Will Musharraf keep his word?
Soon we’ll see if Musharraf is a man of his word
The President of Pakistan has promised true democracy
Unlike previous coups, the main targets of arrest were not political leaders or militants but judges, lawyers and human rights activists. Seven of the Supreme Court’s 11 judges were locked up and the chief justice placed under house arrest. Musharraf’s main aim was to pre-empt a ruling from the Supreme Court this week which had been expected to declare illegal his recent re-election as President.
One of the first to be arrested was Aitzaz Ahsan, president of the Bar Association, who has led the case opposing Musharraf’s re-election. ‘Musharraf is acting like a spoilt child and bad loser,’ he said, speaking by phone from the police station in Islamabad where he was being held. ‘He is holding the whole country hostage to save his position.’
In fact, most of the nation seemed more interested in Pakistan’s cricket tour of rival India which began on Monday. On the BBC website, Pakistanis from across the nation posted messages saying they were so resigned to such events that they had gone back from the announcement of emergency rule to eating their behari kebabs. ‘Being honest, these political situations are of no interest to the public as apparently we can’t do anything’ from Muhamad Ali Khan in Lahore was typical.
Musharraf may have been counting on such indifference. With Nawaz Sharif in exile in Saudi Arabia and Bhutto recovering from the shock of an assassination attempt that killed 140 of her supporters, it has been left to lawyers to lead the protests. The last few days have seen the strange spectacle of portly British-educated middle-aged men in black suits and ties being tear-gassed, beaten by police with sticks and bundled into the back of police pick-ups.
So why are the general and the legal profession at daggers drawn? In his address to the nation explaining his declaration of a state of emergency, Musharraf claimed it was to ‘preserve the unity of the country’ against the threat of extremists. ‘Extremists are roaming around freely in the country, and they are not scared of law-enforcement agencies,’ he said.
But no jihadi leaders have been arrested and most of Musharraf’s ire was reserved for the judges. ‘They are creating hurdles for democracy,’ he complained, adding that their attitude was ‘disheartening and demoralising’.
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sumant rawat
November 14th, 2007 3:53amI agree with the previous comment but have a slightly different take.Pakistan has a divide that its populace brushes under the rug and those unfamiliar with the subcontinent cannot see.It is the divide between the inherently tribal,xenophobic and medieval Pashtun mindset and the more liberal mindset with roots in the pagan culture of the subcontinent.The most obvious sign is that 60 years after independence the areas that are predominantly Pashtun are the 'Northwest Frontier Province and Federally Administered Tribal Area' not Pakhtunistan.Among the many reasons for the failure of democracy to take root is the cultural divide between the Pashtuns and non Pashtuns.The Taliban is merely a name the Pashtuns have adopted to militantly pursue what they have since the days Ahmad Shah Abdali an escape from the relentless change imposed by the outside world.
Geoff
November 18th, 2007 2:56pmMusharraf is Pakistans only hope. Bhutto et al will destroy any hope of democracy in their rush for money and islamic control. Most Pakistanis are quietly staying out of this and getting on with their lives - much improved since the military took charge. All of the politicians and media in the UK exercising their adolescent student views of what democracy can be in those kind of countries need to wake up before they hand the nuclear bombs over to the Pashtuns.
Jay Wilson
November 30th, 2007 8:41amI have to wonder where Christina Lamb gets her 'inside' information and suspect that it is from the Bhutto camp. Of course she neglects to mention that the former Supreme Court handed the Red Mosque right back to the family of its former extremist mullahs. Geoff and Sumant have some useful things to say in the other comments.