Adil Najam
As I wrote yesterday, the emergency declared by Gen. Musharraf is deeply disturbing, but not really surprising. The horrendous political situation that Gen. Musharraf described in his ‘Emergency’ speech is, in fact, true.
Extremism and violence has gone out of hand. Society is deeply divided. Religion has been high-jacked and is now routinely used to incite violence. The writ of the government is being trampled. Politicians have failed and people do seek recourse in the judiciary. People are frustrated and deeply disturbed. We have been writing and discussing all of this and more on this blog repeatedly. We cannot, therefore, deny what is obvious.
However, none of this is a justification for a suspension of the Constitution and for the declaration of emergency. In fact, all this is damning evidence of government failure. A suspension of the constitution will not and cannot resolve any of these issues. It is more likely to – and has already – made each of these situations even worse.
We had written recently that Gen. Musharraf is now operating on a ‘Karr lo jo karna hai‘ philosophy… “do whatever you will, I am here to stay and will do whatever it takes.” Right now he seems to believe that an Emergency is what “it will take.” Maybe so. Maybe it will buy him a little more time to hold on to power. But, for how long? And, at what cost?
We have also written before that Pakistan is a democratic society trapped inside an undemocratic state and that we are living through Pakistan’s moment of democratic struggle. Perversely, the events of the last days have again proved this thesis. The reason that Gen. Musharraf has to apply increasingly more draconian measures to hold on to power is precisely because society is progressively unprepared to maintain a patently undemocratic order. This is precisely why the targets of this current action are the two forces that have emerged as the most vibrant and important custodians of the nation’s democratic spirit: the judiciary and the media. With politicians, who seem far less interested in real democracy, you can always cut deals; less so, it seems, with the spirit of justice and free speech!
What will happen in the next few weeks? Probably, they will get worse. Just how much worse things might become, and how, will depend on what happens in the next few hours. Benazir Bhutto is back in Pakistan, but seems mysteriously silent; or at least cautious. Word is that she will speak to the Presidency soon. What comes out of this will be important. Whether the gag on the media will be permanent or not will also matter. And if it is lifted, how will the media ‘behave’? The street reaction today (Monday), especially of the legal fraternity will be another key indicator. As always in this beloved client state of ours, the reactions from Europe and Washington – including on aid continuation – will also have an effect. But ultimately, it is really about whether the democratic spirit of the Pakistani populace will be broken or not. I suspect – I hope – it will not.
To go back to the beginning of this post. The events of the last two days are disturbing, but not surprising. A review of some of the posts on this blog posted over the last year or so, shows why. The depiction below not only provides one blogs-view of a chronology of a political meltdown, it also highlights the various dimensions of the downward spiral that Pakistani politics has been slipping down on. Without any further commentary, let me just list a few of these posts. Follow some of these links and the comments there. Doing so have been educative to me, and begins to explain just why we are where we are.
Aug. 26, 2006: Nawab Akbar Bugti Killed.
Sep. 10, 2006: Spreading Lies.
Sep. 14, 2006: Monitoring Friday Sermons by Police.
Sep. 25, 2006: Rumors of an Internal Coup Cause Frenzy in Pakistan.
Sep 30, 2006: Who is Giving Pakistan a Bad Name?
Oct. 1, 2006: Grading Gen. Musharraf: A Performance Review.
Oct. 16, 2006: Democracy in Action?
Nov. 2, 2006: The Cost of Milk and Being a Lakh Patti.
Nov. 8, 2006: Allotment of Expensive Plots for Bureaucrats.
Nov. 16, 2006: The Politics of the Women’s Rights Bill.
Nov. 18, 2006: Will the MMA Resign? And if so, then what?
Nov. 21, 2006: Another Journalist Disappears in Pakistan.
Dec. 15, 2006: Supreme Court Blocks Hasba Bill.
Dec. 28, 2006: Brutally Shameful.
Dec. 31, 2006: Cost of Living: Inflation 2006?
Jan 5, 2007: The Politics of Politics.
Jan. 26, 2007: Insecurity: Suicide Blast at Marriott Islamabad.
Feb. 21, 2007: Mad Anger: Woman Minister Murdered.
Mar. 4, 2007: Kidney Hill, Karachi: The Battle Heats Up.
Mar. 7, 2007: PTCL Fumbles a Censorship Extravaganza.
Mar. 9, 2007: President Removes Chief Justice. Why?
Mar. 12, 2007: Shameful. Distressing. Disturbing.
Mar. 13, 2007: Law Minister Wasi Zafar Misbehaving on VOA.
Mar 15, 2007: Kamran Khan Show on Geo Banned.
Mar. 23, 2007: Celebrating the Democratic Spirit.
Apr. 7, 2007: Lal Masjid Assault on Islamabad.
Apr. 18, 2007: Sahil Bachao: The Battle for Karachi’s Waterfront.
Apr. 27, 2007: Benazir Musharraf Deal.
May 4, 2007: Jahalat: Polio Vaccine Campaign Facing Threats.
May 7, 2007: ATP at the Supreme Court Today.
May 12, 2007: Karachi Burning: Clashes, Firing, Violence, Deaths.
May 12, 2007: ATP Goes to Lal Masjid.
June 1, 2007: Military Inc. Causes Waves in Pakistan.
June 2, 2007: Electronic Media Under Siege in Pakistan.
June 4, 2007: Pakistan Cracks Down on TV News Channels.
June 7, 2007: Will there be Elections in Pakistan in 2007?
June 9, 2007: CJP Crisis: Where is Pakistan’s Prime Minister?
June 23, 2007: Lal Masjid Storm Chinese Massage Parlor.
July 3, 2007: Colateral Benefits: Judicial Assertiveness in Pakistan.
July 3, 2007: ‘Operation Silence’ Against Lal Masjid Islamabad.
