Pakistan's Other Story: Appendices

These three appendices form an integral part of the book. The first one, on The Role of the Pakistan Army deals with the question of the army and the contradictions that have emerged within this powerful institution. The second appendix is a list of the 26 richest people in Pakistan and the third is the 1970 programme of the Pakistan's People's Party, adopted during the revolution.

Appendix-I - The Role of Pakistan Army

The army in Pakistan has played more of an overt than a covert role as a state institution in ruling the country. And the most organized and powerful institution of a state, like all capitalist states, has the fundamental role of preserving and protecting the assets, social status, privileges and economic exploitation of the local ruling classes and imperialism.

It plays a similar role as in India and other states - albeit more covertly in these countries - in crushing the toiling millions to perpetuate the rule of finance capital and a constantly increasing exploitation of labour. This prominence of the Army in Pakistan, however, has been subject to widespread criticism and several books have been written on the role of the Army.

But even the most left-wing of the intellectuals have only looked at the Army institution as one single bloc and have not bothered to delve into the nature of its structures and the mutual relationships, contradictions and conflicts between the different layers and sections of the army. This way of looking at the issue has been mainly the product of a mindset that is imbued with the theory of the "national democratic stage" of development as the solution to the impending crisis. With their preconceived prejudice of evolution they have limited their approach to a reformist outlook, i.e. to the idea of improving and reforming the army as an institution in order for it to play its "proper" defensive, supportive and assistive role for the "democratic, liberal and progressive bourgeoisie" to fulfil the tasks of the industrial revolution imposed traditionally by history on the capitalist class.

This whole notion and ideological outlook is flawed from beginning to the end. The army could only fulfil its role as an institution of a bourgeois state, as it did in the advanced capitalist countries in the past when the ruling classes, other institutions of the state and the economic system itself could play their progressive role in carrying out the national bourgeois revolutions. This is definitely not the case today in Pakistan.

The Pakistan ruling class, due to its late arrival on the scene of history, had to usurp the available resources and the surplus rather than create them. The nascent Pakistani bourgeoisie proved to be incapable of building up the necessary social and physical infrastructure and carrying out the tasks posed by history. It was this parasitic nature of plundering the state and society to maintain its rates of profit that created such a crisis that rocked the country right from its birth. It was to try to control the instability that flowed from all this that the army was forced to step in to halt the rapid deterioration, although it simply ended up by further aggravating this mess. The situation was moving towards such anarchic conditions that it could have fatally endangered the rule of capital itself.

To infer that such arguments are supportive of the military actions and the brutalities of Martial Law in Pakistan is not only absurd but expresses a preconceived idea that is shackled within the cage of the theory of two stages. It was and is the fundamental task of the army to preserve capitalist rule and when this becomes impossible through the "normal" bourgeois legal procedures, it tries to play out the same role with extraordinary methods, however brutal and vicious they may be. That is the function of the state and the army in bourgeois society.

Therefore, the notion of restricting the army to its "constitutional" role within a crisis ridden capitalist system is nothing but sheer utopia. The "rule of Law", "independence of the Judiciary", "Good governance", "Reforming the Institutions" and "smoothly functioning democracy" are all the product of wishful thinking that totally ignores the socio-economic realities and the horrendous crisis which Pakistani society is going through at this moment in time.

Lenin said long ago that, "politics is concentrated economics." In these conditions we have to see the social and economic factors that are the real cause of the military coups. But in Pakistan's history we also see how short the actual periods of direct military rule and repressive Martial Law have been. If we look more closely at the actual periods of direct and open repression through Martial Law, they are short stints within the longer periods of covert military rule in Pakistan. It appears clearly that the weapon of direct military repression gets blunted very rapidly once it is used on society in general. Hence there is a precarious haste of all military dictators to revert to civil administration, civil politicians and civil society representatives within the regime to perpetuate their rule.

The judiciary in normal circumstances is subservient to the army as an institution pertaining to the needs of the vested interests of the ruling classes. Hence these military dictators can easily manipulate the judiciary, constitutional experts, billionaire lawyers and the prevalent intelligentsia to become "civilian" presidents and heads of state themselves. Field Martial Ayub Khan was only able to force the Military to impose its direct despotic rule for less than two years. By 1960 he had fabricated a new constitution and became a civilian president. Even after the coup of 27 October 1958 he continued with the civilian cabinet that had been working under President Sikander Mirza whom he had deposed in a gentlemanly affair. Yahya Khan had a civilian cabinet throughout. Even Zia ul Haq, whose monstrous Martial Law was the most brutal and repressive, used civilian ministers, albeit all of them from the right-wing parties, especially the neo-fascist Jamat-i-Islami.

These right-wing parties can never be absolved from the heinous crimes committed by the Zia dictatorship against the radical left-wing youth and the toiling masses of Pakistan, especially the genocide carried out in Sindh during the 1983 uprising against the despotism of Zia ul Haq. He used "respected" and highly acknowledged legal experts like A.K. Brohi and Sharifud din Peerzada to manipulate the law according to the needs of his dictatorial rule. Zulfiqar Ali Bhutto, who was elected on a socialist programme, was assassinated on the gallows by the civilian courts, not through a military tribunal.

The Musharraf the dictator went farther than all his predecessors. He introduced firstly the basic, municipal democracies in 2000 on a non-party basis, as had Ayub Khan and Zia ul Haq. This was the first part, and all the political parties joined in the sham electoral process that gave a certain basic legal justification and certain credibility to the Musharraf Regime.

Then he went ahead and held party elections in 2002. Most parties participated in those elections and that was the first parliament to complete its term in the history of Pakistan. In this period his carrot and stick tactics played a certain role, but the inability of the political parties, mainly the PPP (which is perhaps the only party that came from the masses during the 1968-69 revolution) was more due to ideological betrayal and the adoption of so-called pragmatism.

However, Musharraf's policies also aggravated another process that had been taking place within the institutions over the last five decades. The army's involvement in politics and society is a much-talked about and discussed phenomenon. This, however, was the reflection of a rapidly increasing involvement of the officer caste in the economy and finance capital.

During British rule it was mainly a question of allocation of agricultural land to the army personnel, the size depending upon rank. This sense of superiority even amongst the JCO's (Junior Commissioned Officers) and NCO's (Non Commissioned Officers) was palpable as they had greater tracts of land as compared to their fellow peasants, the class they had come from. Hence there was also a material aspect to the loyalty during military service. And this was not of secondary importance. The officer caste during British rule, almost all came from the families of the landed aristocracy. Hence the larger tracts of land awarded to the officer caste added to the already large estates of the rural gentry.

In fact feudalism on the Indian subcontinent was itself introduced by the British Raj to accentuate its hold and perpetuate its rule. It began in Bengal when Lord Palmerston presented the "Permanent Settlements Act" in the Bengal Assembly in 1793. This was to create a new class of landlords which would be obliged, and hence subservient, to the Raj. Bengal being the vanguard of the resistance against the Raj, had to be tackled first. This class of new feudal lords was used to exploit, contain and repress the peasantry that rose in several revolts against the British. A religious content was also intermingled in creating this aristocracy and it, to some extent, coincided with the class interests created by this policy.

After the creation of Pakistan, the structures of the armed forces continued to exist and function as before. Even before the 1958 coup, the army elite continued to get these land allocations under each and every civilian government. After the beginning of direct military rule under Ayub Khan, apart from the intervention in the ownership of land in the agrarian rural sector, the Army officers were inducted into state institutions running industry, finance, commerce, construction and other sectors. Military officers started buying stocks and shares and a few became industrial entrepreneurs. But these were the exception rather than the norm. The majority of the retired middle and high-ranking officers were given high salaried jobs in running state enterprises and other civilian institutions. Although the army treaded to some extent into the economy and finance capital, this was quite limited. Still the main discipline and cohesion of the army as a fighting force was there with certain levels of nationalist fervour remaining. The chain of command inherited from the British was still very much functioning.

British imperialism had developed its military tactics during its long experience of colonial and intra-imperialist wars. The British sergeants and drillmasters had terrible reputations. They were abusive, insulting, arrogant and ruthless towards the soldiers and even the newly commissioned officers who were supposed to be commanding them after graduating from the military academies. Those sergeants that had the worst reputation for their ruthlessness were considered as the best. This was essential from the point of view of the British masters to build a strong disciplined army.

