Manipal, India — In 1971, following the
Indian army's defeat of Pakistan in Bangladesh and the capture of 93,000
prisoners of war, an opportunity was given to the Pakistani politicians to roll
back the army's control over civilian life by curbing its powers and making it
a professional force. President Zulfiqar Ali Bhutto squandered that chance by
his cupidity and hunger for absolute power.
Bhutto, who like Pakistan's founder M.A.
Jinnah was an alcohol-loving, pork-eating ersatz Muslim, pandered to the
religious extremists by imposing the will of the "ulema," or
religious establishment, over not only the rest of the "ummah," or
Muslims, but of all Pakistani society. During his six years in power, Bhutto
crushed modern private industry through extensive nationalization and converted
the Pakistan Peoples' Party into a family enterprise, a character the PPP
retains to this day.
After Bhutto's hand-picked army chief,
Mohammad Zia-ul-Haq, took over power and hanged Bhutto in 1977 for one of the
numerous murders of his enemies during the previous six years, he completed the
jihadisation of the Pakistan army that had begun in 1948 with the extensive
intermingling of troops and religious fanatics during the 1947-1949 Kashmir war.
Zia sensibly secured the patronage of the
al-Sauds by training the Saudi Arabian army and providing Pakistani guards to
secure the safety of the Saudi ruling house during the tumultuous days in 1979
when Grand Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini took over power in Iran. The al-Sauds
have ever since been faithful to the ancient Bedouin custom of gratitude to
those that help in times of adversity, giving the Pakistan army massive
financial and other backing.
