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Pakistan
Benazir Bhutto Returns
In the National Assembly elections of October 6-7, 1993, Benazir's
PPP won a plurality--eighty-six seats--but not the absolute majority
needed to immediately form a government in the 217-seat National
Assembly. Nawaz Sharif's Pakistan Muslim League ran a close second
in gaining seventy-two seats. Over the next two weeks, Benazir
was successful in mustering the allegiance of a number of small
regional and independent members of the assembly and on October
19, 1993, was able to reclaim power with 121 seats in her coalition
government. The October elections were hailed as the fairest in
Pakistan's history and were, according to international observers,
held "without hindrance or intimidation." Voter turnout, however,
was lower than usual, as only about 40 percent of registered voters
participated.
Benazir benefited in the 1993 national elections from the MQM's
boycott. In the 1990 national elections, the MQM, which had captured
fifteen seats, supported Nawaz Sharif's IJI coalition. Benazir
also benefited by the poor showing of the religious parties.
After only one month in office, Benazir was able to strengthen
her position considerably. On November 13, 1993, Benazir's candidate
for president, Farooq Leghari, an Oxfordeducated PPP stalwart,
easily defeated acting President Wassim Sajjad, who was backed
by Nawaz Sharif. In a vote by the two parliamentary chambers--the
National Assembly and the Senate--and the four provincial assemblies,
Leghari won 273 votes to Sajjad s 167. Bhutto hailed Leghari's
election as a triumph for democracy and predicted that he would
contribute to the country's stability.
Although the new president retained the constitutional authority
vested in the Eighth Amendment to dismiss the popularly elected
National Assembly as well as the prime minister, he appeared willing
to support Benazir in curbing the power of his office. Leghari
promised not only to support a constitutional amendment to annul
the extraordinary presidential powers granted by the Eighth Amendment
but also to challenge restrictive laws that related to Islamic
religious courts and to women's rights. In order to amend the
constitution, however, a three-quarters majority in the parliament
is needed--a formidable task, considering the strength of Benazir's
opposition and the unproven staying power of her coalition. Leghari's
victory, nonetheless, was expected to end the pattern of disruptive
power struggles between prime minister and president that had
so undermined previous governments.
Early in her term, Benazir declared that she would end Pakistan's
isolation and, in particular, that she would strive to improve
her country's troubled relations with the United States. At the
same time, however, she vowed to maintain Pakistan s nuclear program
and not allow the "national interest to be sacrificed." Relations
between the United States and Pakistan had deteriorated sharply
during 1992 when the former threatened to classify the latter
as a terrorist state because of its aid to militants fighting
in Indian-controlled Kashmir. Although the United States withdrew
its threat in mid-July 1993, the Kashmir issue still loomed large
and threatened to complicate Pakistan's relations with both India
and the United States (see the United States and the West , this
ch.).
Benazir faced another, personal challenge. As her administration
settled into office, a bitter Bhutto family feud played out on
the front pages of the Pakistani press. The feud pitted Benazir
against her younger brother Murtaza and her mother, Nusrat, over
dynastic control of the PPP. Nusrat organized Murtaza's election
campaign for the Sindh provincial assembly, in which her son contested
(in absentia) more than twenty constituencies as an anti-Benazir
candidate. Although he could only occupy one seat in the assembly,
Murtaza contested multiple seats because if he had won more than
one, his political stature would have risen. The electorate gave
Murtaza only one victory, however, and as he returned to Pakistan
from years in exile in Damascus, he was jailed by the government
on long-standing terrorist charges. In retaliation for her mother
s championing of Murtaza's political ambitions over her own, Benazir
ousted Nusrat from her position as cochairperson of the PPP, further
deepening the family rift. These family squabbles were a distraction
for the new government, but Benazir was expected to make progress
on a wide variety of social, educational, and cultural issues.
Data as of April 1994
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