The Dynamics of Elite Politics in Pakistan and Its Nexus with Clergy and Military

Abstract

44 *Moonis Ahmar earned his PhD from Karachi University, Pakistan in 1992. He is Dean Faculty of Social Sciences and Meritorious Professor at the University of Karachi. He is also Director, Program on Peace Studies and Conflict Resolution, His most recent book is entitled Conflict Management and Vision for a Secular Pakistan: A Comparative Study (Karachi: Oxford University Press, 2014). His field of specialization is conflict and security studies focusing on the South and the Central Asian regions. Ahmar has published his research in several international journals. Journal of South Asian and Middle Eastern Studies Vol. XXXVIII, No.2 Winter 2015 The Dynamics of Elite Politics in Pakistan and It’s Nexus With Clergy and Military Moonis Ahmar* Introduction Elite politics in Pakistan is focused on ensuring the privileged status of those classes who hold considerable influence in society. Conformist elite, since the creation of Pakistan until today pursue a status quo oriented approach. Non-conformist elite is a recent phenomenon with a purpose to bring qualitative change in society, to dismantle the exploitive order, weed out corruption, and pull Pakistan from decades of stagnation and underdevelopment . Pakistan’s accomplishment of democracy and political stability has not been smooth because of periodic interventions carried out by a coalition of forces led by the military, landed aristocracy, feudal, bureaucratic and corporate sector elites. Since the inception of Pakistan until today, the issues of democracy, religion, politics and state are a subject of intense debate and discussion in the concerned circles but resulting in no tangible effect. During the days of united Pakistan (1947-1971) the bond between military, bureaucracy, feudal elites and a segment of clergy prevented the Bengali majority of the then East Pakistan to get its legitimate rights in the mode of governance. The emergence of Bangladesh (former East Pakistan) proved the dominance of forces comprising of the military, bureaucratic, feudal, clergy and business elites of West Pakistan against the Bengali 45 population of East Pakistan whose leadership primarily comprised segments of secular and middle class background. Post-1971 Pakistan witnessed further strengthening of anti-democratic forces. The assumption of power by Mr. Z.A. Bhutto in Pakistan had raised some expectations for democracy and reduction of military-bureaucratic influence in governance. Bhutto launched his 1970 election campaign on pro-poor slogan and after coming to power on December 20, 1971 tried to break the hold of elites but eventually deviated from his non-conformist path. His mode of governance was criticized as authoritarian because of his impertinence with his political opponents. Curbs on the press, and opposition political parties and other coercive measures to silence opposition made a mockery of democracy during his rule. While Bhutto tried to strengthen civilian control over the state apparatus, he too faced numerous limitations particularly because of the military revival upon recovering from its 1971 debacle; the growing influence of clergy in the aftermath of declaring Ahmadis as non-Muslims in 1974 and the movement against him, which was launched from March-June 1977 against alleged rigging in March 1977 general elections. The coalition of forces, operating against Bhutto, represented middle and upper class elites. The business community, elements of the bureaucracy, military and clergy considered Bhutto’s rule either as too liberal or a civilian dictatorship. It was during the military rule of General Zia-ul-Haq (19771988 )1 that for the first time in Pakistan, there occurred an alliance composed of the military and clergy opposing democracy. The purpose of that connection was to prevent the Pakistan People’s Party (PPP) led by former Prime Minister Z. A. Bhutto’s daughter Benazir Bhutto from coming to power. She was considered as a secular, progressive and democratic leader and her leadership would have seriously challenged the interests of military and their partners in the clergy. The mullah-military alliance (MMA) during Zia days provided legitimacy to military rule, which justified its suppression of democratic forces by striving to build an Islamic order. 1 “Through a quarter of a century of on-off military rule, Pakistan’s generals have nurtured the Islamists and their ideology of Jihad. This provided them with a useful auxiliary force in Afghanistan and Kashmir. But Mr. Musharraf...