Farooq In a dramatic political deal. move, Ex Prime The Minister, Mian Nawaz Sharif has tIcs, been allowed to leave Pakistan by the military regime to proceed to Saudi their Arabia with 19 family members. He had been sentenced to 21 years in prison on the charge of hijacking a plane on October 12 1999.
The deal between military and Nawaz Sharif and his sudden departure from sometime. Pakistan raises many serious The questions about the nature of TRe ruling classes of Pakistan, the future of the Muslim League, the effects on the for Restoration of Democracy family (ARD) and above all on the of the military T11tllre regime.
Who will gain what out of Nawaz this move?
Both the parties, it seemed had been working on this formula for sometime. Both must have drawn their conclusions on The likely Both the outcome. military and Sharif would have been thinking of their political or physical advantages from their own capitalist class point of view.
But what concerns us is what effect this move will before. have on the politics of the working class? What neces- let sary conclusions do we have to draw from these dirty tactics on both sides?
There is nothing "humanitarian" in this episode, as has claimed by heen general Rashid Quereshi, the chief spokesman of the military regime. The decision is nothing to do with the deteriorating "health" of Nawaz Sharif for which the military have shown no concern during the past year he decision is an outrightly political one - on a river Sind. class basis. Both the parties have taken safe refuge, external or internal, through this unprecedented outrageous Nawaz camp has That meant a played dirty capitalist tacfirst by joining the ARD last week and hosting rised. the first meeting of ARD at supporters •house in Rawalpindi.
By joining ARD alongside with Pakistan Peoples Party, the Muslim League pressurised the military regime October 99. to come to a deal which they must have been offering for crisis ridden military spokesman confirmed that "for some time" the Chief Executive General Pervaiz Musharaf regime to had been receiving requests and applications from Sharif the to go abroad for new alliance. "medical treatment". The The fundamental Season building its for the military regime to let Nawaz the hook corrupt leader not any request of clemency or intervention by the Saudi Prince, as has been claimed by the Pakistani media.
the potential power of ARD IO launch a mass movement that terrified the military regime. And onment. the core commanders agreed to what was unthinkable few months ThaT. the Primarily, the decision to Nawaz Sharif go into nomically. exile represents a retreat of a weakening military government. In fact this is its sec- "criminal ond decisive retreat during the last few months.
Earlier, the military regime military had to abandon its plan to build the controversial Kala Bagh Dam. "the construction of the dam was opposed him abroad. by the three nationalities in the area, Sindhi, Baluchi and process Pushtoons, on the ground that it will aeprive inem regime. with the from its share of water from The military regime has earned tremendous hatred from the masses by bowing to the conditions imposed by the IMF and World Bank.
bitter struggle to kick out of large-scale the party those who had sug retrenchment of public sec- gested a compromise with tor and unprecedented price the military regime. The main The military has lost what with their opponents in the it had gained in terms of "a Shujaat clique was on the sense of relief" felt by the masses when it overthrew question of an with PPP. Kalsoom Nawaz the unpopular authoritarian boasted that an alliance with kingdom of Nawaz Sharif in PPP would help to bring They have learned the hard the struggle for democracy way the realities of running closer.
declining the regime," she said several economv. he release ot an installment of the IMF loan times. last week only allowed the draw quick breath when they heard of year. formation of the military had been ular day by case against formation of ARD had raised Sharif Corred and plundered the who the the only alternative to the hopes of military regime. A momenwealth of the state in an unprecedented manner. The tum was bullaing up confrontation so-called accountability process had produced thousands regime. The sudden capitulation of of pages proving the corrup- Nawaz Sharif will give the tion of Nawaz's family.
military some more breathone such case he was sen- ing space. But it is he and his tenced to seven-years imprisMuslim bear the burden of unpopuThe whole justification for Clarity more than anyone else. the military takeover was The Muslim ruling Muslim traditional League had brought the party of the rich in Pakistan country to near collapse eco- It has a long history of comNawaz was "the criminal" promises with every ruling among the whole range of class and military regime.
politicians" Right from imperialism to the present according to the military propaganda. But a weakened day Muslim League has kept its military regime, regime sought uninterrupted an internal refuge by getting of compromises and reconrid of its main enemy by pardoning his sins and sending ciliation instead of fighting back. The capitulation of Nawaz By this action, the whole Sharif has of accountability has become a cruel joke. It exposed the real nature of the capitalist politicians in Nawaz: he was under arrest, but the military feared the consequences of punishing his crimes Leon Trotsky argued in his Theory of Permanent Revolution that the Russian capitalist class, because of its contradiction late entry onto the of history, was too weak economically and politically, too much tied to the old land relations and too subservient to its stronger international competitors to lead the revolution in Russia. "This is to launch a This argument is a thouagainst sand times more correct in the case of Pakistan other ex colonial countries. The examples awaz Sharif was Bhutto, Benazir in jail for over a Nawaz Sharif underline this The mili- historic conclusion that the tary was becom- ruling class is unable to solve ing more unpop- any of the basic problems of day. The the working class. Instead they pave the way for brutal many military regimes to take over power again and again. "Do not trust politician," will be the main with the lesson that the class must learn once again through this whole drama. The working class has to build a party of the workers by themselves. No one else League that will can create and build a mass party that is capable of fightthe ongoing military League is a control of the state.
conservative In the davs to come the military will be boasting that any politician who will dare to fight against them will be subjected to such humiliathe British tion as Nawaz has undergone through this deal. the No one can challenge the supremacy of military" will record be the main lesson that military will want us to learn. But dirty deals by rich, corTupi politicians strengthen the once again Objective conditions put a real rights.
determine their fate. Subjective factors cannot alter the path of history. stage he weak economy, with no prospect of picking up, will make sure that, despite the betrayal of Nawaz Sharif, the military regime will not last 10ng It cannot repeat the history of decades of military rulers, and of General Ayub Khan in the Sixties or Zia ul Haq in of the Eighties. and now The dirty deal has improved the life of Nawaz's family and the military regime, while the lives of millions who spend their days in utmost poverty Teals unchanged. This fact will remain the crucial deciding factor when we the rich have to discuss the tuture ot the military regime. working The deal is a temporary blow for the recently formed ARD. But it will pick up some support if the PPP does not repeat history. Benazir Bhutto's husband, Asif Zardari, has been in jail for four years. If the PPP make the same dirty deal for his release as was made eover Nawaz, it could lose another opportunity to regain some of its lost support in the days to come The Labour Party Pakistan has opposed the military regime trom day one We will continue our campaign for the restoration of democracy linking it with the need to change the capitalist systen with a genuine democannot cratic socialism. military. Visit our website:
will www.labourpakistan.org