General Pervez Musharraf has been going around publicly touting the Lahore Marathon held under the patronage of the Punjab government some months ago as a sign of his regime’s “enlightened moderation” policies aimed at impressing the world. Now his erstwhile “strategic” partners in the Muttahida Majlis-e-Amal have told him where to get off. Emboldened by their grand “victory” over the religion column issue, the mullahs have tasted blood. Indeed, they spilt a lot of it in Gujranwala the other day in furtherance of their goals. Armed with batons and spikes, and foaming at the mouth about the participation of women in a mini-marathon organized by the district government, they attacked the police and forced a cancellation of the event. Not so long ago, the rabid Taliban in Afghanistan were doing much the same thing. The cowardly administrations of Bahawalpur, Sargodha and Multan have quickly caved in and postponed or cancelled similar events or banned women from participating. The MMA’s fiery spokesmen have warned that they will resort to greater violence to impose their views on society. So much for their democratic credentials.
The Punjab parliament has roared its disapproval, accusing the MMA of terrorism. The Punjab CM, Chaudhry Pervez Elahi, has exhorted the district administrations not to buckle down. Fat lot of good this statement will do. Even if the administrators can pluck up the courage to go ahead with their plans, which is extremely doubtful, which self-respecting or concerned family will allow its women to participate in a mini-marathon targeted by violent mullahs? No, the MMA has succeeded once again in sabotaging General Musharraf’s doctrine of enlightened moderation and the state has once again abandoned its citizens.
The MMA comprises the same people with whom General Musharraf’s military establishment did profitable business for decades in pursuit of misplaced notions of strategic depth; these are the same partners who fueled the military’s jihadist policies; these are the same folk who gave succour to the Taliban and Al Qaeda; these are the same forces which the military establishment consciously enabled to storm parliament in the 2002 elections at the expense of the mainstream liberal parties; these are the same parties with which General Musharraf clinched a “constitutional deal” in 2003; these are the same gents from among whom General Musharraf preferred to choose the leader of the opposition to sit with him in the grand National Security Council; these are the same forces whose advice and threats General Musharraf has constantly heeded in relation to the most oppressive laws in Pakistan. Worse, much worse, these are the very people who want to eliminate General Musharraf from the reckoning in Pakistan!
We recently wrote that there is a mismatch between public policy and public opinion but argued that it would not seriously destabilize the government if it dug its heels in and refused to surrender to the religious extremists. Now the MMA has taken up arms at home and the jihadis have launched attacks to derail the Kashmir bus initiative – the attack on the bus station in Srinagar on the eve of the historic first bus is an act of premeditated terrorism. In both instances, the aims of the perpetrators are the same: challenge General Musharraf at home and undermine his foreign policies abroad in order to weaken and get rid of him before transforming Pakistan into the first jihadist, pro-Al-Qaeda nuclear state in the world.
And what, pray, is the good general doing to stave off mounting threats to his person and policies? “The army is not involved in politics and the cabinet takes all decisions”. He said this after he had explained away the retreat on the religion column by referring to the unanimous decision of the five member cabinet committee tasked with deliberating the issue. But we know that a swift policy reversal was ordered by the khakis and the civilians meekly complied.
Before General Musharraf was compelled to seize power and enter the domain of politics, he was a happy-go-lucky soldier interested only in soldiering. Indeed, one of the reasons why former premier Nawaz Sharif chose him as army chief was his avowed reputation for being apolitical. The problem is that even now his analysis is seriously circumscribed by his political isolation. All his close advisors, save one, are military men, cocooned in standard operating procedures, brimming with confidence, susceptible to the calibrated formulations and machinations of intelligence agencies. Who among them will tell him that serious and concerned and powerful people at home and abroad are beginning to ask many awkward questions for the first time since 1999?
Is he still playing games with the international community? Is his grip over domestic politics slipping? Is his dubious system beginning to unravel? Is he putting his personal self-survival interests before the national interest by postponing or fudging important decisions? Here is a man whose sincerity of purpose and courage of action has won plaudits across the world. The same man is now mouthing platitudes and looking increasingly forlorn and vulnerable. The mullahs sense this and are gearing up to enforce change. Whenever they have been given an inch they have demanded a yard. Will General Pervez Musharraf accept their political challenge or go down lamely, yard by yard?