In all the old cities of the subcontinent there are two parts and two railway stations. One is the city and the other is the cantonment. The military barracks, exercises and installations were in the cantonment areas, totally cordoned off and secluded from the city populations. Most soldiers and young officers were strictly banned from leaving their quarters and going out of the cantonment perimeter. They needed a special night pass from the sergeants to go out and come in. There was very severe punishment for breaking this code of discipline. The punishment ranged from quarter guards, the lightest, to a court martial which was for acts like murder and treason. The disgrace was such that its scars stayed for life. These practices continued in the Indian and Pakistan Armies as the law and structures remained the same as practiced and devised by the British.

During wartime these acts and punishment were enhanced and magnified. However, with the semi-Americanisation and Islamisation of the Pakistan Army, and the rapidly increasing involvement of the Army in businesses, private enterprise encroached on the cantonments. Real estate business has flourished here because the cantonments were built in the best areas of the cities, with better approaches, better roads and infrastructure, etc. This has been an important factor in the erosion of the discipline of the bourgeois army in Pakistan. But war also had the effect of breaking these codes and disciplines. Especially in defeat, revolts were imminent. After the defeat of the Pakistan army in the 1971 war there was a big revolt against the red tape and the officer estate. Bhutto could easily remove the top 13 generals that would not have been possible in any other period. But that is all that he did. If he had implemented the clause of the 1970 PPP manifesto of dissolving the standing army and building a "people's militia" as an alternative for defence he could have done it. It was the preservation of the structures of the bourgeois state that ultimately led to his own demise.

This was in spite of the fact that from the 1950's advanced military training had started to shift from the British to the institutions in the United States like Fort Brag, Detroit, etc. During the 17-day 1965 war with India, the defeat was not so heavy and the state media was able to portray it as a victory. The other conflicts and the chronic issue of Kashmir left behind by British imperialism were continuously exploited and abused by the establishment and the official media. These conflicts were used to justify the hefty defence budgets and continuous rise in military spending. The main reason for the military spending advocated and propagated by the imperialists, ruling classes, the establishment and the chauvinist intelligentsia and media, was to prepare the armed forces more to curb internal dissent rather than to fight external wars. The performance of the Pakistani Army in the two major wars of 1967 and 1971 speaks volumes about its combat capabilities on the foreign fronts.

But it was under Zia's despotic regime that the character and role of the Pakistan army went through a drastic change. US imperialism, being the biggest sponsor of Islamic fundamentalism and religious terrorism, at that time fully backed the Islamisation of the Pakistan Army by Zia ul Haq. Although it was hypocritical and contradictory, with the help of forces like the Israeli Mossad intelligence agency and other western institutions involved in changing the ideological cause and basis of the Pakistan army, it could not have been otherwise.

The main venture in which the Pakistan Army was involved was the largest ever covert operation unleashed against the left-wing government in Afghanistan. This jihad which carried out some of the most brutal acts of terrorism, also involved huge amounts of dollars in aid. Initially this money came in from the generous coffers of the Saudi monarchy and American right wing, the Pro-Israel lobby and the US Treasury itself. But soon the CIA set up advanced laboratories and techniques for refining high quality heroine from the poppy grown in the wastelands of war in Afghanistan and the areas along the 1500km long Pak-Afghan border that had no or nominal state control over the tribes and the mountainous terrain.

High ranking officers of the Pakistan army and intelligence agencies were involved in this CIA-sponsored operation but were actually carrying out most of its practical execution on the ground. They entered into this fray of squandering huge amounts of money generated from this drug trade set up by the CIA to finance the Afghan Jihad. Zia ul Haq's overtures to the Indians in the east and his bending over backwards to maintain peace with the traditional Hindu "enemy" were designed only to continue the Jihad and plunder in Afghanistan. In his book on Taliban, Ahmed Rashid gives a detailed account of this crime infested jihad and involvement of Pakistan army officers in the drug trade.

"An immense narcotics trade had developed under the legitimizing umbrella of the CIA-ISI covert supply line to the Afghan Mujaheddin. 'During the 1980s corruption, covert operations and narcotics became intertwined in a manner which makes it difficult to separate Pakistan's narcotics traffic from more complex questions of regional security and insurgent warfare,' said a landmark 1992 study on the failure of US narcotics policy. As in Vietnam where the CIA chose to ignore the trade in drugs by anti-communist guerrillas whom the CIA was financing, so in Afghanistan the US chose to ignore the growing collusion between the Mujaheddin, Pakistani drugs traffickers and elements in the military.

"Instances of this collusion that did come to light in the 1980s were only the tip of the iceberg. In 1983 the ISI chief, General Akhtar Abdur Rehman had to remove the entire ISI staff in Quetta, because of their involvement with the drugs trade and sale of CIA supplied weapons that were meant for the Mujaheddin. In 1986, Major Zahooruddin Afridi was caught while driving to Karachi from Peshawar with 220 kilograms of high grade heroin the largest drugs interception in Pakistan's history. Two months later an air force officer Flight Lieutenant Khalilur Rehman was caught on the same route with another 220 kilograms of heroin. He calmly confessed that it was his fifth mission. The US street value of just these two caches was US$600 million, equivalent to the total amount of US aid to Pakistan that year. Both officers were held in Karachi until they mysteriously escaped from jail. 'The Afridi-Rehman cases pointed to a heroin syndicate within the army and the ISI linked to Afghanistan,' wrote Lawrence Lifschultz.

"The US Drugs Enforcement Administration (DEA) had 17 full time officers in Pakistan during the 1980s, who identified 40 major heroin syndicates, including some headed by top government officials. Not a single syndicate was broken up during that decade. There was clearly a conflict of interest between the CIA which wanted no embarrassing disclosures about drug links between the 'heroic' Mujaheddin and Pakistan officials and traffickers and the DEA. Several DEA officials asked to be relocated and at least one resigned, because the CIA refused to allow them to carry out their duties (...)

"(...) The CIA-ISI bribes that were paid off to the Pashtun chiefs to allow weapons convoys through their tribal areas, soon involved the same tribal chiefs allowing heroin runs along the same routes back to Pakistan. The National Logistics Cell, an army run trucking company which transported CIA weapons from Karachi port to Peshawar and Quetta was frequently used by well connected dealers to transport heroin back to Karachi for export. The heroin pipeline in the 1980s could not have operated without the knowledge, if not connivance, of officials at the highest level of the army, the government and the CIA. Everyone chose to ignore it for the larger task that was to defeat the Soviet Union. Drugs control was on nobody's agenda." ¹

In this orgy of destruction and loot Zia and his coterie of generals amassed huge amounts of black money. But the military generals under Zia, in spite of the army being put on the ideological foundations of radical Islam with US patronage, were not content with the black capital coming from the drugs trade. They had to share this drug money with the different warlords, constantly changing loyalties, and the leaders of different Islamic fundamentalist parties and Islamic mercenary outfits involved in this reactionary insurgency. Hence, they also started smuggling the most advanced US weaponry for the jihad through the Pakistani supply lines under the auspices of the sections of the Pakistan Army involved in this CIA-planned operation.

They stored and smuggled large stockpiles of this ammunition and weaponry to the various jihad groups in other regions. These Islamists smuggled them onwards with even greater profit margins. The Americans were shocked to discover this corruption when US helicopters were fired upon by US-made advanced sophisticated Stinger missiles by the Iranian Islamic Revolutionary Guards in the Persian Gulf in the mid 1980s. When the plane carrying a US investigation team entered Pakistani air space in 1988, the largest ammunition dump in Pakistan, Ojri camp near Rawalpindi, where most of the US weaponry for the Afghan Jehad had been stored, was ignited. Thousands of rockets exploded and went in different directions. Hundreds were killed, thousands injured and hundreds of dwellings, mostly in Rawalpindi but some also in Islamabad, were destroyed. Those who were responsible for this "accident" have never been apprehended, not even by the Americans. How could they have been?

This massive influx of black capital plundered from the Afghan Jihad meteorically raised the stakes of the top military brass in the economy, industry and the services sector. The old officers, who had been allocated land holdings in the past, became financial pygmies in comparison with the officer cast that had filled their coffers with the black money from the Afghan Jihad. They became senior partners with the civilian entrepreneurs in the various business enterprises in Pakistan. Their ownership and stakes in the country's overall economy grew rapidly.

