on February 3. The result was an unprecedented landslide win for the Pakistan Muslim League (PML) headed by Nawaz Sharif and electoral humiliation for Benazir Bhutto and her Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP).
B. Skanthakumar discusses the election with London-based journalist and activist ARIF AZAD who was a student activist and leader while at medical college in Lahore and involved in protests against the martial law regime of General Zia-ul-Haq. Socialist Outlook: What's your analysis of the elec. tion result?
Azad: In one sense the re sult is an extension of the old order. Nothing has changed for the majority. The huge man. date that Nawaz Sharif (leader of the Pakistan Muslim League) has received was the result of a stitch-up between President Leghari and the military establishment candidate.
The Muslim I cague is now the national party of Pakistan and has province. It has solid representaNorth-West Frontier Province.
The Peoples Party on the other hand has been reduced to its strong-hold of Sindh province -where the Bhuttos have family connections and are landowners. But even many of her core supporters deserted her by not voting in the clections at all. [Voter turnout was only 36.36%, down from 43% in 1993].
The Mohajir Quami Morement, party of Urdu speaking migrants from India has made a comeback in its fortress of Karachi inSindh. Benazir Bhutto did the military's dirty work for them by crushing the MQM and 'order' has been restored in Karachi though political and sectarian murders continue. The MQM will form the next provincial government in Sindh with the support of the Muslim League.
What happened in Baluchistan is interesting, he Baluchistar National Movement was formed autonomist and a key figure in the past insurgency movement there, who was latter exiled to London. This new party has won a sizeable number of seats in that province.
In North-West Frontier Province, the Awami National Party (ANP) was runner up to the Muslim Lcague. The ANP is no longer a regional autonomist party (1) -They know that they can only rule their province with the support of the military and in collaboration ditched their commitment to social justice and are now simply a party for the Pashtun people.
Many bourgeois centrist politicians who had previously been pro-military openly criticised the role of the military in the dismissal of the Bhutto government an accusa tem or takins tac clections to oust them from the scene in a clean-up of politics. Even a leader of the religious party Jamiat-ullami-Islam, which is tra ditionally pro-military was extremely critical of them.
Meanwhile Benazir Bhutto did. n't have a word to say against them, mindful she needed their support to save her future political fortune and to protect her family, particularly her husband, Asif Tardari, who is under arrest on corruption and murder charges. Bhutto's government by the President on November S 1996 was mainly met by popular indiffer. ence and even some support. Some influential columnists and news. paper editors advocated this course of action four or five months in advance. This strengthened the President's hand.
Benazir was associated with the struggles against 78. U-Hao's military regime and benefited enormously from the populist legacy of her father's administration and the "pro-poor" thetoric of the Pakistan Peoples Party.
Despite this, she was voted out on her record in office. She really disillusioned the whole country. Her government is associated with high inflation. People are groaning under the burden of the rising cost of living.
Berkuzir was perceived as being very arrogant. Even during her clection rallies she never apolo gised for her mistakes and instead denounced the President for dismissing her, at every opportunity.
Nawaz Sharif spoke at rallies which were far larger than his ri. val's. He was contrite about the record of his government while Prime Minister between 1990 and 1993. He seemed to be more in touch with the grievances of ordinary people.
There was also the Asif Ali Zardari factor. Bhutto's husband and his enrichment through corruption was her greatest liability. From Mr Ten Percent, he became known as Mr Thirty Percent (his commission on business deals he negotiated using his influence].
She never reined him in, and in fact is completely loyal to him. When the President asked her to clamp down on Zardari's business activities, she delivered a snub to him by appointing her husband as Minister for Investment the fol. lowing day!
The scandal of "Surreygate" contributed to her downfall.
The Bhuttos are rumoured to have a 350 acre estatcand mansion in Surrey, England. Zardari im. ported a stable of horses which were fed on an expensive diet while the poor are scraping by. This swelled public anger. The press went to town on these facts. ashamed to identify themselves with the Government.
During the election campaign, Benazir was low-key and conciliatory. She probably wants to strike a deal with the new government for her husband's release and was prepared to lose the election for this purpose.
Many members of the PPP believe Benazir should cut her ties with Zardari and concentrate on revitalising the party organisation and return to the populist traditions of her father in the carly While her government didn't attack the interests of the business class, bureaucracy and the military, Henazir herself said that her dismissal was the result of a conspiracy by the International Monecary Fund and the World Bank. These institutions are using the Thetoric of "good governance" to criticise the kickbacks and rampant corruption, which reduces the profits of foreign capital. Socialist Outlook : What has happened to the Islamic fundamentalist parties which were so influential in Pakistani politics and seemed to define the agenda even of mainstream secular parties? The Jamaat-i-Islami boy. cotted the elections, though the Jamiat-Ullami-Islam did win a few seats.
Azad: Ideology has taken second place for most people to the sheer struggle for day to day living. In Pakistan people pay lip service to Islam but very few want an Islamic state. They know the record of fundamentalist move. ments in areas where they do have influence. ( Secondly, the new Prime Minister, Nawaz Sharif appeals to the same layer that is most supporte of these fundamentalist parties es. pecially the bazaar merchant and the petty bourgeoisie more generally. He has captured this vote. Interestingly the rhetoric of these movements has also changed. They are less strident in their use of Islam as ideology and now focus on social justice questions. In fact they out-flank the Peoples Party to its left on a number of issues.
It is the state of the economy which pre-occupies people. Many voted for Nawaz Sharif on the ba-