24

Dealing with doves and hawks
By the middle of 1986, Benazir Bhutto announced that she would visit Lahore and launch her “Doves of Peace” campaign. The Chief Minis­ter, Chief Secretary, IGP and others were concerned and did not know what was going to happen. Over-reaction is what the opposition always wants from the government and many governments do provide it. The response has to be balanced because too harsh or too soft reaction can only spoil matters. My appreciation was that it was going to be a non-event. Although nobody was prepared to agree with me but they also could not ignore the appreciation of the Special Branch. The meeting, therefore, decided not to over-react but Addi­tional IG, Special Branch, would be held responsible if anything unto­ward happened. I accepted the responsibility cheerfully.
The “Doves of Peace” procession was a poor show. It proceeded from Lahore railway station and dispersed at the Data Darbar, after passing through narrow streets where even small number looked big. On the way, the processionists pulled down two Muslim League flags. The Chief Minis­ter was very angry. Everybody passed the blame to me. (After all, they gleefully pointed out, I had taken “full responsi­bility” in advance.) I told them that the risk was worth taking. If the police had interfered with the procession, a clash would have defi­nitely taken place and resulted in serious injuries or even deaths. That would have suited the opposition very much and there would have been fires and disturbances not only in Lahore but also elsewhere in the country.
My explanation fell on deaf ears. A very senior and shrewd offi­cer said, “No government worth the name would tolerate it. You have made the government and the police a laughing stock.”
“On the burning of two flags?” I retorted.
“You seem to attach no importance to Muslim League flags,” com­mented Nawaz Sharif coldly.
“No, sir, I do attach a lot of importance but the question is much more basic. Would you like to have more serious and constant trouble that has the potential of ultimately bringing down your government? It is like being penny wise and pound foolish. If you go to the press, you will see that PPP will be on the defensive. Criticize their undemo­cratic behaviour instead of using force that can cause violent reaction.” I spoke with the maximum pos­sible em­phasis.
Ghulam Haider Wyne came to my rescue and supported my point of view. He was then asked to contact the press. When the official version was published the next day, the PPP took the position that they had not even touched the flags! They claimed that the flags had been burnt by the Special Branch people, who had been sent by Nawaz Sharif to bring a bad name to the PPP. Special Branch seemed to be getting the blame from both sides!
I took the press clippings to Nawaz Sharif. He just smiled while going through them. I took advantage of his good mood and said, “Sir, this is the beauty of a democratic system. One statement of Wyne Sa­hib has put them on the defensive. The use of force would have suited them and today you would have been on the defensive. The capacity of a martial law regime for use of force is many times more than yours. Even they could not crush PPP. How can you, sir? Your weap­ons are decency and tolerance, which are much more potent than all arms of martial law put together. You have seen that they are already on the defensive. In future, they won’t burn the Muslim League flags.”
“You are a good politician, Chaudhry Sahib, but I want no trouble in future,” he said firmly. Indirectly, he had appreciated my approach. “Yes, sir,” I said. “It will not happen in future.”
On my way back, I was glad that I had put the things on the right course by proving practically that the misplaced use of administrative force in political matters was counter-productive. But it was painful to be dubbed as a politician for restraining the administration from being used for an obvi­ously political objective. It was a cruel travesty that a suggestion to deal with political matters politically and not administra­tively was to be dubbed as politics.
It was not his fault alone, however. For the last three decades, there had been no political direction and everything had been done adminis­tra­tively. Therefore, depoliticising administration would also appear as politi­cal. That happened to me many times during my career but I always stuck to my firm belief that political matters must not be handled administratively. I was simply trying to correct misguided thinking but it had gone so deep and spread so wide that a police officer or a civil servant who ad­vocated beating and tortur­ing of political workers was considered a professional officer while anyone who suggested freedom of move­ment and expression was dubbed a politi­cian. A society that had tol­erated authoritarianism so long was bound to be affected by the envi­ronment. It reminded me of the slogans in George Or­well’s classic book, “1984:” “War is Peace,” “Freedom is Slavery,” “Ignorance is Strength.”