Apart from the Afghan Jihad, the other main military enterprise, through which the officials involved made huge fortunes, was Pakistan's nuclear programme. Although the Americans knew the details all along it is only now, mainly due to their growing conflict with Iran, that they are making a fuss about proliferation. Massive monetary gains were made by Pakistani military and semi military elite officers through the proliferation of this programme. But even before that, successive civilian and military regimes spent astronomical amounts from the treasury of a country with an impoverished and destitute population. It is really a tragedy for these teeming millions forced to live in terrible conditions, while their so-called political leaders and dominant political parties all have been fully protecting and supporting this madness of trying to be a nuclear power.

In the past it was the State, chauvinist leaders and the media that propagated the idea that the atom bomb would be a source of "formidable defence" of the "nation", and that this would drastically reduce the spending on the army and conventional military hardware. However, after the detonation of the nuclear devices in May 1998 at Chagai, Baluchistan, the expenditure on conventional weaponry and the Armed forces has risen astronomically. Not just the military regimes but the civilian 'democratic' governments have also upped even more, this wasteful expenditure on this scrap of human destruction. In the last couple of years it seems that instead of the atom bombs defending them the whole nation is being asked to protect the atom bombs! Thousands of troops have been deployed and most advanced anti-war missiles have been installed around the nuclear installations to protect them being attacked from US or Indian or Israeli forces, or their being stolen by the fundamentalist Jihadis or other terrorist outfits.

The initial money laundering of black capital amassed mainly by the military elite, was carried out by the notorious BCCI (Bank of Credit and Commerce International). There was even a shady CIA involvement in setting up this bank. Some of the most notorious swindlers involved in various bank scandals were involved in organising this money-laundering racket. However, it was the criminal charges levelled against most of its high officials that exposed the whole fraudulent process and led to the winding up of this bank. But ever since there have been several other individuals and companies involved in this sinister game, mainly diverting this capital into real estate, construction, manufacturing, stock exchange, services, electronic and print media and several other sectors of the economy. A huge portion of this black economy exists in Pakistan and the Gulf cities, mainly Dubai. This is the financial basis of the Taliban and other fundamentalist organisations.

The most important aspect of this financial involvement of the top military brass, over some decades now, has been the formation and consolidation of an "evil nexus" of Military Generals, Supreme and High Court judges, top lawyers, senior civilian bureaucrats, rich mullahs, senior former diplomats, top businessmen, entrepreneurs, the landed aristocracy and of course the media tycoons.

There are several layers of this nexus which externally can be seen in the form of top players of the so-called "civil society". And this evil nexus rules over Pakistan whatever the political structure of the regime in power. It is this nexus that controls the military, the state and all major political parties of the country. During the Musharraf period this nexus further consolidated itself and expanded its wealth. But all this has also given rise to greater contradictions within this nexus and they are now exploding in different forms and they are at each others' throats in their lust for plunder.

But, as we saw in the last months of 2007, whenever there is a threat from the masses the nexus rapidly reconciles. This nexus is all about loot and money. It is dominated by the Army and America. They need the Army to protect their loot and exploitation and US imperialism to allow them to be their commission agents in the much wider range of capital generation through the exploitation of labour and speculation of finance capital.

However, very frequently the contradictions within this nexus erupt into open conflicts. Sometimes they take the form of conflicts between different institutions of the state itself. In other cases their conflicts take the form of issues related only to their vested interests that clash due to the worsening crisis of Pakistani capitalism.

Hence, without understanding the complexities of this ruling nexus it is very difficult to define real issues, genuine movements with honest motives behind political maneuverings. However, this massive influx of finance capital into the upper structures of the armed forces has had the effect of aggravating the contradictions within these institutions.

To understand the real role of the army and to develop its perspectives it is necessary to understand the character of the period in which we are attempting to analyze the phenomenon. Secondly, it is also important to understand the class content within the army itself. The character of the army changes in the different conditions through which society is moving at any particular moment in time.

In normal conditions the army acts as a cohesive institution to carry out the dictates of the ruling class and protects their interests with all forms of brutality inflicted upon the working classes. This cohesion of the army, apart from other factors, is maintained through tradition, routine and involuntary enforced discipline. However, these factors only play a role in normal conditions, which are often prolonged in history.

In the last analysis the army comes from society itself and is the reflection of society. In these conditions it is not just the army but society as a whole that remains dormant, subdued and in a state of relative lull. The burden of tradition, the force of religion, the manipulation of the media, the school system, the syllabus, the dominating philosophies, intelligentsia, politics, etc., all impose the culture, habits, consciousness, and psychology of the ruling class upon society and with it the reluctant acceptance of class oppression and subordination.

It is not just through the state, the army and the police that the ruling classes maintain their domination. Repression is only used by the ruling class when other methods of mass subjugation fail to keep their control over society. History is witness to the fact that these "normal" conditions don't prevail forever. More than often historical events shake mass consciousness so suddenly, that they dramatically change the whole situation. This gives rise to movements and mass uprisings that can often attain revolutionary proportions.

Such pre-revolutionary and revolutionary situations in society do infect the armed forces. Although the army is the last institution to join the revolution, when the class contradictions within the army sharpen and explode, the soldiers, lower ranks and young junior officers enter the revolutionary fray of the mass movement. This is a decisive phase in any revolution. From here onwards, in the presence of a Marxist party and a genuine revolutionary leadership, the task of socialist revolution races towards a victory.

In Pakistan we have striking examples of the revolutionary impact of the 1968-69 movement within the army. There was enormous ferment in the barracks. The restive mood amongst the soldiers was beginning to affect the officers. As the main target of the movement was made to be Field Martial Ayub Khan, even his loyal generals were showing open dissent. In early 1969 the British and American diplomats sent messages to Washington and London that young officers could carry out a military coup with a socialist doctrine if the situation were not retrieved. The Army had refused to impose Martial Law if Ayub retained the presidency. General Yahya Khan, the commander in chief, Ayub's close buddy, explained this reality to him in so many words.

Since 1958 the social background of the younger officers had changed. Industrial growth under Ayub had had a big social impact. Not only a large virgin proletariat had developed, but young people from a lower middle class background had joined the officer ranks of the army. The soldiers and these young officers were radicalised by the revolutionary mood of the workers and students in the cities. In the 1970 elections, which the PPP was contesting on a socialist programme, the vast majority of the electoral ballots from the barracks were cast for the PPP candidates. Such was the intensity of the threat of revolt from within the army and its cleavage along class lines that it became an important factor in the decision to wage the 1971 war with India. Thus, they opened up the western front to stave off this revolutionary wave that was threatening to overthrow capitalism through a socialist revolution.

However, due to the ebbing of the revolution, the failure of reformism under Bhutto again strengthened the control of the generals over the army. In the 1980s, with the collapse of the Soviet Union, the betrayal of the Chinese Stalinists and the disastrous decline of the Pakistani left, reaction started to dominate society. Religion and fundamentalism filled the vacuum of the left in decline. Zia ul Haq prolonged his treachery and tyranny.

However, once the movement erupts in the coming period it is bound to affect the consciousness within the army once more. There are reports that there is a burning hatred amongst the ranks of the army against the top brass amassing this mammoth wealth. Their perks, their privileges and their plunder have rekindled class hatred amongst the soldiers towards the officer caste.

The lower ranking officers are also in a desperate psychological state. The war being fought for US imperialism has led to a rapid rise in the number of desertions within the army. Morale is very low and it is not an accident that the Pakistani military outfits are losing their battles in the tribal areas. It is for these reasons that general Kayani has given wage rises and other privileges to the lower ranks and soldiers. They are rapidly withdrawing army officers from civilian posts where a lot of them had been deployed during the Musharraf regime.

The present set up is unraveling at a rapid pace. The Musharraf regime has been replaced by a civil-military hybrid which lacks the willingness and/or the ability to take on the threat posed by extremism and militancy. The fact is that the civilian government and the country's military establishment appear to be losing control of the situation.

