“One of the true tests of leadership is the ability to recognize a problem before it becomes an emergency.”
-- Arnold H. Glasgow
As if staging a coup way back in 1999 was not bad enough, General PervezMusharraf has done it again, eight years later, bringing the nation back to square one.Ironically enough, this time it is not a coup against a ‘corrupt’ civilian government but against hisvery own army-led regime, of which he has been the supreme commander and leader all these years.Deja-vu apart, it is difficult to fathom the motivation behind imposing 'Emergency' that is, at its best, an admission of the failure of his own style of governance, the breaking down ofthe system that he himself created and the collapse of the empire that he built with his own hands.In stead of admitting mistakes of the past and putting the house in order, he has chosen to bring the house down.
Despite his share of critics, General Musharraf was largely hailed in the streets of Pakistanafter his first coup of 1999. Some people even took to the streets in celebration-- some even distributed sweets! -- because they were tired of politiciansand their corrupt practices. Musharraf had vowed to crack down on corruption, improvethe law and order situation and bring 'real democracy' to Pakistan. But soonthereafter, the promises were forgotten and politicians who had been booked under the National Accountability Bureau (NAB) wereback to enjoying the "fruits of power". Today, the lawless elements have grownso much in strength and numbers that the president himself has had to resort to the extreme measureof imposing an "emergency". If this were the state of affairs under a civilian government, things may have been looked atdifferently, but since General Musharraf is the one who has been calling the shots all these years, who else but he should take the blame for the deteriorating law andorder?
The fight against extremism and rogue elements has been Musharraf’s avowed objective in recent years and that formed the bulk of thestated reason behind the announcement of emergency. But is he willing to concede that there were both fundamental and logistical flaws in the way hehas handled issues? If an army general, continuously supported by a disparaging-- but willing--bunch of politicians, cannot improve the law and order situation, then who else can? Even if we look at it from the perspective of collective responsibility, the obvious way out should have been to identify the real culprits and punish them. If the writ of the government was not working in the tribal areas, then why was the interior ministry or interior secretary not held accountable? Whydid Musharraf not reshuffle the cabinet and bring in a more capable hand to bring things in tribal areas under control?
Showdown with the judiciary has kept Musharraf occupied in the last few months and it has been a case of one mistake after another. Even if we leave out the then chief justice Iftekhar Ahmed Chaudhary--with whom Musharraf chose to enter into direct confrontation--other judges were targeted just because they had intellectual and judiciallevel disagreements with the President. In most of the recent cases, judiciarycracked down on those who took the law into their own hands but for Musharraf this amounted to‘demoralising’ the law enforcement agencies. For him this was provocation enough to resort to the extreme step despite issuing denials for months about the possibility ofEmergency.
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The role of politicians, especially those who backed Musharraf during the most crucial phase, is probably the most dubious. Instead of uniting against him for the sake of restoration of democracy, they remained a divided opposition, some even going to the extent of entering into deals as a means to usurp power. It was this myopic and self-centred approach that strengthened Musharraf’s hands and caused things to deteriorate even further. Even now when the ultimate price has been paid, politicians are a divided lot, unable to cobble up any alternative that may seem viable. These political parties will have to bear the consequence of this studied silence, and even connivance, in the long run and they will certainly not be spared by history.
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Along with the lawyers, it is the media which has been singled out for special treatment, laying bare the paranoia that surrounds Musharraf’s governance despite his so-called support to the freedom of expression. Now that the private television channels have been blanked out in Pakistan, he can go back to his trustedmedia lieutenants to brief him on the state of affairs. He must remember that the media was not a powerful tool in 1958 when the first martial law was imposed, in 1969 when the movement against Ayub Khan took shapeor in 1977 against Bhutto. On all these occasions, the media just danced to the tunes of the government machinery. Yet changes happened, for better or worse.
Today, like many other institutions in Pakistan, the judiciary too is decimated. Honest and credible judges are beingremoved and those loyal to the President are being appointed. The press, particularly electronic media, which has been struggling for total freedom for years, is now facing yet another gag and crackdown. Mass arrests of lawyers, human rights activists and politicians are being done across the country. Pakistan is now standing at a crossroadfrom where there is no hope in sight, at least in the near future.
Dr. Shahid Masood is a prominent political analyst from Pakistan