Clash on Independence Day. A much bigger challenge came soon after. The Movement for Restoration of Democracy (MRD) planned to start an agitation from September 20, 1986. I was asked as usual to brief the pro­vincial cabinet. In my view, the prospects for the movement were dim, as democracy had already been restored. An action programme that lacked a clear-cut direction would not inspire the people. Therefore, the objective of the movement was likely to confuse the people, who had recently voted for the Assemblies. An­other great restraining factor was the general feeling that Gen. Zia was still around and could re-impose martial law if things went out of con­trol. The most important factor, however, was the wisdom and sagac­ity of the Punjab leadership in handling the stormy tours of Benazir after her return from England. I em­phasized the last point deliberately, with the flair and charm of a sales­man, bor­dering almost on flattery, as I wanted them not to over-react in panic. I drove the point further home by saying that the fuel for a movement was the suppression by a tyrannical government. The op­pression of martial law pe­riod was now a matter of the past. There­fore, MRD movement in a demo­cratic environment had little chance of success.
The cabinet was not only convinced of my appreciation but, unfor­tu­nately, also became euphoric. That was not my purpose. I only wanted to keep them on a balanced track without their over-reacting. Ghu­lam Haider Wyne proposed a public meeting at Minar-i-Pakistan by the Muslim League on the Independence Day (August 14, 1986). When we came out of the meeting, Ch. Muham­mad Siddique, Chief Secretary, and Haji Akram, Home Secretary, said to me, “We have had it because of you!” (Marva ditta ee in Punjabi.)
The public meeting would have been, no doubt, an administrative and security problem by itself. But a bigger complication arose when MRD, playing the role of a spoiler, later announced that it too would hold a public meeting at the Minar-i-Pakistan on the same date. The two announcements generated tension and heat and created the specter of a head-on collision. The administration be­came panicky. Haji Akram thought that democracy had just been re­stored and any serious breakdown of law and order meant another martial law. There was a suggestion that the two meetings might be at different venues but IGP SD Jamy was not in favour of even that as there could be clashes en route.
The PPP later did announce that its meeting would be at the Mochi Gate ground. Even that did not satisfy the scared administration. The Mus­lim League leadership was also in favour of two public meetings at separate venues but the view of the panicky administration prevailed ul­timately. Prime Minister Junejo, who was also President of the Mus­lim League, can­celed the sched­uled meeting and expected the MRD to do the same. But the MRD insisted on holding its meeting at the Mochi Gate. The District Magis­trate banned it under Section 144 of the Criminal Procedure Code. The en­try of Benazir Bhutto into the Punjab was also banned and she was ar­rested at the Karachi airport before she could fly to Lahore. It was the first adminis­trative action on a political activity since the lifting of the martial law. Gen. Zia was watching the situation carefully.

As PPP and MRD insisted on holding the meeting while the Govern­ment was determined to enforce the ban, a clash loomed as inevi­table. The PPP workers had decided to assemble at the Mochi Gate at 3 p.m. on the fateful day. The police were deployed in and around the venue and on all ap­proaching roads and streets. At about noon, Israr Ahmad, who was working as Personal Staff Officer to the Chief Minister, informed me that the League workers of Gawalmandi, led by Khwaja Riaz Mahmood, were coaxing Nawaz Sharif to have a round of the city in an open jeep as the PPP had run away from the field. Mian Sahib’s going out on a round would create prob­lems of security and law and order problems and he would be blamed also if there were any trouble when the PPP crowds came out around 3 p.m. So I briefed the Chief Minister on the likely situation and requested him not to take a round of the city. He accepted my advice. Israr saved the government from many secu­rity problems by his timely information.
