COINCIDENCE OF OUR HISTORY- FATHER TO SON- 1938 TO 1967

In 1938, Sir Shahnawaz Khan Bhutto, alongwith Haji Abdullah Haroon is establing 'Sindh United Party' and the Manifesto is announced on 3oth October 1938. The date is the same, but year is 1967, Zulifkar Ali Bhutto is forming Pakistan Peoples Party in lahore.

The complete Manifesto of the Sindh United Party and valuable information about P...PP is available on the website of Gul Hayat, the link is given in the end of this posting. Though, Gul Hayat Institute has compiled 'Chronology of PPP' and that is not less than 1OO pages and comprehensive Catalouge of titles and topics of statements, addresses and press coverage of Shaheed Rani Benazir Bhutto, but it has not been uploaded on our website yet. Like other parties, Gul Hayat's holding on PPP is un-matched in quality and quantity. But we have last our interest in preservation and documentation of our history. That is why Gul Hayat being situated in district Larkano has not been visited by people in power to see that what a wonderful research work has been done on their Party besides, history of Sindh/Pakistan without any financial and moral support of any individual, NGO or Government.

Politics is art of compromise

Politics is art of compromise where political forces of the country strike regular bargains among themselves within the parameters of the constitution; this art (skill) develops in the democratic societies where the normal political process is allowed to function; if repeatedly stopped, as in our case, then there is logjam among the politicians on each step of the way as we are seeing it now.

Politics was not allowed to take its roots in Pakistan owing to repeated breakdown of the political process in the country. Though we were inheritors of Mughal empire in the subcontinent, which formed the concluding episode of the long list of the Muslim dynastic rule here, it did not as such disqualify us from graduating out of the tradition, unless we bring other factors into the play, like early death of Quaid e Azam, lack of home work by the Muslim league before partition, the country not having both the leadership continuity and any counter weight to Nehru in India etc.

The English were different or may be better from the previous rulers in the subcontinent in the sense that they introduced a concept of rule of law, here, which was hitherto unknown in this part of the world right from the time immemorial - from Guptas and Maryas. Power here was private property in the hands of the rulers, which they freely dispensed among their cronies at their will - free from all the niceties of the constraints in terms of the rules and regulations!

The English tried to change it in a limited way in the sense that they left behind a legal democracy, which in case of India matured into popular democracy and in our case it fell down to the medieval devices; but the question is why? Was it due to lack of towering political figure after Quaid Azam; relative lack of the English - based education in our part of  the subcontinent; the Muslim history of autocracy; opportunism in the remaining Muslim league; or a combination of all this and much more.

Dismemberment of Pakistan in 1971 and Zulfiqar Ali Bhutto

The first free and fair elections were held in Pakistan in 1970, after 23 years of the independence, which rendered a verdict in East Pakistan, which was not acceptable to the leadership of West Pakistan, which led to the dismemberment of the country.

Before that the ruling elite of the then West Pakistan (mainly civil and military combine) used all kinds of machinations and  chicanery, which kept Bengalis out of power, and did not allow them to develop stakes into the country/system.

If they had been allowed to develop their stakes in Pakistan, it would not have led to their gradual disillusionment with the country, and would not have, ultimately, forced them to render a political verdict in 1970 elections, which was neither acceptable to West Pakistan leadership nor manageable, according to their previous standards and practices of these elite.

Fixation of responsibility: who was responsible for above and why ZAB failed to stand up in favor of Mujeeb at the last moment? These questions have divided Pakistanis ever since, down the middle; some fixing responsibility upon ZAB and some upon the army, according to their current political affiliations.

My opinion in terms of above discussion is that we had lost East Pakistan before 1970 elections,  and the 70/71 elections and subsequent dismemberment were a mere formality. Yes,  Bhutto was culpable in the  sense that he could not stand up to the army and support Mujeeb and rzulenounce his claim for power; but, was he capable of turning the tide in terms of public opinion raging in Bengal against the West Pakistan - at that late stage- without fundamentally reversing the mistakes of previous 23 years!

 We may come up with different opinions in terms of our current political inclinations and sensibilities; but this does not absolve us from responsibility to take steps to strengthen the remaining Pakistan in terms of spreading the popular stakes in the country, throughout its length and breadth, instead of making the previous mistake of distributing the fruits of development (read independence) along he ethnic and regional lines, which will only strengthen the hands of outsiders!

A CRITICAL LOOK AT THE LAST 3O YEARS OF NATIONAL LIFE IN ORDER TO UNDERSTAND OUR CURRENT PLIGHT!

1.  Our political growth has been stopped after toppling of the Bhutto government, followed by martial law, followed by repeated overthrow of the elected government in the 90s and followed by Mushraf regime.

