The
Military Crisis in South Asia, Terrorism and the Political Situation
Address by Mohtarma Benazir Bhutto
Dialogue Forum: PAKISTAN VOICE
February 5, 2000
I thank Mr. Shahzaib
Hassan for providing the opportunity for me to meet with you this
afternoon. I want to discuss with you the political situation in
Pakistan, and Pakistan’s position as we cross into a new political
era.
For those of us who fought
and died for democracy in Pakistan, the events since November 1996
have been painful beyond comprehension. A democratic country has once
again fallen prey to military rule.
It was in November 1996,
whilst the world concentrated on the American presidential elections,
that democracy in Pakistan was derailed.
On that November night,
the president ordered the tanks to move and surround the Prime
Minister’s house. I was arrested alongwith my ailing mother and my
three small children, all under the age of eight.
Parliament was dissolved.
Midnight raids took place. Supporters were arrested and taken away to
torture cells. Trumped up charges of corruption were used to justify
the president’s one man decision to overthrow the popularly elected
government. A government elected by the people was overthrown -despite
enjoying the confidence of the people in the streets and the
parliamentarians in the house.
The brutal demise of an
elected government was followed by a partisan interim administration.
The people of Pakistan boycotted the sham elections held in 1997. Only
eight percent voted for my successor.
The dark road to military
rule had begun. The presidential action of subverting democracy
brought to power a government which lacked the support of the masses.
Moreover, it reflected the views of the establishment rather than the
provinces and people of Pakistan.
A controlled democracy was
in place. Such a controlled democracy had been assdiously sought since
General Zia lifted martial law and held non-party elections in
1985.
Yet, the creation of
artificial leaders through manipulation of the electoral process puts
them at odds with the genuine representatives of the people.
This cycle of clash has
been a part of our history since the fifties when Prime Minister
Liaquat Ali khan was killed. The artificial leadership, lacking
democratic legitimacy always falters, giving way to military
rule.
The cost in social terms
of this political manouvering has been extremely high. It has led to
geographical disintegration, social chaos and fiscal collapse.
When the fiscal or
geographical collapse reaches a point of no return, there is a
strategic withdrawal by the establishment and elections are held. As
soon as the economic corner is turned, or unity strengthened, the
genuine leaders are once again set aside and an artificial leadership
created.
The Bhutto and Benazir
cases are two examples in recent history.
Sometimes the artificial
leaders grow too big for their boots and they are thrown out too. The
Junejo and Nawaz episodes are two recent examples. Both these leaders
began to distance themselves from their political benefactors and
found themselves out of power.
The right to govern ought
to vest in the people of the country. Power can, and should
shift to the people which, as the repositories of Allah's trust, are
the rightful masters of the country.
The lesson of the
twentieth century is that democracy works and the worst of democracies
is better than the best of dictatorships.
In Pakistan we hear that
controlled democracy is better because real democracy brings back
discredited politicians.
I have little sympathy for
this view. In democracies across the world, from the United States to
Bangladesh and beyond, an election always brings back roughly the same
number of elected representative. In the United States, senators
Kennedy, Brownback and Feinstein keep getting elected. Yet, those who
disagree with their policies do not say that a law should be made in
the name of anti corruption which violates every principle of natural
justice to eliminate the winnable candidates with a view to bringing
forwarded nonentities who cannot other wise enter parliament.
This is not democracy.
This is tyranny.
We as a nation need to
respect the human rights of ordinary Pakistanis, the poor and the
wretched. It is they, rather than the elites, who have a right to
determine the destiny of the country.
If the people are allowed
to run their own affairs, democracy will strengthen. Not overnight,
but in due process. History cannot be rushed nor evolution expedited.
Efforts to do so only delay the process further.
Democracy is more than
elections. Democracy is, first, a system where the judiciary is
independent and impartial. It cannot function when a handful of judges
disrupt the political process to fulfill a political agenda.
It is hoped that the
superior judiciary will rise to the challenge before it. Certainly the
prayers of the nation are with them in enhancing the role of the
justice system through the fair and impartial dispensation of
justice.
Yet, in the last decade
that role has not been played by a few in the judiciary. I will give
only three examples. First the legal grounds for upholding dissolution
were changed on political grounds to achieve political purposes four
times since 1985. Second, a crisis was created by Chief Justice Sajjad
in collusion with President Leghari to undermine the PPP Government.
