Pitiable Pakistan

Staying at home on a 'Holi'-day, I was watching the news about Pakistan where Zardari, the country's President is warned by the Army Chief of another coup given the deteriorating state of affairs in the country. It made me wonder if any government in Pakistan ever had, or has the guts to normalize its nation? I recalled the various analysis by many senior journalists I'd read. Through all that, here's what I'd grasped of what the Pakistan administration has been like since it was born.

21 Prime Ministers, 11 Presidents of which 4 Presidents were Military Chiefs. A 'so called' democratic rule of 25 years, and about 35 years of various other rules including Martial Law, Coups, Dictatorship. Only one prime minister to have completed a full term in office, under a dictatorship. Average vintage of prime mister in the Prime Minister's office being .57 years. Ladies & Gentlemen, that's a rough sketch of Pakistan. Details of individual PM's & President's rule given below in the end.

Apart from Administrative instability, during this time, Pakistan has had such restlessness when confronted with war with India thrice - 1948, 1965, 1999; civil war and the separati0n of Bangladesh in 1971; involvement with Soviet Union - Afghan war in 1980..

Not only this, but the factionists, fascism, differences in indoctrination, Shia-Sunni divide, clashes between communities, the pressure to Talibianize, the fire of jihad breeding pockets and new ideas of terror, the state sponsored terrorism breaking out of control, administration's failure to provide immunity to its citizens against US attacks, the hate spawning in all of these acts, and the possession of nuclear weapons make Pakistan a significant power to reckon with but incapable leadership to contain it.

U.S. was silent when Pakistan Govt. was making truce with Taliban within boundaries. There's no hard-liner from US even as Pakistan government plays Yes-No with India over 26/11 Mumbai terror attack with no decisive action, nor intent. Now, there is also news of a new terror-plot on US being planned in Pakistan, let's see how things shape up.

Such is the history of Pakistan (I hope I had a better style of presentation)

• 1947 - Jinnah leads Pakistan post-India's independence
• Sep 11, 1948 - Jinnah passes away
• Mar 7, 1949 - Liaquat Ali Khan becomes Prime Minister; With Liaquat, Objectives resolution of the constitution declared the sovereignty of Pakistan lay with Allah, it had democracy, an independent judiciary, freedom, equality, and minority rights as key elements. Not one of them got implemented
  
• Oct 16, 1951 - Said Khan (an Afgan) assassinates Liaquat Ali Khan; marks the beginning of power struggle in Pakistan
• 1952 - Khwaja Nazimuddin, (Governal General after Jinnah) becomes Prime Minister
• April 1953 - Nazimuddin government dismissed as Ghulam Muhammad steps up as Head of State
• 1953 - Muhammad Ali Bogra appointed Prime minister by Ghulam Muhammad to please Americans & Bengalis
  
• Oct 24, 1954 - Emergency declared by Ghulam as Bogra tries to change certain statutes; Borgra government dissolved.
• 1955 - Iskander Mirza becomes Governor General with Army support; Chaudhri Muhammad Ali appointed prime minister
• Feb 29, 1956 - Pakistan declared Islamic republic, title of Governor General renamed as President
  
• Sep 12, 1956 - Heseyn Suhrawardy becomes Prime Minister
  
• Oct 17, 1957 - Ibrahim Ismail Chundrigar becomes Prime Minister
  
• Dec 16, 1957 - Sir Feroz Khan Noon becomes Prime Minister
• Oct 7, 1958 - Mirza declares Martial law, suspends constitution; Muhammad Ayyub Khan takes over as Chief Martial Law & Administrator
  
• March, 1969 - Yahya Khan, another general takes over Ayyub Khan due to protests. Yahya Khan ensured free and fair elections
  
• Dec 7, 1971 - Appointed Prime Minister Nurul Amin lasted only for 13 days in office; Martial law continues; Martial law imposed
• 1971 - Zulfiqar Ali Bhutto takes on President & Army Chief's office
  
• Aug 14, 1973 - Zulfiqar Ali Bhutto becomes first elected Prime Minister
• July 1977 - Zulfiqar Ali Bhutto overthrown in a coup by General Zia Ul Haq, imposes Martial law
• Mar 24, 1985 - Muhammad Khan Junejo appointed as Prime Minister by General Zia
  
• Dec 2, 1988 - Benazir Bhutto, daughter of Zuliqar Ali Bhutto elected Prime Minister after winning general elections
• 1990 - Benazir dismissed as Prime Minister by the then President Gulshan Ishaq Khan for corruption
• Aug 6, 1990 - Ghulam Mustafa Jatoi becomes interim Prime Minister
• Nov 6, 1990 - Mian Muhammad Nawaz Sharif becomes Prime Minister
• Apr 18, 1993 - General Ishaq Khan dismisses Nawaz Sharif, makes Blakh Sher Mazari caretaker Prime Minister till Nawaz returns on May 26, 1993
• July 18, 1993 - Wasim Sajjad takes on as Acting President
• July 18, 1993 - Moeenuddin Ahmad Qureshi appointed caretaker Prime Minster
• Oct 19, 1993 - Benazir Bhutto reelected to Prime Minister's office
• Nov 5, 1996 - Malik Meraj Khalid appointed caretaker Prime Minister after Bhutto's dismissed yet again on corruption charges
  