By opting to negotiate with the jihadis from a position of weakness, the Pakistani authorities are inadvertently sending a message to every armed non-state actor of any worth in the country that all the jihadis have to do to make the government more pliable is use their weapons. This signal has led to the spread of the Taliban in Pakistan. Any pause in militancy is not because the state has succeeded in containing the insurgency; rather, it is because the jihadis have made a tactical decision to pause in keeping with their strategy. While the jihadis are brimming with confidence, judging from the way Islamabad is randomly oscillating between negotiations and military operations, the government does not appear to have a discernable policy for dealing with this situation.

The problem is actually far larger than an intelligence failure. There are different bases of contradictions within the Pakistan army. They are between the nationalist and religious sections, fundamentalist and liberal elements and pro-China and pro-American officers. But the fundamental and the most decisive contradiction is the class contradiction. The poor soldiers and ranks have a seething hatred towards the top brass who have become billionaires as their women flaunt and exhibit this wealth with a repugnant vulgarity.

There always is a revolutionary side to the army. In the Bolshevik Revolution of 1917, led by Lenin and Trotsky, the soldiers' soviets in the regiments and barracks played a decisive role in the revolutionary insurrection that led to its victory. There has never been a revolution in which the soldiers and ranks did not play an important role. Even in the subcontinent the first introduction to Bolshevism and communism was brought by the soldiers of the British Indian Army who were sent to annihilate the October revolution. Paradoxically they were the ones who brought the message of revolutionary Marxism on their return home to their native towns and villages in the Indian subcontinent. This was an important factor that laid the foundations of the communist movement in the South Asian subcontinent.

In the coming revolutionary epoch, a mass movement will surpass the scale and intensity of that of 1968-69 in Pakistan, and so will be the response from within the army itself. In the last 40 years the class contradictions have been sharpened rather than diminished, and they will explode with a greater resonance and force. However, this time there should be and there shall be a Marxist organisation and leadership to organise the workers, youth, poor peasants, other oppressed sections of society, and of course the soldiers and young officers, into a revolutionary movement and party to carry out the tasks of the socialist transformation of society. In such a situation no force on the planet will be able to hinder or stop the overthrow of this rotten capitalist system through the victory of a revolutionary insurrection.

NOTES

1 Ahmed Rashid, "Taliban, Islam, Oil and The New Great Game in Central Asia", 2000, I.B Tauris, p.120, 121

Appendix-II - Pakistan's Richest List of 2008

Short-listing Pakistan's most influential business magnates or Groups has never been an easy task because there are the people who have been very powerful in nearly every regime that has held this country's reins since the last 60 years and then we have had those seasonal species that manoeuvred their voice to be heard better than most within the power corridors, but later vanished into the oblivion for one reason or the other. We have selected only those tycoons who have made their presence felt for a better part of country's history, have earned consistently, have been setting up units at regular intervals or have been legends in stocks, currency or real estate business.

The list excludes many names that have previously qualified and all of Pakistan 's most prominent feudal land lords who would definitely make it to the top 10, expect the few land owners which have declared their assets and work force and registered with the CBR Islamabad. In order to promote the new and "unknown" Pakistani magnates we have excluded in previous entities.

Unfortunately, our extensive research does not currently include the names of a few stars that shone brightly amidst the galaxy of the influential creed of yesteryear like C.M. Latif of BECO- the Steel Man of Pakistan- who did make a lot of name once, but then got gifted with contentment somehow, although the late business wizard got very badly hit by Bhutto's nationalization of 1970 which had inflicted an astounding thud to everybody in business then. Had it not been the case, many of our tycoons may well have managed to gain the kind of status greeting the likes of Birlas and Tatas in India today, if not the one saluting Bill Gates or Warren Buffet. Among these gifted individuals, you will find politicians- turned-businessmen, businessmen- turned-politicians or even the businessmen- cum-politicians. With malice towards none and with no intention to decorate some body, we thus take the pride of announcing these names. We hope this document will go a long way in serving as the most authentic endeavor of its kind for a very long time to come. It has been prepared very carefully in consultation with leading real estate barons, stock moguls, business leaders of virtue and senior bureaucrats at the Central Board of Revenue.

Mian Muhammad Mansha Yaha Pakistan
Ranking: 1 Worth: £1.25b ($2.5billion) Industry: Businessman
Mansha has around 40 companies on board. Mansha, who owns the Muslim Commercial Bank is also setting up a $17m paper mill. He is one of the richest Pakistanis around. Nishat Group was country's 15th richest family in 1970, 6th in 1990 and Number 1 in 1997. Mansha is on the board of nearly 50 companies. He is deemed to have made investments in many bourses, currency and metal exchanges both within and outside Pakistan . He could have bought the United Bank too, but then who doesn't have adversaries. Nishat Group comprises of textiles, cement, leasing, insurance and management companies. If Mansha was bitten by Bhutto's nationalization stint of 1970, his friends think he was compensated by Nawaz Sharif's denationalization programme to a very good effect. There is no stopping Mansha and he is still on the move. nr
Nishat group assets are $4.4Billion. He is sometimes even regarded as the richest Pakistani around by his friends claiming he does not "show it off".
Asif Ali Zardari Pakistan
Ranking: 2 Worth: £900m ($1.8billion) Industry: Politics

Asif Zardari dubbed "Mr 10%" an unknown happy-go-lucky son of a small-time businessman who struck gold by marrying one of the worlds most glamorous women former Prime Minister of Pakistan Benzair Bhutto. Taking advantage of his wife's authority he is known to have taken kickbacks from many deals inside and outside of Pakistan . The most famous was a $4 billion deal to buy 32 Mirage jets from the French company Dassault. Documents, which include letters from Dassault executives, indicate an agreement was reached to pay a 5% "remuneration" - about $200m - to Marleton Business, a BVI company controlled by Zardari. Besides these many more kickback deals were taken with companies such as ARY Gold, Société Général de Surveillance (SGS), Cotecna, and ZPC Ursus, a Polish tractor company.

Zardari assets holding amount into hundreds of millions of dollars easily, having 8 prime properties in the UK, of which once is the famous Rockwood Estate 365 acres in Surrey, worth £4.35m has now been sold and money sent back to the Govt. of Pakistan. Also 14 multi-million dollar mansions in the USA, including owning Holiday Inn hotel Houston, Texas Owned by "Mr 10%" and Iqbal Memon and Sadar-ud-Din Hashwani.

He also has huge business ventures in the Middle East running into hundreds of millions if not billion mark. Mr Zardari also has huge stakes in sugar mills all over Pakistan , which include: Sakrand Sugar Mills, Nawabshah, Ansari Sugar Mills, Hyderabad , Mirza Sugar Mills, Badin, Pangrio Sugar Mills, Thatta and Bachani Sugar Mills, Sanghar.
Sir Anwar Pervaiz UK
Ranking: 3 Worth: £750m ($1.5billion) Industry: Businessman

Chairman of Bestway Group. The Bestway Group started in 1976 with its first Bestway cash and carry warehouse opened in London . Today the have in total around 50 Cash and Carry's. Including their recent takeover of rival group Batleys for around £100m. Bestway Group ventured into Pakistan 's huge cement business in 1995 and set up cement manufacturing plant in Pakistan at a cost of $120 million.

Taking Advantage of Pakistan's growing economy they also acquired a 25.5% stake in United Bank Limited in 2002. Today, the Bestway Group has interests in cash & carry wholesale, property investments, retail outlets, milling of rice, lentils and pulses, cement production and more recently into banking. The group's total sales amounted to in excess of £ 2 billion.
Nawaz Sharif & Shahbaz Sharif family Saudi Arabia/Pakistan
Ranking: 4 Worth: £700m ($1.4billion) Industry: Politics/Business

Mr Sharif, Businessman turned politician, the former Prime Minister of Pakistan. He was ousted in a military coup in 1999 and was forced to forfeit $9million and some of his assets including his $5m Mansion in Raiwind near Lahore . Before becoming PM he was a major share holder along with his brother and cousins of Ittefaq Group, having assets well in excess of £50m in the 90's. However he got richer when he took commissions from foreign companies for construction in Pakistan . He built the first motorway and many new roads and took heavy kickbacks. He then also stole $100m from the Iqra funds, he started a new scheme "Ghar Apna" in which he again looted around $40m, the "Mulk swaaro" scheme involving public & govt.. money collections to help pay off Pakistan 's debts also was pocketed. Today he lives in exile in Saudi Arabia where it is known he has a new huge business empire in various sectors.
Saddaruddin Hashwani Pakistan
Ranking: 5 Worth: £550m ($1.1billion) Industry: Businessman

