Dear All,

lmost 36 years ago, it felt as if Pakistan was on the brink of a whole new phase in its political history. The Pakistan Peoples Party had emerged victorious in elections across the country in November 1988. After more than a decade of rule by Gen Zia-ul Haq, an incarcerated and exiled leader had returned and led her party to victory despite all attempts to thwart this.

After years of a martial law government’s brutal attempts to divide and destroy the PPP, in 1988 the party found itself opposed by a coalition made up of nearly everybody else. Unfortunately, this pattern (‘my enemy’s enemy is my friend’) has continued till the present day despite decades where politicians attempted to strengthen the parliament and tried to establish the supremacy of law and civilian rule.

The story of electoral coalitions in Pakistan’s recent history is sad as well as bizarre. In 1988, the politicians who had thrived under Zia were brought together under the umbrella of the electoral alliance the Islami Jamhoori Itehad (or Islamic Democratic Alliance). It was made up of nine parties, mostly led by politicians who had been patronised and promoted in the Zia years plus a few disenchanted/ co-opted PPP leaders such as Ghulam Mustaf Jatoi. It included some religious parties, notably the Jamaat-i-Islami and a faction of the Jamiat Ulemai-i-Islam, and it had a one-point agenda: to defeat Bhutto and her party. The alliance was achieved and ‘managed’ by Lt Gen Hameed Gul. The tone of its rhetoric was quite misogynistic: one of its core slogans was: Nau Sitaray Bhai Bhai Benazir ki Shamat Aai.

Somehow, the PPP won the election and Bhutto was sworn in as prime minister in December 1988. In less than a year a No Confidence motion was moved against her in te National Assembly. Bhutto’s government survived but only after entering the fray of political manouevering and ‘horse trading.’ Nine months later, the government was sacked by President Ghulam Ishaq Khan, a seasoned bureaucrats and key Zia ally.

The IJI continued to function as an electoral alliance in the 1990 elections but Nawaz Sharif, by then the popular leader of the Punjab, had emerged as its leader and he went on to become prime minister in the winter of 1990. By 1993, he had managed to alienate his backers. He made his famous “mein dictation nahin loonga” speech (removed later from all archives) and was sacked by President Ishaq Khan. The Supreme Court restored his government but he found it hard to run it without the establishment’s support and called fresh elections. The IJI was disbanded and Bhutto won the 1993 election. Sharif was back in 1997 after Bhutto again fell from favour and her government was dismissed in November 1996.

The next significant electoral alliance was the right-wing Muttahida Majils-i-Amal which contested the 2002 elections ostensibly to oppose the military dictator, Gen Pervez Musharraf. The MMA was made up of six religious parties who were allowed to use the book as their electoral symbol. They were useful as a counter to both the mainstream parties the Pakistan Muslim League and the PPP.

The establishment’s role in the formation and operation of the IJI was brought under public scrutiny when Air Marshal Asghar Khan moved the top court alleging that two senior army officers and then president Ghulam Ishaq Khan had provided Rs 140 million, distributed among several politicians, ahead of the 1990 polls. After 16 years and much intrigue, the court issued a verdict suggesting proceedings be initiated by investigative agencies and military authorities against those involved. This never materialised. An attempt was made to quash the case as Air Marshal Khan had passed away by then but his heirs opposed it.

For some people, the formation of the IJI was a laudable and heroic strategy to ‘save Pakistan.’ For others it is an illustration of how the ‘powers that be’ use coalitions of political groups to oppose whoever they perceive as the greatest enemy at any given time.

Events over the past few years provide more examples of this sort of manouevring. But whereas in 1988, such a project was regarded as questionable, undemocratic and repressive, now all has been ‘normalised.’

Best wishes

Umber Khairi