• Feb 17, 1997 - Nawaz Sharif returns to Prime Minister's office
• Jan 1, 1998 - Muhammad Rafiq Tarar becomes President, remodels the president's office in the true spirit of the constitution of Pakistan
• Oct 12, 1999 - Nawaz Sharif ousted, General Pervez Musharraf does a military coup. Allows President Tarar to continue in President's office
• June 20, 2001 - General Pervez Musharraf appoints himself President
• Nov 21, 2002 - Zafarullah Khan Jamali elected Prime Minister
• Jun 26, 2004 - Chaudhry Shujaat Hussain replaces Khan Jamali as Prime Minister
• Aug 20, 2004 - Shaukat Aziz elected Prime Minister, becomes first to complete term in Prime Minister's office
• Nov 16, 2007 - Muhammad Mian Soomro becomes acting PM & later acting President on expiry of term of Aziz & on resignation of President Musharraf respectively
• Mar 25, 2008 - Yousaf Raza Gillani elected Prime Minister
• Aug 18, 2008 - President Musharraf resigns under pressure
  
• Sep 8, 2008 - Asif Ali Zardari (husband of Late Benazir Bhutto) of takes on as President

(The timeline was composed out of multiple secondary sources)

Gandhi the weakest?

In the wake of recent blasts across various locations in India, all the opposition party politicians and even a few Government allies’ leaders have called the Home Minister of India Shivraj Patil a weak person for the role, and the media has raised the question ‘Is Shivraj Patil’ the weakest home minister India has seen?

Talking of who others the same people have called weak, I recall how L K Advani (leader of opposition) attacked and made it a mandate to in any which way declare the Prime Minister of India Manmohan Singh the weakest Prime Minister of India till date. That is despite the many achievements the person may claim to himself personally and towards the nation as a ruler, he’s declared the weakest!

Let’s see who’s contesting for strongest of the ministers these days:

1. LK Advani, the Hindutva advocate, the leader of judging panel of 'Who's the weakest?'who himself had been a Home Minister and even held the office of Deputy Prime Minister, during BJP rule in India. Advani, who's believed to have a criminal case against him, is also responsible for the great riots which took place in India due to the demolition of Babri Masjid, thanks to his strong roots in RSS. This man, who evokes terror within the country by stirring religious sentiments also aims to be the next prime minister. His favorite past time is to make yatras, and go about sowing seeds of dissension and enjoy sitting on the chaos following his actions.
2. Narendra Modi, the Chief Minister of Gujarat, who’s a hero-like figure these days. He who failed to protect the minorities while in power in Gujarat was attacked for not just failing to provide adequate protection to the attacked, but also instigating the masses by sowing seeds of hatred among religious communities which had accentuated the riots and the consequences of it. He has successfully contested and won elections twice after the incident and rules the state. Well, the latest Nanavati report has further encouraged him as a messiah by giving him a clean chit in the Godhra case..
3. Naveen Patnaik, Orissa Chief Minister is the most (dismally) strongest of all the current chief ministers. In the face of increasing attacks on minorities, mainly Christians which have been persistent over a decade from the ghastly act of the burning of Graham Staines’ to the current situation of the fire spreading across many burning districts, he has been successful in not inviting much criticism toward himself. Well, he’s not weak, what a ignominy to the many lives lost in the tragedy! Everyone knows Naveen can’t speak Oriya for nuts, nor has he lived in Orissa long to neither know nor to understand what ails the land.

Looking at the way in which things are defined, I guess, MK Gandhi, the declared Mahatma was the weakest of all Indian leaders. Given the rod by which judgment is delivered by the people who call the Prime Minister and Home minister the weakest, I can promise by their standards Mahatma Gandhi was the weakest of all! Perhaps, that’s why Nathuram Godse shot him down! Guess he’s to be given an equal prize against the Nobel for being the weakest leader of a nation. Alongside ignoble prizes for the judges of ‘Who’s the weakest’!!!

Perils of poor leadership!

“A bad boss is like a disease of the soul.” Very strong words there from Chetan Bhagat, as written in his book One Night @ a Call Center. But why not, if good leaders are effective and influential, poor leaders can render a function, a process or a whole organisation utterly useless. One of the recent Hollywood flicks Pirates of the Carribean offers good leadership lesson on this front. Remember the mercurial pirate Jack Sparrow in the movie? Jack Sparrow is a pirate whose amazing leadership skills ensured he lost his ship, his crew and all his money.

In today’s business scenario, leadership gains importance with the ongoing intense restructuring of business models and organisational structures. Organisations are delayering in order to maintain a healthy structure; the classic principle of division of labour has become obsolete with multi-tasking being the order of the day. Tasks have to be accomplished in teams and are no more based on individual abilities. And ‘team leader’ is the proverbial corporate buzzword today. It is, therefore, an imperative that employers ensure that every executive on such positions are imparted necessary leadership skills, as their role demands.

Poor corporate ethics, intra-group, conflict, ineffective coordination, unpleasant interpersonal relations are a few traits of poor leadership. In fact, bad leaders can let down employee morale to dangerous levels. Given the talent-crunch environment, such leaders may drive efficient and effective employees out of the organisation, eventually creating more crises and virtually making a part of the organisation defunct. While these are the possibilities at theoperational level, at the strategic level, poor leadership can result in the death of a company.

Getting back to the book One Night @ a Call Center, Chetan further accentuates referring to a bad boss that “if you have one for long enough, you get convinced something is wrong with you...”

Well, then! Leaders, Companies, better wake up!