Zulfiqar Ali Bhutto-The Great Leader

START OF POLITICAL CAREER

Bhutto started his political career as a member of Pakistan’s delegation to the United Nations in 1957. In 1958, Zulfiqar Ali Bhutto became youngest cabinet member and was given the charge of the energy ministry by President Ayub Khan. He also headed the ministries of commerce, information and industries. Bhutto was very close to the President and advised him on several affairs.

ACHIEVEMENTS

Ad-hoc-ism is when policy has got no forethought. A proper policy is when you make choices and At that time Pakistan had no specific foreign policy. It was rather based on ad-hoc-ism. make decisions accordingly and then you plan tactics and strategies in accordance with those initiatives. When Bhutto became the foreign minister in 1962, initially having joined as commerce minister, he advocated bilateralism. Bilateralism was to maintain friendly relation with other nations in the region while simultaneously being a part of an alliance sponsored by major powers. Therefore Pakistan started looking towards the east and therefore he became the pioneer in relationships with China.

One of the greatest achievements of Zulfiqar Ali Bhutto was that, on assumption of power he assigned a committee comprising 23 members of assembly to frame constitution. It was the first constitution of Pakistan which had support of all relevant parties. It was accepted on 14th August 1973 and is still in practice though with all its 18 ammendments.

Zulfiqar Ali Bhutto initiated the Pakistan’s nuclear program in reply to nuclear tests by India. This decision paid dividence for Pakistan and helped Pakistan in securing itself. It also helped Pakistan in producing energy as nuclear reactors like that in Karachi which was constructed with the help of USSR produced a great amount of energy.

Bhutto fought for democracy throught his life. He went through thick and thin in fight for the establishment of democracy in Pakistan. Bhutto was peoples’ leader and always spoke their language. He lost his life fighting for democracy as he refused to accept the dictatorship of Zia-ul-Haq.

POLICIES AND CRITICISM

Bhutto’s policies of addressing the issues at grass root level had resulted in a major backlash to such policies of Nationalization and liberalism. His liberalism was countered by Nizam-e-Mustafa movement. This was lead by students from religious seminaries who were indoctrinated in the extremist Deobandi philosophy which lead to violent demonstrations against Bhutto’s liberalism. Simultaneously his external policies were countered by severe criticism particularly from America. On 28th April 1977, while addressing general Assembly of UN, Bhutto accused USA of hatching an international conspiracy against him in an impassioned speech. “the white elephants were after his blood”. He had presented a third block on basis of Islamic Solidarity Movement, Islamic summit Conference in 1974, which provided platform where all the Muslim heads combined against the policies of USA. Its aim was to enhance the spirit of brotherhood among all Muslim countries. As a result, USA saw it as a threat against the hedge nous policies of USA.

USA was annoyed because:
· Bhutto’s policy of Neuclearization.
· Islamic solidarity block(those states that are weaker , should be supported by powerful Muslim states by sharing of resources)
· Bilateral Policy. He stated that Pakistan needs to build ties with other nations especially China to counter the hedgemony and monopoly of USA in making decisions. Along with defense pacts with USA. Ties with one country should not hinder you from creating ties with others.
These three major aspects of Bhutto’s policies brought him extreme criticism from West and particularly America.

During his reign, he frequently changed laws in order to suit his own policies and his harassment was not only directed to members of his party but also the President of PML(Pir Pagara), Asghar Khan(The tehriq chief of Tehriq-e-Istiqlal)and other PPP workers like Muhammad Hanif Ramay(CM of Punjab). He also alienated the Bugti and Marri tribes of Balochistan. He also had his differences with Khan Wali Khan of ANP. The political situation in Pakistan had gone out of his hands. Another damage to his reputation by amnesty reports. Amnesty international had been extremely critical of the political prisioners of Bhutto’s time. In the meanwhile, Bhutto had announced elections on the 7th Jan, 1977. These 2nd General elections lead to violent demonstrations by opposition for Bhutto’s government rigging in the election. General Zia-ul-Haq on 5th July, 1977 dissolved the senate and National Assembly. He imposed martial law and the constitution of 1973 was suspended.

Sharif brothers-rise, downfall and achievements

HISTORY
Mian Muhammad Nawaz Shareef and Mian Muhammad Shahbaz Shareef are the two pioneers of Pakistan Muslim League (N). Nawaz Shareef became Prime Minister of Pakistan 1st in 1990 and then in 1997. Shahbaz Shareef is the president of PML(N) and Chief Minister of Punjab. The bad relations with military resulted the dissolvement of government of Nawaz Shareef when General Pervaiz Musharraf took over the charge on 12th October 1999. Nawaf Shareef was charged on the cases of corruption and extrajudicial killings.