Shortly afterwards the trouble started. The crowds started emerging from all sides and going to the Mochi Gate. The police tried to enforce the ban. The Circular Road became a battleground when Rana Shaukat Mah­mood tried to violate the ban near Kotwali. Another group, led by Jahangir Badar and Nazim Shah, surfaced at the Lohari Gate. The Lohari Gate police station and the police vehicles parked there were fired upon and were put on fire. The po­licemen inside the police station felt trapped and were reported to have fired back in desperation on orders of Akhtar Ali Monga, Additional Deputy Commis­sioner, who was also inside the police station.
When I heard that the policemen had been encircled and were being fired upon from the crowd, I requested Maj. Mushtaq Ahmad, DIG Lahore, to rush to the spot. An effective and bold officer, Mushtaq reached the spot promptly and controlled the situation. A large number of persons violating the ban were arrested and the crowd was dispersed. In the ensuing confu­sion, four persons died in and around New Anarkali.
Who shot whom and who was guilty was a matter for inquiry. What was important was that deaths had occurred and that could lead to further trouble. It was a bad development for the nascent democratic setup. Home Secretary Haji Akram became very worried. He was clear in his mind that Gen. Zia was waiting in the wings. I discussed the ugly development with him on phone and both of us agreed that a very impartial and fair inquiry of the events was necessary for the satis­faction of all concerned parties.
On hearing of the trouble and deaths, Ch. Anwar Zahoor came to see me in my office. He was also worried that a black blot had come over the fair face of the democratic government and the people were condemning Nawaz Sharif for resorting to high-handedness.
“Nawaz Sharif is not even aware how the situation has developed to this point,” I explained.
“But people are not concerned with that,” Ch. Anwar said. “It is the net result that they see. He is the Chief Minister and has to bear the respon­sibility. No doubt, he is a decent person and must be upset. You should go and review the whole situation with him.”
On his advice, I went to see the Chief Minister House at 7 Club Road. Mian Sahib was alone after offering his Asr prayers. He really looked very upset and sad. It was his first experience as Chief Minis­ter to deal with casualties in a public disturbance.
“Sir, it was unfortunate but then such things do happen,” I said. It did not console him.
“I know these deaths will give impetus to the movement of the opposi­tion,” he observed. “It should not have happened. Now that it has, adminis­trative measures are necessary to contain the disturbances and also to ensure justice to the victims. If any functionary has exceeded his authority, he should be taken to task.”
I explained the situation and suggested various measures, including a judicial inquiry.
“I am not worried about the movement,” he observed. “I feel sad on the deaths. What can be done for their families, Chaudhry Sahib? Tell me that.”
“Financial help is the only thing that can be done for them,” I re­plied. He was more agonized on deaths than worried about the admin­istrative and political implications. I shared his concern but was more worried about the law and order aspects.
Then I went to see Haji Akram, who lived nearby, and told him about the state of mind of the Chief Minister. “He is a young and kind-hearted per­son and feels upset,” was his instant comment.
The Chief Minister called an urgent high-level meeting to review the situation. The processions and public meetings had been banned for three days by an order under Sec. 144 of the Criminal Pro­cedure Code. Saeed Mehdi, Commissioner, Lahore, proposed that the ban should not be ex­tended and the MRD might be allowed to spend its fury. There was general agreement on the suggestion. The Chief Minister directed the Commissioner that special attention should be given to consoling the aggrieved families.

How to defuse an agitation. MRD, excited by the violent incidents of August 14, brought for­ward the date (originally Sept. 20) for the formal launching of its move­ment. It was a tactical mistake as it could not do its homework prop­erly and had to start an agitation prematurely, compelled by the cir­cumstances of its own creation. The processions were allowed but the miscreants were ar­rested wherever there was violence. The processions pe­tered out in three days throughout the province except Lahore, where the daily processions were taken out for about two weeks. The strength of the processions de­creased steadily with every passing day. The police had ar­rested most of the activists. The lead­ers like Jahangir Badar, Rao Rashid, Salman Taseer and Nazim Shah were in hiding while the movements of other leaders had been re­strained. Benazir Bhutto was kept confined to her house in Karachi.
