It is worth noting that the regions in which Mian Nawaz has now triumphed include the regions whose ordinary folk poured out in their millions to celebrate the now legendary drive to Lahore of Chief Justice Iftikhar Chaudhry and Barrister Aitzaz Ahsan. The temper here has turned powerfully anti-Establishment
The focus of public and media attention is firmly fixed on the Pakistan People’s Party and its Co-Chairman Asif Zardari, just as, in the past, its martyred former leaders have also dominated the political consciousness. But, just beyond the glare of the limelight, is the PPP’s coalition partner, the Pakistan Muslim League, and — to cut away the alphabet soup clutter of claimants to the party’s name — its present leader Mian Nawaz Sharif.
The central significance of the Muslim League in the formation of the state of Pakistan is beyond question. Or is it? The defining event in the proposition of Pakistan as a separate nation-state is the Convention at Badami Bagh, Lahore, on 23rd March 1940 and, yes, this was a Convention of the Muslim League, chaired by the Quaid-e Azam in his capacity as President of the League.
But it is worth reminding ourselves that the historic Resolution, demanding that “the areas in which the Muslims are numerically in a majority as in the north-western and eastern zones of India should be grouped to constitute independent states, in which the constituent units should be autonomous and sovereign”, was proposed by A K Fazlul Haq from Bengal and seconded by Sikander Hyat Khan from Punjab. It is worth observing that neither of these gentlemen was in fact a Leaguer, Haq being the head of the peasant-oriented Krishak Sramik Party and Sir Sikander, the Prime Minister of Punjab, leading the landed gentry of the Punjab Unionist Party.
The 1940 Convention was not therefore a purely Muslim League affair. Jinnah’s genius lay precisely in that he could bring together the Subcontinent’s Muslims (other than some of the more fanatical religio-political groupings) onto the platform of the Pakistan project. In the 1946 elections, that same Muslim League that had fared so poorly in the Muslim majority provinces in 1937 was to sweep the polls as now the standard bearer of the Pakistan project.
When the first Constituent Assembly of Pakistan met at Karachi, on August 11, 1947, under the chairmanship of the Quaid, all but a tiny handful of its members were Leaguers. But this party apotheosis was to prove short-lived. Nawab Iftikhar Mamdot would break away and form his Awami Party. Shaheed Suhrawardy created the Awami Muslim League. Mian Iftikharuddin resigned his Cabinet position and formed the Azad Pakistan Party, along with Sardar Shaukat Hyat. Iskander Mirza promoted the formation of the Republican Party, with the help of Nawab Gurmani and Sardar Rashid Khan, who also roped in Dr Khan Sahib and Firoz Khan Noon. The League plumbed its depths when, in the East Bengal elections of 1954, it was all but annihilated by a United Front, led by Fazlul Haq, Shaheed Suhrawardy and Hamid Khan Bhashani.
We for a while thereafter hear little more of this party, other than Ayub Khan’s usurpation of the name for his particular King’s Party. In 1970, in the first free and fair general elections in Pakistan, the PML — in its ‘Conventionist’, ‘Council’, ‘Qayyum’, ‘Pagaro’ and other variants — was virtually wiped out by the twin political waves of Mujib’s Awami League and Bhutto’s PPP in the then two wings of the country.
Within the sheltered chambers of Ziaul Haq’s ‘partyless’ Parliament of 1985, was conceived yet another PML, which I believe we should call the ‘PML Junejo’. By the time of the next real elections, those of 1988, this had re-emerged under the leadership of Nawaz Sharif, only to be absorbed into the Establishment-contrived IJI alliance. The PPP under Benazir Bhutto was to emerge successful from that contest, but the IJI also performed strongly, particularly in the Punjab, permitting Sharif to be a thorn in the side of the PPP government. In 1990, Sharif’s IJI was to win the elections and form the government, the PML component of the IJI dominating overall and particularly in the Punjab.
The IJI was disbanded and the PML, under Sharif, now came to dominate the political scene. In the elections of 1996, the PML swept the polls everywhere, emerging with more than two-thirds of the parliamentary seats and what Mr Sharif referred to as his ‘massive mandate’.
Now, it is not intended here to comment on the programmes, performance or quality of government of this party or that. The points that this brief survey highlights are threefold.
First, the All-India Muslim League, as the vessel chosen by the Quaid to be the flagship of Pakistani nationalism, ceased to have any real validity once independent statehood was realised. Other parties and other programmes then emerged, which presumably held greater relevance for the new nation.
Secondly, the Muslim League name was taken over by a disastrous succession of extra-Constitutional usurpers, Ayub, Yahya, Zia and Musharraf, each of whom was to use the Muslim League name (with one initial or the other to follow) in order to give a fig leaf of legitimacy to his regime.
Thirdly, whenever tested in an open election (1954 in Bengal and nation-wide in 1970), parties going by the name of ‘Muslim League’ fared very poorly indeed, perhaps being perceived by the electorate as spurious Establishment contrivances.
But, from the 1990s onward, the scenario has been shifting. In 1988, the Nawaz Sharif-led IJI had a strong showing, subsequently emerging victorious in 1990. In 1993 and 1996, the PML contested on its own steam, sweeping the polls on the latter occasion. Nawaz Sharif’s second stint in power was cut short by the coup d’etat of General Musharraf. Sharif was imprisoned and then exiled. His party’s name was taken over, as on previous occasions, by a ‘Palace Party’ in whose favour (and that of the MMA) the so-called elections of 2002 were blatantly manipulated.
And then, in due course, came the inspiring upheavals, and horrific tragedies of last year, the elections of last month and the completely altered political map. The PML, and Mian Nawaz Sharif, are a prominent part of the governing coalition.
More important, Mian Sahib and his PML have achieved an overwhelming dominance in the province of Punjab, which comprises over 55 percent of the total NA seats. As I suggested in an earlier article in these pages, it is this province that represents the mainstream of opinion in the country and which can make or break political parties. In 1970, Zulfikar Ali Bhutto’s PPP won an incredible 76 percent of all Punjab seats. A good deal of that tally has moved to the PML by now.
It is worth noting that the regions in which Mian Nawaz has now triumphed include the regions whose ordinary folk poured out in their millions to celebrate the now legendary drive to Lahore of Chief Justice Iftikhar Chaudhry and Barrister Aitzaz Ahsan. The temper here has turned powerfully anti-Establishment. And the people here more and more identify with Mian Nawaz Sharif, perhaps because his clearer, less equivocal stand on key issues.
The writer is a marketing consultant based in Karachi. He is also a poet
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