A Sizzling Pakistan: Part II
The Call That Never Came
By Mohammad Ashraf Chaudhry
Pittsburg, CA

Before leaving for Pakistan, I had formally requested President Musharraf for the honor of an interview for Pakistan Link. On reaching Pakistan, it began to dawn upon me that perhaps I was asking for the impossible. Friends began to convince me that in Pakistan it is easier to meet God than the Deputy Commissioner of a city, and that I could expect the Margalla Hills turning into gold than hearing a word from the President. I brushed aside this sickly cynicism that invariably grips people in Pakistan and never makes them see the glass as half-full.
Since I had only 28 days at my disposal in Pakistan, and one week had already passed, I thought it wise to check for myself where the request for interview stood. A Major at the ISPR told me in rather honest terms that it was next to impossible to get the necessary clearance for such a request, which in routine took a month’s period. I could understand that the President was a very busy man, but what I could not understand was the neglect to respond by his office. A simple email reply could have saved me of many an inconvenience. Then as a consolation prize, just to reward me for my labor and desire to the see the President, an idea was dropped, “How about seeing the Director General of Inter Services Public Relations, (ISPR), Maj. General Shaukat Sultan? That could be arranged”. I bought the idea. The interview with President Musharraf’s spokesman took place on May 20, 2006 at 11:00 a.m.
Question: A general perception held by people is that there is hardly anything good that Gen. Musharraf’s government has done for the people, which I believe is not true. Who in your opinion is responsible for spreading such misperceptions?
Answer: I do not subscribe to this perception. If the people had been frustrated as you suggest, they would have come out in protest, which is not the case. Poverty is not a new phenomenon in Pakistan. All European countries have had their share of poor people, so do we. The dharnas (he was referring to Qazi Sahib’s tactics) have failed to deliver. Pakistan is on the way to progress. Atlas Motor cycle factory is working in three shifts, producing over 5,500 motor cycles, and so are our motor car projects.
Q: In spite of all the efforts and claims why has the government failed to defang the religious extremists? Would it not be right to say that they are cashing upon the general frustration prevailing in the people, and they are cleverly filling the vacuum with their so-called spiritualism?
A: I will not deny that the mullahs have acted more wisely and cleverly than the cleverest of the politicians. They played all the cards in the elections very intelligently. The failures of (the Muslim League-Q, had been too obvious to hide. (The general did not name them as such, but clearly he referred to them). The government did not do well, it did not fill the void… the new leaders that emerged did not match the challenge… However, it goes to the credit of this government that it is going to complete its tenure. It is a psychological phenomenon that after a period of five years, people do yearn for a change. (The general suggested that what I attributed to the general frustration of people was actually a natural desire of people for a change).
Q: All ills that inflict our country boil down to one issue, the abysmal low rate of literate people. Why has the government that had been in the saddle for over six years not tackled this mother of all evils – illiteracy - on a war-footing?
A: This government has done more in this field than all the previous governments. Syllabus is being revised and updated; examination system is being reviewed; six world-class international universities are being established (Sweden, Spain, Germany, South Korea, Austria and New Zealand, are the countries who are doing it); highly qualified and trained teachers from these countries will fill in the teaching faculties of these universities, and as a result of this:
A) The degree awarded by these universities will have equivalent value when compared to their respective countries;
B) They would usher in a revolution in the field of education and IT education,
C) An era of progress will start with clear signs of progress in all fields. The government has made great progress, but perhaps not in good governance. The local system worked wonderfully well in the first phase; but in the second phase it did not. The corruption that had been prevalent at the provincial level, succeeded in seeping into it in the second phase.
Q: What do you say about the Charter of Democracy?
A: In the first instance, it should have come in 1998. Nawaz Sharif stifled the spirit of democracy himself. (He was referring to the attack on the Supreme Court; on his firing the Chief of the Army; on amending the Constitution etc.). Religious fanaticism, which has done so much damage to the image of Islam and of the country, did not come in one day. The trouble in the tribal areas has its roots in the past. It was Nawaz Sharif who made (possible) the arrival of mullahs, instead of Maliks possible through the franchise system that he introduced.
The General acknowledged the good acts done by America and the European countries during the October 8 earthquake. And this to a great extent, he said, wiped out the anti-West fervor. But then the publication of the cartoons of the our Holy Prophet, indiscreet killings of innocent people in Afghanistan and Iraq, and the attack on Bajour Agency, washed out the traces of all the good that they had done.
The General emphasized time and again during the interview that every Pakistani has a role to play in strengthening the country. They must have the right kind of perceptions for the country, and ward off the wrong ones. I retorted by saying, “Is the shortage of sugar a mere perception?” The General acknowledged that that has been unfortunate because most of them who own the sugar mills are either in the government, or are in the parliament. The General did not appear very happy when it was pointed out that bad governance did not absolve General Musharraf because all along he had been very much a major part of governance.
I reminded him what Bernard Lewis, the famous professor, had said on his 90th birthday the other day: Democracy in the Muslim world should be administered like an anti-biotic, drop by drop. A full doze can kill the patient quickly. It happened in our case in 1971, and it is happening in the Middle East now. Second, free elections should be the culmination of reforms, and not the beginning of a process; and thirdly, a majority of the ills inflicting the Muslim world are the result of their own doings - their conceited cultural superiority, and not the result of Western expansionism. One could dispute the last statement, but the other two carried an element of truth. (Next week: The Milaad Cult)

 

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Editor: Akhtar M. Faruqui
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