Adil Najam
Further to our earlier post, an interesting - and rather bizarre - twist to the frenzy around Gen. Musharraf’s current US tour took place this Sunday when rumours of a potential coup in Pakistan began doing the round all over Pakistan.
According to the Daily Times (25 September, 2006):
President Gen Pervez Musharraf’s medical check up in a Texas hospital and a countrywide power breakdown combined to spark rumours of a military coup in the country on Sunday. Gen Musharraf underwent routine testing during an unannounced visit to the rural east Texas town of Paris, and was “found to be in excellent health” according to a statement from Paris Regional Medical Centre. Information Minister Muhammad Ali Durrani said Gen Musharraf visited a friend who is a cardiologist at the hospital and he suggested the president be examined. “He is as fit as a horse” Mr Durrani said.
However, in Pakistan, various rumours went around stating that the president had been poisoned, had had major heart surgery, or had been “detained” by the US for revealing the Bush administration’s threat to bomb Pakistan after the 9/11 attacks. A nationwide power breakdown in the afternoon then led to further confusion and anxiety, with speculation rampant that someone called General Saleem had staged a military coup and the assemblies had been dissolved. The breakdown also meant television stations went off air and the Internet was inaccessible. Previous coups in Pakistan have been accompanied by an information clampdown for several hours. Daily Times and other media offices were inundated with phone calls from across the country from people wanting to know if the coup rumours were true.
General Musharraf’s reaction to all of this: “Pakistan is not a banana republic. Everything is normal. There is no coup.” A similar report in Dawn (25 September, 2006):
…Newspaper offices were deluged with calls by concerned people who said they had heard on the grapevine that there had been a putsch in Islamabad following reports that the president had suffered a heart attack during his visit to the United States. Callers from Quetta said jubilant crowds poured on to the streets and fired into the air to celebrate the government’s removal.
Paying a visit to a local Sunday bazaar, a visibly chagrined Prime Minister Shaukat Aziz told a reporter that his question about a change of government did not warrant an answer. “Why do you ask about something that hasn’t occurred at all” said the prime minister in an effort to lay the rumour at rest. The prime minister said that he was actually concerned about the countrywide power breakdown.
… Minister of State for Information Tariq Azeem told a hurriedly-called press conference that a technical fault had sent Wapda’s electricity network reeling. While there were few takers for the government’s explanation about the reason of the power outage, some believed that an act of sabotage was responsible for the electricity breakdown throughout the country. Unconvinced cynics also feared that an unreported deterioration in President Musharraf’s health allowed a rumour about the change of government to fast gain ground. Instead of issuing a direct denial, the government released the latest footage of the president’s visit to the United States, showing Gen Musharraf in fine fettle.
Government officials said people heaved a sigh of relief when they saw that the president was not unwell. But opposition leaders said that they were certain that reports of the change of government were greeted not by alarm but a sense of relief by the masses.
the rumor, of course, was false and the product of overly fertile minds. However, the way the rumour spread says much about our national penchant for rumours, and also about the state of ‘edge’ on which we are forever perched, and the precariousness of Pakistan politics today.
All this load sheddding is getting to peoples heads and making them more paranoid than they usually are
All said and done, Musharraf is a man under tremendous pressure that no world leader endures today. I would never want to be in his shoes. I’m sincere when I say that the man has not aged that much in 5 years and looks remarkably good looking for 63. For example, most U.S. Presidents age due to job pressure while in office.. Clinton aged quickly and do did Bush, Blair and even Hilary Clinton. I admire his resilience under continued onslaught from all quarters and surviving 3 attempts on his life -politicians in Pakistan, ordinary Pakistanis, the international media, the Pentagon, Bush, India, Hamid Karzai.. and so on.. this guy has special qualities. He may not be well liked and may not even despised by many, but one has to admire his guts. If I were him, I would take a well deserved rest.
This editorial in Tuesday Daily Times makes same point:
“First reports came from America that General Pervez Musharraf had secretly gone to a small town in Texas and been hospitalised. This was cause for concern since this trip wasn’t on his announced timetable. Rumour mongers quickly concluded that perhaps he’d had a heart attack. At about the same time, a technical fault in WAPDA’s transmission network caused a nationwide power breakdown which meant that the TV screens and broadband Internet went down abruptly. The ground was ripe for rumours of a military coup, dissolution of assemblies and much worse. People calling up newspaper offices suspected the power supply had been cut to keep the country’s private TV channels from informing people about “an army takeoverâ€Â?.
If symptoms depend on reflex, this was a collective reflex, some Pakistani, some Third World â€â€? the ruler is overthrown when he is out of the country, as was the case of the Thai prime minister last week. And it is usually the army that takes over, even when it is already being ruled by a general. Presiding over such developments is the tragedy of a total lack of national consensus. The politicians allow governance to slide till the people want them out. The new military ruler soon gets himself into the same trouble. After that, people start fearing (some even hoping for) another toppling and another foredoomed period of misgovernment.”
I watched Musharraf’s interview with Steve Kroft of CBS 60 Minutes. Though he stumbled a few times, he spoke in measured tones most of the time.
Most of this is funny in a depressing sort of way. But it is your last line that is noteworthy. We are living on the edge. Rumors are everywhere but they are also very beliveable. That means people are EXPECTING something like this. This alwasy happens in Pakistan before a big change is about to happen. What will be that change?
Bilal,
“Old soldiers never die, they just fade away” may have been true for soldiers in the US or elsewhere but in Pakistan old soldiers (and old politicians) often die, but they rarely fade away.
Given that he is now writing his memoirs, one is made to think if this is the end of his era.
Is he planning to retire? Is this book supposed to be a face-saving option out of the political world and into the philosophical and rhetorical, where he, maybe a bit like Mahatir, would go around the world giving lectures on Islam in trying times?
Rumors are Rumors, but its sad to see such a waste of tax payer money to sponsor a full presidential delegation for a visit to the US all so that he could launch his book in a grandeur style. While the people of Pakistan sit around a candle twriling their fingers without Electricty as if they were in the “stone ages”
Someone jokingly said, lets organize the next years UN General Meeting at a Barnes & Noble, where Chavez could push for Noam Chomsky and Musharraf could be signing his book.
I suspect it wont be long before leaders (or publicist) may start seeing this as a golden opportunity to market and promote. Many leaders may even take Musharraf’s lead and start publishing their autobiography “in-office” as then its bound to be an instant best seller.