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.
I agree with Usman.
All that is necessary for evil to succeed is for good men to do nothing. (Edmund Burke)
Some comments from the ATP Facebook Page:
– “Good poll. Most of the choices in your poll did harm to Pakistan. Pervez Musharraf certianly did great harm to pakistan by staying too long. Bhutto did great harm by playing into the hands of the mullahs and messing his own constitution. But certainly the most harm was done by Zia ul Haq, who totally destroyed Jinnah’s Pakistan. So, my vote is the Zia ul Haq did the most harm to Pakistan.”
– “Zia-ul-Haq”
– “Zulmat ko Zia……”
– “the one who destroy Pak more then othr iz bhutto ……….he activly participating the divided Pakistan into two”
– “Munafiq Zia-ul-Haq. And do not forget people like Muadoodi”
– “its the people of Paklstan none of the leaders could or can stay in power without their support.We try to cover our sins by blaming those who were there because of us.Its time to take the responsibility.”
– “Zia nd Moudodi”
– “add one more in this bunch…Mufti Mehmood (father of Deisel)”
– “Qaatil-e-Azam Altaf Hussain”
– “.id name zia ul haq”
– “Altaf hussain and Zardari”
– “ill say mushi did most harm to our nation”
– “remove ayub khan and zulfiqar ali bhutto name from the list….:p”
– “I would rate the following in terms of most-least harmful
1. Zulfiqar Ali Bhutto (good leader gone bad)
2. Zia ul Haq
3. Benazir Bhutto (good leader gone corrupt)
4. Nawaz Sharif (self proclaimed Amir ul Momineen)
5. Musharrf (good leader, bad timing)
Zardar & Altaf Hussain are nobodies and to rate them as national leaders is simply contemptible!”
– “Our leaders r our reflections, since v r not sincere with ourselves, our nation, than how can leaders b, lolz!
Ham unko rote hain jo k front face han, back stage per jin logon ne is mulk ke saath play kia we dont name those e.g. Kasuri, Tariq Aziz, chaudhary brothers etc. Is list ma bohot se forces personals, media personals, bureaucrats waghera k naam aate hain. They all cheated the country and played with nation’s interest for their sake (Ulade Mir Jafer). Is k ilava ham khud b aise hi hain jhoote, daghabaz, imanat ma khyanat karne wale, zakhera andoz, materialist, milavat karne wale, kis kis gunah or bori aadat ka nam loon jo ham ma nahin.
Ham aaj sudhar jain sab theek ho jai ga. Plus jo log kehte hain k leadership achi nahin to woh khud aage kyun nahin aate, un ma guts nahin kia aain saamne or muqabla karen come forward n lead the nation”
– “Zia ul Haq, who put the seeds of extremism and promoted ethnic politics, next to follow: MQM, thanx to them KHI is not KHI anymore!”
Meri vote Mard e momin, mard e haq, Zia ul Haq kay leay heh!
Leikin, aek aur category honi chahieh: Pakistani awam.
Jis mein hum sab shamil hein. Is Hamam mein hum sab nangay…..
I can find harm that they all did. Except BB and NS, they had such little time and so little actual power themselves that they could do very little harm, or the harm was not really their’s.
But clearly it has to be Zia ul Haq. Bhuttos errors were errors of ommission and maybe errors of arrogance. But Zia was pure evil and just about anything bad in society today can be traced back to him and his mullaiat.
PS. FInd it interesting that no matter what you do, some Pakistani will find kerras in it. Bhai, if you can do better, go and do it. Otherwise answer the question!
General Pervez Musharraf is the one who did his best to weaken the roots of the country by working on the orders of his big boss Bush. It’s he who threw Pakistan into the hell of so-called “War on Terror” which is in fact “War for Terror” and it’s he who sold Pakistanis to America to earn some Dollars. Dr Afia and many more are an example of his cruel business.
In his dark reign, massive bloodshed in Lal Masjid, killing of Akbar Bugti and killing of hundreds of Paksitanis took place. Infact all the current terror incidents are a ripple effect of his futile policies.