2.  During the above period we gave birth to the religious and ethnic outfits, which have during the time grown into monsters, which are tearing apart the very national fabric and are holding the country hostage from Peshawar to Kashmir; the local people are scared and the foreigners not traveling to the country, without which both foreign trade and the investment is at standstill, which is not good for the economy.

3.  Our image abroad is in shambles where we are variously described as the exporters and the epicenter of the terrorism; foreign image of a country matters in order to survive in the modern world and strengthen your position via a vis your enemies in the UN on daily basis.

4.  During this time our socio economic indicators have hit a rock bottom where we are being lumped with African countries on the issues like maternal mortality rate, infant mortality rate, availability of clean drinking water and sanitary facilities, etc.

5. Due to Tithe exclusive and limited focus on the military aspect of the conflict with India, we could not invest into the infrastructure and utility sectors in the country; as a result there is widespread load shedding and rationing of the gas supply to the industries, which is impacting on their production.

6. The biggest area of neglect and weakness of og our policy framework during the period, was the neglect of the human sector, where we have not been able to produce a well qualified and well trained manpower, which could have helped us to not only to create service sector in the country, but also to export the same as India is doing it; besides, manning our own industry.

7.  Have a look at our education sector, where we are teaching our kids more and more of the religion and Pakistan studies instead of heavy math and sciences content, which could enable them to compete against the world; as result, we are not producing the manpower to meet the requirements of the modern world.

8.   Instead of aligning our future and fate with the modern world, we found friends in Kabul and Riyadh, who were not in a position either to stand as role models in the Muslim world, or to provide education to our children (because of lack of such universities); neither did fountains of modern culture flew through them, so that all combined, they guide us into the future world of the technology and culture.

9.   As a result of above, our children were caught red handed in the West either plotting to bomb some railway stations, or to blow up some airplane, which was put into our collective national account, which not only created our every day travel inconvenience, but also foreclosed our education and employment opportunities in the west.

10.  Last of all, during this very last 30 years, China and India have become world powers, with very good image abroad, where the Multinational companies ( MNCs) are simply rushing to set up their shop without worrying about any safety issues or cultural conflict!

Problems in Tharparkar, Sindh, Pakistan

This part of the Sindh Province remains one of the country’s most disadvantaged regions in terms of governmental priorities. Sporadic and scanty rainfall, dwindling water resources, transient and limited grazing, and reliance on exploitative middle-men even for life’s mundane needs is a permanent feature of Thar. Except for subsistence farming and limited opportunities for generating incomes, mostly through handicraft and carpet productions through middlemen, there are no viable economic alternatives. It is common for individuals or whole families to migrate towards the irrigated plains to labour on farms; brick kilns or in low-paid work so as to survive in the emerging cash economy. Compounded by difficulties of access and communication, Tharparkar’s economy is characterised by high population growth, increasing number of migrant communities, decreasing socio-economic opportunities based on traditional practices, and most of all, a rapid and unfettered deterioration in environmental resources which may soon threaten the very survival of the population. The soils are generally infertile and because of severe wind erosion are overblown with sand. The desert vegetation is mostly herbaceous, or of stunted scrub; trees occasionally dot the landscape. The grasses form the main natural resources of the desert and provide nutritive and palatable pasturage. Water is very scarce. Whenever rain falls, it is collected in tanks and reservoirs and is used for drinking and domestic purposes. Most groundwater cannot be used because it lies deep underground and is often saline. Hence all these situations make solid reasons to have an organisation for addressing these issues. The desert areas of Tharparkar district, generally known as Thar, consist of the Talukas of Mithi, Chachro, and Nagarparkar and parts of the Diplo and Umarkot Talukas. The total area of the Desert is 22,000 square kilometers and the population is between .9 million to 1 million. The desert population from times immemorial has migrated to the irrigated areas in the dry seasons and particularly at the times of wheat harvest and also provides labour for sugarcane and for brink kilns. Mostly lower Hindu caste migrates regularly. Migrations do occur within Thar particularly on the first rain shower which occasionally covers the whole Thar in first instance. The animal population is estimated around 4 million with high portion of goats and sheep followed by cattle, and camel. The desert consists of sand dunes between, which are flat plains where agriculture can take place. The total land of Tharparkar is about 4.7 million hectares (1.7 million hectares not cultivable) Agriculture in the desert is entirely dependent on rainfall. However, since last couple of years the kitchen gardening on well water has started in the southern parts of the Thar and some agriculture cash crops are being cultivated around Karoonjhar hills of Nagarparkar. Rains charge all water sources in Thar. These water sources consist of wells, trais and covered tanks. The rainfall occurs between July and September in normal years varies between 200 mm to 300 mm. It is not uniform all over Thar. Sowing is done immediately after rainfall. The main crop are guar and millet mixed with lentils, till, and melons. After the rains the Thar Desert supports extensive grass growth with rains which provide high value feed to livestock.

Gori Temple In Thar Parkar Sindh