A
RUSSIAN diplomat, posted at the UN Headquarters at New York once
amusingly compared diplomatic immunity with virginity, while commenting
on his refusal to settle several outstanding traffic violation tickets.
He meant that either he was not liable to legal actions altogether
by virtue of his diplomatic status or his ambassadorial shield was
of no use. According to his premise, a notion of “selected”
diplomatic immunity is equally inane as that of half-virginity.
Convincingly,
the same analogy can be applied to democracy as well. Either there
is a rule of the law, and the will of people runs supreme or there
is despotism. There is no midway. In fact, whenever adjectives as
“controlled”, “sustainable”, “basic”
or “true”, are being appended to democracy, regardless
by whom, history demands from us to be suspicious of the integrity
and underlying objectives of the marketing team.
Observe
yourself: 29 constitutional amendments in one go. Almost all of
them designed exclusively to appease the lust for absolute power
of an individual. “This is part of the Constitution,"
General Musharraf declared at one point, waving his hand in the
air. "I am hereby making it part of the Constitution."
At another stage, he proclaimed, “I do not need Assembly’s
consent.” And this is what they call a sustainable and true
democracy. What a joke, what an insult.
“The
majority of people spoke against it. Some also spoke in favour,
but honestly, I think this (council) is very important and this
will be done". Exactly so, General Musharraf justified the
formation of National Security Council. This “I am the state”
attitude is breathtaking, and of course totally repulsive, to say
the least.
And
if that was not enough, adding insult to injury General Musharraf
decreed, "If there is any necessity for any further amendments
to the Constitution or any difficulty arises in giving effect to
any of the provisions of this order, the chief executive may make
such provisions and pass or promulgate such orders for amending
the Constitution or for removing any difficulty as he may deem fit."
In simple words, the fate of 140 million Pakistanis hangs entirely
on the will, wish and whim of a single omnipotent fellow.
As
the legal basis for his sweeping actions, the general cited a May
2000 Supreme Court ruling granting him the right to amend the Constitution.
The blatant inconsistency doesn’t bother him that an institution
that cannot alter the constitution itself, logically cannot confer
that authority upon someone else either. If truth be told, that
ridiculous validation of the military coup corroborates the incapacity
of the courts at best and the appalling rot of the judicial system
in Pakistan at worst.
Then
regarding General Musharraf's bizarre contention that his presence
is necessary for the continuation of his policies to make them irreversible,
the World Bank recently observed that such claims could never be
fully credible: the nature of democracy requires that an elected
government should be able to alter course.
The
bank furthermore added that the most convincing way to make changes
irreversible is for them to yield sufficiently positive results.
In that way, a reversal of them would become tantamount to political
suicide. In
reality, the much-hyped “continuity” is merely a codeword
for the perpetuation of the hegemony of the military. The real aim
of this propaganda is to prolong the status quo, in addition to
preserve power, perks and privileges of the military high command,
and keep on holding the country hostage to the whims of few self-styled
“saviours”. A feature, General Musharraf eagerly wants
to safeguard in person, for a long time to come.
One
doesn’t require a doctorate in political sciences to understand
that General Musharraf’s foremost tasks will be to hinder
every move to curtail the encroachment of the military in civilian
domain, to thwart every effort to net thousands of senior military
officers who have looted this poor nation with full impunity. To
guard that defence deals “continue” to remain
effectively beyond any sort of accountability and ensure that a
dozen prime plots each keep on doling upon star officers.
As
someone said, even the will of the majority must be subjected to
checks and balances if an elected dictatorship is to be avoided.
In our country, tragically our top gun insists on running the show
all alone, without any curbs, whatsoever. With such an obvious sham,
only morons can be conned.
However,
one cannot avoid wondering, if the future course of action has already
spiked by the NRB in tandem with the GHQ, leaving virtually no manoeuvrability
for incoming political actors, then why have the formality of elections?
If the forthcoming quasi civilian set-up is only
meant to provide “democratic” façade to the dispensation
already well-entrenched by the “overwhelming approval”
of the “silent majority”, through the referendum, and
now even by “irreversible”, “unchallengeable”
amendments, then is it rational, let alone justifiable, to squander
billions, once again on electioneering?
It
appears that the top brass is well aware of the fact that a stable
civilian government would definitely demand transparency in defence
spending and thereby deprive them of their precious goldmines. A
painful scenario that is understandably least acceptable to the
khakis. Hence, in fact, it is sheer selfishness and pure self-interest
of the brass that don’t let democracy take root in the country.
The
moment a mode of government, dubbed as “democracy”,
needs a prefix/postfix for its justification; no matter how pious
sounding, it can be plausibly assumed that it is a fraud, a spoof
solely meant to camouflage the perverseness of the system and malevolent
intentions of its top administrators.
According
to General Musharraf, “If you want to keep the army out, you
have to bring it in.” A perfectly correct analysis, except
for the delusion of the end destination. No doubt, you have to bring
them in – in the ambit of statute book. Absolutely, we need
to prosecute all those who meddle into the affairs of government
for high treason and put them in jail.
Anyhow,
by any measure, the hodge podge being marketed by the messiahs is
not conducive to running a state, which meets the just rights of
the citizens and civilized standards of governing. None of khaki’s
pretended sincerity and proclaimed intentions squares with the historical
facts and empirical evidence. I am tempted to paraphrase an expression
from General Musharraf’s own speech delivered on August 14,
2002. … “ A handful of individuals has held the entire
nation hostage with their misguided view of politics”.
Therefore,
it is our moral, democratic and not least religious duty to stand
up to the tyrants. Patsies who eagerly trot after the usurpers are
themselves responsible for the tragic outcome. What is at stake
is not just the military-civilian power sharing but also the very
survival of the civil society. Our apathy will become our death.
Or murder.
There
is an old Bedouin legend that goes like this: An elderly Bedouin
leader thought that by eating turkey he could restore his virility.
So he bought a turkey, kept it by his tent and stuffed it with food
every day. One day someone stole his turkey. The Bedouin elder called
his sons
together and told them: "Boys, we are in great danger. Someone
has stolen my turkey." "Father," the sons answered,
"what do you need a turkey for?" "Never mind,"
he answered, "just get me back my turkey." But the sons
ignored him and a month later someone stole the old man's camel.
"What should we do?" the sons asked. "Find my turkey,"
said the father. But the
sons did nothing, and a few weeks later the man's daughter was raped.
The father said to his sons: "It is all because of the turkey.
When they saw that they could take my turkey, we lost everything."
We
must realize that a Khmer Rouge a la Musharaf is in the making.
A failure to unambiguously denounce these attempts and hinder such
a sinister development now will make us regret bitterly afterwards.
The military has already stolen the camel, in West Pakistan too.
What will be their next step …..? I need not elaborate any
further.
The
writer is a student of Pakistani descent at The Royal Institute
of Technology (KTH),
Stockholm, Sweden
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