If-I-am-assassinated-by-Shaheed-Bhutto

Tufail Mohammad, Amir of Jamaat-i-Islami. Both are intensely reactionary intheir outlook.These common factors are known but a selfish man who is inherently atime-sever, would not enter in a twin conspiracy for only this much of commoninterest. He was sitting well saddled as the Chief of the Army Staff. He had beengiven accelerated promotions and did not have reason to be ungrateful to mygovernment. The cause for joining and executing two conspiracies against hisown government had to be based on more substantial considerations than a mererelationship with Main Tufail Mohammad or admiration for Maudoodi. This iswhere the interconnecting hand from behind puts them in the same boat to makea common journey. This partly explains why the White Paper is ever so anxiousto repel the foreign involvement and to take up cudgels on behalf of PNA.If the Chief of the Army Staff were not so mixed up with the sordid affair,he would not show the concern of partisan with PNA’s foreign involvement. TheWhite Paper seeks assiduously to deny the charges levelled against PNA. It goesout of its way to defend PNA’s innocence. It defies me to substantiate thecharges. The document preposterously contends, “How the PNA fought thegeneral elections or raised the necessary funds is not the subject matter of thisWhite Paper, which is basically confined to the conduct of the general elections-atask shared by the ruling Party and the Election Commission.” (page 237).This is an untenable contention. The elections were an interlocked contestbetween the PNA and PPP. Elections would have been called by some othername if the subject matter of elections is basically confined to a task shared bythe ruling party and the Election Commission. The task of elections is shared bythe ruling party and the party or parties in the opposition. The ElectionCommission is only a referee. It does not have a share in the task. It is supposedto be the impartial observer outside the arena.If “how PNA fought the general elections or raised the necessary funds isnot the subject matter of this White Paper,” in that event, the White Paper cannotdeal with the subject matter of how PPP fought the general elections or raised thenecessary funds. If the activities and conduct of PNA in the elections are outsidethe scope of the White Paper, the activities and conduct of PPP in the electionscannot come within the ambit of the White Paper merely because it was theruling party. Both the ruling party and the PNA opposition were parties to theelections. The conduct of the general elections was shared by both parties. Therewould not have been an election if the opposition had boycotted it. The conductof the general elections arises from the contest. The activities of both sides areequally relevant. The election was not between the ruling party and the ElectionCommission with the PNA being an idle spectator. In any discussion pertainingIf I am Assassinated; Copyright © www.bhutto.org 176