Pakistan Under Martial Law

Press, Volume CIX, Issue 31981, 7 May 1969, Page 7

Pakistan Under Martial Law

(Specialty written for “The Press" by

RALPH JOSEPH)

KARACHI, April 10. A light military vehicle filled with troops rolls by on Karachi’s streets. Jn front is a young army officer, pips shining; in the rear half a dozen soldiers with bayonets fixed and twigs stuck in their helmets rather unnecessarily.

Occasional patrols like this serve as a gentle reminder to Pakistanis that the country is under martial law. But for the most part they have met with no resistance. In some areas, they have been welcomed with garlands by a lower class that seems to have become not only politically conscious but somewhat shrewdly so. Nevertheless, the soldiers are being kept out of sight as much as possible. Except for the occasional patrols, they are confined to their quarters in various sub-sectors: a large police station here, a civil defence centre there, a polytechnical institute in another place. Political arrests have been largely unnecessary, and the Afmy has fallen back on toning up the civil administration, much to everyone’s

delight The military officers running the country, in fact have been conducting themselves almost like reluctant rulers. Most of General Yahya’s initial acts in office seemed calculated to win public approval: the reopening of the universities, remission of fees for the five months students , were kept out of them, the order to industrialists to honour wage agreements made with labour unions.

Public Approval Instructions went out to the press to play down news about martial law. Yahya granted no interviews tn local or foreign reporters, and held no press conference for the first two weeks after assuming office, nor did he appear on television until 10 days had passed. His photograph, similarly, has been sparingly used in the newspapers. Public approval of his measures picked up rapidly, and so long as the general managed net to identify himself with Ayub's government, the nods were in his favour. But avoiding identification with Ayub's regime has had its problems, especially in such things as appointing a cabinet The first three names inevitably included the chiefs of the armed services. But before these . appointments were announced, an interesting story gained currency: soon after the takeover Ayub made a futile attempt to pull strings from behind the scenes. Technically still president on a three-tnonth vacation, he is reported to have instructed his former press officer to release the names of three members of his old government as “advisers” to the Chief Martial Law Administrator. When the army chief learned of this, the report gees, he immediately had the announcement withdrawn. Two days later Yahya announced his assumption of the office of president, with retrospective effect from March 25, the day of the coup. Ayub then retired to the hill state of Swat for a rest. If Yahya continues to play his hand carefully, he may find the going smooth enough for the time being. He has not had to resort to brutality so far, but his immediate success ip restoring order can probably be attributed to the memory, still fresh in people's minds, of the merciless. Beggings and the stiff prison sentences imposed by the martial law authorities in 1958 when Ayub came to power. Time Running What most observers are agreed on is that Yahya has very little time at his disposal. Ayub allowed a calm four yean to gp by before he gave the country his idea of a constitution. He could afford to then. Un*H 1962 he seems to have been trusted by the public. Yahya may not have more than a year to keep his promise of restoring democracy. The troops, for various reasons, cannot be kept indefinitely in the streets, and once they are withdrawn Pakistan's* new President Is going to need a good deal of skill to keep the going smooto. The disclosure in Washington recently by Vice-Admiral Ahsan, the naval chief, that the new regime intends to hold the promised national assembly elections on schedule by January next year was not reported in the Pakistani press. What is relevant is that this would just about fit the time the regime has at its disposal. Among the cross-section of people I have been talking to since the imposition of martial law were some students. The impression. I have gathered is that while they are glad to be back at their studies, held up for five months, the student leaders are giving the regime one year to hold Hie elections: that is, dl] March, 1970. The date coincides with that under which elections would normally have been completed under the 1962 constitution. Unenviable Position Certainly the military regime’s position is not an enviable mie. There is a widely held belief that Ayub mi'’oeuvred the country into martial law to save his own skin, once .he realised his regime had collapsed. However true

or false the officers have inherited problems that are by no means easy of solution. The politicians, so recently flushed with victory after winning major concessions from Ayub, are now sitting rather sullenly silent. But one gets the feeling that political activity is more in abeyance, rather than subsided or suppressed. After the initial shock of martial law wears off, some activity may be expected again, of whatever sort • .. Mr Bhutto, after slouching around with friends at places like the Karachi Boat Club, has begun granting cautious interviews to foreign correspondents. He became a little restless when one of his party lieutenants was reported to have been arrested, but got back bls calm when the man was released within a few hours.

Politicians Unhappy Ashgar Khan has retired to his home town in Abbottabad but organisation*! work In his newly formed Justice Party is still going on under his instructons—legitimately enough, since the political parties have not been banned. I happened to be present when a Left-wing National Awami Party leader, Mr Mahmudui Haq Usmani, was addressing a letter to the martial law authorities for permission to hold a May Day workers’ rally.

Whatever they may say to foreign correspondents, in interviews they know will be published quoting names, in private the politicians are certainly unhappy about the temporary restrictions imposed by martial law. In the general - public, however, there appears to be a feeling of relief about the return to calm, after the hullabaloo. But it is all rather like a magazine serial with a note at the bottom of the page: "Read next week another exciting chapter of this daring adventure!” The serial has by no means ended yet