Long live struggle for Democracy, Provincial autonomy!

By Jan Assakzai

(Courtesy The Frontier Post)

April, 15   2010   will go down in the history of Pakistan as a major leap froward  when  the country's parliament   succeeded to purge the anti-democratic clauses from the constitution,  and put an end to the acronym of NWFP  by replacing with   Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa, the ultimate outcome of the numerous sacrifices of  thousands of political workers, activists, civil society, political parties, leaders and media.

18th amendment is an attempt to respond to the crisis of federalism that Pakistan is facing  since its  Independence. Repeated decisions to centralise power have deprived smaller provinces of their most pressing demands at the time of joining the state: increased provincial autonomy and the devolution of power. For about  six decades, the promise of federalism has eroded under the weight of unfettered military rule , unbalanced and undemocratic state structures, and the domination of all institutions by the ruling Pujnabi-Mohajr elite. With Islamic  insurgency -another important dynamic of Pakistan's politics- grabbing the attention world over, the inter-provincial harmony  decline went  unnoticed  as  one province-Balochistan-  even started  witnessing low-level insurgency. 

However, at this time when the country is being hunted by Taliban, and Al Qaeda, hard on  the heels  of  Pakistan   facing existential threat that   brings the specter of failed state, there is the 18th amendment:   to establish limits between   the executive  and the legislature and between the center and provinces and  ensure good governance by delegating more powers, on taxation, resources and education. Today,  Pakistan is a step closer to stability and democracy.

Tribute  for this is richly deserved and must be paid  to many individuals, but a few people merit special attention. It would not have been made possible without  the sacrifices of  those who laid their lives for  trying to make Pakistan a truly democratic and decentralised federation. It is a vindication of all  political forces  including nationalist parties seeking  provincial autonomy. As over 60 years, smaller provinces and nationalist forces  were at the receiving end of the anger of establishment, many were killed, put behind bars, called  traitors, and were deprived of basic human rights like  expression of opinion, holding of  political gathering. 

However,  the share of Pakhtuns in the struggle  for democracy and greater autonomy  is far the best: Khan Abdul Ghaffar Khan-Bacha Khan- was frequently arrested by the Pakistani governments  for  his opposition to authoritarian moves by the government. He spent much of the 1960s and 1970s either in jail or in exile, despite the fact that he believed in non violence and a peaceful struggle for democracy and rights of small provinces and minorities including Pakhtuns as recognised by the award of Nobel peace prize in 1985. Another name was that of Late  Abdul Sammad Khan Achakzai who   was repeatedly imprisoned both during the Raj and the Pakistani government  campaigning  for Pashtun autonomy in a united  India, then in Pakistan. Latter he was brutally killed. 

Let us remember Late Zulfiqar Alli Bhutto, as well, who went to gallows at the hand of a brutal dictator. His daughter,  Late Mohtarma  Benazir Bhutto,    was repeatedly  put in house arrest and  sent to jail and subsequently martyred. She described the conditions in her wall-less cage in a solitary confinement,  in her book "Daughter of Destiny":

"The summer heat turned my cell into an oven. My skin split and peeled, coming off my hands in sheets. Boils erupted on my face. My hair, which had always been thick, began to come out by the handful. Insects crept into the cell like invading armies. Grasshoppers, mosquitoes, stinging flies, bees and bugs came up through the cracks in the floor and through the open bars from the courtyard. Big black ants, cockroaches, seething clumps of little red ants and spiders. I tried pulling the sheet over my head at night to hide from their bites, pushing it back when it got too hot to breathe."

Next in line is the   section of opposition that united in Movement for Restoration of Democracy (MRD) largely  supported by shites, Baloch, Sindhi and Pakhtuns, and brutally suppressed by General Zia' military government. An estimated 20,000 political workers were killed; 40,000 to 1,50,000 people made political prisoners in the  crackdown of General Zia-ul-Hq.

The media deserves credit as well. It was the media and journalists that saw  the darkest days of General Zia when journalist were incarcerated, press censorship was clamped,yet it fought for the truth and freedom of press.

Nevertheless, April 15,  is, a  monumental day for Pakistan. National and ethnic identity begins with the right name and this move by the parliament is certainly a step in the right direction; though, it is a work in progress. What a befitting occasion to conclude with  Faiz Ahmed Faiz’s words “Chale chalo ke woh manzil abhi nahiin aayi” (Let us keep moving, our destination has not arrived).

Long live  struggle for  Democracy, and Provincial autonomy!