Shaheen
Sehbai
General
Pervez Musharraf came into power, holding a gun, blaming the “sham
democracy” and “sham politicians” and promising
“real democracy”. Where he has taken us is South. What
we have today in Pakistan is worse than what General Musharraf inherited.
We
have a President who claims to be elected for 5 years on the basis
of a fraudulent referendum in which even minors were permitted to
vote after all restrictions were lifted. Is this the “real
democracy” he promised.
We
have a set of politicians who are touted as the “King’s
Party” but who are opportunist, corrupt and shameless individuals
who defected from their parent party just to save their skins. These
seekers of perks, power and privileges today have got immense political
clout as a bonus.
We
have a set of Generals who are now begging erstwhile political untouchables,
like the Maulanas of NWFP and Asif Ali Zardari, just because the
voters upset their calculations and machinations and these forces
got so many seats the Generals could never imagine, or concede,
in their well-calculated and engineered elections.
We
have a set of ministers who say, day in and day out, that if politicians
do not change their loyalties the doors for horse trading will be
officially and legally opened. In fact the Law Minister now says
the floor crossing law is in abeyance so he is encouraging defections.
Is that the form and shape of “real democracy” Musharraf
wanted.
We
have this set of Maulanas who are now serious players in the political
game, after they and their Afghan associates, the Taliban and Osama
& Co, were bombed out by the Americans and Musharraf brigades.
The Generals of Pakistan did not pay enough attention to this growing
threat because they were busy consolidating their political positions
and seats of power in Pakistan for years to come.
In
all this mess General Musharraf now seems drowned up to his neck
and his junta colleagues are watching with confusion and bewilderment,
disbelief writ on their faces, not knowing how to react, whether
to allow Musharraf to continue with his failing and flailing games
or to put an end to the continuing charade and start putting the
derailed country back on the tracks.
The
political dish of scrambled eggs Musharraf wants to cook is almost
impossible to digest, even if he buys, begs or steals votes and
numbers to cobble together a coalition of supporters. He and his
political experts have proved themselves to be men with no ideas
and ideals, no principles and morals, no goals and vision, no trust
in the future or destiny of the nation. They are pure and simple
petty power seekers, not in any way better than the politicians
and their cronies who they had overthrown in the name of “good
governance” and “real democracy”.
The
entire exercise Musharraf has carried out, and the manner in which
it has been carried out, has discredited him and his ways, bringing
him in line with Generals who forced themselves on the nation before
him and who left the country in a much bigger mess than they had
come. Musharraf is doing nothing different or better.
He
now has few options and fewer days and weeks to still set the direction
right, if he still wants to go down in history as a well meaning
person who was thrust into power “without any prior plans”,
as he claimed, and who wanted to set things right.
The
first thing he needs to do is to declare a general amnesty for all
politicians and announce that he would not stay on if he was not
elected through the normal process. He should present himself for
elections.
Then
he should meet all the major political players to draw up a package
of basic institutional reforms for the judiciary which has to assume
the role of key neutral arbitrator on all critical national legal
and constitutional issues.
All
judges of the Supreme Court should be sent home and an absolutely
transparent and open process should be initiated to induct new and
qualified judges, from the present lot and from outside, purely
on merit, so that they do not owe any obligation to any particular
person or government. This new bench should then decide any legal,
constitutional and national matter referred to it by any citizen.
All
corruption cases against the politicians, generals, bureaucrats
and everybody else, should be handed over to these new judges and
let their decisions be final, again purely on evidence and merits
of each case.
Parliament,
as elected by the people, though under very dubious circumstances,
should be allowed to function under the 1973 constitution and General
Musharraf should present himself as a candidate for the President’s
office.
Army
should be pulled out of politics and a purely professional and apolitical
army chief be appointed who should take oath before the new Supreme
Court declaring that he would under no circumstances indulge in
politics.
The
Press should be allowed to work freely under a code of ethics framed
by the peers themselves and not by the Government. It is certainly
going to conduct itself in the most responsible manner, if given
that opportunity.
All
this may seem to be utopia to many in the present messy conditions
when a rat race to grab power, or even a small part of it, is making
the country look like a split banana republic, with the banana already
peeled naked. "Principle" is the one word missing from
the dictionaries of Pakistan.
The
politicians in their quest for authority are bending backwards and
stooping to the lowest depth of meanness and debauchery.
The
Generals in their drive to stay on top are compromising the image
and reputation of the entire institution of the armed forces, although
it may be a debatable point whether any respect and dignity is left
to preserve.
The
Judges in their pursuit of survival are shamelessly using the “Doctrine
of Necessity” to its limit, forgetting that whenever a senior
judge goes out of office, he has to face the same indignity and
injustice as others did when he was denying them a fair trial and
opportunity.
It
is time the Doctrine of Necessity was used in the interest of the
people of Pakistan, for a change. It should be made clear that in
1999, under this very Doctrine, Pakistani people accepted the Army
intervention, its unconstitutional amendments, its crooked ground
rules and self-serving orders, only to see the country get back
on the democratic track. Now that it has got an elected parliament,
these temporary rules and regulations are no longer valid or needed
and the system which has to last for ever must be revived.
It
is time Pakistan was put back as a respectable, dignified and responsible
nation on the world map. It had enough of failed experiments. Let
us settle down and start some real nation building.
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