Pakistan Getting into High Gear

By Edward W. Desmond/Gujranwala

The roar of more than 10,000 cheering voices vibrated in the air as the train pulled into view of Gujranwala, a farming and industrial center in the northeast state of Punjab. Red-black-and-green banners embossed with the arrow of the Pakistan People's Party (P.P.P.) fluttered overhead. The chant "Benazir, Prime Minister!" crescendoed as Benazir Bhutto, 35, stepped onto the platform. Holding high the party's manifesto, the candidate declared, "You have a chance to decide the future. Vote for the arrow aimed at the heart of injustice."

At whistle-stops across the country, similar scenes were played out last week as candidates for the Nov. 16 national elections revved campaign machinery into high gear. While Bhutto and her mother, Begum Nusrat Bhutto, crisscrossed the country, their opponents in the powerful Islamic Democratic Alliance, a nine-party coalition that controls the national caretaker government under President Ghulam Ishaq Khan, called out impressive processions of supporters in major cities. For the first time since 1977, Pakistan was immersed in a national campaign with the participation of all political parties.

The outpouring of democratic energy is the legacy of President Mohammed Zia ul-Haq's July announcement of elections, and a Supreme Court ruling on Oct. 2 allowing political parties to participate fully in the races. The Supreme Court decision followed the mysterious death of Zia in an airplane explosion in August, eleven years after he seized power. The elections will give Bhutto the long-awaited opportunity to return her party to the ruling position it held from 1971 until 1977, when Zia overthrew her father, Zulfikar Ali Bhutto, in a coup. Zia subsequently permitted Bhutto's execution to take place in 1979.

Benazir Bhutto's campaign had barely got off the ground two weeks ago, when she came down with a kidney infection, little more than a month after giving birth to a son, Bilawal. But Bhutto's opponents have their own problems. The leading member of the Alliance is the Pakistan Muslim League, which dominated the National Assembly under Zia. Though the League has a hold on all four provinces, it lacks a national leader.

Bhutto mixes appeals to virtually every segment of Pakistani society with sharp attacks on the Muslim League for collaborating in Zia's authoritarian rule. Rejecting the socialist policies associated with her father, Bhutto proposes to end poverty through economic growth rather than by taxing the rich. At the same time, she has made it clear that there will be no witch- hunts in the army if she is elected. Bhutto promises to maintain good relations with the U.S. and says she will uphold Pakistan's pledge to aid the mujahedin rebels in Afghanistan. Alliance candidates, for their part, intend to play on bad memories among Pakistanis of her father's administration, which ended in turmoil after the government allegedly rigged elections in 1977.

To head off P.P.P. charges of election fraud this time around, the government is taking special measures to guarantee a fair vote. Judicial officers will supervise polling stations, and are empowered to order the arrest of anyone accused of irregularities. It remains to be seen whether such steps will ensure the victor of an honest mandate after 25 years of intermittent military law and emergency rule.