Pakistan Under the Military: Eleven Years of Zia ul-Haq

218 Pages·8.54 MB·English

by  Shahid Javed Burki, Craig Baxter et al.

Pakistan Under the Military
/
Eleven Years of Zia ul-Haq
Shahid Javed Burki and Craig Baxter
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with contributions by
Robert LaPorte, Jr., and Kamal Azfar
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Westview Press
BOULDER • SAN FRANCISCO • OXFORD
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Pak Book Corporation
LAHORE • ISLAMABAD • KARACHI
This volume is included in Westviews Special Studies on South and Southeast Asia
All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced or transmitted in
any. form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopy, recording,
or any information storage and retrieval system, without permission in writing from
Westview Press.
Copyright © 1991 by Westview Press, Inc.
Published in 1991 in the United States of America by Westview Press, Inc., 5500 Central
Avenue, Boulder, Colorado 80301, and in the United Kingdom by Westview Press, 36
Lonsdale Road, Summertown, Oxford OX2 7EW
Distributed in Pakistan by Pak Book Corporation, 21 Queen's Road, Lahore
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Burki, Shahid Javed
Pakistan under the military : eleven years of Zia ul-Haq / by
Shahid Javed Burki and Craig Baxter with contributions by Robert
LaPorte, Jr., and Kamal Azfar.
p. cm.
Includes bibliographical references and index.
ISBN 0-8133-7985-7 (U.S.)
I. Pakistan-Politics and government-1971-1988. 2. Zia ul-Haq,
Mohammad. I. Baxter, Craig. II. LaPorte, Robert, 1940-
III. Kamal Azfar, 1938- . IV. Title.
DS384.B876 1991
954.9105-dc20 90-49969
CIP
Printed in the United States of America
The paper used in this publication meets the requirements
of the American National Standard for Permanence of Paper
for Printed Library Materials 239.48-1984.
10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2
Contents
Preface and Acknowledgments vii
About the Authors ix
Abbreviations xi
1 Zia's Eleven Years, Shahid Javed Burki 1
2 Restructuring the Pakistan Political System,
Craig Baxter 27
,
3 Constitutional Dilemmas in Pakistan, Kamal Azfar 49
4 Pakistan's Economy Under Zia, Shahid Javed Burki 87
5 Administrative Restructuring During the Zia Period,
Robert LaPorte, Jr. 115
6 Pakistan Becomes Prominent in the International
Arena, Craig Baxter 137
Zia's Eleven Years: A Chronology of Important Events,
Shahid Javed Burki 155
'
Biographical Sketches of Important Personalities
During the Zia Period, Robert LaPorte, Jr. 183
The Zia Period: A Bibliography, Craig Baxter 193
Index 207
Preface and Acknowledgments
This volume brings together six chapters on various aspects of the
rule of General (later President) Muhammad Zia ul-Haq of Pakistan.
The two authors of this preface met Zia a number of times and, as
will be clearly shown in the chapters written by each, came away with
markedly different impressions of the man and his regime. We agree
fully, however, that Zia was a gracious host and an engaging
interlocutor, one who stated his views and opinions on a wide range
of topics without hesitation and with candor.
We believe the strength of the book is that it reflects differing
views of the Zia period in Pakistan's history. Although we have read
and commented on each other's chapters and on those written by the
two contributors to the volume, Kamal Azfar and Robert La.Porte, Jr.,
we have not attempted to dissuade each other or the contributors
from the views we each hold or the conclusions we have reached.
This work, then, is not intended to be committed to a single point of
view but rather is intended to present several points of view.
The book is also meant to assist others who may want to assess
Zia's role in the history of Pakistan and in the cast of those military
persons who have assumed control of states in modern history. To this
end, we have appended chronological, biographic, and bibliographic
material that we hope will serve as a starting place.
All four of the contributors join in thanking those who have
assisted in the preparation of the manuscript, especially Susan
McEachern, Amos Zubrow, and Diana Luykx of Westview Press and
our copy editor, Diane Hess. Our families have tolerated the long ,/
periods of our attention to typewriters and word processors along with
the frustrations that such attention often brings; we appreciate their
tolerance and understanding.
viii
Finally, it should be noted, as one always does, that any errors in
this volume are those of the writers. In addition, let it be known that
the views expressed by Shahid Javed Burki are his own and are not
necessarily those of the International Bank for Reconstruction and
Development by whom he is employed. Those of us in the academic
and legal world require no such disclaimers.
Shahid Javed Burki
Craig Baxter
About the Authors
Shahid Javed Burki, former economic adviser to Pakistan's
Ministry of Commerce, taught at Harvard University and since 1974
has been with the World Bank, most recently as director, China
Department. He holds degrees in economics (C hrist Church, Oxford
University, Rhodes Scholar) and public administration (John F.
