After the death of Jinnah due to neglected medical attention, the murder of Liaquat, and the departure of British imperial military commanders, General Ayub staged a coup abrogating the 1956 constitution and ruled for a decade until he became very unpopular. In effect, he imposed an indigenous imperialism by the army.
Before departing, he imposed martial law and handed power to General Yahya, who held general elections in which Mujib won 160 seats in East Pakistan against Bhuttos 80 in the west. Mujib was denied premiership, and insurgency erupted in East Pakistan, allowing India to invade. The small Pak military force there could not stand long, and after Bhutto, the then FM rejected UN brokered cease-fire, Pak forces surrendered, and Bangladesh was formed.
Bhutto emerged as a shrewd socialist leader as PM of remaining Pakistan. He nationalised all industries and big businesses and introduced a new parliamentary constitution in 1973. He was deposd by General Zia-Ul-Haq after a rigged election and controversially hanged for murder after the Supreme Court rejected his appeal by a split judgment. There are accusations that judges were unduly pressureised or influenced in their decision.
Next came Nawaz with large-scale deregulation and privatisation of industries and businesses with allegations of historic corruption, who was ousted and nearly hanged by General Musharraf. Later, he was disqualified from political activity by a Supreme Court decree on grounds that some consider weak.
Then came Imran, the best of them all, who managed the Covid emergency very well, started schemes for the welfare of the poor, and achieved a sustained economic growth rate of 6% which was the highest ever in the country's history. Most significantly, mega corruption cases against some of the most notorious politicians like Shahbaz and Zardari were all but established. At this juncture, he was cunningly dislodged by General Bajwa in April 2022, who managed to entice away all his allies to form an unbelievable coalition of all 13 opposition parties and coerced judicial interference in parliamentary matters. Imran came out in protest with a massive rally and bravely survived three bullet wounds sustained in a joint murder attempt of PDM and an alleged intelligence agency on the way.
He is now being hounded by General Asim Munir, the new army chief in pursuance of some unexplained delusion. According to the army's account, May 9 was a virtual sequel to 9/11 in Pakistan in which according to the propaganda scenario women and children of PTI leaders and workers allegedly attacked sensitive military installations with weapons of mass destruction. The army was unable to defend itself and appeared to be completely routed alongside the federal and provicial governments. There was not an army soldier nor a policeman to be seen on the streets. They had all gone into hiding.
It appears that Pak Army regrouped and launched a counterattack on PTI tagged as the imaginary enemy. With a whole procession of professional turncoats ready to cooperate, a new political party seems to be emerging in addition to the existing coalition, which will support and bow before the revived sovereign army imperialism.
