As a Muslim League child, I have painfully lived through the decline of the founding party of Pakistan. The All India Muslim League (AIML) was formed in Dacca in the year 1906. Our brothers in Bengal came up with the idea of creating a seprate political entity for the Muslim population of the Indian Subcontinent.
My late father Nazir Ahmed Malik joined AIML in 1935 and remained a Leaguer all his life. In 1991 he was awarded the prestigious Tehreek-e-Pakistan Gold Medal for his struggle in the freedom movement.
After achieving its goal of carving a seprate homeland for the followers of Islam in India the party was disbanded. Muhammad Ali Jinnah chaired the first few meetings of the new entity called Pakistan Muslim League (PML) but then left in disgust to focus on running the country as Governor General. Chaudhry Khaliq-uz-Zaman was elected President by the Executive Committee to replace the father of the nation. Cracks started to appear within the party. Stalwarts like Hussain Shaheed Suharwardy, Maulvi Fazal Haq and Mian Ifhtikar-ud-Din left to form their own political entities. Till the first Martial Law in 1958, there was only one brand of PML. A new charade was started by the first dictator called ‘Drama Muslim Leagues’. The new face of the party was named Pakistan Muslim League (Convention) while those who did not join this ‘Sarkari League’ or ‘King’s Party’ organized themselves under the banner of Pakistan Muslim League (Council).
The PML (Con) was housed in a building on Davis Road called the Muslim League House. which is currently in control of the Chaudhry’s of Gujrat. Chaudhry Zahoor Elahi, father of Shujaat Hussain, was one of the key players of this political drama whose sole purpose was to corner and then push out the surviving members of the AIML. Madare Millat Mohtarma Fatima Jinnah challenged the dictator who was the Presidential candidate in the 1965 elections. She was declared a traitor. Though she was made to lose the election yet she seriously dented the political credibility of Ayub Khan who had voluntarily withdrawn his rank of Field Marshal to contest.
Finally Zulfiqar Ali Bhutto (ZAB) formed the Pakistan Peoiple’s Party (PPP) in November 1967 to take on this Drama Muslim League. After street protests the dictator had to resign in disgrace. In the electoral contest that followed in 1970, PML (Con) was wiped out. The big winners were the Awami League in the Eastern wing and the PPP in the Western. Khan Qayyum Khan managed to revive his brand of the Muslim League but later merged it with the PPP after he joined the Bhutto regime.
In the 1970s the elected government decided to shut down the Freemasons Lodges and took control of their building on the Mall. Perhaps in the year 2013, a similar fate awaits the ‘Drama Muslim League House’ located at Davis Road. It can then be converted into a Museum of Political Derailment. The ‘Freemason’s Hall of Democracy’ should not be allowed to continue in its current anti-democracy dispensation. Political parties are based on ideology not ‘Drama Scripts of Loot’’ as has been the case since October 1958. The curtain time has arrived for this real-life drama.
Zia-ul-Haq, the third dictator then created another ‘Drama League’ under the Sharifs of Gawalmandi which was named PML (Nawaz). The purpose of this party was to neutralize the popularity of Bhutto’s party that had developed deep roots amongst the masses. Despite the use of coercion of the state apparatus, the PPP survived under Bhutto’s daughter Benazir. The Muslim League House now came under the control of the Sharifs from where they operated to dent the democratic order. When the PML(N) decided to overrun their benefactors, they too were pushed out of the arena to be replaced by another ‘Drama Muslim League’ called PML (Quaid).
The ‘Freemason’s Hall of Democracy’ on Davis Road was then handed over to the Chaudhrys while the Sharifs went into exile under an agreement with the dictator. With the help of Benazir Bhutto, the Sharifs managed to stage a comeback through the infamous NRO (National Reconciliation Ordinance) of the fourth dictator. Now there are two ‘Drama Muslim Leagues’ in the arena (PML-N, PML-Q) that continue to derail constitutional democracy. While the PML(N) is the main oppposition party, the PML(Q) is an ally of the ruling Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf. With only ten seats in the Punjab Assembly and five at the centre, the PML(Q) enjoys power and privilege in the largest province of the republic much beyond its political standing. In the current scramble the party has set its eyes on the prized position of Chief Minister Punjab.
Asif Zardari, as Co-Chairman of Bhutto’s party, first succeeded in neutralizing the ideological foundations of PPP, and now seeks the launching of his son Bilawal as a national leader and heir of the ‘Bhutto Legacy’.
Zardari has proven to be an astute political player. The current no-confidence motion against the Prime Minister is his brainchild. He has played his cards well. Both the ‘Drama Muslim Leagues’ (PML-N, PML-Q) are in his pocket. He has promised the position of CM Punjab to the Chaudhrys and PM to the Sharifs while he remains the kingmaker himself.
If the motion fails, the PPP will emerge much stronger on the centrestage; if it passes then the ‘Drama Muslim Leagues’ will have to deliver on their promises which will be an uphill task in the current scenerio.
Yes, free and fair elections are the way forward. In the first such excercise in 1970 the ‘Drama Muslim League’ had to bite the dust. In another similar contest these ‘Rawalpindi’-based political entities have no chance as the people have understood their hidden intentions. Someone summed up the current tussle as a duel between ‘the Donkey and the Thief ‘ and most people are afraid of the thief but are willing to live with the poor beast of burden who is willing to serve with honesty and dedication despite capacity issues.
In the chequered political history of Pakistan there have been only two real Lahore-based parties (PPP-1967, PTI-1992) who have a future. Every drama has to face the curtain for which the time has arrived. After the current dust settles, electoral reforms followed by a credible electoral contest is the need of the hour to strengthen democracy in the country. The ‘Drama Muslim League’ experiment was the brainchild of Rawalpindi which has failed them and the nation, it is time set the stage right with only genuine political players in the arena who rise through the ranks through political struggle and activation based on service not exploitation of the masses.
In the 1970s the elected government decided to shut down the Freemasons Lodges and took control of their building on the Mall. Perhaps in the year 2013, a similar fate awaits the ‘Drama Muslim League House’ located at Davis Road. It can then be converted into a Museum of Political Derailment. The ‘Freemason’s Hall of Democracy’ should not be allowed to continue in its current anti-democracy dispensation. Political parties are based on ideology not ‘Drama Scripts of Loot’’ as has been the case since October 1958. The curtain time has arrived for this real-life drama.
