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Pakistan
Pakistan People's Party
The Pakistan People's Party (PPP) represents another part of
Pakistan's political spectrum. The PPP was a vehicle for the political
ambitions of Zulfiqar Ali Bhutto. His immediate aim was to bring
down the government of his former political mentor, Ayub Khan.
The party's inaugural convention was held in Lahore in 1967. The
PPP adopted the slogan "Islam our Faith, Democracy our Polity,
Socialism our Economy." The party, like its founder, was enigmatic
and full of contradictions. A left-leaning populist movement,
the PPP attempted to blend Islam with socialism. The PPP espoused
such policies as land reform to help the peasants; nationalization
of industries to weaken the industrialists; and administrative
reforms to reduce the power of the bureaucrats. The party, however,
was built on the foundations of the wealthy, landed elite, Pakistan's
traditional ruling class.
The PPP came to power in December 1971 after the loss of East
Pakistan, when Bhutto was sworn in as president and chief martial
law administrator. Bhutto lifted martial law in April 1972 and
in 1973 stepped down as president and became prime minister. The
PPP did little to advance the first two tenets of its platform,
Islam and democracy, but promoted socialism with a vengeance.
Bhutto nationalized large-scale industries, insurance companies,
and commercial banks, and he set up a number of public corporations
to expand the role of the government in commerce, construction,
and transportation. The heavy hand with which Bhutto and the PPP
exerted their power aroused widespread resentment. Matters came
to a head in 1977 when the PPP won 155 of the 200 seats in the
National Assembly with 58 percent of the total votes cast. The
Pakistan National Alliance (PNA), a coalition of nine opposition
parties and with 35 percent of the votes, won only thirty-six
seats. The PNA charged widespread electoral fraud, and the resulting
PPP-PNA confrontation and the accompanying civil unrest precipitated
the imposition of martial law.
The survival of Bhutto's party after his execution in 1979 was
facilitated by dynastic politics. His widow Nusrat and his daughter
Benazir, led the party as cochairpersons. During martial law,
the PPP joined with ten other parties in the Movement for the
Restoration of Democracy (MRD) to pressure the Zia government
to hold free elections under the 1973 constitution. Four of the
MRD's component parties were members of the PNA, which had been
formed to oppose the PPP in the 1977 elections. The PPP joined
the MRD coalition, hoping the military would be prepared to negotiate
with the MRD if it were part of a larger political alliance.
The MRD campaign launched in February 1981 appeared to gain momentum.
In March 1981, however, a Pakistan International Airlines aircraft
was hijacked by terrorists demanding the release of political
prisoners. The hijacking was the work of an organization--Al-Zulfiqar--allegedly
run by Bhutto's son, Murtaza. Although the PPP dissociated itself
from the episode, the hijacking was a major setback for both the
PPP and the MRD. Another MRD agitation failed in 1983. After Zia's
death in 1988, the MRD was dissolved, and the PPP, the largest
party in the alliance, contested the 1988 elections on its own.
Although the PPP emerged as the single largest party in the National
Assembly as a result of the 1988 elections, it won a narrow plurality,
and only with the support of the Refugee People's Movement (Muhajir
Qaumi Mahaz--MQM) and other parties was it able to form a government.
After a troubled period in power, the PPP government was dismissed
by President Ishaq Khan in 1990. The PPP was the principal member
of the Pakistan Democratic Alliance (PDA), which lost the 1990
elections to the IJI. The PDA blamed its defeat on alleged tampering
with the vote. The National Democratic Institute for International
Affairs, an international observer team, did note irregularities
in the election but declared that the ultimate outcome was in
general accordance with the popular will.
In the October 1993 general elections that returned Benazir to
power, the PPP won eighty-six of the 217 seats in the National
Assembly, while Nawaz Sharif's PML-N won seventy-two. The PPP
was successful in forming a coalition with other parties to control
a block of 121 seats.
Data as of April 1994
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