Musharraf and Alternative

Almost five days have passed since martial law has been declared in Pakistan by General Musharraf. Just like many times in the past, once again a person who is nothing but merely a Grade 22 officer in the military establishment has chosen to use the power against the same people on whose tax payments his kitchen runs, power that was given to him in trust by tax paying Pakistanis (profile of tax payers in Pakistan is overwhelmingly secular, tolerant and modern). In eastern traditions such behavior is highly condemned and is considered akin to saying, “jis thaali main khaaya, ussi main chaid kiyaa”, but he has managed to create a mist of confusion around his action by calling it his patriotic duty, so much so that many people have again fallen into his trap. I have never known a more apt personification of great English thinker Samuel Johnson’s saying that, “Patriotism is the last refuge of a scoundrel”; but again who the hell is Samuel Johnson to meddle into our internal affairs. He is just another constipated English character of bygone centuries irrelevant to the current situation in Pakistan.

Since then he has brutally beaten up all the terrorists in the country starting from Aasma Jahangir, Aitezaz Ahsan and other dangerous human right activists, not to mention the Lawyers’ community whose only fault is that these misguided souls think that practical world should be on the same lines that were taught to them in law schools; same law schools whose curriculum is approved and monitored by government bodies. I am sure that Government will look into the matter, and come up with curriculum that teaches more patriotism to these lawyers. Wasi Zafar, the person having the politest tongue of all in the whole regime would be an ideal choice for such reforms in legal education; or if he is not available and is busy on BBC telling an arrogant Pakistani caller not to blame Government for her financial woes but to push her husband or brother to do more, then I am sure the great constitutional mind of our time, Dr. Sher Afgan Niazi will come forward and do the job. But credit should be given to our Government for politely dealing with less dangerous people in Waziristan and Swat, and in achieving the goals of upholding government writ by exchanging some harmless jailed people with a contingent of Pakistan Army and giving them opportunity to appropriate some scenic areas of Swat to themselves. Surely, the scenic surrounding of Swat will greatly help in calming down these elements, and law and order will be restored. I have heard that people are happy in Swat now as their demand of not showing vulgarity on TV has been met with the banning of TV channels; good government always listen to its people.

But today I will not talk about the actions of government after the martial law, but want to write about alternative to the current situation. One segment of society sees no light at the end of tunnel without General Musharraf on the driving seat of Pakistani train, as his absence means the seat of governance reverted back to BB or political parties. Their argument is based on the premise that under General Musharraf, Pakistan has achieved a lot and without him the federation of Pakistan is in danger. I am sure that everyone will agree with me that if federation is still in danger, even after eight years of uninterrupted rule by the general, then there is a great need to reexamine our priorities, and the top one should be to hold accountable the person who is occupying highest office. To further enlighten the enlightened moderate supporters of general, please consider the following few achievements, among many others, during the last eight years:

ß Destruction of judiciary as an Institution;

ß Law and order situation has deteriorated to the point of almost no return;

ß Jihadis are freely hoisting their flags on government buildings in Swat (read newspapers of last few days) and are out of control in Waziristan;

ß Heart of Islamabad was taken hostage by Lal Masjid brigade under the very nose of legendry intelligence agencies;

ß Military business establishments have further thrown out the competitive business ventures. Few examples of which are:

o NLC has expanded on the expense of Pakistan Railway
o Private Construction companies are no where to be seen as most of the public work is done by army backed organizations and collapse of flyover in Karachi being their most visible achievement just after twenty five days of opening for general public;
o Private security companies owned by ex-military entrepreneurs are making huge profits by taking over the role of security providers that is traditionally the domain of law enforcement agencies. I don’t see much incentive in strengthening the police as it means decline in profits for these ventures.

Please read “Military Inc.” written by a brave soul, Ayesha Siddiqa for further enlightenment.

