September 12 , 2008
Necessary Cacophony
It is painful when clichés hit targets repeatedly: Pakistan is really at a critical juncture as Shehzad Roy’s latest song portrays so well.
What is of greater concern is not just the gravity of the situation but the number of issues that are occurring simultaneously; battering further an already strained national psyche.
That Gen Musharraf did not invoke the dreaded Article 58-2(b) shall be of enduring significance to Pakistan. With elections done Pakistan has a real stab at democracy and has perhaps evolved politically in the last 18 months more than it might have in all its 61 years.
And so like toddlers running around we have chaos. The answer to this unfamiliar confusion is not iron-clad martial law, but the evolution of a democratic society that solves its issues with discussion and expression of the vote. Military rule has permeated itself in the psyche of the Pakistani nation to the degree that statements like “we don’t deserve democracy” and “our nation only understands military rule” are commonplace.
Democracy and a civil society are not gifts, they are built with pain and sacrifice with the clear understanding that processes and principles must be placed way above personalities. The Muslim world in general and Pakistan in particular has been plagued with personality cult politics for far too long.
The judges must be reinstated for without an independent judiciary a democracy is dead. Asif Ali Zardari’s personal fears of accounting for corruption charges must be entirely secondary if his claim that his first fight will be for democracy in Pakistan is true. His PPP workers stoutly defend him in television talk shows saying that none of the charges were proven and the charges by foreign nations were withdrawn. That does not appear to be factual, and if indeed it is, then, nothing to fear, let the entire nation see that his money and mouth are concordant.
A nation can tolerate much but moral bankruptcy it cannot. And with Pakistan the double jeopardy is its creation in the name of Islam whose foundation is adl or justice. While a wrong accusation is punishable in it, stealing and that also from the national treasury is much worse. And a leader with that stain ought not to be its president, regardless of the unanimity and released doves and cheers and waved flags and sweets distribution the PPP party workers may indulge in.
With the economic morass, load-shedding and terrorism the country is dealing with, a segment speaks of the trial of Gen Musharraf, stating that civilian politicians have been jailed for lesser crimes and dictators go scot-free. Another view is that he made judgment errors but there was no criminal activity in them and that Pakistan, besieged by bigger things, would not be able to tolerate his trial.
Again for the sake of processes and principle, it is important to set up a tribunal to first determine if any criminal activity did occur. And if the very impartial tribunal determines that it did, then, unfortunately for Pakistan, a trial must take place. Only and solely to set a precedent. To show to all and sundry that the accountability process has been reincarnated (or created if you will) and shall live forever; to get you regardless of your stature or connections. This is important again to erase the entitlement element from the Pakistan psyche: ‘I have immunity for I am in power or I am well-connected’.
The unhappy union of the Pakistan government to its armed forces has finally come to an end and for this my undying tribute to the visionary commander-in-chief Gen Ashfaq Kayani. Single-handedly he has changed the course of Pakistan’s history by pulling the armed forces out of politics and the CEOship of governmental organizations. Had he put personality before processes and principles, we would be seeing military rule today.
Even in the US there is a reluctant understanding in opinion columns that democracy ought to be nurtured in Pakistan for the alternative does not work very well.
Pakistanis themselves have a habit of underestimating the incredible resilience of the Pakistani nation. We tell each other repeatedly that we must concentrate on the economic and security nightmare and that ‘Musharraf was better’. This becomes a self-fulfilling prophecy of sorts and we re-invite the army in a few months. We are at a point in time illustrated by Shakespeare: “There’s a tide in the affairs of men which when taken at its flood leads on to fortune”. We must make good at this very rocky time in our history for in it lies our salvation.
Dictatorship repels and silences. Democracy is inclusive and vibrant; it brings out issues and multiple confusing opinions and resolves them by voting. It builds institutions and sets up processes. Currently it is Pakistan’s necessary cacophony.
(The writer is a physician and freelance columnist residing in Toledo, Ohio, US. mahjabeenislam@sbclobal.net )
