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Musharraf and the masses

ACT one of the political drama going on in Pakistan has ended abruptly on a bloody note, forcing Benazir Bhutto to abandon reaching climax of the show in Karachi, that is, addressing a public rally at the tomb of the Mohammed Ali Jinnah, founder of Pakistan, before retiring to her residence, ‘Bilawal House’ in the posh sea side Clifton enclave.

To know who was behind this bloody carnage that killed more than hundred innocents and injured several more, one has to wait for the authorities to investigate. But only if Benazir and her party stalwarts had heeded advice and had not insisted on a staged public “home coming”, and instead shown statesmanship opting for a soft entry, the tragedy could have been avoided. Or had better sense prevailed the show should have been restricted to airport reception only.

Narcissist as she is, she could not resist the opportunity to make political capital of the presence of such a large crowd. And failed to realise that sweeping change has come across the country since her self imposed exile to escape arrest over graft charges. That extremism and militancy have gone up in Pakistan, since the ruthless bombardment of Afghanistan by the Americans her sponsors for home coming, following the 9/11 attacks by Al Qaeda on the New York Trade Towers. That the militants have become so bold and resourceful to attempt twice on General Pervez Mushrraf, notwithstanding his military security apparatus and once they almost got Prime Minister Shaukat Aziz.

Her assurances to her Western mentors of allowing them free hand to hunt down Osama Bin Laden if he is in Pakistan. And to water down Islamic laws to make Pakistan a progressive, moderate and modern country, could also be more reasons for the militants to bomb her rally and disrupt her efforts to reach out to the public.

Furthermore, if she or her much maligned husband Asif Zardari, or her over-enthusiastic party officials start blaming the establishment or other parties for the bombing, things are likely to worsen. The blasts have also cast doubts and uncertainty on her future plans to take out public rallies travelling across the country to muster support for her party in the forth coming elections. In fact the January elections look doubtful or they may be held sans the pre-election public involvement.

While on the other hand, ground realities in Pakistan are not what political pundits, columnists and analysts, and the two Pakistani television channels that beam overseas, want the world to believe, that 160 million people of Pakistan are behind politicians struggling against a military regime to restore democracy.

I have returned recently from a week long visit to Pakistan as things were heating up in Islamabad, following the dismissal of petitions filed by Imran Khan of Tehrik Insaf Party and Qazi Hussein Ahmed of the Jamaate- Islami in the Supreme Court seeking General Pervez Mushrraf’s disqualification from the elections. And the free for all exchange of blows and batons that took place between police and lawyers the following day on the Constitution Avenue when nominations for the presidential elections were being filed with the Chief Election Commission.

The fact of the matter is that the public at the moment is not showing the kind of interest in the actions taken by the political parties in the name of democracy. The absence of masses from the streets of Karachi and Lahore belie the claims of Imran Khan, Qazi Hussein Ahmed, Maulana Fazul-ur-Rehaman, Javed Hashmi and Maqdoum Amin Fahim that millions of people are behind them. Had they mustered a million each in Karachi and Lahore, the general would have gone long before into oblivion.

Doctors, engineers, bankers, retired civil servants I happen to chat with at Iftar parties were skeptical of the present lot of politicians to deliver good governance. The man in the street, shop keepers, grocers, taxi drivers, the university going youth, showed little interest in the political activity being staged by politicians.

“Yes, we were not happy with what Mushrraf did to the CJ, we came out to support the lawyers movement and were angry at the ill advised swipe General Musharraf took to the dislodge the CJ,” said a couple of IT executives. So disappointed is the common man of Pakistan that he prefers the status quo to change. Democratic battles are not fought in court of laws. Democracy is not brought about by a judges’ gavel or through deals serving personal interest struck behind closed doors in distant lands away from the eyes of the public.

The masses when they come out in favour of democracy on streets paralysing daily life, makes dictators run for their lives. The worst of the dictators in history could not stay for a moment against peoples’ power. Maynmar and Nepal are very recent example of mass democratic movements that have shaken a Junta and a monarch. Several thousand year old monarchy in Nepal could not stand the might of the people and gave in to democracy. The powerful Shah of Iran, whose secret police savak had terrorised Iranians, had to flee the country when the people rose against him. The butcher of Romania Cusescu was thrown off by the people.

Musharraf will go only when masses come out against him, which presently appears not to be the case. The present lot of politicians cannot dislodge him, as they have no real standing with the public.