ß Intelligence agencies are interfering into other institutions, so much so that Chief Justice have to ask them to remove all the bugging devices from the chambers of judges;

ß Judges of Supreme Court are treated with utmost contempt like common criminals, though even a common criminal should not be treated like this in civilized society;

ß On the democratic front we were given the gifts of Chaudhries of Gujrat (Parrha likha Punjab fame), Shaukat Aziz (who must be wondering about his future career prospects now), Wasi Zafar (as I said, the politest tongue of all in the whole regime), Dr. Sher Afgan Niazi (the greatest constitutional mind that government has), Moulana Fazl-Ur-Rehman (eating halwa from government plate, and at the same time trying to get the Hasba bill passed in NWFP assembly, which he did twice but we were spared the agony courtesy of Supreme Court of Pakistan, Altaf Hussain (the Don of Karachi) and the list goes on and on;

ß The worst economic transactions possible. Examples:

o Pakistan Steel Mill. Thanks God Supreme Court interfered;

o Sale of management shares of PTCL to Etisalat of UAE with the condition that they can pay the price on deferred basis from the revenue proceeds of PTCL. Dama dum mast qalander. Even I would like to purchase PIA on these terms.

o Privatization of KESC without any regard to public interest. Ask any Karachi resident and he will tell you the story;

o Award of Gawader port operations to a Singapore company by giving forty years of tax exemptions. Mouth watering, isn’t it;

ß Highhandedness in the treatment of Baluchi resentment instead of political dialogue thus further alienating them.

And the list can go on and on. Still not convinced about the incompetence of General, consider the Kargil fiasco. From the rumors that we hear from across the border, it was rush of testosterone in General’s blood that was responsible. If he thinks that he is the most transparent of all leaders, why doesn’t he order a judicial inquiry? After all, in all civilized society, such incident would result in some sort of accountability. So is the transparency of our General, who never tires in claiming in God like tone that it is him who has given independence to media, hiding the fact that this is twenty first century and he cannot keep the media in shackles anymore.

Still not convinced, and pointing fingers at the incompetence and corruptness of BB, Nawaz Shareef and others? Is there no corruption in Musharraf regime? Is the Musharraf regime more competent than these political leaders who even I say are nothing but tin pots. So, what’s the difference I ask? Or is there the fear of breaking up of federation? Why don’t go back in history and see who the supreme ruler was when Pakistan broke up in 1971? Wasn’t General written before his name, and Field Martial before the name of his predecessor and they both ruled Pakistan between them for almost fifteen years before the surrender in Dhaka? To say that the federation of Pakistan will be in danger if democracy is restored is nothing but a great insult to the intellect of the masses of Pakistan.

Let us ask ourselves, what is the role of armed forces in the creation of this federation? When the freedom movement was in full swing, they were killing Japanese in Burma, and Germans in Middle Eastern front for the same power against whom the war of freedom was waged, although we had no animosity against these nations. Even the status they enjoy as coveted officers was not given by their white masters despite their loyalty and sacrifices to them, as no native of sub continent was given commission in armed forces till early 1930’s and the greatest achievement for a Indian was to retire as highest Non Commissioned Officer, which I think is called Subedar Major. Even the right of Indian soldiers to be accepted as commissioned officer was fought in the legislative assemblies of those days by politicians representing masses and was given to the Indian soldiers. Muhammad Ali Jinnah was part of the committee that was involved into establishment of military academy at Dehra Doon.

To say that people of Pakistan cannot govern themselves through elected representative is the same rhetoric that was given by the British leaders in old Raj days, and if it is true then why don’t we call them back as they were at least fairer in treatment towards the masses, at least relative to the current regime?

I agree that the current choices of political leadership that we have are nothing but tin pots (thanks to Yassir Lateef Hamdani for this term by which he called General Musharraf during a program on BBC), but if we keep them out, it means destruction of democratic process, which ultimately means that even genuine patriotic Pakistanis will not join the politics. If democratic process continues unhindered, a time will come when good people will emerge; same people who are currently deeply apoliticised due to destruction of institutions of politics in country. And frankly, if it means civil war, let us take it as last struggle for ultimate independence and not runway from it as we Pakistanis could be termed many things but not cowards; definitely not cowards.

So, General Musharraf, get the hell out of here and return the power to people, restore the judiciary and reinstate the constitution of Pakistan. We have had enough of you and its not working anymore. Go start farming on 200 plus acre farm in Bahawalpur, which we the people of Pakistan have generously given to you despite your show of ultimate incompetence.