By Kenneth J. Theisen
Parliamentary elections are scheduled to take place on January 8th in Pakistan. The Bush administration hopes that these elections will lead to relatively peaceful reconciliation between opposing factions in that very troubled nation so that the country’s leaders will continue to comply with U.S. bidding. Pakistani President Musharraf hopes to legitimize his rule through a “democratic” election. He has stated, “This is a milestone in the transition of Pakistan to the complete essence of democracy. Elections will be held in January come whatever may.” But the election and the next month leading up to it are fraught with danger for te Bush regime and the Pakistani dictator it supports.
Musharraf was sworn in as President recently after a very questionable re-election in October. Under pressure, he then resigned as Army Chief. His holding of the top civilian and military positions had been a major controversy within Pakistan. He has freed thousands of opposition activists who were arrested in the wake of his November 3, 2007 declaration of emergency, but others are still incarcerated or under house arrest, including the head of the Supreme Court. Musharraf has promised to lift the emergency on December 15, 2007, only about three weeks before the elections. This week Pakistani Attorney General Malik Mohammed Qayyum announced that the state of emergency will only be lifted after changing the constitution to ensure that Musharaf cannot be challenged in court on his decision to institute emergency rule. According to the Attorney General, government lawyers were finalizing the constitutional changes and that they would be announced before Musharraf lifts the emergency rule on Saturday.
Until recently it was not clear that the opposition parties would participate fully in an election. But both the Bush and Musharraf regimes consider elections as crucial to maintain Musharraf’s power. At his inauguration Musharraf welcomed the return from exile of his former enemies, former Prime Ministers Benazir Bhutto and Nawaz Sharif, saying it was “good” for political reconciliation.
The U.S. wants to avoid a wide-spread boycott of the January election and had pressured both Benazir Bhutto and Nawaz Sharif, the leaders of the opposition parties to participate in the elections. Both have recently abandoned threats to boycott the elections. Bhutto and Sharif also have their own reasons for participating, as both hope to eventually lead Pakistan and obtain the post of Prime Minister. Sharif, the then Prime Minister, was ousted by Musharraf in a 1999 coup and just recently returned from exile. Bhutto also returned from exile to head up her party’s efforts to seek power.
Many Pakistanis are unhappy that the largest opposition parties, led by Bhutto and Sharif, have abandoned calls to boycott the elections. These includes many lawyers, who have led anti-Musharraf protests and been arrested in disproportionate numbers. Retired Supreme Court Justice Wajihuddin Ahmed stated, “The nation has been abandoned by the political segment of the population. Today there is no constitution, no independent election commission and above all there is no independent judiciary.” He pledged that the legal community will continue to fight.
Those who wish to see a boycott of the elections say that participation will create the illusion that the elections are legitimate, bolstering Musharraf’s rule. Musharraf apparently agrees, as his office welcomed the participation of the largest parties in the elections. Presidential spokesperson Rashid Qureshi stated, “The more people who participate in the elections the better it will be for the future of Pakistan.” Translated: It will strengthen Musharraf.
And despite U.S. pressure or maybe because of it, many smaller parties are still calling for a boycott. Qazi Hussain Ahmad, a leader of the All Parties Democratic Movement, said Sharif’s party has been expelled from the Movement because it has agreed to participate in the elections. He announced that his group which represents 33 other political parties and groups will boycott the election. Ahmad stated, “Our struggle will continue until the government reverses all the decisions taken by it after declaring the state of emergency. We will not contest the elections until the acceptance of our demands.”
The Bush regime, despite the recent emergency declaration by Musharraf and his subsequent actions, has continued to promoted Musharraf as a moderate leader able to stand up to Islamic terrorism. The Bush administration has also tried to engineer reconciliation between Musharaff, Bhutto, and Sharif, but so far has failed to do so.
Last week Sharif stated, “I want to tell the nation that past dictators were also used to ousting prime ministers, arresting them from their houses and hanging even one of them. Now a dictator [Musharraf] has attacked the judiciary, and if the nation today ignores these actions of a dictator, history will not forgive it.” Sharif has gone out of his way to put out feelers to the Bush regime in the hope of receiving support from the U.S. In an interview with the Associated Press he put forth his anti-terrorist credentials. He said, “Let me be clear I have been condemning all sorts of terrorism, whether in Pakistan or outside Pakistan. We are moderates, we follow moderation and nothing except moderation. Remarks are made by other countries without taking (into consideration) our cooperation that we have extended in the past. To me this is unreasonable and I am disappointed.” As far back as 1999, Sharif offered the United States the use of Pakistani territory to hunt down Osama bin Laden. He also cut a deal with the U.S. to have the U.S. train a special Pakistani unit to track and capture bin Laden at that time, but that deal was nixed when Musharraf staged his 1999 coup.
Bhutto has threatened possible protests if the coming elections are rigged. She told the media last week, “Either the elections will be fair and the people will get their own parliament, or if elections are not fair, then the movement will start. Bhutto is a Harvard-educated former prime minister with ties to Bush regime top officials. But the threat of future protests is muffled by her decision to participate in the elections. The Musharraf government was extremely pleased, as was the Bush regime, to know that she would take part in the elections.
But despite it efforts to foster reconciliation between Musharraf and his opponents, the Bush regime is still providing him full backing. President Bush recently granted an interview with the Associated Press in which he said, “We’ve had a good record of working with the Musharraf government in routing out al-Qaida and capturing or killing al-Qaida. And I would be concerned about any leader who didn’t understand the urgency of dealing with radicals and extremists who want to attack the United States and/or any other nation.” In November Bush publicly described Musharraf, as “a person who has done a lot for Pakistan democracy.” But no matter how many times Musharraf or Bush use the word democracy, the reality in Pakistan stands in stark contrast to the lies of these two Presidents.
As elections draw nearer, Musharraf continues to muzzle the press. On December 12, 2007 the Pakistan Federal Union of Journalists charged that the regime was attempting “to silence the free media” by interfering with TV stations providing live coverage of political debate. The day before, the Pakistan Electronic Media Regulatory Authority issued a letter to “all satellite TV channels,” claiming that some channels were airing live coverage which “contain baseless propaganda against Pakistan and incite people to violence.” It warned those responsible could be taken off the air. It further threatened possible three year jail terms and fines up to $170,000 for those who may be held responsible for airing “propaganda.” The letter was meant to stifle coverage of speeches of the opposition.
For the time being, Musharraf appears to have the full backing of the Bush regime. Bhutto and Sharif appear to have been co-opted into participation in the elections. But the next months are a pivotal time in Pakistan and for the U.S. relationship with that country. The country’s political situation is very volatile and will undoubtedly cause many Bush officials to lose sleep as the regime tries to control events in that nation.
World Can’t Wait will continue to report on events in Pakistan and here in the U.S. where the Bush regime hopes to pull the strings which will keep its man in Pakistan in power.