Third, the assault of the Supreme Court of Pakistan was condoned to
achieve a political objective.
Too often, the judiciary,
instead of the electorate, has been seen as the arbitrator of
political disputes. This has the unfortunate result of politicizing
them for which they alone cannot be blamed. It is time for us to
accept the people as the arbitrator of political disputes even if we
do not like their verdict.
Another challenge before
the bar and the bench is to address issues of corruption when they
arise with respect to some members within the judiciary. The judiciary
is an independent organ of government and it is inappropriate for the
executive to decide its propriety. However, there is a need for the
bar and the bench to formulate a law which parliament can pass
addressing issues of appointments and accountability. Such a law,
emanating from the heart of the judiciary, can help us build a better
Pakistan.
Second is the question of
Accountability. First, this noble objective has too often been reduced
to a farce in the country. Today a convicted criminal leads the
prosecution for the military regime alongwith other aides convicted in
the seventies for treason. Has any other country employed convicted
criminals to prosecute elected leaders? I believe not. Can a process
sullied by convicted criminals be credible? I believe not.
Second, the accountability
law itself is a criminal law which seeks to rob the citizen of every
fundamental right. The attempt to violate the basic principles of
natural justice in the pursuit of politically motivated cases reeks of
political persecution.
Third, the chief
investigator has already prejudged politicians as corrupt. In the same
breath, he confesses he has no evidence of wrongdoing. We must ask
when, in a civilized society a person is innocent unless proved
otherwise, we have allowed ourselves to degenerate to the savage state
where elected leaders are prejudged and maligned.
The concept of justice is
based on the due process of law. Unfortunately, in our country we have
allowed intelligence leaks to the media about corruption to be treated
as the gospel truth. When we have already tried and convicted innocent
persons at the bar of public opinion, when we have demonized them
immorally and unhumanly, how do we retreat when we discover that the
stories were untrue?
We ought to withdraw in
the face of absence of evidence. Instead we resort to obstructing the
path of justice by torturing individuals to commit perjury or
tampering with evidence. Accountability becomes a farce.
Which brings me to the
fourth point: what then is the way forward? The way forward is to
recognize that the parliament is an independent organ of government
and parliamentarians ought to submit themselves before a parliamentary
investigation when questions of impropriety are raised.
In this connection, the
PPP had moved a bill in October 1996 asking parliament to make lawful
a committee of parliamentarians to examine questions of wrongdoing. To
keep the balance, the government and opposition were to have equal
representation with each side being provided access to investigators
and prosecutors of their choice to examine allegations about the other
side. An adverse finding was to be sent to the courts for trial.
This idea may or may not
be acceptable. The important aspect is that parliamentarians need to
come up with an equitable consensus that prevents witch-hunts but
allows for proper investigation of allegations of wrongdoing. The
cardinal principles of natural justice and due process must be upheld
to end corruption and prevent political abuse.
This brings me to the
fifth point with regard to the present accountability law. It is
selective and a selective law is a bad law. Parliamentarians and the
military may like to keep their friends outside the scope of
investigation. Unfortunately, neither Islam, morality or law provides
for this. We live in an age of transparency and that means all in
executive positions must submit themselves for accountability.
Thus an accountability law
for the executive needs to ensure that all officials, civil and
military, are made accountable when allegations of wrongdoing are
raised. It is not sufficient to blame civilian leaders for kickbacks
in military purchases. Those who drew up the plans for such purchases
have played the instrumental role and must bear responsibility.
I now come to a third
aspect which needs national attention: this is an independent election
commission.
In the past, our people
believed that when elections are held they would have the right to
elect a leadership of their choice.
Yet hope for tomorrow and
confidence in the election process was killed with the brutal rigging
in the elections of 1990 and 1997.
This has led to a cynicism
in Pakistan which is dismaying. It has also created a dangerous
vacuum. It threatens the collapse of the political order and the rise
of regional ethnic and sectarian forces. It is a prescription for
disaster.
It began with general
Zia's keenness for desired results. This is a keenness which has only
grown with time and must be reversed if our country is to gain
stability and to prosper.
First, we need to
investigate charges that intelligence operatives bankrolled campaigns
of favourites in the elections.
Second, we need to ask why
the electoral lists of 1995, stayed by the Supreme Court, have still
not been decided;
Third, we need to ask for an investigation into reports that results
taken to the election commission are hacked into and changed.
