PAKISTAN NEEDS REAL DEMOCRATIC GOVERNMENT
Rather
than prop up Musharraf, the world must demand that Pakistan's army give
up control of the government and vast sectors of the economy.
by Zia Mian* (This article was published earlier in Philadephia Enquirer, 17 August 2007)
On the 60th anniversary of independence, Pakistan is under siege. Its
leaders lack legitimacy, politics is held hostage by its army, and
radical Islamists stalk the land. The future looks bleak. There is talk
of civil war.
There is only one way out: End the cycle of military dictatorship and allow truly free, representative government to take root.
Pakistan's leaders have failed it from the beginning. Its founding
father, Muhammad Ali Jinnah, claimed the Muslims of British India
needed a separate country if they were to be free from domination by
its more numerous Hindus. He cast a wide net, offering orthodox Muslims
a vision of an Islamic society and more secular Muslims a dream of a
country where religion was no business of government. This ambiguous
legacy and the terrible religious violence that accompanied the
partition of British India have haunted Pakistan ever since.
Jinnah died within a year of independence. Politics became a personal
power grab, with seven prime ministers in the first 10 years and then,
in 1958, a military coup. The decade of army rule brought a close
military alliance with the United States, further strengthening the
army, and the forced modernization of a poor rural society. The costs
were war with India, wrenching social change, and grievous inequality.
Eventually, the people rose in revolt. In 1971, East Pakistan broke
free and became Bangladesh.
The army relinquished power. But the new civilian leader, Zulfikar Ali
Bhutto, lacked a democratic temper and treated opposition as threat. He
established Pakistan's nuclear weapons program and a practice of buying
public support by appeasing the mullahs.
In 1977, the army took back control and executed Bhutto. In his decade
in power, Gen. Zia ul-Haq sought to Islamize Pakistan. He introduced
religious laws, courts, and taxes, supported radical Islamist madrassas
(seminaries) and political parties, and altered school textbooks to
promote a conservative Islamic nationalism. Work on the bomb proceeded
apace.
The United States turned a blind eye to the dictatorship and the bomb.
It poured billions of dollars into Pakistan to buy support for a war
against the Soviet Union in Afghanistan. Islamic militants from around
the world were trained and armed by the Pakistan army, with American
money, and sent across the border to fight godless communism. The jihad
was born.
Zia was killed in a mysterious plane crash in 1988, and the Soviet
Union admitted defeat and left Afghanistan. Elections were held, only
to have the army become the power behind the throne. The new crop of
leaders, including Bhutto's daughter, Benazir, descended into
corruption and intrigue, each seeking the army's help to take office.
There were nine prime ministers in 10 years. Some actively courted the
mullahs; none tried to undo the Islamic order created by Zia. As one
third of Pakistanis fell below the poverty line, Pakistan tested
nuclear weapons and missiles and went to war with India. Both sides
hurled nuclear threats.
There were few protests when the army, led by Gen. Pervez Musharraf,
seized power again in 1999. He promised that "the armed forces have no
intention to stay in charge longer than is absolutely necessary to pave
the way for true democracy to flourish." Instead, he rigged elections
and made a deal with Islamist political parties willing to support him
as president.
After the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks, the United States gave Musharraf no
choice but to join another American war. Money poured in (more than $10
billion so far), and U.S. demands for a return to democracy fell
silent. Musharraf consolidated military rule. Generals rule provinces,
run government ministries, administer universities, and manage national
companies. The army's business interests now span banking and
insurance, cement and fertilizer, electricity and sugar, corn and corn
flakes. Inequality has grown.
But Pakistan is being torn apart by an Islamic militancy that rejects
Musharraf's alliance with America. Militants have attacked soldiers,
policemen, local officials, ordinary people, and national leaders,
including Musharraf himself. Suicide bombings have claimed hundreds of
lives across the country. The army has struggled to respond. Many
soldiers resent fighting their own people in what they see as an
American war against Islam.
Islamist fighters have taken over whole villages. Emulating the
Taliban, they repress women, close girls' schools, attack DVD and music
shops, destroy TVs, and demand that men grow beards and go to the
mosque. The movement is spreading. For six months, Islamist students
and fighters occupied a mosque in Islamabad and set up their own court.
The government sat idly until forced to act by national and
international pressure. The bloody storming of the "Red Mosque" in July
served only to fuel the militancy and enrage public opinion.
The outside world appears threatening, too. The United States warns of
al-Qaeda and Taliban havens in Pakistan; some politicians talk openly
about the possibility of a U.S.-led attack on Pakistani soil. The
United States fears Pakistan's nuclear weapons may fall into the hands
of Islamists. America is cultivating a new strategic relationship with
India, causing fears among Pakistan's army leaders of losing ground in
its nuclear and missile arms race with India.
Some hope that restoring a semblance of democracy could turn the tide
against the Islamists and reduce the nuclear danger. Musharraf, with
U.S. help, is trying to cobble together a deal to stay in power,
dumping his Islamist allies for support from Benazir Bhutto, who would
be allowed to return from exile, cleared of the corruption charges she
fled. These steps will not be enough.
Pakistan needs to break its cycle of military rule and puppet
politicians for democracy to take root and flourish. Rather than
keeping Musharraf in power, the world must demand that Pakistan's army
yield control over government and economy once and for all. Only a
freely elected and representative government that can make decisions
can pursue economic development as if people mattered, confront the
Islamists, and make peace with India.
[* Zia Mian directs the Project on Peace and Security in South Asia at
Princeton University's Woodrow Wilson School of Public and
International Affairs]