A New Dawn in Pakistan
The longer Musharraf stays in power, the longer the new dawn is delayed. But come it will!
By Usman Khalid
Like a bad penny Musharraf keeps coming back; it is not a joke any more. It is a deadly serious matter not just for Pakistan but also for NATO and the USA who have troops in neighbouring Afghanistan. During the first three year after his take over in October 1999, Musharraf was the President, the Prime Minister and the COAS. With great emotion and fanfare in 2002, after elaborately rigged elections, he took off the hat of hat of the Prime Minster. But to everybody's surprise and horror, he continued to preside over cabinet meetings. Despite his heavy weight and light political footprint, he was not happy with Mr Jamali. He was not content until he got his sidekick "“ Shaukat Aziz "“ into the office of Prime Minister. They co-habited happily for three years as Shaukat did what he was told and pretended it was his idea. But general elections have to be held every five years and he was worried his political allies "“ PML (Q) and the MQM "“ may not be able to get him a mandate for another five years. He put his "˜team' to work to devise a foolproof scheme for rigging the entire political process so that he could be returned to power in elections.
The team came up with two ideas. One was a new system of local government and the other was to make a virtue of the assemblies completing "˜full five years term for the first time ever' thus providing a window of opportunity between Musharraf completing his "˜first' term of five years and the assemblies completing their term. This, technically, enabled him to get himself elected President for the second time from the same assemblies. But there was a problem. He was told that the Chief Justice of Pakistan, Justice Iftikhar Muhammed Chaudhri, was not prepared to give an assurance that the Supreme Court would reject a challenge to such an election. The President's team of charlatans went to work at a frantic pace bugging homes and videotaping bedrooms in order to be able to put the "˜fear of God' (meaning the President) into the faint hearts of defiant judges. The scheme they evolved had five pillars:
- Securing the resignation of the Chief Justice by "˜confronting' him with the "˜evidence' collected by the intelligence and to reconstitute the of high judiciary.
- Installation of a weak retired judge as the Chief Election Commissioner with a tried and tested civil servant as the Secretary who had delivered the 'ight result' in 2002.
- PML (Q) to nominate General Musharraf in uniform as its candidate for President for election from the assemblies about to complete their term of five years.
- To appoint a caretaker administration at the centre and the provinces handpicked by the President that would not interfere with the Presidential Scheme for rigging of elections by the local government (city/district Nazims).
- Organisation of "˜elite squads' of police to beat up and arrest demonstrators and "˜dissidents' to preclude the build up of a sizeable procession by the opposition.
The plan became unstuck as the Chief Justice refused to submit to blackmail and resign. The President filed a 'eference' against him that included transcripts of audio conversation thus making public that illegal tapping of the telephones of judges had been taking place for some time. Eventually, a full bench of the Supreme Court ruled against the President and declared the 'eference' unlawful. However, another Bench did allow the election for President to go ahead but ordered that its result not be notified until the SC had decided the case of the "˜eligibility'. To placate the court, General Musharraf filed an affidavit that he would take off his uniform on being sworn in President. The entire opposition resigned in protest but the election for President went ahead any way. The Supreme Court was a few days away from its decision when Musharraf decided to he could not take the risk of the decision going against him. He replicated his use of power as COAS to promulgate a PCO to suspend the Constitution thus requiring all the judges of the Supreme and the High Courts Court to take fresh oath. The Judges he feared most predictably refused. But the Supreme Court did consider the promulgation of the PCO and held it to be illegal and ordered that no judge should take an oath on PCO. But a minority of judges did take such an oath thus enabling Musharraf to re-organise high judiciary that is now "˜obedient'.
The neutered judges "“ as "˜The Times' of London called them "“ ratified his election. With great emotion and fanfare he handed over the office of COAS to General Kiani a day before he was sworn in as President for the umpteenth time. He is still No 1; his zest for power is undiminished. There is caretaker cabinet in place but he continues preside over its meetings. It would not be too long before we hear either that he has dismissed the new COAS or that he has resumed presiding over meetings of corps commanders.
