The political temperature is rising. Last week was quite eventful. The next few weeks could prove more nettlesome. The military government continues to disappoint with false starts and empty threats. Consider.
The home minister is acquiring a reputation for bluster. The thunder of deweaponisation has been reduced to an ineffectual ban on display. You and I, dear reader, hapless as we are, tremble in anticipation of the general’s wrath as we scurry to bury our double-barreled family heirlooms. But the lashkars in Muridke, Azad Kashmir and the NWFP make bold to stick “Up Yours” in the gleaming barrels of their guns, rocket launchers and bazookas. Meanwhile, General Sahib has swiftly moved on to target the smugglers. Pay 60% duty or else, he wags his finger. Or else what, ask the smugglers in unison. Pay 20% duty or else, he scowls. Or else what, they chorus, warming to the theme. We won’t settle for anything less than Rs 50,000 a head, he sputters. Take Rs 10,000 or buzz off, they shrug. End of dialogue.
The chief executive has gone and done one better. He kicked off by praising Kamal Ataturk, the secular founder of modern Turkey. Just as we were beginning to nod approval, he was already clarifying that it was Ataturk the soldier who had impressed him so much rather than Ataturk the political leader. One statement from Qazi Hussain Ahmad, it seemed, was sufficient to chastise the well-meaning general. Meanwhile, the radical 7-point reformist agenda outlined in his opening speech has all but disappeared from the horizon. Instead we were offered the sop of a conference on human rights whose high point was a commitment to take the mischief out of the notorious blasphemy law. Just as we muttering that something was better than nothing, and thanking God that the general had been Man enough to call the mullahs’ bluff, the man stepped off his state-craft at the tarmac and uttered the fateful words: I take it back. A short, sorry sentence for General Musharraf. A giant, ungainly yank for the nation. A wretched watershed, an irretrievable precursor of worse to follow. It would have been far better for everyone if he had never taken the first halting step than for him to have halted in midway-house and beaten such a sorry retreat at the first sign of opposition from the God-fearing beards.
Not to be outdone, the chief justice of the supreme court has verily yorked us out. We are astonished to learn that General Pervez Musharraf did not usurp power by overthrowing the legitimately elected government of former prime minister Nawaz Sharif. This leaves us wondering whether the verdict would have been the same if General Musharraf had not succeeded in his counter-attack. We are stunned to discover that Nawaz Sharif’s sacking of General Musharraf on the fateful afternoon of October 12, 1999, was “without legal effect” because it was “arbitrary”. This leaves us suspicious of the legality of General Jehnagir Karamat’s equally abrupt sacking a year earlier. We are shocked to observe that “there was no other way to remove a corrupt government except through the intervention of the armed forces”. This leaves us dumbfounded at the summary manner in which the petition challenging the 13th amendment (which got rid of the 8th amendment) was dispatched by the same court a couple of years ago. We are struck by the unprecedented audacity of the judgment which explicitly grants, nay encourages, General Musharraf to abrogate not just everyday provisions of the constitution but our very own sacred fundamental rights. We are overwhelmed by the thought that he may amend the constitution at will because the apex court has already granted him the right in advance rather than for him to be constrained by the thought of having to get all his actions indemnified at a later stage by the elected representatives of the people of Pakistan.
Thanks to the supreme court, General Musharraf has got 30 more months in which to deliver the promised land. The uncertainty about his regime’s legitimacy and longevity should no longer pull at his coattails. No great time-consuming court battles lie ahead to detract him from his job. He is all-powerful, the very embodiment of every budding reformer’s wildest, most passionate dreams. There is no room or excuse for failure any more. Why then does a clutch of generals protest that there is not time enough to accomplish the agenda at hand?
Let us get real. The regime’s first seven months have been painfully amateurish. Tall promises have been wrecked at the altar of weak resolve or lack of political vision. Foreign policy is up the creek. The economy is down in the dumps. Law and order is breaking down. The bureaucracy is alienated. The provinces are sulking. Big business wants to flee. Small business is up in arms. The mullahs are rampaging. The jehadis are smacking their lips. Ordinary folks are bewildered. Some neighbours are bristling with contempt. Others are seething with rage. Yet General Pervez Musharraf is sanguine that everything is under control, there is nothing to worry about. Have a heart, General. Give us a break, please.