Once the administrative measures became necessary and were justified by the circumstances, the Punjab administration and police acted efficiently. The command had practically been taken over by the Home Secretary, Haji Muhammad Akram, one of the most efficient civil servants I have ever seen. He was very kind and fair but, when justified by law and circumstances, I found him to be totally ruthless. Why? He firmly believed that if one did not act decisively at the right moment, much bigger loss of life and property would be the result. It was the basic duty of a sensible and committed ad­ministrator to rise to the occasion and control the situation firmly and tightly.

The MRD movement was controlled without any further loss of life but it highlighted an administrative problem. During the martial law period, authority was centralized in the capital. All arrests and detentions of sus­pected trouble-makers were made on the basis of the Special Branch lists, which were never comprehensive or realistic as the head office was distant and the low-level staff in the districts was not up to the mark. Based on those lists and other half-baked information, the dis­trict magistrates were issued all kinds of instructions from above. It was a very unsatisfactory arrange­ment, especially during emergencies or political disturbances.
I suggested to the Chief Minister that the authority should be decentral­ized and the District Magistrate (DM) and the Superintendent of Police (SP) in a district should be allowed initiative to act in the light of information available to them and use their powers under the law instead of looking to­wards the provincial capital for instructions. The DM was the legal author­ity and the government should not interfere except to assist him with timely information and required co-ordination. All DMs and SPs might be directed that the government expected them to maintain public order and it was up to them to detain or release any person or take any other legal action. It was a legal, fair and successful method and had been in vogue for a very long time. The Chief Minister agreed with me despite the contrarian views of the Chief Secretary and the IGP. The decision to delegate authority to the district ad­ministration went a long way in controlling the MRD move­ment as the re­sponsible officers took realistic decisions on the spot in­stead of complying with remote and out-of-context directions from the provincial capital.
The ill-directed and ill-timed agitation of the MRD failed to pick up momentum. It got little response from the smaller provinces, espe­cially Sindh. The 1985 non-party elections had successfully cut across the politi­cal alignments and groups. Having squandered whatever political strength it had, the MRD formally called off its fruitless agitation and, in the process, went into a political limbo for the time being.

However, the bureaucrats, adept at creating unnecessary irrita­tions, provided causes for further hostile action. There were numerous examples of the blunders by officialdom but I shall quote only a few.
The warrants of arrests for many leaders and workers were issued dur­ing the agitation. Some of them were arrested while others went under­ground. Rao Rashid Khan went underground until the campaign was called off by the MRD. He had been my IGP. He approached me through his friend, Malik Waris, retired SP, and wanted to know if he was still wanted for arrest. There was no point in arresting anybody any­more as the agitation had been called off. Arresting the activists was, after all, just one of the methods to contain the situation and, if contin­ued now, would be counter-productive and prolong the agitation un­necessarily. When I requested the responsible officers to withdraw the warrants for the arrest of Rao Rashid, they did not agree with me. They had a very simplistic approach and believed that there was no point in issuing the warrants if they were not to be imple­mented. I told them that the objective for which the warrants were issued had already been achieved. But my argument was to no avail. The warrants had be­come a great reality per se and the campaign or agitation was irrelevant.
I approached the Chief Minister and explained to him the futility of the pending warrants and the useless fixation of the administrative minds. He got the point immediately and ordered the withdrawal of all unexecuted war­rants. The relevant officials were not happy. I also proposed that all deten­tion orders against those already arrested should be withdrawn forthwith to minimize bitterness but that was also re­sisted. The officials tend to acquire a mentality of persecution and be­come blind to the changing realities. Nawaz Sharif, with his elastic and dynamic mind, got the point immediately and re­scinded all deten­tion orders.
