the next millennium.

In its three decade existence, the Pakistan Peoples Party led all popular-democratic movements; from the struggle for the right to adult-franchise and federal parliamentary system (1967-70) to the movement for the restoration of democracy (1977-88). Most of the great national achievements go to the PPP's credit: from the 1973 Constitution to the Constitution (Fifteenth Amendment) Bill, from Steel Mills to Heavy Mechanical Complex, from Port Qasim to the nuclear programme, from unprecedented foreign investment to 3200 MW power-contracts, from Ghazi Barotha to a massive primary health and education programme, from neutralizing extremism to restoring peace in Karachi, etc. The Pakistan Peoples Party is the only party to have won all the four fair elections held since 1970.

The 58-2(b) regime of Leghari-led caretakers has backfired on its farcical plank of accountability and has established beyond doubt that fair and free elections are not possible under its anti-PPP stewardship. In fact, the November 5 Dissolution Order has set in motion a colossal crisis in Pakistan's history which has put the democratic system, security of the nation, economy and the future of the Federation in jeopardy. But the democratic forces led by the PPP and the people of Pakistan will again foil all attempts at subverting the federal parliamentary system, mortgaging national interests, subjugating civil society to selective injustice in the name of some other version of the "Law of Necessity' or another hijacking of the people's mandate.

The nation must say "STOP" to this. The nation must reject Leghari's hung parliament blue print to save the country from political, financial and moral collapse. It is no secret that a hung parliament leads to horse trading, bribery, corruption and blackmail. If there is a hung parliament, frustration will deepen and extremist forces will take advantage of it. It is a prescription for national disaster. National interest calls for the Pakistan Peoples Party to be elected with a sweeping majority to serve the people in Pakistan's Golden Jubilee year..

Once again, we shall overcome and be vindicated by history with the support of the people and the grace of God Almighty.

It is with this sense of history and responsibility that the Pakistan Peoples Party places before the people its Manifesto for the 1997 elections and calls on the people of Pakistan to