For the Sake
of Power
By Farhana Mohamed,
PhD
Los Angeles, CA
Following
the footsteps of the past military dictators of
Pakistan, General Musharraf continues the notorious
trend of clinging to power even if it means destruction
of the Pakistani civil society and tarnishing
Pakistan’s image as a progressive Muslim
nation. When he received a strong inkling that
the Supreme Court will set aside legality of his
recent presidential election in uniform, he imposed
a de facto martial law under the guise
of emergency rule. He did so for the first time
in October 1999 by a coup d’état
when he was fired as Chief of Army Staff
(COAS) by the former Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif.
This is the second time that he has suspended
the 1973 Constitution to perpetuate his power
by hook or by crook.
There were indeed some positive macro-economic
outcomes during the Musharraf regime despite Pakistan
receiving almost $10.6 billion US aid since 2001
(not including “covert” aid of almost
same amount being buzzed in the US media) as a
key US strategic partner in the fight against
terrorism,. However, General Musharraf’s
literally one-man rule, disrespect of democratic
principles (despite big claims), acting on “might
is right” philosophy instead of exhibiting
patience in resolving differences with the disgruntled
factions through negotiations, and failure to
effectively curb the root causes of terrorism
have plunged the country into its worst law and
order crisis since its inception.
Recent episodes to perpetuate his rule include
botched attempt to fire defiant Chief Justice
Iftikhar Mohammed Chaudhry back in March, forcing
Nawaz Sharif to stay in exile by denying him his
constitutional right (which supersedes any other
deals or arrangements), and backroom power-sharing
deal with the former Prime Minister Benazir Bhutto
under the guise of National Reconciliation Ordinance
(NRO) where primarily she and several others in
her party were granted amnesty from serious corruption
and money-laundering charges in exchange of endorsing
Musharraf presidency. (By the way, this dealing-with-a-dictator
adventure by Benazir Bhutto, which is allegedly
continuing even after the emergency declaration,
has greatly disappointed those who respected her
past stands and sacrifices for upholding democratic
principles).
As a result of imposition of emergency rule, General
Musharraf acquired further excuse of exercising
sweeping powers by rounding up well over 2,500
lawyers, politicians, human right activists, singling
out lawyers for brutal crackdown, and house-arresting
scores of seniors judges who refused to sign the
Provisional Constitutional Order (PCO). However,
he was able to hand-pick a few who after signing
the PCO have already started endorsing his extra-constitutional
measures including his encore election
as the President in uniform from the same parliament,
contempt of court against the Prime Minister,
and possible rejection of petitions challenging
the discriminatory NRO. These measures may benefit
the General in the short term but will eventually
destabilize and demoralize Pakistan’s enlightened
moderate majority thus paving way for the extremist
and fascist elements to fill the void.
During General Musharraf’s meeting with
the foreign envoys shortly after imposing the
November 3 emergency rule, he asked the envoys
not to compare Pakistani “democracy”
and Western “democracy” by the same
standards. This is quite evident from the sham
democracy which the country has experienced during
his eight-year rule. In an earlier speech, he
also declared that he “gave” freedom
to the press; the truth of the matter is that
no body ever hands out freedom in a platter -
one has to fight to get it. Besides during his
regime of “enlightened moderation,”
more journalists were killed or roughed up, and
private print and electronic media premises vandalized
than in any other time in Pakistan’s history.
In this era of globalization, no government can
get away with such massive crackdowns on its civil
society and widespread suspension of Internet
or broadcast services for choking freedom of speech.
While lot of water has fallen over the bridge,
General Musharraf can still leave a legacy by
restoring constitution, sticking to his “promise”
of removing uniform and holding elections by mid-February,
and ensuring transparent and free elections (not
state-managed or rigged) where all political parties
and their leaders (including former Prime Minister
Nawaz Sharif) are provided a level playing field
sans extra-constitutional dubious deals
and deportations.
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