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
But the battlelines were drawn. When Musharraf was re-elected President on 11 October by the same Parliament that elected him five years ago, Chaudhry called on the Supreme Court to reject this. An alleged attempt to blackmail judges with videos of family members in compromising positions backfired. A desperate Musharraf saw the only way he could stay in power was to abrogate the constitution and sack the court that was about to remove him.
Musharraf’s action has left Washington and Whitehall floundering. Post 9/11, Pakistan’s key geo-strategic position neighbouring Afghanistan and Iran had transformed the general from international pariah into the West’s closest ally. Bush called him ‘my best friend’ and officials in Britain and the US now admit they had a ‘Musharraf policy’ rather than a Pakistan policy.
As Musharraf’s popularity has plummeted, officials on both sides of the Atlantic have spent the last six months trying to convince him not to impose a state of emergency, including a 2 a.m. call from Condi Rice back in August. Instead they persuaded him to agree a deal with Benazir Bhutto to give his regime a ‘democratic face’. After prickly negotiations, including a face-to-face meeting with Bhutto in Abu Dhabi, he agreed to drop corruption charges allowing her to return from exile in exchange for her support.
But his heart was never really in it. I interviewed him in November 1999 shortly after he seized power and he said he blamed Bhutto more than anyone for the situation and vowed he would never let her back into power.
When Bhutto’s bus was bombed in Karachi on her return three weeks ago, many suspected the regime was involved. Her security advisor Rehman Malik immediately said ‘Musharraf will use this to declare martial law’.
Musharraf might currently control all the levers of power but it’s hard to see where he goes from here. Unlike previous coups which have tended to be against unpopular governments and often welcomed, this one has almost no support from any sector of the community.
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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.