It is not that those who mattered in corridors of political power were not timely advised to put Pakistan’s derailed political process back on track. It is also not that the so-called establishment did not acknowledge and consider the set of suggestions which were submitted for its consideration and appropriate action. Then what went wrong? An exclusive political review of excerpts from an article published in the daily Jang Lahore on 18th and 19th April, 1990 and an analysis of what is happening in Pakistan now and how that can be corrected!

1. The Consequences of the Wrong Actions in the
Right Direction
Where did Ghulam Ishaq Khan, Farooq Ahmed Leghari and
Pervez Musharraf go wrong?
It is not that those who mattered in corridors of political power were not timely
advised to put Pakistan’s derailed political process back on track. It is also not that the
so-called establishment did not acknowledge and consider the set of suggestions which
were submitted for its consideration and appropriate action. Then what went wrong?
An exclusive political review of excerpts from an article published in the daily Jang
Lahore on 18th
and 19th
April, 1990 and an analysis of what is happening in Pakistan
now and how that can be corrected!
ZHK
2014
Zahid Hussain Khalid
Written for my Blogs on Slideshare, WordPress, Facebook and Twitter
ZHK 2014

2. Political update reviewing excerpts from an article published in Lahore edition of April 18 & 19, 1990 of the
By: Zahid Hussain Khalid
Pakistan has sailed through a number of catastrophic political and military storms during the last sixty seven
years. While on its way, it has lost half of its geographical territory and more than half of its population within
two and half decades of its independence. Remaining pieces of Pakistan were put together and steps were
taken to make it strong internally by coming up with a unique combination of pledges declaring people as
country’s source of political strength; Islam as religion; and socialism as economic system promising roti
(bread); kapra (cloth); and makan (house) to everyone. The country was made indefatigable externally after
officially writing off Occupied Kashmir by covertly accepting line of control between Occupied Kashmir and
Azad Jammu and Kashmir, according to an exclusive news story, “Time magazine’s strange logic,” published in
the News International of April 22, 1996, as a permanent border and acquiring nuclear capability for putting
external military threats on hold indefinitely for sure. There is no military power in this world that can even
dream of attacking Pakistan anymore without thinking more than a hundred times of consequences prior to
making that dream come true and seeing it turn into a nightmare after doing so practically.
The question is what has gone wrong with Pakistan both internally and externally?

3. It is not that those who mattered in corridors of political power were not timely advised to put Pakistan’s
derailed political process back on track. It is also not that the so-called establishment did not acknowledge
and consider the set of suggestions which were submitted for its consideration and appropriate action. Then
what went wrong?
Here it will be hopefully appropriate to discuss the contents of an article “Qaumi Taqat kay Anasir Key
Sheeraza Bandi” published on op-ed page of Pakistan’s largest circulated newspaper Jang’s Lahore edition of
April 18 and 19, 1990 written by the author of this blog.
That was a time when the confrontation between
the federal and the provincial governments of
Benazir Bhutto and Nawaz Sharif respectively had
crossed all limits of political immaturity and non-
seriousness at the cost of country’s stability and
security.
The contents of the article invited the attention of
Ghulam Ishaq Khan, the then President, and General
Mirza Aslam Baig, the then Chief of Army Staff of
Pakistan. Excerpts of the article follow:
QUOTE: …Ghulam Ishaq Khan will have to play his central role to end the confrontation between the federal
and provincial capitals. He, after sincere and unbiased review of the situation, has to decide who in the
capital or the province (of Punjab) is crossing her / his limits; confidentially seek advice from country’s
apolitical experts of credible intellectual reputation; keep the governors, chief ministers and political leaders
of the country totally unaware of his thinking prior to the time of final action. When he finally makes up his
mind he, in the presence of chief of army staff, may invite the prime minister, governors and chief minters to
inform them about the facts and conclusions of his analysis; give them a timeframe with clear instructions to
work remaining within the constitutional limits; and categorically inform them about the consequences in the
event of non-compliance to his observations and directives. This will be the first proposed step in the right
direction to resolve the crisis.
…a seriously forceful directive with a definitive
timeframe to the prime minister, governors, chief
ministers and political parties will be an essential
pre-requisite. In the meantime President Ghulam
Ishaq Khan and General Mirza Aslam Baig need to
take the following three steps:
1. Strict vigilance of the behavior of the prime
minister, governors and chief ministers and
the conduct of the political parties.
2. Preparation of a list of apolitical experts of national and international repute in different areas of
expertise.