July 10, 2007: The Gun Battle at Lal Masjid.
July 17, 2007: Suicide Bomber Targets Lawyers Rally.
July 20. 2007: Supreme Court Reinstates the Chief Justice.
July 27, 2007: The Battle for Lal Masjid Continues.
Aug. 8, 2007: Emergency Being Declared in Pakistan? But Why?
Aug. 23, 2007: Supreme Court: Nawaz Sharif Can Return to Pakistan.
Sep. 4, 2007: Bomb Blasts in Rawalpindi: Pakistan at War.
Sep. 14, 2007: Taliban and Extremists at War Against Pakistan.
Sep. 21, 2007: Manipulated Elections: Karr lo jo karna hai.
Sep. 26, 2007: Can we disagree without being disagreeable?
Sep. 29, 2007: Disturbing Images from Islamabad.
Oct. 6, 2007: Musharraf Gets Votes, But Loses Big Time.
Oct. 10, 2007: Emerging Shape of Pakistan Politics.
Oct. 18, 2007: More than 100 Dead… And Benazir Returns.
Oct. 19, 2007: The Midnight Attack.
Oct. 21, 2007: The Doctrine of Necessity.
Nov. 3, 2007: Emergency Declared in Pakistan.
True its time to suffer… Nation can do nothing. Emergency just another name of torture…. Also read an interesting article on the following link that truely portrays whats going on during emergency:
http://www.chowrangi.com/nation-wide-torture-goes- on.html
Thank you for this wonderful post. We decided to feature this post as part of today’s World section on The Issue, a blog newspaper that handpicks the best blog posts each day. You can see the post by going to http://www.TheIssue.com and looking for it in the World section. Keep up the great work!
Matt
The Issue
Editorial, The News, Nov. 6, 2007
US role & reaction
The United States is in a real soup after the second Musharraf coup against his own self. Statements of top US leaders betray a sense of helplessness in the White House, the State Department and the Pentagon. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice has come out strongly demanding that Musharraf should quit his army post and Pakistan should move towards elections under the constitution. She also said America would review its aid package to Pakistan and implicitly, but belatedly, also admitted to a serious US policy flaw in relying too much on Musharraf which Washington has been doing for the past six years. Defence Secretary Robert Gates on Monday asked Musharraf to return his country to a law-based, constitutional and democratic rule as soon as possible saying that the state of emergency and suspension of the constitution was a disturbing development. A White House spokesman chipped in, saying that the move was unfortunate. The defence secretary further said that the US was reviewing all assistance programmes and the Pentagon also later said that it was suspending its annual defence talks in Islamabad scheduled to begin today. Influential US senators have been talking even tougher. The chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, Democratic Senator Joe Biden, has been severely critical of the Bush administration’s “Musharraf policy” saying that this is why Washington’s options are now limited. He also said that he would be pushing the US president for a review of the relationship to make it focus on channelling aid to help moderates in Pakistan.
Another influential member of the US Senate, Republican Senator Arlen Specter said he would not support American aid to Pakistan with the new development since these were against the cause of democracy. The senator said that America needed to get “very tough with the dictator”. It should be remembered that these are not empty words, because those who have spoken them do have the power to influence policymaking in America. Many US think-tanks and analysts had been for days cautioning the Bush administration of the consequences of a policy that relied too much on a dictator who was fast losing popularity and his grip on power — and their warnings have now become reality. A change in US policy is thus very much on the cards, especially when one considers that both houses of Congress are controlled by the Democrats, who have been at odds with President Bush over his handling of the war on terror and specifically Pakistan. Besides, many Americans will question the sending of billions of taxpayer dollars to prop a military dictator who has ravaged the constitution and trampled on human rights and the press in his own country. It would be fair to say that Washington’s continued display of support for General Musharraf is crucial to his survival. The nature of the emergency — which is nothing more nor less than a severe martial law — is such that this support may well be coming to an end.
The US is only worried about the war on terror and the 24,000 US troops next to the troubled Pakistani tribal areas. If Washington gets assurances from Pakistani power brokers and stakeholders that its interests will be watched, personalities may no longer be of interest to it. Right or wrong, the US has acquired a balancing role in Pakistan’s domestic power games. It is time now that it stood on the side of democracy and stopped working with an autocrat whose only objective seems to be to preserve his own rule at any cost, regardless of what happens to his country and its people.
Editorial, The News, Nov. 6, 2007
Filling the jails
The country’s jails are fast filling up as ever greater numbers of miscreants and extremists, dangerous men and women all, arrive at their gates. They come by the van-load, bumped and bruised, battered and beaten, having been detained after being caught red-handed in the act of committing a felony — a felony usually taking the form of standing in the road and waving a banner or, at the more serious end of the spectrum, shouting a slogan. This includes hundreds of lawyers who have been brutally beaten and arrested nationwide as well as members of civil society voicing their protest against the whims of one man bent on pushing the country to ruin. Some of those newly sampling life in jail have clearly crossed the boundary into out-and-out terrorism — they have declared themselves to be politicians, no less, and have been duly carried off to await an uncertain fate.
Curiously, none of these dangers to the security of the nation appear to have been — at the time of their arrest or detention — in possession of anything more lethal than a fine legal mind, a couple of ball-pens and some hastily scribbled notes. Some of them come equipped with the kind of intellect that can stop a man dead in his tracks at a hundred meters. Others possess yet more dangerous weaponry — they have the ability to string half-a-dozen words together coherently whilst at the same time holding several conflicting ideas in their head at the same time — self-evidently, they are all individuals likely to shake the pillars of society to their foundations. Which is why they are being locked up
BREAKING NEWS: CJP ADDRESSES RALLIES
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http://youtube.com/watch?v=sVW2h6fYRME