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analysis: Democracy deficit? Abbas Rashid
Regardless of a legacy of confrontation, if the two main political forces in the country are unable to define the parameters of their coexistence, the rest will become entirely secondary
Consider this: Pakistans Interior Minister Rehman Malik was on a visit to Saudi Arabia last week followed by another visitor, Pakistans former President Pervez Musharraf who arrived for his audience with King Abdullah. And now we have news reports that the PMLN chief Mian Nawaz Sharif is likely to fly to the same destination fairly soon.
The purpose of all this high-profile traffic: reconciling differences between Pakistans key political players threatening to spiral out of control.
As serious as the fact that such differences recur with an unsettling frequency is our obvious inability to negotiate a resolution ourselves. Amid all of this we have a press conference where a question about Saudi Arabias role elicited a curious response from Nawaz Sharif. Let us not, he said, drag the Saudis into Pakistani politics.
Surely, he meant let us not talk about their role in our politics. For, indeed, their role is central and obvious. It has been even more so over the last few years. They interceded with Musharraf to get Nawaz out of the country and gave a commitment on his behalf to the effect that he will stay out of politics for ten years. Similarly, they now seem to be sending out the message that they will not be happy to see Pervez Musharraf put on trial given that they seem to have been part of a commitment to that effect given to the former president in order to ensure an orderly exit at a time when he had become hugely unpopular.
Meanwhile, a former spook with the most unsavoury of reputations has been a feature on the airwaves, making revelations that are clearly politically motivated. What Brigadier Imtiaz Ahmad (retd) has to say about the 1992 operation against the MQM and the absence of any Jinnahpur maps as well as other matters is largely geared to embarrass Nawaz Sharif. The Nawaz camp thinks this is a manoeuvre by the PPP to get them to back off on the issue of the NRO or the minus-one option (PPP minus Zardari). Hopefully, they are wrong.
Again on the issue of General Musharrafs trial, the PPP regards this primarily as a move to put them in a difficult spot by pitting them against the army. So, there is a pragmatic consideration here on the part of the PPP not going forward on this. At the same time, while Musharraf may have illusions of leading at least a faction of the PML back in Pakistan, it is more likely that given the serious charges against him, he will come to prefer exile to his day in court.
There are also calls to proceed with another case that impinges crucially on the area of civil-military relations, and has been before the Supreme Court for around thirteen years, since 1997. The petitioner, a well-respected former military officer, Air Marshal Asghar Khan (retd) had brought the case against former Army Chief General Aslam Beg (retd), ex-ISI chief Lt Gen Asad Durrani (retd) and ex-chief of Mehran Bank Younis Habib. Essentially, Beg is accused of instructing Durrani to disburse money provided by Habib to the newly formed IJI by way of logistic support.
The interesting thing about this case is that in an affidavit before the court, Durrani has admitted to disbursing the money and named the politicians as well as the sums handed over. And, as Justice Saeeduzzaman Siddiqui reminded us in a recent appearance on TV, none among the recipients had denied getting the money. More recently, though, some have.
Regardless, it is Durranis claim that he was only obeying a superior officers orders and Beg would have us believe that the orders had actually come from the chief executive at the time, President Ghulam Ishaq Khan. And was anyone trying to determine the legality or otherwise of such orders, before carrying them out? How disposed the Supreme Court is to take up this case again remains to be seen.
However the legal process moves ahead with regard to any of this, it is equally important to take cognisance of the political dimension. Regardless of a legacy of confrontation, if the two main political forces in the country are unable to define the parameters of their coexistence, the rest will become entirely secondary. The recent developments have also been accompanied by the occasional aside about mid-term elections. We need to remember that in the past no-holdsbarred jockeying for political power has cleared the way for ambitious dictators and years of unrepresentative and authoritarian rule. In the process, both democratic institutions as well as the institution of the military have been undermined.
The crises Pakistan faces need not be catalogued yet again. An extremely well-governed polity with a solid consensus across state and society as to the imperatives of development and security would have hard time addressing these successfully. How can we possibly hope to deal with these challenges as long as we remain a house effectively divided against itself?
However, to conclude with a hopeful news report, the PMLN has agreed to take up issues related to the repeal of the 17th amendment as part of a larger constitutional amendment package. Hopefully, the parliamentary committee on constitutional reforms can work out an agreement acceptable to all the parties, without much further delay, on the contentious issue of the discretionary powers vested by Musharraf in the office of the president. Who knows, we may yet see sense prevail.
Postscript: If there is any truth to the reports that the government of Pakistan is negotiating with Saudi Arabia as well as other Arab countries for leasing out half a million plus hectares of land, the parliament and perhaps the courts need to take up this issue. This is already a huge parcel of agricultural land and if such a deal does go through, down the road other friends could well ask us for similar concessions. The experience of Africa and Latin America in this regard should alert us to the grave implications such agreements would have in the context of our food security.