On the incidents of August 14, the police registered cases of murder, arson and mischief against unknown agitators. Another murder case was registered on the complaint of a relative of one of the de­ceased by name against Ja­hangir Badar, Salman Taseer and Nazim Shah. On the other side, the PPP filed a complaint against Nawaz Sharif, accusing him of the mur­ders. The battle was shifting from the streets to police sta­tions and courts. The allegations from both sides smacked of vengeance and falsehood and were likely to pollute the atmosphere and set wrong traditions.
Haji Akram felt that the process should not become ugly, throw­ing mud on each other.
“It won’t be something new,” I said.
“Yes, that is true,” he said, “but this is the first incident of this kind in the administration of Mian Sahib. He is a God-fearing, decent person and we should try to save him from such acts. Some wicked persons are getting around him. Once the registration of false cases and counter-cases starts, like the Bhutto era, a vicious cycle will emerge and destroy the entire demo­cratic set-up.” He spoke with deep con­cern.
“What to do?” I asked.
“Let us go to him and brief him on the evil implications of the baseless cases,” he replied. “Such things help nobody. In fact, they suck everybody into the quagmire out of which nobody can come out unscathed. He must set healthy traditions with a moral edge.”
“Let us discuss this with IGP also,” I proposed.
“No, that will spoil everything,” Haji Akram said firmly. “We should convince Mian Sahib alone and save him from the evil advice of the wicked people. He should not be taken in by the cunning peo­ple. He must set noble traditions.”
“He may not be even knowing about these cases fully,” I said.
“Yes, quite possible. Let us go and brief him.” He stood up and we went straight to 7, Club Road.
The Chief Minister fully agreed with the views of Haji Akram and di­rected him to supervise the investigation so that nothing was done against facts and merit. We later learnt that the complaint against Jahangir Badar and other PPP leaders had come through a retired police officer.
Haji Akram observed, “Mian Sahib, please be very careful about the advice of police officers. Bhutto was doomed because of some wicked police officers around him. They knew only how to use the device of false cases. Bhutto got bogged down in the vicious circle. You must avoid that trap.” Haji Sahib was very candid and forthright. And also sweeping.
The cases were disposed off on merit, without any partisan slant. Haji Akram saved Nawaz Sharif from blundering into the delusive charm of crushing political opponents by the device of false cases. He himself had the tendency for a moral approach but Haji Akram reinforced that by wise coun­sel in a practical situation. Nawaz Sharif, during his en­tire tenure as Chief Minster, never imposed Section 144 CrPC again. He also did not depend on the reg­istration of false cases or the use of coercive force. His image did suffer when he forgot or ignored this policy in cases against Tikka Iqbal, Salman Taseer, Dr Maleeha Lodhi, editor of The News, Islamabad, and Ch. Ghulam Husain, owner-editor of two Lahore weeklies, Siasi Log and Facts International.

Taming of the shrew. Treating political opponents fairly and hu­manely goes a long way in de­fusing them and avoiding unnecessary prob­lems. Nazim Husain Shah, who was named as an accused in the FIR, met me twice at my residence during that period. He was very worried but I as­sured him that no injustice could take place with Nawaz Sharif as the Chief Minister. He did not believe that but the case was ultimately canceled. Na­zim Shah or Jahangir Badar, who were not even arrested, never had the moral courage to give credit to Nawaz Sharif for at least having done justice. On the other hand, in the chambers of power, Nawaz Sharif was accused of showing a soft corner to them.
As usual, important people in Rawalpindi and Islamabad believed that the back of PPP would have been broken if its leaders had been prosecuted in that false case. They could not unlearn their belief in the use of false cases against opponents. Therefore, they were convinced that, being a rich man, Nawaz Sharif must have made a deal with PPP leaders, particu­larly Jahangir Badar. No less a person than the Director, Intelligence Bureau, Mian Aslam Hayat, was carried away by the rumour. He asked me a straight question, “Has there been a deal between Jahangir Badar and Nawaz Sharif?”
“No, sir, no deal to my information,” I replied, “but there was a fair deal during and after the MRD campaign and that is what brought success. Success is causing jealousy and gossip. There is nothing more to it.”
