A
New "Deal Process" has Delayed Return to Sanity
Democracy
what? Democracy where? Democracy when?
Dr
Zafar Altaf
PAKISTAN is roughly known for many infamous things including breakable
politicians, who sit abroad in comfortable zones and run their
parties via telephones, mighty
dictators who rule the country but have offshore accounts and
whose off- springs are called "Dollar Khans" due to
their abundant wealth, sham democrats who claim to serve the masses
but take instructions from their military masters and agencies
and finally poor, but indifferent masses.
But,
now a days, a new recognition of the country is emerging and that
is the “deal” phenomenon which has delayed the process
of return of normalcy and sanity back to our country.
Our
mighty dictator is not ready to hand over power to the elected
representatives and go home simply because he thinks he is indispensable
for the very survival of the country as his predecessors used
to make us believe. But, the question is should the politicians
who have been humiliated and jailed during the last three years
by the National Accountability Court strike any deal with the
uniformed dictator, simply to take oath?
Rumors
and news are circulating about all kinds of deals in which political
parties are seriously involved and the hidden hand of some agencies
is coming to light. The National Assembly session has been put
off because the political parties are not coming to a consensus
candidate. The hidden agencies that occasionally show their hand[s]
have been talking to Asif Zardari the spouse of the former Prime
Minister. The veracity or fairness of his cases apart, the draconian
laws under which he is being tried should not be used for my worst
enemies. And yet the government which is trying him is also holding
discussions with him. This is true for all people of any consequence.
All of them are summoned at one time or the other and carrots
are thrown at them.
The
three political parties of any consequence are of such diverse
composition that any one joining hands with the other, in what
may even remotely appear to be a give away, will find that their
political base would be demolished. One is religious in nature,
the other is the King’s right wing Party, carved out of
the exiled Prime Ministers’ former party, and the third
is the PPP of Benazir Bhutto. They are so different in ideologies
and in their thinking that it seems impossible for the mediators
[whosoever they may be] to get them to work together.
When
in 1971 Gen. Yahya Khan postponed the session of the National
Assembly, I was the Additional Deputy Commissioner of Rawalpindi
and I was at the helipad from where Yahya khan was to take off
after making the announcement in a speech. The special police
officer there was an old friend and I asked him to convey to the
President that the affect of the postponement on East Pakistan
would be disastrous. This was duly done. But the ears of a powerful
person are only tuned to hear the kind of music that he wants
to hear. He ho-ha-ad it and spoke of teaching the Bengalis such
a lesson they would remember all their life. Having served in
that part of the wing for two and a bit years I was aware of what
was likely to happen. Sure enough as General Yahya left for Peshawar
to see the new house that sycophants were building for him, news
came through of arson at Dacca.
The
Pakistan cricket team was involved in a Test match and they were
taken to safety in the rubbish truck of the Dacca municipality.
Bedlam started everywhere. The rest is history, brutal history
for the sins were irremediable. If ever there was macro pain it
was then. Thoughtless actions of thoughtless people and the nation
was rent asunder. The General lost 53,000 square miles and sent
93,000 soldiers as prisoners of war. The despondency on the nation
was such as left the ordinary person in a daze. There was no one
to take sane action and no one to guide and direct. The President’s
men were as cocky then as they are now. The President turned King
had gone mute.
Pakistan
is again at one of those crossroads where interested parties are
using all their skills to manipulate actions to their own benefits.
When reason is lost what do you expect? The current lot have and
are continuing to promulgate ordinance after ordinance. It is
as if a salesman has been caught with his hand in the till and
now wants to eke out the last penny. Instead of adhering to democratic
principles it is advised to take on a position that is against
all democratic traditions. There are certain persons in Pakistan’s
body politic who have always been men of the powers that be. Unashamedly
they have called themselves by various names like Al Ghazali.
They are the people of all seasons and they have a clout and a
clever manipulating base. Naturally when they bring out the principles
as desired by the boss they become men of convenience. The round
roulette had been going on for some time and as long as Pakistan
continues as it is doing at the moment this will continue to happen.
As
I watched the TV flash of breaking news I held my breath for I
had been following events very closely. The PPP and the PML leaders
had demanded the postponement of the national assembly, and sure
enough the Assembly session has been postponed for one week. Why
because they cannot find an answer that will guarantee them their
safety. This they can only get from a Prime Minister from amongst
those elected members who toe their line. Way back in early democratic
times the election of Thomas Jefferson and Adams was tied 38 times
with each gaining nineteen votes from the Electoral College. It
was on the 39th count that a new President was elected. Is the
Prime Minister to be by selection? Democracy what? Democracy where?
Democracy when?
Do
we learn lessons from history or are we condemned to repeat it.
Advice from certain quarters is so imprudent that one shudders
to think of the consequences. In a socio-political structure it
is hard to see the causes of a structural debacle. In concrete
terms you can see the demise of a building you cannot attribute
any cause to what is happening or whether such a thing is happening.
The question that comes upper most to mind is can Pakistan survive
the political test? If we keep on doing things as at the moment
, a time will come when the powers that be will spill all the
ramifications on to the body politic.
In
any case the elected leaders of the two political parties did
not have the right to seek a postponement. By making the rounds
of the Intelligence services they defeat the cause of their party
and the electorate that has sent them there. The party leader
of one is abroad and the next in line made the statement that
the NA had to be postponed without any discussion with his own
leader (although he denied making ant statement later). The hidden
iron hand in a velvet glove leaves no marks. Pinochet and not
democratic principles are in action. The King’s party has
leaders made of Pleistocene. You can mould them any way, any shape.
You can also put horns on their foreheads and make them look like
quadrupeds and they will still sing praises of the local lords.
What
are those principles to which they should adhere? They are unaware
because the society has had no idea about the principles. Kofi
Annan, Secretary General of UN lists them well. He carries a reasoned
punch in his own soft ways. For the principles he talks about
are time honored and universal. The collective wisdom of the world
shall remain the collective wisdom of the world no matter how
we pollute those principles. The prodigal son shall return to
those principles. But the country[ies] that requires these principles
and need to debate them are not located in NY. They are in the
real world.
Pakistan’s
dilemma is not understood. The oppression of the Afghan war has
left a mark on the society. A society that is given to sacrifice
life in the way of Allah has some strength. Play them. That is
not against democratic principles. Meanwhile it may be worthwhile
for the waves in the ocean to be left alone. The tossing ship
does get home. It occasionally loses its bearings but that is
all in the game. What you want for yourselves, sirs, you should
be in a position to give to others. It cannot be a selective process.
It has to be an elected process and the procedure has to be established
and followed. That also means that all the telephonic and other
efforts are to be made ineffective. The conveniences of the west
should not lead to perversions of the highest ideals of life and
living.
In
fact the success of democratic principles is dependent on a strict
adherence to the succession system. Their will be no stability
till the letter and spirit of the principles is followed. Till
debate and dialogue does not become a process. The principles
of democracy are not obiter dicta, they are serious matters of
concern.
So,
my dear politicians time has come for you to prove your master,
General Musharraf, wrong who contemptuously calls you “sham
democrats”.
