The Reigning Art of Self-Praise
It is one thing to
launch a book and quite another to use
it to engage in unabashed self-glorification.
Perhaps President Musharraf ought to
be excused that springboard, for it
must have been hard to pass up an opportunity
to have the whole world listening raptly
to your spiel.
It initially seemed that the Musharraf
entourage had come to attend the UN
General Assembly and have talks with
his US counterpart and spear-header
of the War on Terror. That the exchequer
of a miserably poor nation was used
for consorting with the proud and powerful
to promote a book, is enacting the same
corruption that Benazir and Nawaz Sharif
are repeatedly blackened for. If the
dollars doled out for the wide publicity
of the book were kept careful account
of, and paid out of the $1 million advanced
by Simon and Schuster for “In
the Line of Fire”, then I ask
forgiveness for my accusation.
Who is footing the security bill in
and around the Roosevelt Hotel in New
York, for it is second only to the security
detail of President Bush. The General
Assembly schedule ran for three days
- Musharraf spent the rest of the time
doing the rounds of radio and TV talk
shows. Is partying in New York City
part of the job description, rather
the perks, of the head of state of poverty
stricken Pakistan?
The book launching occurred before a
select crowd at the Council of Foreign
Relations. Musharraf is worthy of some
whole-hearted credit. He is intrepid,
no doubt about that. His latest drumbeat
is Taliban bashing; the fallout of this
is easily calculated. Very clearly articulating
that the Palestinian issue was the root
cause of all extremism is a great service
to the cause of peace and freedom in
the world.
By far, however, unabashed self-praise
is Musharraf’s signature. And
to do it repeatedly and with complete
ease is even more surprising. He first
gathered self- praise for even starting
the book; for it was so time consuming
he said and his duties of state were
so extensive, that he wondered how he
had been able to complete the book.
Grandiosity was not far behind. He was
securing himself a place in history
by writing this book, he said. With
all the credits read, from his wife
to the transcriptionist all the way
up to his mother, Musharraf dedicated
the book to the people of Pakistan,
paying tribute to their hope and patience.
Quickly thereafter, he lapsed into a
detailed diary of credits to his government
for improving education, promoting business
and investment and fighting terror tooth
and nail.
Musharraf and his prime minister appear
to tag the increase in cell phone use
in Pakistan as a vital economic indicator.
It is proudly claimed that even a janitor
in Pakistan owns a cell phone and Nokia
had reported that Pakistan’s market
would be growing exponentially. Street
crime in Pakistan has risen sharply
and the primary desired objects are
cell phones. It is indeed paradoxical
that the literacy rate in Pakistan is
34% for males and 17% for females, a
large part of the population does not
have potable water, and basic food items
are out of the reach of the common man,
but Pakistan’s leaders are tickled
pink that Nokia’s cell phone growth
in Pakistan is impressive.
The actual launch of the book was preceded
by the explosive revelation that Richard
Armitage had threatened to transform
Pakistan into the Flintstones era had
there been non-cooperation post 9/11,
with Bush’s War on Terror. And
Musharraf stands by that stolidly, despite
explanation and elucidation to the contrary
by Armitage.
Musharraf was interviewed by a number
of major news channels, including the
prestigious National Public Radio. He
was asked whether his cooperation with
the US in the War on Terror had caused
him problems at home. Confidently and
actually almost arrogantly he said that
it had not: “I am away for 18
days and the opposition is spreading
rumors but no man is out on the street
and they will not come out on the street.
They support my government and they
support me personally”. “You
see, the Pakistani people are massively
moderate”. The words seem almost
oxymoronic: massive yet moderate. The
sense in all of Musharraf’s statements
seemed to be that “this is the
way it is and it’s this way because
I say so.”
Intrepid he is for he went where no
sitting leader of any nation, certainly
not Mr. Bush, has ever gone before:
on the Daily Show with Jon Stewart,
America’s hugely popular comedy
show. Perhaps that is why Jon Stewart
was as deferential as he was; no typically
cutting comments or intensely sharp
wit. After Pakistani tea and Twinkies,
Stewart nonchalantly asked where Bin
Laden was. Musharraf feigned ignorance.
Subsequently, there was more of the
same bragging that Musharraf is making
his trademark, and then a question as
to who would win if there was a poll
in Pakistan between Osama and Gerorge
Bush. “Both would lose,”
said Musharraf. Despite his “massively
moderate” population, it is clear
from polls that have been done within
Pakistan, that Osama bin Laden is a
hugely popular figure in Pakistan and
returns to the common man the dignity
that other Muslim leaders have only
managed to lose.
Faced with Musharraf’s bombastic
claims of all that he had done for Pakistan,
Jon Stewart very calmly said that “perhaps
after Pakistan you can come here and
govern”.
It is poor form to write a book as a
sitting president and should be deemed
unconstitutional in most good constitutions.
It serves to compromise national security.
Revelation in an interview with CNN
that the CIA paid Pakistan millions
of dollars for the handing over to America
of 369 Al-Qaeda operatives has caused
Musharraf embarrassment and little wiggle
room. It is hard to walk away from statements
that are in cold print. Discussion of
Kargil, Pakistan’s nuclear capability,
the role of Dr. Abdul Qadeer Khan and
the North Korean issue all compromise
national and international security.
When the whole world was watching Musharraf
enunciated the Palestine issue in succinct
terms. That is a true service toward
world peace, for it is indeed the mother
of all extremism. It is the feeling
of Pakistanis in general and Pakistani-Americans
in particular that Musharraf has embarrassed
Pakistan and taken advantage of his
political situation on the world stage
for self-aggrandizement. He has caught
the Kursi Syndrome and suffers its florid
manifestations, much like his predecessors,
both civil and military. Just like “we’ll
bomb you back to the Stone Age”
is a typically American saying another
Americanism is good advice for the General:
don’t wear out your welcome.
(Mahjabeen Islam is a physician and
freelance columnist residing in Toledo
Ohio. Her email is mahjabeenislam@hotmail.com)