Mian Aslam Hayat, himself a very noble man, believed me but most of others could not accept that anybody could achieve success without follow­ing the crooked path. Their minds had been conditioned by years of crook­edness and wickedness and could not come out of it.

The MRD movement involved the participation of labour from various sectors, the Awami National Party elements being the most prominent. Tariq Latif, a very prominent labour leader, was also the Punjab Presi­dent of ANP. He had been my friend since I was SSP in Lahore in 1973. Tariq told me that he would take the ANP labour out of the agitation in a phased pro­gramme of five days if he was not arrested. Nawaz Sharif, being an indus­trialist, did not like him personally and also considered him unreliable. As he wanted Tariq to be in jail, it was extremely difficult for me to save him from arrest. Anyway, I did try.
“Sir, you want peace and I shall give you peace without violent means,” I assured him. “Let me handle him. He is my friend.” He con­sented but very reluctantly. Tariq Latif kept his promise and took out his la­bour force. When I told Mian Sahib about it, he said, “You are a good poli­tician.”
“No, sir, I am not a politician,” I replied, almost protesting. “I am against unwanted use of force or chaining human beings. A good po­lice of­ficer should use minimum force and that too when absolutely es­sential. The basic job of a police officer is resolving conflicts and I have done just that.” He just smiled
Ch. Anwar Zahoor and Ghulam Miran Kashmiri, two very promi­nent labour leaders in transport and banking respectively, were also my friends. They also took out their labour wings from the agitation. Thus, there arose no need to put any labour leader in jail. Similarly, the stu­dents were handled with decency and leniency. The dignified and sensible treatment with la­bour, students and political workers set a tone of non-violence for the com­ing years. The society had been brutalized by indiscriminate use of state ter­ror for years and the soft treatment by the administration cooled off the heat of agitation.
The civil servants and police officers, who had no talent other than their skills of terror and torture, were very disappointed and started describ­ing Nawaz Sharif as “a weak administrator.” Such comments would also reach his ears. “Decency is weakness,” he would say sometimes. I knew at that time that some crook had been around him and I would take steps to disa­buse him carefully of those feelings.

PPP rally at Toba Tek Singh. The PPP announced a kisan (peasant) rally in October 1986 at Toba Tek Singh. Ghiasuddin Jan­baz was the main organizer. The administration was getting panicky because it was haunted by the memories of Maulana Bhashani’s big and violent show at the same place during the anti-Ayub agitation. My assessment was that it was not going to be a very impressive show. Lt Col. Sultan Haider, then working in the Spe­cial Branch as an OSD, carried out a very detailed assessment and came to the conclusion that it was going to be a show of medium strength.
Ch. Siddique, Chief Secretary, disagreed with the assessment and did not want to take any risk. He had the intention to ban the rally but I op­posed it on the ground that it did not behoove a democratic gover­nment to restrict arbitrarily the freedoms of association and speech. He came around but is­sued strict instructions to the administration for elaborate law and or­der ar­rangements. It turned out to be a mediocre show, exactly as assessed by Col. Sultan Haider.

The officers often looked askance on my repeated references to “democratic government” and “democratic norms.” It was but natural after such a prolonged period of dictatorships but I continued with my practice out of strong convictions. I wanted to influence others in order to consolidate the democratic system as I had seen from very close quar­ters how the short-sightedness and adventurism of dictators had led to the break-up of the coun­try. So, I consciously and loudly tried to highlight the benefits of democratic attitudes for good law and order. Angry peo­ple, who are unhappy with the prevail­ing situation, disturb Law and order. If they are al­lowed to vent their steam through speeches or rallies, agitation and violence are averted. Democracies are wiser in law and order management by allow­ing the furies of rivers to flow smoothly instead of erecting dikes and dams in their way. When the dams and dikes, built so carefully by dictatorships, burst, everything on the way is washed away.