The general deception
2
Following Zulfikar Ali Bhutto’s hanging, General Zia’s courtiers reminded him of the Hamoodur Rahman Commission report that had lain untraced for a long time. In the report were the findings of the judicial commission under Justice Hamoodur Rahman regarding the blunders made in East Pakistan, which had led to the dismembering of united Pakistan.
The General was intrigued. Two days before Bhutto’s hanging, he ordered two teams to raid the deposed prime minister’s residences and search for the document. Gen Zia had been assured by his confidantes that the report was still with Bhutto, since he was in the habit of keeping it with himself.
The raids were duly executed.
Documents recovered from the two houses included a copy of the Hamoodur Rahman Commission report, but even 36 years later today, questions abound over whether the seized report was the original or if he had laid hands on a fake one. Nor is it clear whether the report was actually recovered from Bhutto’s Islamabad residence or his Karachi one.
Meanwhile, during mid-April 1979, Gen Zia told his military council that he would dissolve the federal cabinet a few months before the national elections. The Pakistan National Alliance (PNA) leadership viewed this standpoint as very encouraging for the restoration of democracy, and decided that the alliance should quit the cabinet immediately.
On April 15, the resignations were presented to the general. Two days later, they were granted.
At this point, a startling proposal was forwarded by Gen Zia: he called for amending the Constitution to incorporate a permanent role in governance for the armed forces. This was despite the fact that he had been repeatedly saying that amendments would not be made to the Constitution.
Meanwhile, in Islamabad, a meeting of officials drawn from all provinces approved a plan governing the institution of local bodies, its structure, administrative and financial powers. This plan was similar to Ayub Khan’s Basic Democracy system, the only difference being that of the number of tiers.
With Gen Zia no longer keeping his plans under a veil, political parties immediately went into detailed discussions. But before the parties could make any move, he came out with another gimmick.
On April 21, 1979, Gen Zia announced another cabinet, replacing the previous one which he had formed on Aug 23, 1978. This cabinet included Lt Gen Faiz Ali Chishti, Air Marshal Inamul Haq, Lt-Gen Ghulam Hassan, Rear Admiral Janjua, Lt-Gen Jamal Syed Mian, Ali Ahmad Talpur, Ghulam Ishaq Khan, Mohammad Ali Hoti, Mahmoud A. Haroon, Sharifuddin Pirzada, Mohiyuddin Baloch, Javed Hashmi and Shahid Hamid.
Six advisers were also appointed. They were: Dr M. Afzal, Hamid Habib, Muazam Ali, Hakim Saeed, Begum Waqarunisa Noon and Justice Hamoodur Rahman.
On May 8, Gen Zia once again spoke to a selected gathering of journalists at the governor’s house, Karachi. This time, he proclaimed that he had decided to hold local bodies’ elections before general elections. He regretted the fact that politicians were opposing his plans.
In the midst of this debate, Begum Nusrat Bhutto and Benazir Bhutto were released from their Sihala detention on May 28. They arrived in Karachi to a rapturous welcome by PPP workers and supporters. When Begum Bhutto was informed about the role of Jatoi, Khar and Maulana Niazi, she was shocked but did not take any action immediately. On June 3, 1979, Begum Nusrat Bhutto said that she would soon tell people about a message Bhutto had given to her before his hanging.
On June 7, speaking in Sahiwal, Gen Zia said that the elections were essential for democracy but the deposed premier had committed such follies that it would be meaningless to hand over power to the PPP once again.
Meanwhile, in Islamabad, a meeting of officials drawn from all provinces approved a plan governing the institution of local bodies, its structure, administrative and financial powers. This plan was similar to Ayub Khan’s Basic Democracy system, the only difference being that of the number of tiers.
Gen Zia’s proposed structure comprised three tiers: union council, tehsil council and district council. In the cities, a one-tier system was to be introduced after local bodies’ polls.
As talks about polls being imminent began gathering pace, the military council reactivated the election cell under the chairmanship of Gen Chishti, with similar objectives as announced previously.
But the proposal to hold local bodies’ elections did not gather much support. The PNA too decided to take a firm stand, arguing that it rejected moves such as holding local bodies’ polls when used as a pretext to defer general elections.
On June 11, the Alliance held a meeting in Lahore, where issues such as local bodies’ polls, general elections and constitutional amendments came up, and were duly rejected. Subsequently, a meeting with Gen Zia was held on June 14, in which he was clearly told that the Alliance rejected the holding of local bodies’ elections before the general elections. Nor was it ready to accept calling a roundtable conference on the subject.
Published in Dawn, Sunday Magazine, March 15th, 2015
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