LAHORE: The democratic traditions established by two great cities — Athens and Rome — have gone a long way in strengthening democratic institutions throughout the Europe. Just like the Greeks and the Romans, we have also set some political traditions, however non-democratic, through our ‘great’ city of Rawalpindi. Rawalpindi and Islamabad are called twin cities due to their close proximity and perhaps, common controversies. Rawalpindi has greatly influenced democratic and political institutions in the country through a modus operandi that can be called ‘Rawalpindilisation’.
It was in 1951 when the Rawalpindi Conspiracy, a conspiracy hatched by senior army officers against the then political government, became known to the public. Ever since, this so-called process of ‘Rawalpindilisation’ has been in progress through multiple modi operandi. This city has three ‘historic’ places — the GHQ, the Liaquat Bagh and the Adiala Jail — that have great significance in the political history of the country. When the first instrument fails to achieve the ‘desired results’, then the other two may come to the rescue by accomplishing the same.
The first prime minister of Pakistan, Liaquat Ali Khan, was gunned down in Liaquat Bagh, in 1951. His death proved to be the demise of democracy in the country as there was no other leader of his calibre to succeed him as the head of the Muslim League. Fifty-six years later, Benazir Bhutto, the last great leader of the largest political party, the PPP, was assassinated at the same place. In this way, the two major political parties of the country met their fate at Liaquat Bagh.
The most popular political leader, Zulfikar Ali Bhutto, was also imprisoned and hanged here in Adiala Jail. In 1999, another prime minister with a ‘heavy mandate’, who has claimed that he resurrected the Muslim League, was deposed and detained in Attock Jail that lies, too, in the close proximity of Rawalpindi. It is unfortunate but quite true that the epicentre of power in the country has been lying somewhere in the Pothohar region rather than in the Margalla Hills.
Mohsin Raza Malik
Published in The Express Tribune, April 27th, 2013.
