For many people, the five-year rule of Pakistan People’s Party was a period of dismaying catastrophes which brought the country to the socio-political and economic collapse. People were desperately looking for undefined change in the country as they were neither happy with Zardari’s parlor cabinet nor with his kitchen cabinet. PPP’s co-chair Asif Ali Zardari and its parliamentarians especially Rehman Malik were on the bull’s-eye of mainstream media and social media as well. They both were hated as much as the Jews and Americans are hated by the right wingers in Pakistan.
Suddenly, I found people praising PPP’s leadership especially Asif Ali Zardari and Rehman Malik after the recent political turmoil in Lahore and Islamabad when Tahir-ul-Qadri introduced his second episode of his revolution which pushed the current government of PML-N in crisis where many people lost their lives and several got injured and the rule of law was puffed away in the capital of Pakistan. People on social media started missing the previous government and started praising them.
Qadri, a Pakistani-Canadian and the main star of “Siyasat Nahi Riyasat Bacho” drama serial, when he returned to Pakistan last year after years in Toronto, accused the PPP’s government of corruption and incompetency, and called for sweeping reforms to be enacted by a caretaker administration before polls. Instead of being the reactionary at that time, Rehman Malik issued instructions for the provision of strict security to rangers and police personnel formed a security cordon around Qadri's truck.
However, the first episode of Qadri’s revolution ended peacefully because it was well managed by PPP where not even a single life was lost and no harm occurred to the policemen. But after watching the second episode of same drama in last few days, people started re-calling the good memories and actions of PPP.
We still remember the words of Qadri which he said in the first episode that, “This president and prime minister…they are now ex-presidents and prime ministers. Their time is over. Dissolve the national and provincial assemblies by the morning. I am giving you until 11 am to step down or else the people will start making their own decisions,” “These millions of supporters have spoken. They have rejected your so-called mandate. You are no longer their representatives.”
Even at that time, PPP government did not lose their temper and managed the whole situation by forming a negotiating committee led by Qamar Zaman Kaira who not only exposed the agenda of Qadri but also cooled down the “Siyasat Nahi, Riyasat Bachao” – an anti-democratic campaign very cunningly. Whereas, the current government of PML-N could not deal it peacefully.
Interestingly, this whole process brought a new praising layer on the previous acts of Rehman Malik who used to be the most hatting subject in the previous government but after the current move of PML-N, people started apologizing Rehman Malik on social media and showered him with the admiration.
It was also great to see that some senior journalists and civil society activists started giving suggestions to Nawaz Sharif to learn something from Asif Ali Zardari and other politicians of PPP as they started realizing that the previous government of PPP was much better than the current government of PML-N.
No doubt that we suffered from various crisis during the tenure of PPP including the shortage energy, the high inflation, terrorism, corruption and mismanagement but we all have to acknowledge wholeheartedly that there were many great achievements as well for us as nation to strengthen the democratic process. It was PPP who removed the anomalies from the constitution and its restoration to almost to its original shape of 1973. Under the 18th Constitutional Amendment, provincial autonomy to the provinces was ensured by abolishing the Concurrent List from the constitution. Another big achievement was unanimous passage of the 7th National Finance Commission Award, which was long overdue. This move gave new strength to the federation.
No doubt, PPP came into power when the country’s economy was in messes and the whole country was in the grip of terrorism which resulted in further financial crisis is true. Beside this, PPP’s government had to face the natural disasters of floods devastation in 2010 and massive rains in 2011, which inundated most parts of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, Punjab and Sindh but they faced those challenges and initiated various programmes for the poor like Benazir Income Support Programme and Pakistan Baitul Maal. They also faced men-made disasters in the shape of Taliban. The Swat Operation is the perfect example of it where both the Army and political elite flushed out the militants and restored peace and order in the area.
These all achievements at least should be appreciated and credit goes to PPP and its coalition partners of the previous government but the dilemma of our nation is that we do not give due credit in time but when we face the worst scenario, we start praising the past.
I being a democrat think that we all as a nation should learn to appreciate and admire the steps of all political forces which strengthen democracy in our country as one of the German politician Friedrich Ebert has rightly said that, “Democracy Needs Democrats”.
By: @AbdullahDayo
