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As is the wont in dictatorships, the inner cabinet of General Ziaul Haq assured him in August, 1979 that he was the most suitable person to rule the country. But then came a rude shock to the system: some generals began questioning him at an Aug 29-meeting of his advisors.
In the meeting, Gen Zia began reviewing the overall situation and warned that if elections were to be held, the country would break up. Some generals had heard it all before. They retorted that he should not tell the same old story every single time; for once, he should tell them what he planned to do, and then stick to his plan. They argued that Gen Zia’s oft-changing stances left them exposed to humiliation at the hands of their adversaries.
This was the first time that Gen Zia had heard dissenting voices in his presence.
Despite extending assurances to Mufti Mahmood to the contrary, Gen Zia presses ahead with the PR system and parties’ registration
Perhaps feeling that he was losing ground, Gen Zia changed his standpoint. He informed the others that a two-member committee was being set up which would evaluate the situation and report to him by Sept 10. Guidelines for a future political system would then be drawn in light of the committee’s findings.
General Rahimuddin and General Abbasi were tasked with preparing the report. They knew what Gen Zia wanted, and thus, their report said that the General should continue to rule for another two to five years. They claimed that during this period, the country’s economy would also improve and political decisions could thus be made on safer grounds.
The report also urged him to retain Martial Law as the supreme law of the land, and suggested that amendments should be made to the constitution or it could even be abrogated if necessary. A complete ban on political activities was also proposed; if any agitation took place, it should be crushed with force.
On Sept 25, the Election Commission announced the election schedule for the provincial and national assemblies. Polls were to be held on separate electorate basis and on the basis of the Proportional Representation (PR) system.
According to the schedule, nominations were to be filed between Sept 26 and Oct 2. Scrutiny would be held on Oct 2; appeals in acceptance and rejection of nominations on Oct 4 and 5. Decisions on appeals would be handed on Oct 7, withdrawals on Oct 9, and polling on Nov 17.
Soon after the announcement, Pakistan National Alliance (PNA) chief Mufti Mahmood rejected the election schedule, citing Gen Zia’s duplicity in the matter. Mahmood argued that on the one hand, Gen Zia had agreed to withdraw the condition of registration of parties and the PR system, but on the other, both have been introduced as part of the elections schedule.
The same day, he tried to contact Gen Zia and surprisingly the General agreed to meet. Despite being locked in discussions for three hours, Gen Zia and Mahmood could not reach any understanding.
On Sept 26, Gen Zia addressed a select gathering in Quetta, where he cast doubts over holding elections on Nov 17. Arguing that the Nov 17 date was not set in stone, he said that it would be devastating to hold elections on that date.
On Sept 26, Gen Zia addressed a select gathering in Quetta, where he cast doubts over holding elections on Nov 17. Arguing that the Nov 17 date was not set in stone, he said that it would be devastating to hold elections on that date.
The issue now rested with the PNA, which was to meet in Lahore on Sept 27.
After deliberations in the PNA central committee meeting, Mahmood addressed a press conference on Sept 28, saying that the Alliance had rejected the condition of parties’ registration as undemocratic, and, therefore, no constituent party of the PNA would get itself registered.
Mufti demanded that the condition of registration should be immediately withdrawn, the ban on political activities be lifted, and PNA’s amendments to the PR system be accepted. The PNA also demanded an end to the “character assassination” of politicians and parties.
The PNA chief said that from the very beginning, the Alliance had termed the condition of parties’ registration as a means to disgrace political parties. He recalled the meeting with Gen Zia on Sept 25, in which it was agreed that the PNA’s amendments to the PR system would be incorporated, and the condition of parties’ registration would be withdrawn.
Despite Gen Zia agreeing to accept the two conditions, he told the PNA that he was not prepared to withdraw the registration condition. To this, the Jamaat-i-Islami (JI) said that it would contest the polls after registration, as the JI thought that it did not want to give an excuse to the government to put off the elections on this point.
Mahmood continued to insist that Gen Zia had agreed to include the recommendations of the Alliance in the new elections schedule, but now the government was not implementing them. He reiterated the notion that the Alliance had a clear stand on parties’ registration.
But the JI decision put the Alliance in a sticky situation. After some thought, Mahmood contacted Gen Zia on telephone.
The next day, Sept 30, Mahmood asked candidates who had taken part in the March 1977 elections and were interested in contesting in Nov 17 elections to file their nominations with the Election Commission by Oct 2 and mark themselves as PNA candidates. According to Mahmood, Gen Zia had assured him on telephone the night before that he would inform him about government’s decision today, but sadly, Gen Zia did not inform him by that time.
Later, it was learnt that barring the PNA, the PPP and the National Democratic Party, other political parties had applied for registration. The situation was still murky as neither Gen Zia nor the other parties were willing to bend. Many observers at that time were of the opinion that political parties should assent to participating in the polls, and when the political government had taken a firm shape, they should revert to the old system.
Published in Dawn, Sunday Magazine, April 5th, 2015
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