Abbas Rashid lives in Lahore and can be contacted at abbasrh***********
Regardless of a legacy of confrontation, if the two main political forces in the country are unable to define the parameters of their coexistence, the rest will become entirely secondary
Consider this: Pakistans Interior Minister Rehman Malik was on a visit to Saudi Arabia last week followed by another visitor, Pakistans former President Pervez Musharraf who arrived for his audience with King Abdullah. And now we have news reports that the PMLN chief Mian Nawaz Sharif is likely to fly to the same destination fairly soon.
The purpose of all this high-profile traffic: reconciling differences between Pakistans key political players threatening to spiral out of control.
As serious as the fact that such differences recur with an unsettling frequency is our obvious inability to negotiate a resolution ourselves. Amid all of this we have a press conference where a question about Saudi Arabias role elicited a curious response from Nawaz Sharif. Let us not, he said, drag the Saudis into Pakistani politics.
Surely, he meant let us not talk about their role in our politics. For, indeed, their role is central and obvious. It has been even more so over the last few years. They interceded with Musharraf to get Nawaz out of the country and gave a commitment on his behalf to the effect that he will stay out of politics for ten years. Similarly, they now seem to be sending out the message that they will not be happy to see Pervez Musharraf put on trial given that they seem to have been part of a commitment to that effect given to the former president in order to ensure an orderly exit at a time when he had become hugely unpopular.
Meanwhile, a former spook with the most unsavoury of reputations has been a feature on the airwaves, making revelations that are clearly politically motivated. What Brigadier Imtiaz Ahmad (retd) has to say about the 1992 operation against the MQM and the absence of any Jinnahpur maps as well as other matters is largely geared to embarrass Nawaz Sharif. The Nawaz camp thinks this is a manoeuvre by the PPP to get them to back off on the issue of the NRO or the minus-one option (PPP minus Zardari). Hopefully, they are wrong.
Again on the issue of General Musharrafs trial, the PPP regards this primarily as a move to put them in a difficult spot by pitting them against the army. So, there is a pragmatic consideration here on the part of the PPP not going forward on this. At the same time, while Musharraf may have illusions of leading at least a faction of the PML back in Pakistan, it is more likely that given the serious charges against him, he will come to prefer exile to his day in court.
There are also calls to proceed with another case that impinges crucially on the area of civil-military relations, and has been before the Supreme Court for around thirteen years, since 1997. The petitioner, a well-respected former military officer, Air Marshal Asghar Khan (retd) had brought the case against former Army Chief General Aslam Beg (retd), ex-ISI chief Lt Gen Asad Durrani (retd) and ex-chief of Mehran Bank Younis Habib. Essentially, Beg is accused of instructing Durrani to disburse money provided by Habib to the newly formed IJI by way of logistic support.
The interesting thing about this case is that in an affidavit before the court, Durrani has admitted to disbursing the money and named the politicians as well as the sums handed over. And, as Justice Saeeduzzaman Siddiqui reminded us in a recent appearance on TV, none among the recipients had denied getting the money. More recently, though, some have.
Regardless, it is Durranis claim that he was only obeying a superior officers orders and Beg would have us believe that the orders had actually come from the chief executive at the time, President Ghulam Ishaq Khan. And was anyone trying to determine the legality or otherwise of such orders, before carrying them out? How disposed the Supreme Court is to take up this case again remains to be seen.
However the legal process moves ahead with regard to any of this, it is equally important to take cognisance of the political dimension. Regardless of a legacy of confrontation, if the two main political forces in the country are unable to define the parameters of their coexistence, the rest will become entirely secondary. The recent developments have also been accompanied by the occasional aside about mid-term elections. We need to remember that in the past no-holdsbarred jockeying for political power has cleared the way for ambitious dictators and years of unrepresentative and authoritarian rule. In the process, both democratic institutions as well as the institution of the military have been undermined.
The crises Pakistan faces need not be catalogued yet again. An extremely well-governed polity with a solid consensus across state and society as to the imperatives of development and security would have hard time addressing these successfully. How can we possibly hope to deal with these challenges as long as we remain a house effectively divided against itself?
However, to conclude with a hopeful news report, the PMLN has agreed to take up issues related to the repeal of the 17th amendment as part of a larger constitutional amendment package. Hopefully, the parliamentary committee on constitutional reforms can work out an agreement acceptable to all the parties, without much further delay, on the contentious issue of the discretionary powers vested by Musharraf in the office of the president. Who knows, we may yet see sense prevail.
Postscript: If there is any truth to the reports that the government of Pakistan is negotiating with Saudi Arabia as well as other Arab countries for leasing out half a million plus hectares of land, the parliament and perhaps the courts need to take up this issue. This is already a huge parcel of agricultural land and if such a deal does go through, down the road other friends could well ask us for similar concessions. The experience of Africa and Latin America in this regard should alert us to the grave implications such agreements would have in the context of our food security.
Abbas Rashid lives in Lahore and can be contacted at abbasrh***********
