Babu’s supremacy over the state

The thinking and lack of intelligence of the babus sitting in Islamabad has made Pakistan a poor country. President Asif Zardari in his keynote speech at Gardhi Khuda Bakhsh on the 45th anniversary of People’s Party founder Zulfiqar Ali Bhutto said that a plan of action should be taken together to solve the problems of Pakistan.

He said in his speech that it was not written in Pakistan’s destiny that the country should remain poor. God has given everything, we can handle everything. Asif Zardari further said that the People’s Party has been fighting for 40 years, sometimes it withdraws, sometimes it moves forward.

People’s Party Chairman Bilawal Bhutto Zardari said in his speech that some political parties want to create instability in the country by making noise of rigging. Even today, some politicians want to play with the fate of the people for the sake of personal ego, this is what the nine parties did with Bhutto, due to which the people had to see a long martial law. People were faced with problems, inflation and unemployment.

Zulfikar Ali Bhutto’s birth anniversary is celebrated on April 4, the founder of People’s Party. At that time, it was the month of Ramadan and the presidential elections were not held, so the leadership of the People’s Party postponed the traditional meeting of April 4 and now when this meeting was held, due to the fact that the People’s Party joined the coalition government, the President and the Upper House, the Senate has obtained the chairmanship of, thus these speeches of President Asif Zardari and Chairman Bilawal Bhutto Zardari can be termed as the new policy of People’s Party.

President Asif Zardari correctly analyzed that the thinking and lack of intelligence of the babus sitting in Islamabad has made Pakistan a poor country, but why did these babus get the right to decide the fate of the country? But will those who come to power with the help of these babus do anything to dominate the state of the people? Answering these questions will require the help of history.

If the facts are analyzed openly, it is clear that the majority province of East Bengal played a major role in the establishment of this country, but soon after the establishment of Pakistan, the bureaucracy took over the system of this country. The first Secretary General of the Government of Pakistan Chaudhry Muhammad Ali, Ghulam Muhammad and Iskandar Mirza did not allow the constitution of the country. The government of the first Bengali Prime Minister Khwaja Nazimuddin was dismissed.

The majority of East Pakistan was eliminated by creating one unit, in 1958 undemocratic forces seized power. General Ayub Khan made the constitution of 1962 and retained all the powers and the country was made a security state. Fatima Jinnah contested the presidential election against General Ayub Khan. Zulfikar Ali Bhutto, the founder of People’s Party, was the Secretary General of Ayub Khan’s Muslim League. After the defeat of Fatima Jinnah, the intellectuals of East Bengal were disappointed.

Zulfikar Ali Bhutto separated from the Ayub government. In 1969 Ayub Khan resigned due to the awami movement and General Yahya Khan held general elections based on adult voting in 1970. Awami League from East Pakistan, People’s Party from Sindh and Punjab, National Awami Party and Jamiat Ulema-e-Islam from NWFP and Balochistan won in these elections. This was the chance that the country could have been made a real democratic welfare state, but General Yahya Khan did not transfer power to the Awami League and the operation took place in East Pakistan. Zulfiqar Ali Bhutto, the founder of the People’s Party, fully supported General Yahya Khan, however, on 16 December 1971, East Pakistan seceded.

People’s Party Chairman Zulfiqar Ali Bhutto and the political parties in the Parliament made a consensus constitution of 1973, however, the Bhutto government dismissed the National Awami Party government in Balochistan and an operation was carried out in Balochistan. Political opponents were arrested. In 1977, under the guise of rigging the elections, the PNA started a movement and General Zia-ul-Haq took advantage of the situation to impose martial law, thus the People’s Party and the left-wing parties fought a long struggle against the martial law. Thousands of people were flogged in the MRD movement.

As a result of the MRD movement, Zia-ul-Haq held non-party elections and appointed Muhammad Khan Junijoku as Prime Minister, then Zia-ul-Haq dismissed Junijoku and he himself died in a plane crash. Ms. Benazir Bhutto ended her exile and returned to the country. When they came, they received a historic reception. In the 1988 elections, the People’s Party won with a majority, but the leadership of the People’s Party reconciled with Acting President Ghulam Ishaq Khan and other superior forces, and the narrative of the losses of dictatorship disappeared.

Ghulam Ishaq Khan was elected President. Aslam Baig was given star democracy but the PPP government was dismissed after 18 months. The game ran until 1999. When Mrs. Benazir Bhutto and Mian Nawaz Sharif agreed on the Charter of Democracy and started new democratic traditions, but then Benazir Bhutto made NRO from General Pervez Musharraf and once again consolidated the power of the babus of Islamabad.

Under the Charter of Democracy, the 18th Amendment took place and the problem of provincial autonomy was resolved, but the importance of local bodies of authority at the lower level was not felt, nor was attention paid to the elimination of corruption, nor was the importance of good governance highlighted. This was taken advantage of by the babus of Islamabad and the narrative of Tehreek-e-Insaaf was inserted into the minds of the youth.

PPP has been in power in the federation for five years and has been ruling Sindh for 16 years, but all the indicators of development in Sindh reflect a negative situation. The importance of the local government system was not realized at the lower level of authority, so local problems became national problems. Although the People’s Party and Muslim League-N governments completed their constitutional terms based on the democratic charter, the Prime Ministers of both parties were deposed by the courts.

The establishment made Imran Khan successful in the 2018 elections. The violation of human rights continued during the tenure of Tehreek-e-Insaf, but then the People’s Party and the Muslim League-N did not learn from history and deprived the Tehreek-e-Insaf government of power through the Tehreek-e-Insaaf movement. People’s Party joined the coalition government under the leadership of Shahbaz Sharif. Bilawal became the foreign minister, but he could not remove the restrictions imposed on trade with India, thus, during the coalition government of Mian Shehbaz Sharif, inflation reached sky high, which benefited Tehreek-e-Insaf.

During the election campaign, Bilawal Bhutto criticized Mian Shehbaz Sharif’s government. Asif Zardari even said that the experience of making Shahbaz Sharif the Prime Minister was disappointing. After the elections, Bilawal Bhutto took the statement of not joining the coalition government, but with the support of this coalition government, he got the posts of President and Senate Chairman.

Sindh Chief Minister Murad Ali Shah is correct in saying that 70% of the country is governed by the People’s Party, but there is severe insecurity in Balochistan like during the Bhutto era. The issue of missing persons has been highlighted globally. There are currently political prisoners in the country, including women. The credibility of the 2024 elections is bad. International and national organizations monitoring the elections raised objections about the transparency of the elections.

Not to mention the poor, the middle class has also been severely affected by the increase in electricity, gas and petrol prices every month. All over the world there is talk of a hybrid system in Islamabad. No one has an answer to the question of where important decisions are made. Faizabad Dharna Commission Report reveals many hidden facts. Reorganization of the state and the end of the security state narrative are necessary to end the dictatorship of Islamabad’s babus.

Bilawal Bhutto is right that negotiations should be between political parties only. Parliament is the best forum for this, but to pave the way for negotiations, the appearance of missing persons in courts, the release of all political prisoners and the end of invisible sanctions are also very important.