4. 3. Preparation of the list of those heads of government departments, public and private sector institutions
and organization who, through their mismanagement and / or corruption, had caused irreparable
damage to the country’s social and economic structures and the overall system of governance.
If the prime minister, the governors and the chief
ministers fail in complying to the directives of the
President then the matter may be referred to the
Supreme Court of Pakistan seeking a verdict in
view of the constitutional provisions regarding the
eligibility of such leaders and their parties to
head the federal and provincial governments or
not in the larger interest of the country. If the
Supreme Court’s ruling declares them ineligible
for doing so then they may be removed from their seats of power with immediate effect replacing them with
apolitical experts in different walks of life for an interim period. Such an interim set up may be assigned the
following short-term, mid-term and long-term tasks:
The proposed top priorities of the interim government will be:
1. The enforcement of a uniform de-segmented quality education system across the country, a system in
which the children of the poor parents avail the same academic privileges which are enjoyed by the
children of the affluent parents.
2. The creation of a public administrative
structure in which the official designation of a
bureaucrat has to be a public servant and not
the ruler of the public. Those unfair perks and
privileges extended to the government
officials of grade 17 to 22 need to be
reviewed which result in a ruling attitude
instead of dedication to serve the people
enabling them to feel the social, economic
and political pains of the people. They must
understand what the household, education,
residential and transportation problems of
the people are. At present the government
employees in general and the govern-ment
officials in particular seem to live in an
artificial paradise that gives them a false
sense of domination and they appear to be
fortified.
3. The announcement of development projects through community participation on self-help basis is
also an important initiative to work on. When our political leaders can use government positions,
resources, bureaucracy to gather crowds of thousands of people to deliver speeches why can’t they
use the same crowds of people for constructive purposes. Why those students, who are armed to
terrorize opponents, collect extortion money and indulge in target killings, cannot be given books for
involving them to eradicate illiteracy and ignorance and promote education? When the light of

5. learning and knowledge will enlighten them they will start thinking. They will be able to differentiate
between right and wrong. They will recognize their friends and foes.
That would be the time when the success of any democratic set-up could be expected. Till that time the
following immediate steps are recommended:
1. An interim government consisting of
those people may be set up who do not
have any record of political and party
affiliation.
2. Those people (political leaders and
government officials) who are involved in
the criminal activities of destroying the
social, economic and political culture and
structure of country may be severely
punished to make them example for
others.
3. The non-serious and self-centered
politicians may be banned from
participating in any political activity
permanently.
4. Freedom of expression has to be guaranteed enabling media to point out the weaknesses in the system
of governance rising above personal interests and interests of political and other mafias without any fear
and favor.
5. Educational and other nation building activities ought to be initiated on self-help basis and promoted
through media for mass mobilization so that people are motivated to participate in such activities.
If an immediate step in the right direction is not taken then the country may confront a tragedy that will not
leave room even for regret or crying… UNQUOTE!
This is what was suggested in 1990 prior to the dismissal of Benazir’s government by Ghulam Ishaq Khan.
Now let us see what happened…
Ghulam Ishaq Khan did not form a team of highly
qualified professionals to do his homework for
covertly collecting evidences with the help of
civilian and military intelligence agencies before
the announcement of allegations of corruption
against Benazir’s government. He surprisingly
dismissed the Benazir government exercising his
constitutional discretion by using the Constitution (Eighth Amendment) Act, 1985 on mere allegations
without approaching the Supreme Court with evidences of the allegations requesting its judgment for an
appropriate action. And what was his justification for doing that? He categorically stated in his speech on
television that he did not approach the court as advised by some quarters only for the reason that the courts

