NAWAZ anointed king

By Prof Dr. Sohail Ansari

Nawaz Sharif’s PML returned to power in 1997 by amassing two-third of the total vote. Nawaz’s two-thirds majority, however, had given the Prime Minster-elect a popular mandate that was aimed at reviving the parliamentary experience.  Nawaz ‘respected’ this mandate by rarely appearing parliament. He anointed himself as king by passing the 14^th amendment which made him the ‘final authority in judging member’s conduct on these matters with no recourse to the judiciary or any independent authority. This amendment in effect created a dictatorship for the party leader.

Objective to have absolute rule throughout country was pursued by governor’s rule, suspension and then paralysis of the provincial assembly, installation of a non-elected Muslim Leaguer as a de facto chief Minster not responsible to the provincial legislature to break the opposition to set up a Muslim League government.

Nawaz entered into confrontation with president and judiciary and finally he turned against the military. He dismissed the Chief of Army Staff who was then out of the country on official duty. But in the end that was Nawaz who had to go.

Examining the return of military Beena sarwar writes “how we came to this pass, it is clear that the present situation was brought about by the Nawaz’s own action, stemming from his greed for absolute power and his delusions of setting himself up as an Emperor of sorts”. On 18^th of Oct 1999 Syed Asad Ali wrote in Dawn “Democratic dictatorship of Mr Nawaz has fallen…it was the worst form of tyranny under a façade of democracy….the people of Paksitan are so disillusioned that they feel that no change could be worse than their present state.” Shahid Amin dismissed both Nawaz and Bhttuo government as dictatorship in guise of democracy “In any event, Pakistan has not had a properly functioning democracy. Instead, there has only been a democratic charade, where under a rapacious oligarchy has in reality ruled the country….. Since the ‘restoration of democracy’ for the past 14 years, this oligarchy has gone on a rampage of corruption and misrule….Many Western observers have been puzzled by the seeming paradox that the ouster of the elected government of Nawaz by the military has not produced any public protest; instead there has been a sentiment of relief and jubilation in all parts of Pakistan. The earlier ouster of Benazir had produced even greater jubilation… the reason is if this is democracy, then the people at large find little reason for attachment to it….. Many foreign observers do not understand that Pakistan has had only a sham democracy. Indeed, Nawaz was civilian dictator who had been ruling country in a highly autocratic style.”. M.H.Askari echoed similar views on 20^th of Oct 1999 in his article ‘What led to the army take over’ he writes “The government governments of Benazir and Nawaz had blatantly attempted to concentrate all powers in their hands….If there is a single factor which has impaired the working of democracy in Pakistan, it was the persistent ambition of the elected rules to centralize all powers..” Ayaz Amir appreciated army to overthrow Nawaz in his Islamabad diary on 15^th of Oct: “The army’s hand was forced. If it had not done what it did it would have stood condemned before the bar of history. The Sahrifs were wanting to do to the army what it had done to the supreme Court...so as to render it ineffective as a check on their ambitions.”

Aziz Siddiqui implied that dictatorship replaced dictatorship “To the argument that the army action is unconstitutional, undemocratic and a throwback, the people counter: was the government it replaced really democratic? Did Nawaz actions accord with Constitution? Was this rule truly in accordance with his mandate?”.