Fourth we need to insist
on joint electorates, multi identification forms, computerized and
printed electoral lists and polling stations and results announced by
returning officers at the districts with out interference by a central
control. Results in 1988 were announced within two hours. Results in
1997 took two days.
Fifth, we need to ask why
cases before the courts of election rigging are not decided within six
months as mandated by law. Those who should have decided these matters
need to have a discussion about it with the bench and the bar.
This brings me to the
fourth aspect of our national trials: the role of the intelligence
agencies. There is a perception that the intelligence agencies have
their own domestic and foreign policy agenda. How far these
perceptions are true cannot be said. Yet there are repeated reports of
the intelligence having destabilized government, interfered with state
functioning, manipulated the electoral process and spread untrue
stories of corruption.
These perceptions need to
be addressed.
Sixth, the end of the cold
war has changed the regional picture. During the cold war, the west
gave military and financial assistance to Pakistan to face the threat
of communism. We took the money and the weapons to fight India. This
resulted in a policy of parity. We did what India did. A bomb for a
bomb and a missile for a missile. A CTBT signature for a CTBT
signature.
The last decade has shown
that policy is no longer valid. The end of western financial and
military aid has helped the Pakistani economy collapse. Today it is
threatening the existence of the nation state itself. Nations rise and
fall, not on outdated notions of military conquest, but on modern
realities of economic viability.
Pakistan is too great a
nation to collapse because its elites were blinded to new
realities.
It is time for us to build
internal cohesion through an appraisal of our domestic and regional
situation.
In this connection, first,
defence expenditure needs to be rationalized and submitted for
parliamentary audit. If open audit is difficult, a closed audit by the
parliamentary defence committee is necessary. Second, the centralized
state needs to be stripped and power redistributed through provinces
and local bodies. In this connection, the subjects of the concurrent
list must be implemented as per the constitutional requirements.
Moreover, a package and time frame prepared to accept the
constitutional provision that GST is a provincial resource which is
unfairly being taken by the center. There is much more which can be
decided through a consensus between the political leaders of the four
provinces, Azad Kashmir and northern areas. Third, local bodies can be
made independent constitutionally so that a plurality of power is
possible. Appointment of minorities and women to the judiciary is
important as are the issues of joint electorates and increasing the
indirect participation of women in parliament through reserved
seats.
These are all issues which
need a constitutional majority and it is my earnest hope that when the
time is ripe the people should give the PPP one real chance at social
reform.
The seventh message I
would like to give is the message of brother hood and harmony.
Quaid-e-Awam Zulfikar Ali Bhutto had predicted that his assassination
would bring about a vertical and horizontal polarization. That has
happened. To overcome it, we Pakistanis, irrespective of who is in
power and irrespective of which province or ethnic group we come from,
need to reach out to each other and reconcile. We do not need to agree
on issues. After all politics by its very nature is diverse. But we
need to show a unity of approach in formulating amongst ourselves laws
which enhance justice and human dignity and policies which unite
rather than divide.
Whether it is the military
or the intelligence or the Muslim league or the Pakistan peoples party
or one of the other parties, or the bureaucracy, the judiciary, we are
all players in Pakistan. We need to leave the river of hate and climb
upon the bank of confidence to appreciate that our hatred only breeds
more hatred.
I come from a land of
Sufis and believe that love begets more love. When I look back upon
the economic achievements of the PPP government, I often think it was
achieved because we had the love of the people and were remembered in
prayers.
Pakistan was a land of
plenty but four years ago. There was so much money that the jobs of
our people were safe and the youth had opportunities of employment.
The ILO in its report concluded that the largest job generation
increase took place in the PPP government.
Literacy was increased by
one third from 26 percent to thirty five percent. Health facilities
were improved for which the world health organization gave the PPP a
gold medal.
The military were given
whatever was required for defence, whether it was planes, or tanks or
submarines. Our soldiers and officers won honour for Pakistan in the
battlefields of Bosnia and other trouble spots of the world battling
for peace.
Per capita income
increased. What was achieved in 12 years, PPPP achieved in 3 years.
Per capita income rose by $57 from $431 to $488. After the fall of the
PPP government, per capita income fell by fifty dollars.
Growth rate tripled during
the PPP government reaching more than six percent. Now it is
halved.
The average rate of growth
of investment reached its highest peak in 95-96 at about 16.42%. It
fell to-4.5% in 98-99.
