Pakistan Elections 2008: The Flawed Boycott Mantra?

Posted on February 24, 2008
Filed Under >Raza Rumi, Politics
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Raza Rumi

Pakistan votes 2008Much has been said on how the election results are a referendum against the policies of General Musharraf. While there can be little disagreement with this, there is a clear lesson for Pakistan’s urban intelligentsia that had been screaming about the futility of this election.

True, Pakistan’s troubled polity will not transform overnight, nor will the endemic civil-military imbalance dissipate in the air with the formation of the new civilian government. But this is the magic of electoral politics — it allows the least risky path to a civilian transition. The road ahead is messy we know, but that is the only road that a fractured polity can tread.

The classic failure of the Pakistani urban educated will not go unnoticed. Led by the rhetoric Imran Khan, the delusions of the lawyers’ movement and the rake opportunism of Qazi Hussain Ahmed and General Hameed Gul, the boycott chanting individuals and groups should re-examine their standpoint and ultimately their “politics.”

Unwittingly, they took the risky path of de-legitimising the main political parties that have had the roughest time during the Musharraf years. This was also the time, which the electorate vividly remembers, that Qazi and his allies were feasting on the fruits of power in two provinces and were de facto beneficiaries of the establishment. Not to mention that Mr Imran Khan was campaigning for the general during his referendum. The urban classes term the mainstream politics as “feudal” and the participants “uneducated.” This has to change, lest the opinion leaders are relegated to the dustbin of history. This dustbin already contains some rudiments of political streams, not to mention the left parties, such as the one headed by Mr Abid Hasan Minto, harping on the boycott mantra and middle-class pretensions over the National Reconciliation Ordinance.

In a country of 160 million people with strong traditions of democratic yearning, the process of change cannot be articulated outside the mainstream electoral politics, however faulty the political parties. This is the biggest lesson we have learned. Mian Nawaz Sharif who was lambasted for his pragmatism now stands vindicated. And, above all, the vision of Benazir Bhutto, who was attacked left right and centre for insistence on the electoral route, stands validated. There could not have been a better tribute to her legacy.

The PPP may or may not be able to form the government, but that it led the process towards a peaceful, democratic–even quasi-democratic–transition is something that will be recorded in not so unflattering terms by history. By prevailing on Mian Nawaz Sharif not to leave the field vacant, the PPP also takes in some measure the ironic credit of the near-glorious comeback of the PML-N in Punjab.

Another myth, fuelled by this flawed “politics,” traced the rise of Islamism in the North West Frontier Province due to General Musharraf’s backing of the war on terror and the invasion of Afghanistan. What could be farther from the truth. The ANP and the PPP have bagged all the key seats, including those in areas where the spill over of war on terror was intense. The people of the Frontier, before sorting out the mess in Afghanistan through jihad, want peace and an end to the imposed parochialism of the clerics.

The erstwhile sponsored face of Islamism — the Muttahida Majlis-e-Amal — has been routed. The people of NWFP have rejected outright these rentier clerics that use Islamisation for power and pelf. There were many who said that Benazir Bhutto’s rhetoric against fundamentalism would be counterproductive; and the results from NWFP and Balochistan speak otherwise. That she could say it so forcefully is partly why she was forced to sleep in the enigmatic precincts of Garhi Khuda Bux.

These elections are also a slap on the face of the global corporate media (and their backers, the global military machine) that had painted Pakistan as a breeding ground for Islamic extremism and, dare I say, terrorism. And the global campaign on declaring Pakistan as the most dangerous country was nothing but trappings of an ignorant and imperial discourse.

In the final analysis, the people and the ousted political parties are the biggest winners, while the Musharraf paradigm has been trashed. Sadly, Pakistan’s naïve intelligentsia has also received a jolt as its boycott mantra will rest in peace along with the “true” democracy project and the rent-seeking devolution plan. The electoral defeat of Daniyal Aziz says it all.

The lawyers’ movement and its ardent supporters in the Pakistani urban bourgeoisie may consider reflecting on and devising ways whereby the incoming parliament is not de-legitimised or unduly pressured. The much abused rule of law is meaningless as a concept without political struggles and parties; lest we would like it to be reduced to debating clubs and internet groups or worse to “letterhead” parties, a phrase that our maverick Maulana of the MMA has added to our political lexicon. If the forthcoming parliament is painted as a sell-out just in case it does not deliver on the shopping list of the boycotters, this would be tragic. Reform is a frustrating and slow process that if derailed in Pakistan takes a decade to resume. Our present plight is a testament to this historical cycle.

