Dislodging a Dictator

General Musharraf, our current dictator and illegitimate president, maybe a liberal progressive man, but like any good politician he too has his constituency to think about. His much touted objective of a ’modern liberal muslim state’ can only be a distant second to his real political objective i.e. keeping army entrenched in power. Those like me who had put their faith in this self avowed Ataturk admirer who didn’t tire to speak of Jinnah’s vision, Musharraf’s actions have been a bitter pill to swallow. The important lesson we have learnt is not to put our faith in unelected uniformwallahs.

For the past few months, we have seen the drama unfold in NWFP. MMA went on a rampage, passing bills curbing basic human rights, and then sending vigilantes in the street to tear up billboards with women’s pictures on them. Given Pakistan’s newly emerging importance w.r.t Gwadar Port that future Dubai, this sent shivers down the spines of the leaders of the western world. After all Baluchistan also has a MMA government in charge.

Pakistan is considered too important to be lost to talibanization. So who did the west look to as the savior. Obviously our valiant man in Khaki! Boldly the brave general rose to the occasion declaring MMA activities in NWFP to be out of place in the modern world and vowing to put an end to talibanization. All this was days before his historic visit to the United States. This was cheap popularity at the expense of Pakistan, and the General seems to love every minute of it.

There is no tussle between the MMA and the Government. They are and will be for many years to come ’natural allies’ as aptly put by Sheikh Rasheed. MMA’s Prime Ministerial candidate, Maulana Fazlurrahman, the father of the taliban, has a history of switching sides. In the past his religious beliefs couldn’t stop him from supporting the Pakistan Peoples’ Party, a party which is ideologically the exact opposite of JUI. Historically his father, (even more spread out horizontally) Mufti Mahmood is on the record with the statement : ’We were not part of the sin of making Pakistan’. Yet this same Maulana Fazlurrahman is today the bridge that unites Musharraf and Qazi Hussain Ahmed. Sooner or later there will be compromise between MMA and the Military junta, and losers will be the people of Pakistan. Army will have firm control of the country and so it shall be in Pakistan for many years to come.

Some 40 years ago, one resilient lady, who went by the name Fatima Jinnah, alone had the courage to challenge a dictator in a substantial manner. She was ridiculed by the establishment, humiliated and finally murdered. Then too the dictator was a man held to be a liberal and progressive patriot. He too had spoken of Economic stability, and development, but he too had trampled peoples’ rights especially their right to choose their own government. Despite being a liberal, he also had made alliances with the religious elements much to the detriment of this country. He too had rigged the elections and had depended on an establishment manufactured Muslim League to legitimise his rule. He too was ill advised by people who only told him what he wanted to hear. However he too soon lost legitimacy after the elections. Ayub Khan died an old haggard and humiliated man. This I fear is going to be end of this dictator as well.

The million dollar question is Do we have a Fatima Jinnah in our midst today? Someone who is willing to take on this dictator as a matter of principle and rub his nose in the dirt? I don’t think there is one as yet, but I believe if anyone has the potential to play that role, it has to be Benazir Bhutto. If you have a sense of history, the similarities between the two women are uncanny. First of all both of them are carrying the mantle of the men in their life ie Mohammed Ali Jinnah, and Zulfikar Ali Bhutto. Both are pitted against a system that is created to keep the incumbent in power. Both are the victims of a military bureaucracy which will stop at nothing to dislodge them. Just like the Muslim League, Jinnah’s own party, was hijacked by the establishment then (and today), similarly a substantial part of the Pakistan peoples’ Party sits shoulder to shoulder with our President calling itself the PPP(Patriots).

However such historical similarities don’t alone qualify Benazir Bhutto to be our leader in such crisis. While Fatima Jinnah won universal admiration within Pakistan and abroad, Benazir remains controversial. She has made a lot of mistakes that she has to atone for. Unlike Fatima Jinnah (and Suu Kiyi), she doesn’t have the courage to come to Pakistan and fight the dictator on his own turf. Yet if you look around, she is the only politician who commands true public support and admiration. Even in the last tampered elections, her party won the most popular vote. When you compare her to other public leaders today, she alone emerges as a sane rational and urbane politician who has a vision for Pakistan. But first she has to win the confidence of those she has disillusioned. She can start doing that by coming back to Pakistan and putting up a valiant fight at home.

As for General Musharraf, if he too has a sense of history, he will realize that hindering Benazir Bhutto would be disastrous, both for himself and Pakistan.