Foreign Investment poured
into the country in billions and now it has dried up to a few
millions. Our stock exchanges which once boomed with fifteen new
issues annually are now silent. Our bazaars which hummed with activity
are caught in a deep recession. Our peasants who saw the transfer of
resources with good prices for their crops have seen poverty increase
as their produce fails to get right prices.
Pakistan’s foreign
exchange reserve reached its highest peak in 1995. It increased to
almost $ 3 billion from a low of $300 hundred million in 1993. If we
take out rescheduled loan affects, currently it is minus $1.4
billion
Pakistan’s total
reserve, consisting of gold, SDR and foreign exchange reached its
highest peak ever in 95. It was $3730 million which halved to $1737 in
1998.
PPP government recovered Rs.18 billion bad debt in cash without
arresting even one man. It restructured rs17 billion with solid
guarantees demonstrating that extreme methods which destroy business
confidence are unnecessary.
It is proposed that a new
credit rating system be introduced and a foreclosure law be passed for
the purpose of bad debt and good debt.
Whilst we take
satisfaction in the economic performance of the past, we look to the
future.
The future can improve by correcting the distortion of the national
picture which took place on November 4, 1996. Derailed democracy needs to
be back on tracks.
This has not been an easy
time for the country but I want you to know that it has not been an
easy time for me, my family or my party.
As a leader I may have
committed mistakes but the politically motivated charges of corruption
against my husband and myself are without substance.
My daughter was three when
my husband was arrested and taken away. Two days back, she turned
seven. In the last four years, I and many others, were stripped of our
right to a good name, to a fair trial, to defence witnesses, to
representation. Our basic rights were criminally snatched.
I derive great
satisfaction from independent jurists, including two American former
Chief Justices, who have opined that neither my husband nor I could
have been convicted in an American Court.
Is it not sad that
American jurists have to say this about a Pakistani Prime
Minister?
Let me give you but a
small glimpse into the living hell in which we and our supporters were
thrown. I read to you from the financial times of November 12, 1999.
It is the story of how a British citizen was kidnapped, tortured and
threatened with death if he did not commit perjury against the
parliamentary leader of opposition and her husband.
According to the financial
times, Ashby’s “ life was repeatedly threatened. He was deprived
of sleep, beaten and spat upon. On one occasion, a revolver was held
to his head; on another he was subjected to a game of Russian
roulette. During his detention, Mr Ashby said, he was taken on several
occasions to see Senator Saifur Rehman. On one occasion, the senator
threatened him and demanded a confession of corruption: "I want
Benazir Bhutto. I want Asif Ali Zardari,” he said.
Mr. Ashby had never met Ms
Bhutto or her husband. On another occasion, when Mr. Ashby
refused to co-operate, the senator entered the room screaming, eyes
blazing "looking like the devil".
"He threatened to
throw me in jail, torture me, beat me. He said it would cost only 30
rupees (about forty pence) to get me killed," he said.
This is just a glimpse of
the wrong things which were done and have still not been
corrected.
Is it not time that we
stopped criminalising every Prime Minister that takes office?
I suffered immensely when
Nawaz Sharif was Prime Minister. What he did to me was wrong and what
is being done to him is wrong. Two wrongs do not make a right.
Neither the PML nor the
Nawaz family has contacted me. However, I do feel the sufferings of
the women folk of the Nawaz family.
Ladies and
Gentlemen,
I worry for the
country.
We can hear the sound of
the guns in the distance. Relations with India have plummeted. Guns
are fired daily. Bomb blasts and incidences of sabotage have
increased. There is a threat to Pakistan and we must awaken to it and
save our country from calamity.
General Musharraff is
uniquely placed to do that. He can abandon the path of division and
choose the path of unification. He can take the lead in inviting all
the political parties to discuss a timetable for the restoration of
democracy and build a consensus.
If he has the vision to
look beyond the political orphans who surround him, he can win the
approval of the Pakistani people and the international community. The
euphoria which greeted his regime can be revived if he is able to give
confidence to the people of justice, fairness, freedom and the rule of
law.
For every ruler, an exit
strategy is the most important strategy. General Musharaf, forced to
seize power in circumstances beyond his control, needs to have the
courage to call all political leaders to arrive at an agreement to
restore democracy.
In so doing, Pakistan can
once again start its journey to recapture the lost dreams of its
founding fathers.
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