Audacious or blunt, opportunistic or pragmatic, General Pervez Musharraf seems a remarkable person. He appears neither as rigid as his old uniform might warrant nor as diplomatic as his new position might demand. His arguments are invariably tempered by realism rather than rhetoric. Indeed, his plain-talking and flexibility may have won him more friends at home and abroad than his critics might wish to concede.
General Musharraf’s exceptional performance at the National Seerat Conference in Islamabad on June 6th merits comment. Until now, no political or military leader in the history of Pakistan has had the courage or integrity to call a spade a spade in front of the aggressive, self-appointed “guardians of Islam” and self-righteous “defenders of the identity” of Pakistan. Indeed, if the orthodoxy was confirmed in its suspicions that General Musharraf is unlikely to do its bidding blindly, the liberals were left wondering whether the general might somehow fit their own bill rather smugly. In all honesty, though, who can disagree with the gist of what General Musharraf said that day?
What is so “Islamic” about our country when Sunnis and Shias, and now Deobandis and Brelvis, are killing each other so wantonly, when we are so devoid of a sense of brotherhood and tolerance, when there is no justice for the poor and destitute, when our women are relegated to second-class citizenship? Who can blame the international community for calling us an “irresponsible” or “failed” or “terrorist” state when our religious leaders are quick to hurl outlandish threats? Who will invest in our country if it is constantly rocked by senseless religious strife and violence? Since no nation is an island, how can Pakistan survive in hostility to the global community? The root cause of our instability lies in mixing religion, which is pure, with politics, which is dirty. Could General Musharraf have said half as much last year?
With hindsight, we think probably not. A case in point is the proposal to amend the procedure of filing a case under the blasphemy law. The idea was sound enough since the law is exploited by all manner of vested interests. In fact, a representative government had drafted the necessary changes already. But General Musharraf was ready to backtrack when his intelligence agencies revealed how the religious parties intended to stir up trouble for the government if the proposed changes were implemented. (In one scenario, a religious party would stage an angry demonstration in which a copy of the Holy Quran would accidentally fall to the ground and be trampled upon, thereby enraging the mobs and provoking widespread arson). Why, he was advised, should the military government stir a hornets’ nest, when the politicians and businessmen were already up in arms against the military government, India was fomenting trouble, the economy was down in the dumps and the international community wasn’t being terribly helpful? One step forward might have become two steps back.
Clearly, General Musharraf is not on such a weak wicket any longer. He has rung changes in the army’s high command so that all critical slots are manned by hand-picked generals loyal to him. He has neutralised India and the international community by initiating the regional peace process and buckling down to IMF conditions. He has assuaged the prickly domestic business community by nudging NAB to focus on the public sector while restraining the ubiquitous CBR from fishing in troubled waters. And he has successfully unleashed the process of local elections, thereby isolating the traditional political parties in the run-up to the general elections next year. If ever there was a budding Bonaparte in Pakistan, it is General Pervez Musharraf.
That should not be misconstrued as a compliment. While modern-day Bonapartism could conceivably act as an anti-status quo force favouring modernity and assimilation rather than backwardness and isolation, as in 18th century absolutist Europe, it has no lasting place in a budding 21st century third world democracy like Pakistan. The task for General Musharraf is to initiate the process of growth, globalisation and modernity in a progressively democratic environment without unleashing any of the turmoil and instability associated with rapid change in a largely static society, and then exiting from the scene in a voluntary and organised manner. Anything less than that would be unacceptable to civil society. And anything more than that could be personally perilous for General Musharraf. Is the road clear?
No, it’s not. There is a contradiction between continuing to sponsor jehad as state policy and buttoning up the religious activists in the interest of domestic stability. There is a contradiction between squeezing the public for greater revenues and channelling them into unproductive defence expenditures. There is a contradiction between remaining uneducated and attempting to retool our labour force for IT purposes. There is a contradiction between plans for devolution of power and the state’s preferred mode of centralism. There is a contradiction between constantly stockpiling and upgrading nuclear and missile materials while asking the international community to write off or reschedule our staggering foreign debt. And so on. The sooner General Pervez Musharraf removes these contradictions from Pakistan’s reckoning, the better. Words alone will not suffice. We need action.