Obama is Better for Jinnah's Pakistan

Between rock and a hard place, between devil and the deep blue sea- there are countless ways of describing how stark a catch 22, we in Pakistan are forced to see the current US election. On the one hand we have the charismatic and eloquent Obama, who most Pakistanis have taken a strong liking to because he promises a break with what are generally conceived by the common people here as pro-military dictatorship policies of the Grand Old Party. But Obama has also engaged in rhetoric that scares most Pakistanis. The idea of a US attack on NWFP isn't so much an issue of sovereignty as of repercussions. Already Pakistan is facing the brunt of terrorism in the world with our lives and property insecure and our future uncertain. Added to our misery are the economic woes which have been exacerbated by the war on terror. Most Pakistanis also fear that the Democrat Party, at least since Bill Clinton's second term in office has been moving decidedly closer to India, Pakistan's principal rival. This fear is only partially true and in the long run inconsequential but we shall discuss that in a minute.

The GOP on the other hand has been perceived as pro-Pakistan by Pakistani policy makers since Eisenhower's term in office. Even though the Democrat administration that was in power in Washington at the time of Pakistan's inception was perhaps the warmest towards Pakistan in the history of Pakistan-US relations, it was Eisenhower and the GOP that enlisted Pakistan in the Cold War as the US' most allied ally. The next Republican president Richard Nixon was a true friend of Pakistan and had the vision to truly realize that Pakistan as a modernist Muslim democracy would be in the US' best interest. However Nixon was an exception. The problem with the Republican Party is that it is always willing to support a military ruler so long as the military ruler toes the US line. Ronald Reagan's administration supported and propped up our worst military dictator who created a plethora of problems for this country which we are still trying to get over i.e. one of which is militant Islamism of Deobandi kind (ironic because Deobandi Islamism was the biggest opponent of the creation of this country). In an ironic twist of fate, it was again a Republican president who backed an unpopular military dictator… again. It seems that the only group of people in Pakistan that benefits from a Republican administration is the group of people that sides with and encourages military coups in Pakistan. If the GOP is a friend of Pakistan, it certainly isn't the kind of friend that is interested in allowing democracy to flourish in Pakistan.

John McCain has long been the grand old man of the Grand Old Party. Sadly age has not been kind to the senator. Gone is the rugged and charismatic fighter pilot and war hero that he once was. 30 years younger and he would have given Obama a run for his money. Today, however, he looks like Crusty the Clown desperately trying to impugn Obama's reputation by appealing to "Americanism" and "country first". McCain and Palin have gone so far as to imply that Obama is a terrorist and anti-American. This strategy has backfired and it seems all but certain that come November 4th, Obama will be elected president with a thumping majority. This means that policy makers in Islamabad need to quickly adjust to a new approach to an old game. They must realize that Obama means business and he will probably go down in history as not just the first black president of the US but one of its finest in a long time. Instead of playing the geo-political role to the hilt it is time Islamabad seeks to establish a relationship with the US based on shared values of democracy and freedom- in the right sense of the word. This means abandoning delusions of grandeur, limiting the role of the military, putting an end to extremism and working towards a stable democracy. For long Pakistan-US ties have been used by people in Pakistan implementing their own narrow agendas. Under Obama, perhaps the US will finally endeavor to create a partnership with the people of Pakistan instead of its military and civil bureaucracy.

To keep a long story short, another Republican president in the White House, now very unlikely, is on the face of it better for Pakistan but under the surface is only good for those who wish to continue with things as at present. These are the people who have kept Pakistan bogged down in crises and have let us down terribly. For those of us however who are still wedded to the idea of Pakistan as envisaged by Mahomed Ali Jinnah i.e. a secular democratic and social welfare state wholly and solely concerned with the welfare of its people, there is hope – albeit a faint one- that President Obama will prove to be the right kind of ally to help along a nascent democracy and keep it honest and on the right track.