Today, the Pakistan Peoples Party marks its fortieth year in
mainstream politics. Why does this party hold a unique place in Pakistan's history, politics and social transformations? What animates its diehard support-base, and why do people seek its banner? One, it is the one federal party in this country that has not arisen out of a backroom deal. Two, it has never strayed from its core vision of seeking sovereignty through empowering the people. Three, as a party that sees the poorest, the vulnerable and the oppressed as its first priority, the PPP is the one party that has remained consistent with its agenda of change through progressive politics. In its social democratic vision to deregulate the economy while protecting the vulnerable, the party has evolved to spur the private sector as an engine of growth. Four, in international affairs, it has charted an iconic leadership course through intensely troubled waters. Five, on fighting for fundamental freedoms, the PPP has stood firm in raising its banner for the rule of law, representative civilian democracy and provincial autonomy. Six, it defines national security through development indices, not military adventurism. And seven, it offers hope for a better future through power of human agency.In 60 years of Pakistan's chequered life, from 1947 to 2007 the nation has seen 13 presidents or governors-general, 15 prime ministers and 12 national assemblies. In this whole period, four army generals ruled for 34 years openly, while after 1988, the military ruled as a powerful player in truncated civilian governments. In these sixty years, only one elected government completed its term, and that first PPP government is remembered with widespread nostalgia for empowering people and setting the country on a path to stability. Shaheed Zulfikar Ali Bhutto gave Pakistan the strongest institutional foundations by drawing up the 1973 Constitution. By building the national consensus so vital to democratic processes in its signing, the PPP laid the foundation stone for so many social and economic changes that it literally revolutionised the relationship of the state to the citizen.In defining its public agenda, the PPP has evolved through different epochs as the only party that seeks, before everything, to liberate the oppressed, to provide for equal opportunity and empower the most disadvantaged through specific policy interventions. The unaddressed labour and peasant classes, the largest populations at risk in a developing country, have always been targeted by successive PPP governments for public policy relief. That is why they come out in droves to show support for the PPP at public rallies like Ms Bhutto's welcome on October 18, and are tagged for disenfranchisement often through rigged polls.Women, minorities and other socially vulnerable groups have been the focus of actual empowerment through party advocacy and policy articulation by empowerment programmes. In Ms Bhutto's two governments, for instance, key human rights issues were not used as donor magnets and government spin. They were the object of party policy and state action. Women judges were appointed and gender mainstreaming took place on a large scale through the public and private sectors. Remember the women's bank? And the lady health workers programme? No judges were sacked and neither women's marathons baton-charged nor any attempts made to impose manmade shariat laws. The media was given unprecedented freedoms and wage board awards for journalists implemented.An elite-consensus of anti-democratic forces that fear the vast mobilizing power of the PPP have spent an entire generation devoting time and resources to vilifying the PPP as an anti-business party. The facts tell another story. While providing protection for the weak, Ms Bhutto's PPP deregulated the economy to empower a new middle class, introduced communication technology, and ended electricity shutdowns. In fact, Ms Bhutto's PPP was the first government in the history of Pakistan to retire the country's principal debt through privatization proceeds. That is why among those who believe in change through the political process, the PPP is seen as a modern and democratic party, which introduced both energy infrastructure and information technology in Pakistan and empowered, educated and motivated an entire generation to value the power of hard work in a merit-based society. Instead of being labelled as a terrorist sanctuary, Pakistan joined the top ten emerging markets of the world.On foreign relations, the PPP has always led with a defining vision. History is testament to the fact that after the seminal Simla Treaty, Zulfikar Ali Bhutto's vision of steering Pakistan out of the narrow alley of India-centrism bore fruit in larger bilateral initiatives that altered the limits of Islamabad's horizons, both in the developing and Muslim worlds. His Islamic summit stands out as a true leadership initiative for Pakistan in the comity of nations. Ms Bhutto's governments -- short as they were -- laid down an entire architecture of peace to replace the infrastructure of war with both India and Afghanistan. Pakistan never went to war in either Kabul or Kargil, but in fact began investing in a vision for South Asia whereby founding SAFTA the ground-work for a regional common market was laid. The blowback from Ziaul Haq's jihadist forward policy in Afghanistan was staunched by containing the Taliban to Kandahar, and in the third PPP government despite pressures, it refused to recognize the Taliban as the government of Afghanistan.It was not a military dictator who secularized Pakistan's politics; it has always been the PPP. In fact, dictatorship in Pakistan has always emboldened extremists and fuelled terrorism. The dangerous idea that politics is the source of evil in this country has been sown by dictators as early as 1958 when the first martial law was slapped on. The propaganda machine deployed against a genuine political class, fighting a motley crew of military proxies, has diverted state resources and slush monies in such large quantities that it has acquired a life of its own. This has led to swathes of honest people brainwashed and depoliticized. Their retreat from democratic politics is a challenge only the PPP can take on for the future. The anti-democratic establishment in Pakistan believes that the PPP's legitimacy amongst voters is a danger to their formula for fixing politics, manipulating elections and shuffling surrogates.Today, when Pakistan stands at its most dangerous crossroads after the fall of Dhaka in 1971, there really is only one party that will squarely address the threats to the country such as extremism, hunger, and dictatorship. Ms Bhutto has clearly identified terrorism as a national crisis, not another country's problem. To her and the PPP, religion is about peace, about knowledge and about civilizing society, not polarizing it. But if grassroots politics is once again thwarted as a vehicle for democratic expression and social change, the millions of Pakistanis who want a stake in their governance will lose their voice in another closed system. Yet in good times, and in bad, the PPP will still stand out as a beacon of hope in the darkness that threatens. For 40 years it has held out that hope, and when given a chance, turned some dreams into reality. One day, the hope of a government -- elected by the people and accountable to the people -- will surely become a reality.
The writer is a former MNA, and the Central Information Secretary of the PPP
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