It is now clear that Musharraf would go down in history as the destroyer every institution of the state. The professionalism and neutrality of the civil service was compromised by Prime Minster Zulfikar Ali Bhutto who introduced "˜lateral entry'. Every successive civil as well as military administration has undermined the neutrality of public servants even further. But Musharraf did not just undermine the institution of "˜neutrality' he abolished it. In the name of extending democracy to the grassroots, he has installed political executive at all levels from the Union Council to the District/City. He realised that political executive could be partial and could be used openly to deliver votes and win elections that a public servants required to be neutral by his service rules could never do. This assumption is going to be put to test in General Elections 2008. The other assumption that "˜suitably selected' Chief Justices could always be relied upon to be obedient to the Chief Executive has since proved to be untrue several times. General Zia ul Haq got Bhutto sentenced to death by Lahore High Court and the Supreme Court rejected his appeal. Musharraf got Sharif brother tried and sentenced by various courts and used those convictions to bar them from taking part in elections. He has used NAB to bring politician in line and punishing recalcitrant members of opposition who refused. But he has since been defied by the high judiciary. What is he going to do?
Musharraf took the lesson to heart that civil servants and politicians can be used much more easily and discreetly to manipulate the public mind and to rig elections while avoiding the odium of "˜martial law'. He appears to be putting that assumption to test. He will try not to use the crutches of neutered COAS and an obedient Prime Minister but old habit die hard. I am sure he will not live with a Prime Minister or the COAS who are really in charge of their office any more than he was able to live with an independent judiciary. However, I am still optimistic. Musharraf operates by instinct not intellect. Like a snake whose fangs come out when he feels threatened, he also attacks his enemy promptly and viciously. But he has never been pitched against intellect except from overseas when he surrendered quickly without a fight. Inside the country, all the snakes are now in his camp; and he has had no "˜wise owls' to deal with. But he is now faced with international scorn and national media who have logic and decency on their side. He could bribe or imprison politicians but he cannot imprison hope and thought. General Musharraf has had to allow independent TV channels in the private sector to operate. "˜News and Views' programmes proliferated to meet the demand. The discussion panels included politicians "“ government as well opposition "“ and eminent members of the civil society. It did not take long for the public to find that representatives of the civil society were more truthful and objective and that the government representatives lied and deceived. This had a huge impact on the political landscape of Pakistan. The public now want to judge before they vote.
The public in Pakistan has become more like public in mature democracies like the UK and USA. They would participate in a rally to support a cause but they want to be paid for something needed by a politician or a party. From politicians, they want to hear the arguments, and they prefer to hear it on TV. Since Musharraf and his team have expertise in very different areas, it is his opposition in the civil society that has the more convincing argument and more credible presenters. When he promulgated the PCO, he had to close down the independent TV channels because he could neither marshal an arguments nor persons to put forward that argument. He had to do it all by himself. The support that was forthcoming - from the Chaudries "“ was worse than his own performance. The closing down of TV Channels is his real defeat. But he cannot keep the channels shut down forever. And he cannot evade the accusation that he committed "˜high treason' by promulgating the PCO. He has already destroyed the institution of "˜independence of judiciary;' and "˜neutrality of public servants'; now he is pressing ahead with destroying the institution of legislature that provides "˜transparent scrutiny'. With all the credible opposition leaders "“ Imran Khan, Nawaz Sharif, Shahbaz Sharif and Qazi Hussain Ahmed - excluded from elections, the opposition would be outside the parliament.
The people of Pakistan have now seen the "˜independent judiciary' working. They now understand that it constitutes a formidable defence against military (or civil) dictatorship. They have seen that free and independent media is a vital adjunct of the "˜independent judiciary'. They have also seen that "National Accounts Committee" in the parliament can also hold government departments to account. They are now well aware that the institutions of the state cannot deliver on good governance without the 'ule of law'. The representatives of the civil society "“ particularly the lawyers' community - have shown themselves to be increasingly outspoken and effective in articulating the hopes and aspirations of the people, and also Pakistan's view of the world. The political parties that do not recognise and accommodate merit would not benefit from this change and would be sidelined, even discarded. The argument about class and a conflict between them has become peripheral. Class matters. It is not a threat; it is a need; it is a need of all the people; it is a need of the country. The country needs people with class and character who are world class in knowledge, in skills, in organisational ability and in entrepreneurship.
The election in January 2008 would be fought by political parties devoid of class or merit. Pakistan will not a have good government or political stability in consequence of these elections. But free and independent media would be there. The demand to reinstate the judges who refused to take oath on the PCO on 3 November would be there. The demand to try Musharraf for "˜high treason' would be there. The need for the civil society institutions to articulate these needs and demands would be there. It is pointless speculating who will come to the fore and help fulfil these aspirations. But fulfilled they will be. I am hopeful "“ very hopeful. That will be the new dawn for Pakistan that will bring men and women of class and character, of integrity and honesty, of knowledge and wisdom to the fore in politics. That is my dream. That is also the dream of every Pakistani, the prayer of every Muslim, and the hope of the world.