ATP Poll: Who Did the Most Harm to Pakistan?

Posted on August 17, 2009
Filed Under ATP Poll, People, Politics
65 Comments
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Adil Najam

The obvious and logical followup to our last ATP Poll is to now ask the question: which of our leaders did the most harm to Pakistan? A number of readers suggested, and we agree, that such a poll should be conducted. We ask only that you please respond to the question with the same care with which it has been structured.

As we had done in the last poll, we have structured the question carefully to focus only the harm that these leaders might have caused (all leaders do bad things as well as good, some more and some less).

Please focus on the negative actions these leaders were themselves responsible for, and not as much on things that might have been out of their own control.

The Question: Focusing primarily on what you consider ‘negative’ actions taken  by them during their stint(s) in power, who, amongst the following, do you think did the most ‘harm’ to Pakistan?

As others have suggested, it is not at all necessary that those who got the most votes for doing ‘good’ will automatically get least votes for doing ‘harm.’ Since we have been asking people to focus only on one or the other, it is not entirely impossible that the same person is deemed to have done a lot of good as well as a lot of harm; albeit by a different set of voters – in a society as divided as Pakistan this is not just possible, but even likely.

As in the last poll, the current leadership is not included (although we did conduct a poll grading them recently) and only those whose tenure is now behind us are included, from Ayub Khan onwards. As before, for Benazir Bhutto and Nawaz Sharif consider the combined impact of two stints they each had in power. Do also please tell us which of their actions you think had the most harmful and lasting impacts on Pakistan’s well-being as a nation.

We eagerly await your views on this, in the poll as well as in the comments.

65 responses to “ATP Poll: Who Did the Most Harm to Pakistan?”

  1. Musaddiq Virk says:

    I’m with Nihari on this. As he mentioned ” Instead of Personalities, let

  2. Sada says:

    I respect the opinion of all readers. On the question of Zia, Bhutto and Musharraf, please read this column even you don’t like the writer otherwise. I wonder that people bailing out Musharraf for something tend to penalize Zia for the same thing. Here is the column: http://www.jang.com.pk/jang/aug2009-daily/18-08-20 09/col4.htm

  3. I voted for (against) Nawaz Sharif , I remember very well that Nawaz Sharif said on the funeral of Zia-ul-haq that “I will continue your mission” . If Zia tops the list than Nawaz is logically the second to him since he promised to continue Zia’s mission.

    I often wonder that how can PAKISTANIS forget that nawaz Sharif was the first ruler in history who attacked Judiciary when his terrorists attacked the Supreme court , led by Ch.Justice(R) Sajjad Ali Shah at that timw , than it was the same Nawaz Shariff who had a serious tussle with Jang Group and than attacked the offices of Jang in Karachi for the first time in history of Pakistan .

    Today Nawaz talks about the suprimacy of Justice and Media , its very strange !!!!!!!!!!!

    He is the one who is continuing Zia’s mission , he is the one who attacked Judiciary and media first time in the history of Pakistan

  4. Hilal says:

    Many of the rulers done great harms to the country but Zia did the greatest harm. He is responsible for completely detracting and distortion for the meaning of PAKISTAN and PAKISTANIAT by encouraging Mulla and the distorted version of Mulla’s Islam! The irony is that the same Mulla who was opposing the idea of Pakistan before partition was empowered!!!

    Pakistan is an IDEA and a foundation for a system where people will develop the identity of Pakistaniat above all the evils of race, colour, language, family status and code of rituals!!! In return Pakistan will become a welfare state, where peace, justice, equality and rule of law will be the corner stones to create an environment where the people will develop their inner selves and reach the hight of INSANIAT!

    But Zia empowered the Mulla and his narrow world view, That eventually resulted in chaos, confusion, killing on the name of religion, stagnant mindset, superstitious beliefs, hypocrisy and more importantly the loss of the idea of Pakistan and the sense of pakistaniat!!!

  5. adeel says:

    Right now, I’m trying to decide between ZAB and Zia.

    As many people who commented before me have noted, they were both pretty darn bad in their own demented ways.

    From what i understand ZAB was a megalomaniac. Although he did a few good things (constitution, nuclear program), he did not do enough. And he never touched the core issues – land reforms, education.

    Zia was fascist? dictator. And that was his biggest sin. You can only go down from there. On one hand, he courted the mullahs, gave rise to superficial Islam. On the other hand, he made us a tool of the west.

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