Adil Najam
In this, the third ATP Opinion Poll (see previous polls here and here) we want to see what you think about what previous Pakistani achieved.
The key word there is ‘achieved.’ We always have plenty of discussions about what leaders have and are doing wrong, but nearly never talk about what they did right. Interestingly, even when we are trying to make a case for someone, we tend to make it by explaining what is wrong with everyone else. After all, if everyone else is bad (and worse) then our guy must be good, at least in ccomparison and by default. The logic makes a perverse sort of sense but tends to take our political conversations towards confrontations (since they are based on ‘attacking’ the other rather than on ‘supporting’ our own). So, here is an experiment to see if we are capable of talking differently about such things.
The Question: Focussing primarily on whatever ‘positives’ might have been achieved during their stint(s) in power, who, amongst the following, did the most ‘good’ for Pakistan?
Ayub Khan
Zulfiqar Ali Bhutto
Zia-ul-Haq
Benazir Bhutto
Nawaz Sharif
[For Benazir Bhutto and Nawaz Sharif consider the combined impact of two stints they each had in power]
I have purposely excluded Liaquat Ali Khan because he is now too far away in the past and because his ‘founding father’ status has meant that we usually do not analyze his tenure in political terms. I have also left out Pervez Musharraf (see ATP poll on him here) because his actions impact us immediately and so the passions ignited are too current. Others who had short tenure, or were leading in name alone have been excluded.
I hope we will have a lively discussion in addition to the polling. I realize that we will disagree about what was ‘good,’ but it seems to be that a disagreement about achievements and what we consider to be good achievements is preferable to mere name-calling and may end up telling us something not only about these leaders, but about ourselves.
As before, you can get to the polling area by clicking on the responses in the sidebar, or directly by clicking here.
If you do want to influence the results, please, by all means ask your friends to also vote. Voting is anonymous; as it should be. This will, of course, not be a very scientific poll, but it will at least give us a sense of what this community � the ATP cohort � thinks. Do vote, but please vote only once (even if you are smart enough to beat the system somehow). You can view the results here. [Polling Closed; 12.25 PM EST, 23 August 2006] Analysis of results available here.
Ayub Khan:
The first five year plan
Infrastructure development (Except some mega projects)
ZA Bhutto:
Concept of empowerment of masses (Brought politics out of drawing rooms)
Charismatic speeches
Land Reforms
1973 Constitution
Shimla Accord (release of POWs)
OIC
B Bhutto:
Woman Prime Minister
The initiation of pending project (Mid Country Oil Refinery) in Qasba Gujrat Muzzaffargarh.
N Sharif:
Banned cycle rickshaws and gave those porters motor rickshaws (Bahawalpur, D.I. Khan).
The idea of yellow cab scheme had to employ people but not well designed and implemented.
Ayub Khan:
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Best: I’ve heard Pakisan’s Economy was best in his days and huge infrastructure projects were undertaken
Worst: Moving capital from Karachi to Islamabad. Failure to pacify the feelings of alienation in East Pakistan
Z.A Bhutto:
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Best: religion and state were separate in practical sense, if not on paper
Worst: His role in East Pakistan debacle and Nationalization of Schools and industry
Zia
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Best: Can’t think any
Worst: Karachi started burning during his rule and not much was done to solve the situation earlier on.
BB:
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Best: MoUs signed with Power Companies. Though expensive, atleast some of those power companies are now feeding in to the National grid.
Made Nawabzada Nasrullah the chairman of Kashmir committee and hence effectively kept his mouth shut by sending him all over the world on official expense.
Worst: Federal-Punjab tussle, as for the first time in the history, province of Punjab appeared asking for more indpendence like its own radio station, its own banks etc and worsening law and order in Karachi
Nawaz Sharif:
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Best: Motorway plan, as Effective infrastructure is vital for a country’s development
Worst: ran country as his personal industry. it is my personal opinion
That said, I agree with Sattar, ZAB sounds like he was a unifying force and created Pakistan’s only national party. So he probably did the most good out of a “troublesome” (and troubled) lot.
Didn’t Benazir’s govt. remove the censorship laws?
Say what you want about Zulfi Bhutto, he ran the country like a feudal lord, he did some nepotism, he did a lot of questionable things with the elite security force and what not and his morals were certainly not what set him apart from idiots like Nawaz Sharif.
BUT (and that’s a big but), he was an extremely unifying force. People from all walks of life, especially the middle class, thronged to see him speak. You can criticize him all you want, but you can’t say that he did not have Pakistan’s very best interests at heart. He had the courage and guts to stand up and speak against anyone, and at the same time he was refined and articulate to communicate his viewpoint.
You can’t destroy a great man like Bhutto with a rigged election (like they destroyed Benazir) or a flimsy court case, no, you have to revamp your Supreme Court, put the whole army in charge of keeping a single person at bay. You have to torture his family and his workers and friends into submission and on top of that you cowards have to hang him under the cover of darkness. Even then, you only succeeded into making him a living legend.