The Future of Pakistan

The piece below was written by a friend with deep knowledge of and interest in Pakistan’s politics. I’m reprinting it here, as I think it’s a good background piece for anyone who is under the impression that the coalition that ousted Musharraf can be relied upon to govern Pakistan in a transparent and democratic way.  Some may object to the relatively generous treatment afforded Musharraf, but I think it’s an honest view.  It’s been slightly edited (and, of course, if you’re reading this from the Pakistani Embassy and I’ve just applied for a visa, I totally didn’t write this).

With Musharraf Gone, Will the “Democratic” Leaders Deliver?

An interesting article from today’s NYT appeared here. One thing clearly missing from the discussions of Musharraf unpopularity in Pakistan, is a discussion of his ethnicity. The international media has completely ignored this factor.

In the past the three military dictators that have come and gone from the Pakistani political scene have belonged to Punjab and/or the North West Frontier Province. Except for Zia who was killed in a plane bombing, the others were given safe abodes within Pakistan. While what Mr. Musharraf did to the judiciary and the rule of law in Pakistan was wrong, three military dictators in the past and several democratically elected regimes in the past have done worse than him.

We must not forget that it was Zulfiqar Ali Bhutto (Benazir’s father) and his co-conspirators in the then Pakistan army in 1971, that refused to accept a democratically elected Mujir-ur-Rahman – who was of Bengali descent – as prime minister. Simply because he was not from the same ethnic group as Bhutto (Sindhi) or the mainstream Army (Punjabi) he was declared a traitor and attacked. Also, the Bengali’s were not so invested in West Pakistan’s fight with India, and they were also eager to rid the country of the supremacy of the landed aristocracy. The result was that Bangladesh was created and Pakistan lost the majority of its population in a bloody war of secession.

Musharraf has been the only President of Pakistan and one of very few heads of its military in recent past to belong from the immigrant, or Urdu speaking population that migrated form India in 1947. His popularity among the urban middle class, particularly in Karachi still remains. He has been able to keep the country together in times of violent internal conflict along ethnic and sectarian lines. He is a man truly from the middle class, committed to secularism and religious tolerance, and above all a man, cleaner in his financial dealings than any other politician in Pakistan.

Asif Zardari’s (the current leader of the PPP) corruption is of world famous proportions and Mr. Nawaz’s Sharif’s connections to the military regime of general Zia and his treatment of the judiciary in the past is also not a badge of honor for him. It is therefore odd that Mr. Nawaz Sharif has been the loudest proponent of the restoration of the Justices sacked by president Musharraf. His love of the supremacy of the judiciary can be verified by reading this article. Incidentally no lawyer’s movement was undertaken against the excesses (nearly murder of the sitting Chief Justice in 1997) committed by these former “democratic” rulers of Pakistan. May we ask why Mr. Sharif is so desirous of the restoration of the judges sacked by Musharraf? What has changed since 1997 that has brought him about to believe in the independence of the judiciary?

The records of both the PPP and the PML-N on ethnic based violence has not been good. Hundreds of thousands of innocent citizens were routinely killed by the military and police under the rule of these parties. Asif Zardari is known to have been involved in the murder of Murtaza Bhutto, Benazir’s brother and heir to the legacy of their father Zulfiqar Ali Bhutto over a likely dispute over inheritance. Nawaz Sharif was involved, among other things, in the likely murder (though averted) of several hundred innocent passengers aboard the plane carrying Pervez Musharraf before his bloodless coup. There has been no accountability of this to date.

Here is what Fatima Bhutto, Murtaza Bhutto’s daughter has to say about things:

But Nawaz Sharif and Asif Zardari are unelected. They’re not just unrepresentative in that they don’t hold seats in the parliament – they have absolutely no mandate in Pakistan. They head the two largest, and most corrupt, parties in the state but hold no public office. Pots and kettles.

The rest of the coterie that wields power behind this administration, the attorney general and the interior minister for instance, also happen to be unelected. They serve, and I use the term ever so lightly, by appointment only. Some 170 million Pakistanis have lived under military rule of law for nine years. Musharraf stepping down from his army post has not changed that. Neither did the recent selections. Sorry, I meant elections, obviously.

Musharraf was the only one who made peace in Karachi. Both successive governments of the PPP and the PML-N had on going military cleansing operations in Karachi. Ostensibly to root out terrorists. But truth be told Karachi was only demanding its rightful share in national politics and for that, democratic urge, it was punished. Musharraf was the only one who brought some long needed medicine to the wounds inflicted on Karachi by both the PPP and the PML-N.

It is also noteworthy that the PPP and PML-N both have their powerbases in the traditional FEUDAL / land owning aristocratic traditions of Pakistani politics. You need only to visit with some of the peasants working on the farms owned by these multimillionaire absentee landlords to witness first hand what their highest aspirations are of how they wish to treat those they rule. In their minds their right to rule over millions of hungry, poor, ill-clothed, ill treated peasants is god given. And in exchange they receive the never ending loyalty and devotion of a ill-informed and unprotected sea of peasant workers who have been tied to their ill destiny for generations.

Many argue that this ruling class of 20 or so families who own the majority of the agricultural land in Pakistan is the real stumbling block in the path of Pakistan’s progress. They have traditionally supported the military and indeed it is under their rule that the military has continued to thrive and grow. They have also been the same people who encouraged and gave government backing to Islamic militancy. They are the ones who turned a blind eye to the madness of the mullahs for over three decades. Musharraf put an end to this ascendancy of the mullahs and put them in their place, at least in the cities. If only Musharraf had acted against the feudal lords and truly brought justice to the landless peasants, whose number is in the millions, then he might have been remembered as a great man. Only he had a real ability to deliver this much needed relief to Pakistan – something that India and Bangladesh have achieved since the British departed. Pakistan has not been able to get it self rid of the old systems of nawabs and zamindars or feudal landlords who have a monopoly in land. It is their inefficient systems of agriculture that have lead to a near disaster in the supply of food commodities. The pitiful labor conditions on the farms are well known.

All this needs to be kept in mind as we proceed in this difficult time.