Political Review - realoutlook.com

Benazir Bhutto returned to Pakistan on October 18th of this year greeted by welcoming crowds of political supporters estimated to reach 200,000. Her procession in a staged rally for her homecoming was attacked by a suicide bomber killing 140 of her supporters but missing Benazir. She would not be so fortunate this last Thursday when she was assassinated with another 20 supporters dying from the bomb blast little two months after her triumphant return.

November polls showed popular support for Bhutto at over 60% in her bid for a seat in the National Assembly in the January 8th election and to become Pakistan’s Prime Minister for a third time. When she first became Prime Minister in 1988, a first for a female in a Muslim state, she would be removed by the Pakistani President, Ghulam Ishaq Khan, only 20 months latter on suspicion of corruption. In 1996, three years after beginning her second term as Prime Minister, she would be removed again by President Farooq Leghari for much of the same reasons. She would leave for Dubai in 1998 and remain in self imposed exile until reaching agreement with with President Musharraf this year whereby she could avoid prosecution on corruption changes.

Benazir continually denied the corruption charges leveled against her contending they were all politically motivated. But investigations went far beyond the confines of Pakistan. Her husband, Asif Ali Zardari, was once a member of the National Assembly and Environment Minister during his Benazir’s administration. He was commonly know as “Mr Ten-Percent” while Pakistan People’s Party [PPP] was in power for extorting his cut on business transactions. In 1998, The New York Times reported documents included deals with a French aircraft manufacturer and a Dubai trading company that made payments to a Swiss company he controlled.

The PPP, with the creed of

“Islam is our faith; democracy is our politics; socialism is our economy; all power to the people”

came to power with the election of their chairman, Benazir’s father Zulfikar Ali Bhutto, as Prime Minister. Since being founded in 1947 party leadership has tended to be English educated in stark contrast to the Muslim Clerics of the Northwest Frontier province. In the case of both Zulkifar and Benazir, they received extensive extensive education at U.S. universities. Despite their pretense of civility, conflicts within the PPP and against the opposition National Awami Party [NAP] escalated as the popularity of Bhutto declined among allegations of corruption and even murder of an opposition leader. Finally, General Zia-ul-Haq overthrew the government of Benazir’s father in 1977. He was hanged April 4, 1979 on charges of conspiracy to murder Ahmed Raza Kasuri of the NAP. Zia would himself die what would seem a political death when his plane crashed on August 17,1988; the prevailing rumor is that poison gas may have been the cause

The court would take part in these political struggles. In a 1977 suit challenging the validity of the coup, the Supreme Court handed down a ruling, to be know as the Necessity Doctrine, that General Zia’s overthrowing of the Bhutto government was legal on the grounds of necessity. The Doctrine lends legitimacy to the military’s role in a crisis and has been hard for the court overcome in recent stuggles with Musharaf.

Benazir has been Chairman of the PPP in exile. She had been busy with the international diplomatic community, including the U.S. State department spreading her vision of secular democracy in Pakistan that includes shared goals with U.S. efforts in the war on terror. But, what could be expected in reality is the same as before with the anti-terror effort being little more than Musharraf’s war on the Taliban and al Qaeda.

Islam has been at the center of political issues since Pakistan’s birth. The development of the military based on three wars with India over the rights of Muslims in the disputed Kashmir region. Now, though, al Qaeda and Taliban forces along Pakistan’s border region with Afghanistan has expanded their influence and actually enforcing their brand of Islam in certain districts. And these groups are staging attacks against the Pakistani public.

What did Benazir Bhutto hope to achieve that would be different than the past? Is Pakistan any better off for her efforts? For the most part, all this could be seen as Pakistani Politics as usual with the Military as an integral element of their government having held power for about 30 of the 50 years since the first constitution. Radical Islamic groups have continued their heavy influence over government policy.

In spite of her transgressions and inept performance as Prime Minister her public clamored for her presence on the political stage. This past indicates her election would have brought about much of the same for Pakistani politics. With the wide variety of views on Islams role in government across the various political parties it’s difficult to believe she could gain a consensus to take actions against al Qaeda and the Taliban. Her death may do more to consolidate opposition to these radical elements than another term in office even though multiple attempts on Musharrif’s life in recent years hasn’t. Unless someone suddenly emerges from the political ranks that gains the attention of the voting public Musharrif or someone from the military will be guiding Pakistan’s future. [ro_27]

This entry was posted on Monday, December 31st, 2007 at 4:39 pm and is filed under Pakistan, Politics, Terrorism. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed.

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