6. in Pakistan were “expected to be influenced by
the politicians!” Nobody told Ghulam Ishaq Khan
that it was contempt of court by the highest office
holder of state in Pakistan. This is what I advised
General Mirza Aslam Baig in a one-to-one meeting
to use as an argument in the case of contempt of
court against him. Ghulam Ishaq Khan repeated
the same mistake when he dismissed the
government of Nawaz Sharif!
What happened after that? The same Ghulam
Ishaq Khan had the guts to invite the officially
declared corrupt Benazir Bhutto for giving oath of
office to her as Prime Minister of Pakistan and to
appoint her allegedly criminal husband Asif
Zardari who was globally known as Mr. 10 percent
to become investment minister(!) of the country.
During her second term of office Benazir Bhutto emerged politically shrewd and knocked Ghulam Ishaq Khan
out of Presidential office replacing him with Farooq Ahmed Leghari as President who, following the footsteps
of his predecessor, replayed Ghulam Ishaq Khan’s action against Benazir Bhutto again on judicially
unsubstantiated corruption charges.
What were President Ghulam Ishaq Khan and President Farooq Ahmed Leghari riding on? They were riding
on Constitution (Eighth Amendment) Act, 1985, which granted President the discretionary power to dissolve
the National Assembly. The Article was invoked three times – by President Ghulam Ishaq Khan against Prime
Minister Benazir Bhutto on August 6, 1990, by President Ghulam Ishaq Khan against Prime Minister Nawaz
Sharif in 1993 and by President Farooq Ahmed Leghari against Prime Minister Benazir Bhutto in November
1996. In the second instance, Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif was reinstated as Prime Minister by the
Supreme Court, but the resulting stalemate ended
with the resignation of both Ghulam Ishaq Khan
and Nawaz Sharif. The use of Article 58 2(b) was
justified by the President as necessary, for the
removal of corrupt governments that, it was
asserted, had lost the “confidence of the people.”
In 1997, the Thirteenth Amendment was passed,
stripping the President of the power to dissolve
the national assembly and call for new elections,
effectively reducing the Presidency to a
ceremonial figurehead.
The Thirteenth Amendment laid the foundation of a careless, fearless and corrupt to its core system of
governance. The leaders of the political parties knowingly took advantage of the non-existence of a credible
system of genuine investigation and consequent across-the-board accountability in the country that had
forced Ghulam Ishaq Khan to shamelessly compromise with corrupt political leaders not once but twice only
to remain President of Pakistan. The result was signing of a so-called deceptive and cleverly devised Charter
of Democracy by the leaders of almost all political parties in London which prepared the ground for a much
bigger fraud in the name of National Reconciliation Ordinance for blackmailing General Pervez Musharraf,
who wanted to remain President of Pakistan after relinquishing his post as Chief of Army Staff, to bring the

7. corrupt political leaders back into power after the necessary amendments in the Constitution of Pakistan
waiving the restriction on any party head or member to become Prime Minister of Pakistan for the third time.
The most dangerous aspect of the so-called
Charter of Democracy and the National
Reconciliation Ordinance for the country’s
security was behind the scene pulling of strings by
intelligence agencies and different ministries of
four foreign countries that were (are) either
actively involved in or were (are) evidently
responsible for the internal unrest and external
threats in and against Pakistan from within and
outside the country respectively.
The multi-sponsored attempts to engineer a
solution for Pakistan’s political, social economic,
military and diplomatic problems had (have)
failed. Let us take the following realities on
ground into consideration:
1. NRO was externally initiated and imposed by
a number of foreign intelligence agencies to
install a regime consisting of politicians and
their cronies known for corruption across the
globe. The purpose of doing so, not for this
country specific mission but just for
understanding, can be studied in detail in
John Perkins’s book, Confessions of an
Economic Hit man.
2. For violating the terms and conditions of an undocumented, unreported off-the-record NRO, Benazir
Bhutto was mercilessly eliminated and replaced with her husband. Only history will decide, when the
right time comes, that she was a real martyr or a shameless and honor-less traitor!
3. Previously, former President Pervez Musharraf was responsible for strategic decisions concerning affairs
of the state and matters relating to War Theater in and around Afghanistan in his capacity both as
President and Army Chief.
4. Expectations from the civilian President /
Prime Minister and a truly professional Army
Chief to accomplish the objectives of Military
Operation Other Than War in Regional War
Theater in and around Afghanistan had
resulted in political chaos, strategic military
confusion and diplomatic complications in
triumvirate relationship between USA,
Government of Pakistan and Pakistan’s
military command. They had inherited a
situation which was far beyond their control.
Pakistan and United States both had been