Kennedy School, Harvard University, Mason Fellow). His books on
Pakistan include Pakistan: A Nation in the Making (1986), Pakistan's
Development Priorities: Choices for the Future (1984) (with Robert
LaPorte, Jr.), and Pakistan Under Bhutto, 1971-1977 (1980).
Craig Baxter is professor of politics and history at Juniata College,
Huntingdon, Pennsylvania. He received his Ph.D. from the University
of Pennsylvania. He has written extensively on South Asia, including
editing and contributing to Zia's Pakistan: Politics and Stability in a
Frontline State (1985). He is also the author of Bangladesh: A New
Nation (1984). He is a retired Foreign Service officer whose
assignments included tours in India, Pakistan, and Bangladesh.
Robert LaPorte, Jr., is professor of public administration at The
Pennsylvania State University. He received his Ph.D. in political
science from Syracuse University and joined the faculty at Penn State
in 1966. His books on Pakistan include Public Enterprises in Pakistan:
The Hidden Crisis in Economic Development (1989) (with Muntazar
Bashir Ahmed), Pakistan's Development Priorities: Choices for the
Future (with Shahid Javed Burki), and Power and Privilege: Influence
and Decision Making in Pakistan (1975).
Kamal Azfar is a barrister specializing in constitutional law in
Karachi. In addition to being called to the bar from the Inns of Court,
he studied at Government College, Lahore, and at Oxford. During the
period of Zulfikar Ali Bhutto, he served ·as a minister in the Sindh
government and as a senator. He was a special assistant to the
caretaker prime minister Ghulam Mustafa Jatoi. He has written
Pakistan: Political and Constitutional Dilemmas (1987).
Abbreviations
ADC Agricultural Development Corporation
CENTO Central Treaty Organization
CCI Council of Common Interests
CMLA Chief Martial Law Administrator
COAS Chief of Army Staff
COP Combined Opposition Parties
CSP Civil Service of Pakistan
C & W communications and works
DMG District Management Group
GDP gross domestic product
GNP gross national product
ICS Indian Civil Service
IJI Islami Jamhoori lttehad (Islamic Democratic Alliance)
ISi Inter-Services Intelligence
JUI Jamiat-ul-Ulema-i-Islam
JUP Jamiat-ul-Ulema-i-Pakistan
MRD Movement for the Restoration of Democracy
MQM Muhajir Quami Mahaz (Refugee National Movement)
NAP National Awami Party
NATO North Atlantic Treaty Organization
NWFP Northwest Frontier Province
OIC Organization of the Islamic Conference
PIA Pakistan International Airlines
PIDC Pakistan Industrial Development Corporation
PML Pakistan Muslim League
PNA Pakistan National Alliance
PPP People's Party of Pakistan
RCD Regional Cooperation for Development
SAARC South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation
SARC South Asian Regional Cooperation
SITE Sindhi Industrial and Trading Estate
UAE United Arab Emirates
USAlD United States Agency for International Development
V-A[D' Village Agricultural and Industrial Development
WA PDA Water and Power Development Authority
1
Zia's Eleven Years
Shahid Javed Burki
"I do not regret the death of Zia," said Benazir Bhutto.1 Bhutto is
the daughter of former Prime Minister Zulfikar Ali Bhutto, who was
deposed by General Zia ul-Haq in July 1977. After forcing Zulfikar
Ali Bhutto from office, Zia had him arrested in September 1977 on
the charge that he had ordered the murder of a political opponent.
Bhutto was tried by the Lahore High Court, convicted, sentenced to
death, and allowed by General Zia ul-Haq to be executed in
Rawalpindi on April 4, 1979, after the Supreme Court upheld the
verdict. Zia himself was killed in a plane crash near the central
Punjab city of Bahawalpur on August 17, 1988. The cause of the crash
was investigated by the civilian and military intelligence services of
Pakistan and by the U.S. Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI). The
investigators quickly reached the conclusion that the plane crash was
not the result of mechanical failure, nor was it caused by pilot errbr.
It was clearly an act of sabotage. Although a number of theories were
advanced, the governments-of Pakistan and the United States have not
released any official finding. The motives for Zia's assassination
remain shrouded in mystery.
