THE august hall of the National Assembly recently witnessed heated discussions and fiery speeches about who is actually responsible for derailing democracy in Pakistan. I found it strange that the names of Ghulam Mohammad and Iskander Mirza were never mentioned in these ‘debates’. They were surely the ones who were mainly responsible for derailing democracy, for they left no stone unturned to destroy democracy and destabilise the motherland. They had a passion for declaring emergencies, dissolving assemblies, and dismissing prime ministers.

Another ‘great’ personality in the same category was that of Justice Mohammad Munir, who invented the ‘doctrine of necessity’ to legalise Ghulam Mohammad’s unconstitutional act of dissolving the assembly and dismissing the cabinet of Khwaja Nazimuddin in 1953.

Iskandar Mirza was a civil servant who acquired the rank of major-general being the defence secretary. When he felt that power was slipping out of his hands due to the democratic movement against him spearheaded by Sardar Abdur Rab Nishtar and Khan Abdul Qayyum Khan, he declared martial law on Oct 7, 1958, appointing Ayub Khan the chief martial law administrator (CMLA).

Last but not least, it was president and CMLA Yahya Khan who presided over the dismemberment of Pakistan and faced ignominy. The bitter story is too painful to be narrated. This humble man, who is a senior citizen in his 80s and has seen these bitter events unfolding, humbly suggests that the National Assembly should decide to impeach posthumously Ghulam Muhammad, Justice Munir, Iskandar Mirza and Yahya Khan to serve the cause of justice. Although it will be highly delayed, it is never too late to do the right thing. As they say, it is better late than never.

In the final analysis, all the other actors in our history were nothing more that mere by-products of the misdeeds of these four individuals. Punishing them posthumously will send out a clear message to everyone, and the record will be set straight.

Lt-Col (retd) Syed Iftikhar Ahmed
Karachi

Published in Dawn, May 26th, 2024