8. trapped in a situation which was regional
in nature and it could be addressed only
through a dialogue between countries
around Afghanistan and the countries in
the middle east that were expected to
feel the heat of the fall-out of U. S.
withdrawal from Afghanistan and Iraq.
The issue has a much wider geo-political
dimension than a tri-lateral headache.
5. In order to camouflage the economic and
financial fallout of War in Afghanistan an
artificial state of uncertainty had (has) been
created and perpetuated in Pakistan through
an irresponsible and ignorant media. A group
of beneficiaries is taking full business and
financial advantage of this artificial state of
uncertainty by making the life of the majority
of people
Miserable through frequent price ad-ons trumpeting artificially created scarcity and drumming increase
in demand.
The following conclusion can be drawn from the above analysis:
1. Pakistan does not have a professionally and
institutionally credible code and system of
aboveboard across-the board accountability.
2. National Accountability Bureau was never
allowed to work independently. Plea bargain
tactics have made the National Accountability
Bureau toothless. It barks but doesn’t bite
necessitating fourteen injections to make the
political and corporate criminals to feel the
pain where it genuinely hurts.
3. The most dangerous outcome of this sorry
state of affairs is Pakistan’s security
vulnerability because such political and
corporate criminals are blackmailed to work
against their countries threatening them
otherwise to release the details of their
criminal activities to national and
international media as a common global
practice by foreign intelligence agencies.
4. In view of the security challenges in and around Pakistan it is rightly expected from Pakistan’s civil and
military intelligence agencies to seriously look into this aspect of country’s security vulnerability for

9. round the clock monitoring of the suspicious activities of those political and corporate leaders who
evidently launder money, acquire assets abroad and directly and / or indirectly own businesses
5. in foreign countries. The sources of laundered
money, assets acquired and businesses
owned need to be thoroughly probed. Once
that is done the question of the existence of a
credible platform to prepare cases and seek
justice through judicial process arises. This
very dangerous aspect of Pakistan’s dilemmas
has not been seriously addressed so far and
unless that is done political stability based on
democratic values and principles cannot be
guaranteed.
6. The media in Pakistan has unfortunately
played a very condemnable role in promoting
a culture of corrupt politics from behind the
mask of sham democracy and so-called
freedom of speech. There is now a large army
of senior most journalists, analysts,
columnists, anchors and reporters who have
allegedly compromised their professional
credibility by accepting on and off-the-record
favors and bribes from corrupt politicians and
leaders. Their unethical professional
conduct demands a thorough probe of their activities. The initiation of strict legal and judicial action against
those who are evidently guilty of such professional misconduct is need of the hour to clean up the mess the
country is in.
Until the needful is not done the people are expected to enthusiastically respond to Revolution March and
Independence March calls because now they seem to have become understandably impatient for having a
truly representative democratic government that works for them and not for the family and business empires
of the criminal political and corporate mafias through open and hidden corruption.
See Nothing But The Whole Truth here: http://www.slideshare.net/19540201
And here also: https://www.facebook.com/NothingButTheWholeTrruth

10. Zahid Hussain Khalid has worked for national and international media
groups not as a journalist but a marketing practitioner, researcher and
analyst. He successfully initiated and completed the assigned managerial
and country tasks for such publications as Arab News, Financial Times, Jang
Group, Euromoney magazine, Petroleum Economist, South China Morning
Post, Asiamoney magazine, Innovation Management and Hong Kong
Standard and Forbes Inc, Forbes Global, Forbes Europe, Forbes Asia. He will
always remain thankful to Mr. William Adamapolous and Mr. Steve Forbes
of Forbes Inc and Mr. Tony Shale CEO, Euromoney Institutional Investor
Group (Jersey) Limited for their personal encouragement and support in
initiating and marketing Pakistan-specific innovative integrated media
packages for investment promotion. He also worked as Associate Producer,
Current Affairs, Pakistan Television Corp.
His articles have appeared in the Daily Jang, Weekly Akhbar-e-Jehan, Daily Mashriq, the Nawa-e-Waqt and daily The Muslim on social, economic, political,
diplomatic and military subjects which are available here http://www.slideshare.net/19540201
He had co-produced more than hundred episodes of the most popular weekly program “Hafta-e-Rafta” and was nominated for Best Producer’s award for
documentaries on Afghan Refugees and Year of the Aged.
His work reflects a visible difference because he strongly believes in innovative approach in everything that he does. He was co-owner of International Media Sales
from 1991 to 2012 and is owner of SUN&FZ Associates since 1994.