A great deal was said and written about President Zia ul-Haq at
the time of his death. The Times of London called' Zia's demise "a bad
death for the West."2 The United States secretary of state, George
Shultz, called his trip to Islamabad to attend Zia's funeral "a journey ,,--
in sorrow." Zia was "a defender of Pakistan's freedom and
independence and a steadfast champion of the Afghan cause," said
Shultz.3
2
"The passing of Zia the dictator will not be regretted: Zia the
sometimes confused human being will be recalled with affection. Zia
the soldier has a decent place in the momentous recent history of the
region. He did more than most to save it from Russia. That is not a
bad epitaph," stated an article in The Economist.4 Not all analysts
agreed with this assessment. According to one, ''The direct result of his
autocratic rule was the development of serious divisiveness among the
ethnic groups of Pakistan. His government also allowed the
development of a criminal network of exiled Afghan drug and arms
merchants, in collusion with Pakistani military officers and civil
servants."5 In a statement issued by the Pakistan People's Party (PPP),
the political organization headed by Benazir Bhutto, Zia's contribution
to rolling back the Soviet advance toward South Asia was recognized,
but not much else was found in his record that was worthy of praise.
"Internationally, Zia may be remembered as the man who stood up to
the Soviets after they entered Afghanistan," the statement said. "But
in Pakistan, he will be remembered as the man who illegally seized
power, and after eleven and one half years of repressive rule, left
behind nothing: debt and mortgages, hunger and unemployment,
exploitation and discrimination, drugs and corruption.116 Zia was not
fond of calling himself a democrat, but he did not like the label of
dictator either. He certainly did not picture himself as a ruthless
leader, totally oblivious of human rights. A London Times editorial
had this to say about the dead president: "Since coming to power,
General Zia has carried out some harsh measures of repression
against his opponents, rpost notably the execution of Mr. Bhutto
himself. But his predecessor had at least as much blood on his hands
as General Zia accumulated--probably more. Government in Pakistan
is not for the tender-hearted.' 0
There are some who even dispute Zia's pride in his humble social
origins. "Zia is himself the son of a mullah. It is reported by people in
his village that he was ashamed of his origins and would not visit his
father's home in his uniform, nor would he generally visit by day,
preferring to go at night when he was not detectable.''8
Who was Zia ul-Haq? Why was he chosen by Prime Minister
Zulfikar Ali Bhutto to head the army when a number of generals
senior to Zia could have been given the job? Why did Zia suddenly
turn on Bhutto? Having professed to no political ambition in the early
days of martial law and having repeatedly promised elections, why did
Zia stay in power for more than eleven years? Why after making a
commitment to sustain the Constitution of 1973 did he tamper with it
to such an extent that the political structure he erected did not
resemble the one adopted by consensus in 1973? After introducing a
new political order, why did he dismantle it himself by dismissing
3
Prime Minister Muhammad Khan Junejo on May 29, 1988, at the time
when Junejo seemed in a position to challenge successfully Bhutto's
Pakistan People's Party at the polls? After all, Junejo had been
handpicked by Zia to head the civilian government, whose appointees
were inducted into office in March 1985, and his success in office
would have demonstrated to a large number of skeptical observers that
power could be effectively shared between the military and political
groups. What is Zia's legacy to Pakistan? Did he leave Pakistan
economically and politically healthier after eleven years of rule, or did
he set back Pakistan's economic and political development by
concentrating a great deal of power in his own hands?
Zia has been dead for more than two years, and political power
passed into the hands of the PPP, but not as completely as expected
by Nusrat Bhutto, the widow of Zulfikar Ali Bhutto, and their
daughter Benazir Bhutto. Although, as predicted by most political
observers, power passed to the Bhuttos and the PPP the moment Zia
left the political scene and democracy was restored in the country, the
Bhuttos' return was greeted by the people of Pakistan with less than
total enthusiasm. In the election of November 1988, the people gave
a split political mandate, making the PPP the largest party in the
national legislature but denying it an absolute majority.· Punjab, the
largest of Pakistan's four provinces, returned Mian Nawaz Sharif to his
position as chief minister. Nawaz, a young industrialist fro~ Lahore,
had been handpicked by Zia in 1985 and appointed Punjab's chief
minister. Nawaz not only led the lslami Jamhoori Ittehad (UI), a
coalition of several political parties formed after Zia's death to
challenge the PPP, to victory in the provincial elections of 1988 but
also survived a number of attempts by the PPP to topple him from
power. In November 1989, the Combined Opposition Parties (COP)
in the National Assembly, with the active support of the IJI,
introduced a motion of no-confidence against Prime Minister Benazir
Bhutto, which she survived by a narrow margin of only. Melve votes.
But the victory was short-lived. Her ministry was dismissed in August
1990, and after the ensuing election, her rival, Nawaz Sharif, emerged
as prime minister.
Pakistan's political picture remains cloudy even after Zia, and as
discussed in Chapter 4, Pakistan's economy now faces a critical
situation. Are Pakistan's present difficult political and economic
circumstances to be attributed to Zia's eleven years of stern rule? It
is perhaps too early to answer these questions but not too soon to
begin the process of finding some clues.