The writer is a journalist.
WHEN the PPP boycotted the 1985 election held by Gen Ziaul Haq who had deposed Zulfikar Ali Bhutto, it helped the general bring in a government, even a parliament, sanitised of the PPP and Bhutto’s followers. By the next election in 1988, the PPP had learnt the error of its ways and also gained from the fact that Zia was no longer holding sway over Pakistani national space. Ghulam Ishaq Khan and Aslam Beg — whose appointment as vice chief of army staff was not one Ziaul Haq was said to have been too happy with — took the quick decision to hold elections as scheduled, paving the way for the PPP to win. And the Supreme Court allowed the parties to contest.