Saddaruddin Hashwani, Chairman Hashoo Group is known for his dominance in Pakistan 's hotel industry, though Hashwanis are have huge strength in real estate business too. Hashwanis are involved in trading of cotton, grain and steel and till the nationalization of cotton export in 1974, they were widely being dubbed as the Cotton Kings of Pakistan. Today, this group has excelled in export of rice, wheat, cotton and barley. It owns textile units, besides having invested billions in mines, minerals. hotels, insurance, batteries, tobacco, residential properties, construction, engineering and information technology. In 1984, Hashwani defeated the Lakhanis in the bid for Premier Tobacco but was arrested along with his brother Akbar in 1986 for allegedly evading customs duty on cigarettes. Sadarduddin' s brother Akbar and the children of another late brother Hassan Ali Hashwani together ma nage around 45 companies. Akbar runs the second Hashwani Group. He is one of the most well-known magnates in Pakistan who is a regular invitee at the Diplomatic Enclave. The list of local and international bigwigs known personally to Hashwani is unending.
Nasir Schon & family U.A.E/Pakistan
Ranking: 6 (tied at 6) Worth: £500m ($1billion) Industry: Businessman

Nasir Schon is a prominent business leader of Pakistan and the CEO of Schon Group. Nasir Schon is the son of Captain Ather Schon Hussain, an ex-pilot of PIA. The Schon family is one of the few striving Muhajir Urdu business families in Pakistan . Starting off in Singapore in 1982, the peek of Schon group was in 1995 when they owned National Fibres, Schon Bank, Schon Textiles and Pak-China Fertizilers. Famous for the trend-setting roundabout, Schon Circle , Nasir Schon is also known to be one of the first people to have a Rolls-Royce in Pakistan . Directors of Schon group flew to Dubai in 1997 in exile after the dismissal of ex-Prime Minister Benazir Bhutto. The directors of Schon group were known to have close contacts with the husband of former Prime Minister, Asif Zardari. Many assets of the Schon group were auctioned by the Nawaz Sharif government. Schon Group is the only group in Pakistan who has paid the government over 3 billion rupees ($65m) in order to return from exile. Living in Dubai gave Nasir Schon an opportunity to start businesses there. Currently working on an $830 million real estate project known as Dubai lagoon, Schon group is also fighting to get back the assets they once lost. Currently, the Schon group operates a pilot training center in Pakistan known as Schon Air.
Abdul Razzaq Yakoub & family U.A.E
Ranking: 6 (tied at 6) Worth: £500m ($1billion) Industry: Businessman

Mr Yakoub is a prominent Pakistani expatriate businessman based in Dubai . He is the president of ARY group ($1.5Billion turnover) and World Memon Organization (WMO). He is one of Pakistan's biggest media barons controlling around 7 channels. Besides this he has a huge property holdings in Karachi, Islamabad and Dubai amounting to over $200m. He is major in the gold market also having around 20 outlets in Asia . He has also been involved in paying Asif Zardari $5m in 1990's for allowing him to import/export gold. Which he denies and claim's is government forgeries.
Rafiq Habib & Rasheed Habib Pakistan
Ranking: 7 Worth: £450m ($900m) Industry: Businessman

Legend has it that the Goddess of Wealth has been in love with the seasoned Habibs more than anybody else in Pakistan. Most pundits believe that Habibs own at least 100 companies throughout the world, but these content mega-tycoons never boast off, something which has made it uphill for most to predict about their financial standing. This industrial group was founded by Seth Habib Mitha, born in 1878 to Esmail Ali-a factory owner in Bombay. The financial strength of the Habibs can be gauged from the fact that Muhammad Ali Habib gave a cheque of Rs 80 million to Quaid-e-Azam in 1948 at a time when Pakistan government was penniless owing to delay in transfer of Pakistan's share of Rs. 750 million by the Reserve Bank of India. They had offices in Europe in 1912. They incorporated the Habib Bank in 1941. They own the Habib Bank A.G Zurich, Bank Al-Habib, Indus Motors assembling Corolla cars and many dozens of units in sectors such as jute, paper sack, minerals, steel, tiles, synthetics sugar, glass, construction, concrete, farm autos, banking, oil, computers, music, paper, packages, leasing and capital management. Habibs today are headed by Rafiq Habib and Rashid Habib in two distinct groups. What makes them extremely influential players of all times is the fact that for dozens of top businessmen today, Habib were a myth once.
Tariq Saigol & Nasim Saigol Pakistan
Ranking: 8 Worth: £425m ($850m) Industry: Businessman

Hailing from Jhelum. The pioneer of the Saigol dynasty in 1890 was Amin Saigol who established a shoe shop that eventually transformed into Kohinoor Rubber Works. And then times saw them shining literally like the Kohinoor until their progress was halted by Nationalization in which they lost two-thirds of their wealth. Saigols got trifurcated in 1976 and 15 descendents of Amin Saigol's four sons got a share. The name of the Saigols has been used in this part of the world as similes describing quantum of wealth. Yousaf Saigol, along with his brothers Sayeed Saigol, Bashir Saigol and Gul Saigol then nourished an excellent crop. In 1948, Saigols established the Kohinoor Textile Mills with a cost of Rs 8 million and this group happens to be the first to open an LC with the State Bank of Pakistan. They bought the United Bank in 1959 and then witnessed five of their units getting nationalized. They lived in Saudi Arabia during the Bhutto regime. Today, cousins Tariq and Nasim are holding the family's fort together and have risen to unprecedented heights in individual capacities. NAB did haunt Nasim but Tariq spent more time either accepting or refusing prized slots everywhere. Tariq is the one of the finest business brains around.
Dewan Yousaf Farooqui Pakistan
Ranking: 9 (tied at 9) Worth: £400m ($800) Industry: Businessman

Mr Farooqui. The mentor of this group has been the Sindh Minister for Local Bodies and Industries, Labour, Transport, Mines & Minerals. Dewan Mushtaq Group is one of the Pakistan 's largest industrial conglomerates in sectors like polyester acrylic fiber, manufacturing and automotives. Six of their companies are listed at the Karachi stock Exchange and one at the Luxembourg bourse. Dewan Farooqui Motors assembles around 10,0000 cars annually under technical license agreement with Hyundai and Kia Motors of Korea. The Dewan Salman Fiber is the pride of this empire as it ranks 11th in the world in total production capacity. The group owns three textile units, a motorcycle manufacturing concern and the largest sugar unit in the country. Dewans also have business interests in India . They possess dozens of millions of shares of Saudi Cement and Pak land Cement. They also have the franchise licence for BMW in Pakistan and now Rolls Royce showrooms.
Sultan Ali Lakhani & family Pakistan
Ranking: 9 (tied at 9) Worth: £400m ($800m) Industry: Businessman

The Lakhanis are currently having a hard time at the hands of NAB. Sultan Lakhani and his three brothers run this prestigious group and the chain of McDonald's restaurants in Pakistan. NAB has alleged the Lakhanis of having created phoney companies through worthless directors and raised massive loans from various banks and financial institutions. Sultan is currently abroad after having served a jail term with younger sibling Amin, though the latter was released much earlier. NAB had reportedly demanded Rs 7 billion from Lakhanis, but later agreed they pay only Rs 1.5 billion over a 10-year period. Lakhanis, like their arch-rivals Hashwanis, are the most well-known of all Ismaeli tycoons. Their stakes range from media, tobacco, paper, chemicals and surgical equipment to cotton, packaging, insurance, detergents and other house-hold items, many of which are joint ventures with leading international conglomerates. Though Lakhanis are in turbulent waters currently, the success that greeted them during the last 25 years especially has been tremendous. They have rifts with large business empires despite being known for their genteel nature. Whether it is any government in Sindh or at the Federal level, Lakhanis have had trusted friends everywhere, though the present era has proved a painful exception.
Malik Riaz Hussain Pakistan
Ranking: 9 (tied at 9) Worth: £400m ($800m) Industry: Businessman

