Even before she took over the reins of leadership on Dec 2, 1988, Benazir Bhutto was aware of the problems — political or otherwise — that lay ahead. Though her party, the PPP, had secured more seats than any other party and she had managed to form the government in the centre, in the provinces the situation was different. In Sindh, her home province, despite having bagged 67 seats in the house of 114, Bhutto had to join hands with MQM, which had 26 seats.
However, the situation was not favourable for the PPP in Balochistan, Punjab and NWFP (now KP). Led by Nawaz Sharif, the Islami Jamhoori Ittehad (IJI) gained popularity in Punjab and NWFP.
But what was most disconcerting was the result from Punjab where, in a house of 240 members, the IJI had captured 108 seats. This was a fairly good position but it could not form the government on its own. With 94 seats, the PPP had emerged as the second largest party, defeating Bhutto’s ambition of making a government in the province which was once PPP’s stronghold. In this situation, the 41 independents assumed a decisive factor in forming the government
In Balochistan’s 42-member house, the PPP had bagged three seats, IJI eight seats, Jamiat Ulema-i-Islam (Fazal) 11 seats, while seven members were independent. The Balochistan National Alliance (BNA), led by Baloch nationalist Akbar Bugti, rose as a new force by gaining six seats. Post elections, Bhutto let Mir Zafarullah Khan Jamali, the caretaker chief minister of Balochistan to continue as head of the coalition government.
Much manoeuvring and manipulation continued in NWFP and Balochistan in the first few months of Benazir Bhutto’s premiership
Since Sharif did not want Bhutto to form the government in Balochistan, he disapproved of this move and asked the governor, Gen (Retired) Musa Khan, to dissolve the provincial assembly under Article 1 (112). Subsequently on Dec 15, 1988 — just 12 days after Bhutto had taken over as PM, the provincial assembly was dissolved.
Although the dissolution was carried out on the pretext of the assembly not functioning according to the Constitution, the governor had not consulted the prime minister before using the particular constitutional clause. The dissolution disappointed Bhutto, but she resolved to make a comeback and form a coalition government in Balochistan once again with the help of the independents.
On Jan 22, 1989, the Balochistan High Court restored the Balochistan Assembly, terming the dissolution as illegal. Zafarullah Jamali, who had been appointed caretaker chief minister after the dissolution had to resign and a new game of political manoeuverings began.
In the meantime, Sharif brought about an accord among BNA, IJI and JUI and a coalition was formed. Nawab Akbar Bugti was elected as chief minister of Balochistan on Feb 5, 1989. This was another loss for the PPP.
Sharif now began to eye NWFP, where in the house of 77 members, the IJI had secured 28 seats, the ANP 12 seats and the PPP trailed behind the IJI with 20 seats. The PPP had formed a coalition with the ANP in the centre and the MQM in Sindh, and it wanted a coalition with the ANP in NWFP as well. Bhutto reached an agreement with ANP chief Wali Khan according to which the provincial government would be led by PPP, while the governorship would go to the ANP. As a result of the alliance, Aftab Ahmad Sherpao was elected as NWFP chief minister, while Amir Gulistan Janjua was appointed as governor. But soon differences arose between them and the PPP-ANP coalition fell apart.
Bhutto manoeuvred the situation so that 10 members from the IJI left their alliance with the PML-N on Jan 19, 1989 to join the PPP-led coalition, thereby preventing a collapse of the PPP-led government. However, the final blow to the alliance with the ANP came in April 1989, when a row was sparked with the PPP after a tough US stance on Pakistan which had a direct bearing on NWFP politics.
The US at the time was negotiating on three major policies with Pakistan, and had put forth demands for continuing close cooperation. These included capping the nuclear programme, and a crackdown on the narcotics trade which was reportedly being run on a high scale from NWFP. It was also demanded that drugs smugglers be handed over to the US or be tried in Pakistan.
Bhutto’s forthcoming scheduled visit to the US was only weeks away and she wanted to complete a few tasks before her visit. She ordered Aitzaz Ahsan, the federal interior minister, to undertake an operation against drug trafficking being run by some influential people in NWFP. The arrest of some of these powerful people during the operation infuriated the drug barons. Despite attempts made by the ANP leadership to justify the operation, it bitterly failed. Finally, on April 27, 1989, the enraged ANP leadership withdrew its cabinet members, bringing an end to the PPP-ANP coalition.
This left the NWFP open to Sharif who was desirous of making inroads there. After much politicking, he finally succeeded in being able to woo ANP chief Wali Khan, convincing him to join the Muslim League in a coalition government in the province. In June 1989, the ANP entered into an alliance with PML-N which survived till 1998, only to break down again on differences regarding the Kalabagh dam and renaming of the frontier province.
Published in Dawn, Sunday Magazine, August 7th, 2016
Dear visitor, the comments section is undergoing an overhaul and will return soon.