ACHIEVEMENTS

The best era of PML ( N ) was 1997-1999 (AUGUST). PML(N) did great work for the betterment of Pakistan.
•The peak point of political career of Shareef Brothers was testing of nuclear tests on may 28th 1998.This was done in response to the detonations of five Indian nuclear devices. At that time, Pakistan was at very critical situation and Pak Army was alerted inorder to defend nuclear installations.
• The second best achievement was to solve Kargil Conflict in 1999, Nawaz Shareef gave tacit approval for planned attacks to stop Indian army.
• Nawaz Shareef proposed Islamic law based on Quran and Sunnah in 1998.
• The construction of Motorways in Pakistan was one of the biggest achievements of PML(N). It was the first Motorway in SOUTH ASIA. It was inaugurated in November 1997.

DOWNFALL OF SHARIF BROTHERS(OCTOBER 1999)

Nawaz Shareef was convicted in hijacking and terrorism when he blocked Pervaiz Musharraf from landing at Karachi airport. Later on, Supreme Court approved cases of corruption and Court sentenced Shareef Brothers to 14 years imprisonment and a fine of 20 million rupees.

RETURN OF SHARIF BROTHERS TO FACE MILITARY RULE( SEPTEMBER 2007)

Shareef brothers returned to Pakistan in September 2007 to face the dictatorship of Pervaiz Musharraf. Shareef Brothers worked a lot for the reinstatement of judges. In 2008 Elections, Both Shareef Brothers were called ineligible for elections, but later on the issue was solved and PML(N) won strongly in Punjab and PML(N) formed joint government with leading party Pakistan Peoples Party. On 16th March, 2009 PML(N) lead long march lead to the restoration of judiciary.

Pervez Musharraf's Era

On October 12, 1999 Pakistan's Chief of Army Staff displaced Mian Nawaz Sharif from Prime Minsiter's office and became de facto Head of the government. The reason for that was Nawaz Sharif tried to make ISI chief Ziauddin Butt the army while Musharraf was in Sri Lanka and also forcing the PIA flight carrying Musharraf to land in Mumbai instead of Karachi. That day marked the start of a new era for Pakistan, democracy was crippled and marshall-law ruled again.

The dismissal of Nawaz Sharif was welcomed the people of Pakistan. The entire nation celebrated the removal of a corrupt leader who had completely destroyed the Pakistan economy which grew by a very slow rate of 1.2% during his tenure.

General Musharraf changed the foreign policy of Pakistan, his aim was to have to healthy relations with the Indians which was heavily criticized by the religious groups in Pakistan but welcomed by the international community.

Musharraf took the office of the president on 20th June, 2001. Three months late his biggest test came and he decided to support the US in the war against terror because he had no other choice. This decision had its pros and cons for Pakistan.

Huge economic growth took place during Musharraf's time. Nawaz Sharif left Pakistan in a dismal state with only $ 1 billion in the foreign reserves, 65% of our GDP was subjected to loan and our stock market reeling at 1000 points. By 2008 Pakistan's foreign reserves had risen to $16.5 billion. GDP grew at a staggering rate of 7% per annum, KSE broke the world record by moving to 13000 points and only 28% of the GDP was subjected to loan. Pakistan economy rose to $ 160 million from 70 million in 1999. Investment rose to $ 6 billion per annum. Public sector development grew to rs 520 billion in 2007 from 80 billion in 1999. The Infrastructure Industries Index measures the growth at 26.8%. Poverty was at 34.7% in 2001 but it feel to 23.1% in 2005 according to a economic survey in 2005. Pakistan ranked 3rd in banking profitability according to IMF during Musharraf's era. 35% of the GDP was saved for developmental works during Musharraf's era as compared to 4% during Sharif's era. IT industry which was non-existent 10 years back, grew to the worth of $ 2 billion in which $ 1 billion was export related. Due to this very economic growth Pakistan was able to resist a huge shock that came in the shape of 2005 Earthquake.

Massive development took place during the space of 10 years. Huge projects like Makran coastal highway, M3, Gawadar port, Sundar industrial state, Qasim port, Chashma Nuclear power plant, renovation of mangla and tarbela dam.

Similar was the case in the education sector where the number of private sector institutions grew by 100% as compared to 1999. The total number of educational institutes rose to 245,682. Literacy rate increased to 53% in 2007 as compared to 45% in 2002. Nine engineering and technology universities were set up during his time

Musharraf introduced the local government system which allowed people to easily access the government and this system really flourished. The biggest example is Karachi whose mayor was voted the 2nd best mayor of the world

Media was given full liberty by President Musharraf. News channel were free to criticize or praise anyone they wanted to. They emphasised on the problems that the people faced and helped the government in solving issued. Free media played a very important role in exposing different politicians and other elements which had done nothing for Pakistan. But too much liberation resulted in too much negativity.