Malik Riaz Hussain heads the massive project which is currently developing state-of-the- art schemes in Lahore, Karachi and Rawalpindi/Islamabad. Emerging out of the blue, this developer has reportedly developed tremendous connections where it matters in Pakistan-One of the few reasons why his constructed projects get completed in time without hindrance. Whether he has gifted bungalows free of cost of country's bigwigs or offered them at highly concessional rates, the reality on the ground is that Malik has managed to mesmerize most through his generous wallet. His land-holdings both within and outside Pakistan amounts to nearly a billion dollar. He is the man behind the Bahria Town. Irrespective of who is in power; he continues to build house after house-swelling his wealth. He is also the first man to drive a Bentley car on Pakistani soil.
Sheikh Abid Hussain alias Seth Abid Pakistan
Ranking: 10 Worth: £390m ($780) Industry: Businessman

Sheikh Abid Hussain alias Seth Abid. He is one of the most resourceful developers/builders in the country owning vast stretches of land in major cities. On this land worth many billion of rupees, Seth has constructed residential schemes under the brand name of "Green Fort." Seth came into this business after decades of notoriety as being one of the spearheads in cross-border smuggling. While many remember Seth for his allegedly illegal trading stints, a lot of informed circles still say with conviction that he, along with Dr.Qadeer and former Premier Bhutto, was the brain behind the success of Pakistan 's nuclear programme. About three dozen of Seth's very close relatives, friends and nephews are members of country's bourses and for many years now, the Seth Abid group assumes the role of king-makers during the annual polls of these stock exchanges. He is a leading investor in stocks, metals and currency but what gives him immense pleasure is his philanthropic institution Hamza Foundation that he sponsors for the welfare of deaf and dumb children. Pakistan has not had a single ruler, politician, bureaucrat or Army General who doesn't know the Seth who is more of a myth for most. The Seth, throughout his life, has avoided publicity-a fact known to most journalists.
Mian Mohammed Latif Pakistan
Ranking: 11 Worth: £350m ($700m) Industry: Businessman

Chenab Group. Mian Muhammad Latif supervises this group along with his brother Mian Ashfaque- a legislator in the National Assembly of Pakistan. Founded in 1975, Chenab Limited set up its first fashion outlet "Chen One." Chen One has seven outlets throughout Pakistan. After establishing its retail chain stores in various cities of Saudi Arabia, the group is now planning to establish its new retail chains in Bahrain, UA.E, Qatar, Kuwait and Central Asian Republics. While Chenab Group is an eight-time Export Trophy winner, its Chief Mian Latif has won the 'Businessman of the Year award on four different occasions from various business bodies. Chenab is principally engaged in manufacture and distribution of clothing, furniture goods, including non-iron suit, quilt cover and curtains etc. Chenab processes 50 million square metres fabric weaving and 75 million square metres fabric dyei ng every year and has established a global sales network spanning across five continents. Chenab is licensed to the Swedish Texcote Technology in the manufacturing and sale of textile materials, garments and textile house-hold goods. The group's textile products have been awarded the Oekotex 100 accreditation.
Haji Abdul Ghafoor & Haji Bashir Ahmed Pakistan
Ranking: 12 Worth: £330m ($660m) Industry: Businessman

Sitara Group Started its activity with textile weaving as early as 1956, under brothers Haji Abdul Ghafoor and Haji Bashir Ahmed. It is now in textile cloth finishing and processing, textile spinning, chlor-alkali sector and in power generation. The units owned by this establishment include Sitara Chemicals, Sitara Chemicals (Textile Division 1) and Sitara Chemicals (Textile Division 11), Sitara Textiles, Sitara Energy and Yasir Spinning. The charities being managed under the aegis of Sitara group are Aziz Fatima Hospital, Ghafoor Bashir Children Hospital and Aziz Fatima Girls School. Sitara's name with the industrial City of Faisalabad is synonymous. They are the decades-old veterans in business, who have excelled in leaps and bounds. At their units, the owners of Sitara use technology imported from Japan, UK and Germany and are export leaders in bedding and fabric collection to South America, USA, Canada, New Zealand and Europe. Their textile divisions together operate at strength of 33,984 spindles. The Sitara group, to a common man, is more famous for its lawn brands like Sitara Sapna and Mughal-e-Azam. The men at helm of affairs in Sitara hardly believe in setting up dozens of units, of which they are otherwise very much capable of.
Sheikhani Family Pakistan
Ranking: 13 Worth: £300m ($600m) Industry: Businessman

They are one of the most reputed land developers in the country. The Sheikhani, although not a very big industrial establishment by any means, are led by Abu Bakar Sheikhani. The Sheikhanis are famous for their construction and land development- related errands. Abu Bakar is deemed to be one of the largest investors in real estate trade at Gwadar Port. He has all the right connections that are required to be in such business. Despite being well known to the national political circles, the man in street knew more of him during March/April 1991 when he surfaced as the single largest contributor to then Premier Nawaz Sharif's Debt Retirement Fund with a donation of $ 8million. Today, his adversaries dub him a land mafia man, alleging him for selling his Gwadar land at only $ 4000 per acre only to senior Army officials while the same was being sold at $ 2,50,000 per acre to ordinary investors. But that is the way Sheikhani runs his vast land/construction empire. Accusations don't disturb Sheikhani, who according to many large developers is a man who has managed to create tremendous impression in land business. The rumours of his landing in any Pakistani City for land acquisition purposes, helps the price of real estate surge unprecedented overnight
Razzaq Dawood Pakistan/UAE
Ranking: 14 (tied at 14) Worth: £250m ($500m) Industry: Businessman

Razzaq presently heads one of Pakistan's biggest construction and engineering conglomerate know as Dawood group/Descon group. With a roaster of impressive clients. His group has won many contracts in Dubai, Saudi Arabia and Iraq and employ's over 1,000 people directly. His name was more prominent among the top 22 richest families in 1970 until the Bhutto nationalization which then made him set up abroad, he returned to Pakistan in the early 90's and started from scratch and today makes it in the top easily. The group also has investment of $300m in Bangladesh in investments in fertiliser, energy and infrastructure and development sectors.
Byram Dinshawji Avari Pakistan
Ranking: 14 (tied at 14) Worth: £250m ($500m) Industry: Businessman

Byram Dinshawji Avari is a prominent Pakistani Parsi tycoon in Karachi, Pakistan . Together with his sons Dinshaw and Xerxes and their direct families, he owns and operates the Avari Group of companies, of which he is the chairman. Hotel management is the Avari Group's core business. In Pakistan, the group owns and operates Avari Hotels which includes 5-star deluxe hotel in Lahore, the 5-star Avari Towers and the seafront Beach Luxury Hotel in Karachi. The group is also actively pursuing opportunities for owning and/or managing 3 and 4-star properties elsewhere in Pakistan. The Avari Group is the first Pakistani company to have obtained international hotel management contracts: they operate the 200-room 4-star hotel in Dubai in United Arab Emirates and manage the 200-room Ramada Inn in Toronto at Pearson Airport in Canada .
Rafiq Rangoonwala Pakistan
Ranking: 15 (tied at 14) Worth: £240m ($480m) Industry: Businessman

Mr. Rafiq Rangoonwala, Chief Executive Officer Cupola Group of Companies, was born in Karachi, did BA (Hons.) from University of Karachi, went to United States of America in 1979, and did Executive Development Course from Whittemore School of Business, University of New Hampshire along with several management courses from U.K, U.S, Canada, Australia and Singapore. In 1980, he started his career in Fast Food restaurants from KFC in Houston. Since then he has managed several other brands alongside KFC like Pizza Hut, Harry Ramsden's, TGI Fridays, Pizza Express etc. He joined Artal Restaurants International as CEO in October 1999 and is currently heading Cupola Group of Companies who has franchise rights in Pakistan for KFC, Indulge, Freshens and Casa. The associate Investment Company of Cupola is AL ABRAJ, with approximately US $400 million under management.
Shimmy Querishi USA
Ranking: 15 (tied at 15) Worth: £240m ($480m) Industry: Businessman

A jet-setting international businessman who fly's by jet and swings a polo mallet with some of the world's top players, Qureshi seems a model of successful enterprise. Shimmys business interests are mainly property, which with the boom and his holdings has took his wealth to a new level. Although people may remember him for his stunt in the early 90's with George Lindemann, the billionaire founder of Cellular One, when Lindemann took him to court claiming he has cheated them in to a deal to buy their home on Hurlingham Drive in Wellington for $3.5 million. A year before the Lindemanns filed their suit, Qureshi bartered with another wealthy family - the al-Thanis, who rule the Arab country of Qatar - to buy Gulf Union Bank in the Cayman Islands.

