Pakistan: The Campaign before the Storm

Abstract

THE ELECTIONS FOR Pakistan's national and provincial assemblies which Prime Minister Zulfikar Ali Bhutto announced on January 7, 1977 were expected, so the news surprised no one. Moreover, the government showed no inclination toward releasing those many leaders of the political opposition who were either secreted away in remote Azad Kashmir prisons or standing trial in criminal courts. Prime Minister Bhutto noted that the overriding reason for calling for elections at this time was the government's desire to obtain a fresh mandate from the people. The fact that the opposition was seriously constrained or disillusioned suggested that the Prime Minister was not so much interested in a true test of his popularity as he was in reinforcing his control over the country. Zulfikar Ali Bhutto is no ordinary Prime Minister. He is addressed as the Qaid-i-Awam (Leader of the People), in the tradition of the Qaid-i-Azam (The Great Leader, Mohammad Ali Jinnah) and the Qaid-i-Millat (Leader of the Nation, Liaquat Ali Khan). He is the founder and Chairman of the Pakistan People's Party (PPP), and is engaged in a broad, long-range program which he claims is aimed at transforming Pakistani society from a tradition-bound, fatalistic congeries of disparate and impoverished peoples into a modern, disciplined, unified, and nationally motivated nation. Economic development is inextricably intertwined with this program but there can be no mistaking its psycho-cultural and ideological emphasis. Nor can one ignore the amount of time required to generate such a change process. It is reasonable to assume that Prime Minister Bhutto anticipated dominating the Pakistan scene for some time to come. The elections, therefore, must be examined against a background of rigid if not quite total control. The political system that Bhutto is erecting is supposed to assure his longevity. The symbols employed speak to the question of organized mass mobilization; and the capacity to succeed in such an endeavor is dependent on the loyalty and efficiency of the state apparatus, particularly the PPP and the civil-police and military bureaucracies.