Ultimately, the causes espoused by the urban groups and lawyers’ movement could only be negotiated and articulated by a sovereign parliament and a responsible executive that is answerable to the electorate. Mercurial benches at the Supreme Court or overzealous TV talk show hosts, important as they are, cannot replace this imperative.

– This article also appeared in the Daily News of Februrary 21, 2008

36 responses to “Pakistan Elections 2008: The Flawed Boycott Mantra?”

  1. Laila Ahmed says:

    I supported the lawyers movement and the boycott but I have to admit the credit of the change goes to Benazir Bhutto more than any one else. She instructed the lawyers in her party (Aitzaz Ahsan, Latif Khosa, Zammurud Khan, others) to support them, asked her party workers who sacrficed their lives (more PPP workers suffered on May 12 in Karachi than of any other group, PPP’s camp in Islamabad was bombed and their candidate lost his leg), and executed the two-pronged strategy of street plus forcing Musharraf to take his uniform off.

    At the time, I criticised her, doubted her game plan but it was her who after Nov. 03 offered any meaningful resistance to Musharraf and mobilized the masses at a time when the lawyers’ protests had dwindled to a few hundred and that too mostly around Lahore and Islamabad.

    She moved bravely around the country going to Sukkur, Quetta, Lahore, Peshawar, Mardan and galvanised the people. By the time she reached Rawalpindi, she had put Mushrraf on the defensive. She persuaded Nawaz Sharif to participate in the elections and offer resistance. She was an astutue politician and in hindsight, it was her strategy of moving forward bit by bit and isolating Musharraf, that pai off. Yes, lawyers made a difference but what transformed the political scene was her arrival on October 18. That was the biggest demonstration of people power that no leader, NGO, party, lawyer, alliance, had been able to do since October 12, 1999. She did make mistakes, but her role after her return will be remembered in golden words. She redeemed herself and bravely fought despite knowing very well and in great detail that assassins were out there to kill het.

  2. Rizwan says:

    People like Imran Khan do not understand that 60 years of mess in Pakistan can not be fixed over night. We all understand Imran khan wants no flexibility and he does not understand that a stick without flexibility breaks and the one bends comes back to original place. USA gives Pakistan Money ever think why? Because they bend for the interest of USA. Imran Khan thinks as a ruler one can refuse all the diplomatic options and do what ruler believes in . He must understand its easy to sit outside and talk and the pressure Musharraf has faced only he knows better. Musharraf is fellow Pakistani and have some respect for him.Use brain for God sake Learn from USA they bend over to anyone for the interest of USA. Nothing wrong with that one should look after the interest of their country.

  3. faraz siddiqui says:

    Eidee man,

    Let me compare Pakistan with India and explain why democracy is not a suucess in Pakistan. It is very east to put all blame on MQM and Army but they are just part of problem.

    1. Feudal Lords:
    India abolish Feudal systems in 1948 and we still have this system.

    2. Weapons.
    Because of our proximity and involvement in Afghan war, we have millions of weapons in hand of civilians and in India it is very difficult to have weapons.

    3. Ethinic Politics and struggle between ethinicities:

    Most of political parties play ethnic card. In my childhood my father was psoted in “Mehar” which is a small city in northern Sind. I have know PPP play ethnic politics in rural Sind. similarly Muslim league use ethinic card in Punjab against PPP.

    I think the reason is that we dont have proper powers to provincial and local governments. Democracy should not mean rule of Punjab over smaller provinces on federel level or rule of one part of province over other on provincial level.

    Some leaders of NS are talking about abolishing city government altogether. NS use to govern sind on emergency basis on his last term by governer. Our feudal landlords,MQM and Scion like NS are not democratic in nature.

    The only hope I see is lawyer movements and truly free judionary.

  4. MQ says:

    In the hindsight, not boycotting the election was clearly a wise and good decision. (Credit for this goes to BB for not only participating in the election but also influencing PMLN and ANP to do so.) Just look at some of the dividends, other than a real possibility of a truly representative and civilian government coming into being:

    Mullahs are out of our hair in the NWFP — hopefully, for good.

    The Shuj of Guj (ugah, mugah, wugah

  5. Faraz says:

    Eidee, we hate these NS, Zardari and the rest so much that it drives us nuts when you talk about things getting better under these lutairas. It’s hard to admit, but this “democracy” is our best option. Some of us are just having a hard time swallowing the argument that the people who have failed twice in the past are the solution.

    However, for democracy to work the people must be able to freely exercise their right to vote. This is a very key point. In the past that hasn’t happened. I don’t how much of Pakistan is still under the feudal lords. That’s one problem. The other is terror politics. MQM is a fabulous example of that. Democracy is supposed to be a self-correcting process, but only if people are allowed to vote freely.

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