In May 1997, the al-Thanis agreed to sell Gulf Union to International Business Holdings - a Cayman Islands company owned by Qureshi - fo r $4.5 million, according to court records.

While Cayman Islands officials were reviewing the deal, Qureshi named an associate, Kazmi, to run Gulf Union and a subsidiary, First Cayman Bank. Within three months, Kazmi, acting at Qureshi's direction, had shunted more than $5 million from First Cayman into his own account and into accounts held by Qureshi and the al-Thanis. Shimmy Qureshi also fully manages all the properties in the USA owned by Asif Zardari.
Faruque Khan Pakistan
Ranking:15 (tied at 15) Worth: £240m ($480m) Industry: Businessman

The late Khan Bahadur Ghulam Faruque Khan (1899-1992) was a politician and industrialist of Pakistan. He belonged to the village Shaidu in Nowshera District, Nowshera is the home of the famous Pashtun Tribe the Khattaks of the NWFP Province in Pakistan. Because of his contribution to Pakistan's Industrial development he is sometimes described as "The Goliath who Industrialized Pakistan", today his family owns Cherat Cement Company Ltd. Cherat Papersack Ltd. Cherat Electric Ltd. Mirpurkhas Sugar Mills Ltd. Faruque (pvt) Ltd, Greaves Air-Conditioning( pvt) Ltd., Greaves Engineering Services(pvt) Ltd., Unicol Ltd.- A JV Company Madian Hydro Power Ltd. - A JV Company Zensoft (pvt) Ltd. and prime properties around Pakistan
Shahid Luqman UK
Ranking: 16 (tied at 16) Worth: £230m ($460) Industry: Businessman

Shahid Luqman, born in Gujrat, is a financier from Manchester and has founded 'Pearl Holdings' for the property finance market. He is a prominent property developer in the UK and in Pakistan his projects run into multi-million pounds. He also runs a loan facility. Although in the past it has been noticed of him filling bankruptcy and pocketing huge unpaid loans.
Mukhtar Ahmed Pakistan
Ranking: 16 (tied at 16) Worth: £230m ($460m) Industry: Businessman

Late Haji Sheikh Mohammad Ibrahim, founder of the Ibrahim Group, settled in Faisalabad after partition of India in 1947 and re-established his ancestral business of cloth trading by the name of "Ibrahim Agencies". What is known in business today as Ibrahim Group with diversified business interests from Spinning to PSF, Financial Institutions to Banking and Energy, started off as a mere cloth trading agency just half a century ago. Recently Mr Ahmed bought a stake in the Allied Bank at $300m.
Aqeel Karim Dhedi Pakistan
Ranking: 16 (tied at 16) Worth: £230m ($460m) Industry: Businessman

Starting from interests in real estate and stock-broking in the year 1947, the late Haji Abdul Karim Dhedhi laid the foundation of what today is the AKD group of companies, one of the largest domestic business enterprises in Pakistan with a combined net worth of over US$ 1 billion, of which Mr Karim share is at $400m. Mr. Aqeel Karim Dhedhi, son of (late) Haji Abdul Karim Dhedhi, is the Chairman of the AKD Group. He has built the AKD Group as a leading and vibrant set of business enterprises operating in key sectors of Pakistan's economy, ranging from stocks and shares, media, textile, real estate and Oil and Gas exlporation. Yet AKD is still on the move!
Syed Family Pakistan
Ranking: 17 (tied at 17) Worth: £220m ($440m) Industry: Businessman

Listed on all three stock exchanges in Pakistan, Packages Limited has maintained a long-time credit rating of AA. The joint ventures and business alliances with some of the world's biggest names reflect our forward-looking strategy of continuously improving customer value through improvements in productivity. The group also acquired a good number of Coca Cola plants in Pakistan. Its famous brands include Nestle Milk Pak, Treet, Mitchells and Tri Pack Films. It has stakes in the textile, dairy, agriculture and rice sectors too. The group's contributions towards the cause of an independent Pakistan are unprecedented. They are the only packaging facility in Pakistan offering a complete range of packaging solutions including offset printed cartons, shipping containers and flexible packaging materials to individuals and businesses world-wide. They employ over 4000 people.
Saif Family Pakistan
Ranking: 17 (tied at 17) Worth: £220m ($440) Industry: Businessman

It is owned and operated by the sons of famous NWFP lady politician Begum Kalsum Saifullah. Her eldest son Javid Saifullah heads this very powerful business group. Javid obtained his Master degree in Business Administration from the University of Pittsburgh, USA in 1973, followed by diversified experience of over 30 years in textiles, telecommunication, cement and Information Technology. He also remained the Chairman of All Pakistan Textile Mills Association (APTMA) for two years and NWFP for seven years. He has also been the member Task Force IT & Telecommunication Advisory Board, Ministry of Science and Technology, Member of Task Force (Liberalization & Privatization of Pakistan Telecommunication Company Limited), Ministry of Science & Technology. Javed Saifullah Khan is looking after the group businesses for the past 20 years. Saifullahs are in power always, in one form or the other. Javaid's brothers Anwar Saifullah Khan (Former Federal Minister), Salim Saifullah Khan (king-maker in NWFP politics) and Osman Saifullah (another APTMA).

Dec 8, 2007

Source:Pakistan's rich list of 2008

Appendix-III - PPP Manifesto 1970

Sailent Features

INTRODUCTION

This Manifesto of the Pakistan People's Party is not of the old type of other political parties. It is a solemn pledge to the people that the Party will endeavor by all means, with or without elections, to fulfill in practice the programme contained therein.

I-THE CRISIS

Those classes who know themselves guilty of wrongs done to the nation and the reactionary political parties whose eyes are forever turned backwards, attempt. Now to divert attention by proclaiming themselves champions of fanciful ideologies which they ascribe to the original purpose of Pakistan.

We, on the other hand, appeal to reason, to the accumulated wealth of human knowledge, to the methods and techniques devised by human ingenuity through the centuries, to show the way out of our national misery towards life worthy of a great people. The real problems that confront the nation are political and economic, but not religious, since both exploiters and exploited profess the same faith--both are Muslims.

Many governments have come and gone, but the trend towards the relative impoverishment of the people, the enrichment of privileged classes and the growth of parasitic vested interests, has proceeded without abatement. All the past governments are certainly to blame for their wrong policies; but they could not act otherwise than they did, being the representatives of class and vested interests. They could not be expected to change the system, when their vocation lay in developing it for the profit of the classes on whose behalf they were in power.

Direct colonial rule left behind as its legacy a social and economic order in Pakistan which could be defined as feudal-military-bureaucratic. All the progress since has been its transformation into a dependent capitalist system typical of underdeveloped countries within the imperialist neocolonialist power sphere.

At the end of the Second World War, the Western colonialist powers proceeded, under American guidance, to adapt their methods of' exploitation to new conditions. Direct rule over subject peoples was given up, but the former possessions remained bound by economic, political and military compulsion to the former rulers.

As a consequence of the misdeeds of our rulers, subservience to neocolonialist powers, the adoption of an economic system permitting outright plunder of the people, the concentration of wealth in a few hands, the sharing out of power, employment and sources of wealth between businessmen, big landlords and the classes that comprise the civil and military hierarchy of government-all these have brought the country to a crisis, another word for general ruin. It should be noted that the corruption of government and other public servants is only a symptom and not the cause of the disease; for the thread of corruption runs right through the social strata.

The ruling clique supporting the vested interests of banking industry and commerce, have nothing to offer to save the situation except the same old magical incantations of budgetary formulas and development plans. With rising prices, the working class, the lower middle class, and all sorts of employees with fixed incomes are being rapidly impoverished.

In a desperate attempt to save the capitalist system the government is permitting the wholesale expropriation of the unprivileged people of Pakistan.

The crisis is in the bones of our rotten system. The Pakistan People's Party programme will abolish the system itself, seizing the means of production which in the hands of the privileged few are the means of exploitation.

A constitution of merely democratic form will not meet the needs of this country unless it is so framed as to allow and, indeed, initiate changes in the economic and social system. It is unlikely that so long as the vested interests of capitalists and propertied classes remain unchecked any thing but a constitution tailored to suit them will be the outcome.

