Martial laws stifled spirit of progress in Pakistan: Kurd

LAHORE - President Supreme Court Bar Association (SCBA) Ali Ahmed Kurd has said that martial laws had stifled the spirit of progress in Pakistan. Giving concluding remarks at a discussion on History of Martial Law in Pakistan at the Karachi Shuhada Hall of the Lahore High Court Bar Association (LHCBA) here today he said the feudal lords had dominated Pakistan since its inception.
The East Pakistan could not remain in Pakistan because it comprised the areas where all the uprisings took place before the independence and had no feudal lords.
The Pakistan Muslim League, which represented the feudal lords, was defeated in general elections there in 1954.
He said that the first martial law was enforced in Pakistan with the sole objective of stopping the democratic process. Late General Muhammad Ayub Khan placed the country under martial law in 1957 despite the fact that there was neither any threat to the law nor the economy was in disarray. The reaction of Ayub’s martial law came in the form of landslide victory of Zulfikar Ali Bhutto and Sheikh Mujibur Rehman’s parties in 1970 general elections.
The feudal lords subsequently dismembered Pakistan because they could not afford to keep the rebellious East Pakistan in it.
He said late General Muhammad Ziaul Haq clamped the second prolonged martial law in 1977 to overthrow late Zulfikar Ali Bhutto. He seized power by force and disfigured the constitution but continued talking about democracy and even held elections to hoodwink the people. General Pervez Musharraf also played havoc with the constitution and the institutions but had to quit due to the historic struggle of the bar, political parties and the civil society for the restoration of the deposed judges of superior courts.
Dr Tariq Rehman said the Talibanisation was the outcome of the so-called Islamisation of late General Ziaul Haq.