The true solution lies in adopting a socialist programme, such as outlined in this Manifesto, to transform the economy of the whole of Pakistan, stopping exploitation and utilizing available means to develop the country without capitalist intervention.

At the Convention in December 1967 in Lahore, the Pakistan 'People's Party announced the principles for the practical realization of which it was founded. The ultimate objective of the Party's policy is the attainment of a classless society, which is possible only through socialism in our time.

Since its principal aims are unattainable by petty adjustments and so long as the unjust order of society prevails, the Party considers that indulgence in reformist slogans deceives the people with false hopes, while the country sinks deeper into the morass of present and additional evils, until finally, in a situation of despair, explosive violence will take the upper hand.

II - FOREIGN POLICY

The first step -must be to get out of' entanglements with imperialist-neocolonialist powers.

Pakistan will support the cause of all oppressed peoples in their struggle against imperialist and neocolonialist powers, in particular the cause of the heroic people of Vietnam who have for long years held the imperialist aggressors at bay. We shall join hands with other nations in an effort to bring about the evacuation of Asian soil occupied by the military forces of the United States and other Western colonialist powers.

III- INDUSTRIAL MEASURES

All production of wealth is the result of human labour. Exploitation in capitalist society depends on the possession of the means of production by the capitalist. In big industries the capitalist plays no nationally useful role, but collects his profit and exploits the labour of others, for his factories are run by technicians, his goods are produced by the labour of the wage-earners, and even the direction of an enterprise need not be the factory owner's.

The necessary services of education and health, housing and public amenities, are being neglected because the surplus value of production is going into the pockets of the exploiters or spent for administration and defence, and therefore little is available for the general welfare of the nation. The evil is inherent in the system. Taxation tricks, petty reforms, moral exhortation, are subterfuges to deceive the people for preserving the system intact.

b) Nationalization of Industries

On the public sector will be all basic and key industries.

All major industries will be nationalized. This will mean taking over into the public sector textile and jute mills over a certain production capacity. In private ownership these have been the sources of excessive profits, inefficient production, wastage of resources and unhindered exploitation of workers.

In the public sector will be not only the large-scale production of electrical power but also all other sources of energy supply namely, nuclear material, gas, oil and coal.

The public sector will completely contain the following major means of public transport, railways, shipping and airways and airways. It will also take over public road transport, whether of passengers or goods, when it is necessary to run it on a large scale. A special concern will be the conveyance of workers and employees between their homes and their places of work.

IV - FINANCIAL MEASURES

The possession of money institutions in the hands of private parties is the source of exploitation which uses national wealth and private deposits to create money for the financing of monopoly capitalists. All big industries have been set up entirely on bank loans, which means, on the money of the depositors.

Unless the State takes hold of all the banks by making them national property, it will not be able to check inflation.

All banks and insurance companies will be forthwith nationalized.

The establishment of a socialist order will, naturally, change the present basis of taxation, which being designed for a capitalistic society favours the accretion of wealth with the privileged classes. It must be understood that taxation is merely a way of providing public finances, but the money has to come from the surplus value created in industry, agriculture and the rest of the activities that employ human labour and effort.

V - AGRARIAN MEASURES

Apart from the physical, natural side of the problems-such as aridity and flooding,-property relations,-such as landlordism, tenancy, fragmentation, subsistence holdings,-have to be tackled with.

The breaking up of the large estates to destroy the power of the feudal landowners is a national necessity that will have to be carried through by practical measures, of which a ceiling is only a part.

The Party's policy for dealing with agricultural problems was laid down in the Programmatic Principles accepted in 1967. Article 6 of the Programmatic Principles states that:

"The Party stands for elimination of feudalism and will take concrete steps in accordance with the established principles of socialism to protect and advance the interests of the peasantry".

VI - PEOPLES RIGHTS

Since all the important large-scale industries will be nationalized, it will be possible to offer the workers genuine participation in enjoying the fruits of industrial production. Participation of workers and technicians in factory management will be progressively introduced.

As a necessary part of their employment in factories, the workers must be provided with housing and adequate means of transportation to their places of work. They will be entitled to paid holidays, and recreation camps will be opened where they can spend their holidays in healthy surroundings. They will have the right to training facilities for improving their skills. Hospitals and free medical attention will be incorporated in the system of works welfare. The education facilities for working class children will include a system of scholarships for higher education in technical colleges and universities. Provisions will be made for old-age pensions and homes for disabled and pensioned workers.

Local bodies under the socialist regime will comprise urban municipalities and agglomeration, in convenient sizes. Of rural areas corresponding somewhat to district councils.

The present system of administration is a legacy of colonial rule, to which it was, in its time, well adopted. Even in respect of honesty the administration was found to function well when it was watched and controlled from outside. Whatever modifications have been introduced they have been done to meet the needs of the rising indigenous capitalist class and to promote the interests of groups that were acquiring wealth by holding the levers of power within government and administration. The administration then became its own master. But this could happen only by forming alliance with the capitalists who were eager to obtain privileges for exploitation.

The socialist regime will need a different structure of administration, and the socialist society, when it comes into being, will itself create the necessary structure.

All citizen of Pakistan, irrespective of religious belief, race or colour, shall enjoy equal political rights, protection before the law, access to occupation of public office, and shall not be discriminated against in any manner in respect of employment.

VII - EDUCATION AND CULTURE

The basic problem of education is that younger generations have to be prepared not merely to understand the universe around them but to alter it. They must acquire a deep comprehension of the nature of social change and of inexorable process of history.

In order to create a truly classless society it is imperative that the horizons of the seekers of knowledge should encompass society as a whole. We must reject the conception fostered by the capitalist system that higher education must confine itself to narrow specialization. The capitalistic system has an interest in this sort of fragmentation of learning because it is able thereby to prevent the intellectuals from questioning the validity of the prevailing system of political and economic values.

The curricula of the university and college courses will have to be thoroughly revised and the divorce between the universities and the life of the people ended. Apart from compulsory military training, which will begin already at the secondary school stage, the student will have to spend a specified period doing national service in labour corps, in fields and towns.

Education will be free up to matriculation and primary education will be compulsory and free. A 5-year programme will be formulated by the end of which all the necessary schools must be built and the primary school teachers trained.

The imperialist, colonialist and neocolonialist influences must be wiped out from our institutions.

The nation has been intellectually blindfolded by class interests which do not want our people to think for them-selves.

VIII - NATIONAL HEALTH

The following objectives will be aimed at:

1. To increase life expectancy in Pakistan from the present 33 to 60 years within a generation.

2. To reduce within ten years child mortality between the ages of 1 and 5 from the 35% to 7.5%.

3. Complete eradication within ten years of microbial diseases such as TB, cholera, small-pox, typhoid, malaria, typhus, rabies, leprosy.

The health programme will include the provision and improvement of hospitals, the enforcement of measures to improve sanitation in towns and villages, the local manufacture of as many essential drugs as possible, health care of school children and, where malnutrition is present, the supply of balancing diets in the schools.

IX - NATIONAL DEFENCE

A 'Peoples Army' will be created in all regions of the country. This will offer the substitute for the defence in depth which is geographically lacking. The existence of a people's is the best deterrent to foreign aggression.

X - THE CONSTITUTION

The legal framework of a constitution can guarantee no progress if it is made in the interest of the ruling classes. A constitution, even if democratic in form, will remain in effective unless it promotes the conditions for progress and creates the institutions necessary- for the purpose.

The existing electoral system is a most efficient mechanism for giving preponderance to the propertied classes in parliament. The cost of fighting an election is high which in no case can be afforded by a poor candidate unless he is supported by rich patrons with ample private means.

The electoral system will be so reformed as to give primacy to political programmes. This will be done by introducing the system of voting for party lists and not for individual candidates.

In this system it will depend upon the political party concerned how its candidates are placed in respect of priority in its list. If only rich men are at the head, or only men from a certain class, the voters will know at once what class interests that party actually represents, whatever be its published programme.

CONCLUSION

The Party proposes radical change of the social economic and political structure. The people of Pakistan will themselves will them selves bring this revolution to pass. Hence the Party says.

All Powers to the People!

« 10. Redeeming the 1968-9 uprising

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