Daily Times

The sudden announcement by the Sharif regime to try General Pervez Musharraf for treason under article six of the constitution for imposing emergency and abrogating the constitution is another frantic episode that shows how the ruling classes are using him as bait to divert mass attention from the serious crises and conflicts erupting in this moribund society. The request to the Supreme Court (SC) to set up a special tribunal for legal proceedings against Musharraf exposes the sheer despondency of the regime to camouflage its abject failure and incompetence in preventing the recent, outrageous sectarian bloodshed of Shia/Sunni clashes in Rawalpindi.

In recent weeks, Musharraf has won bail in all three cases — the murders of Benazir Bhutto, Akbar Bugti and an obscurantist mullah (cleric) during an assault on an extremist mosque in the heart of Islamabad in 2007 — and was about to leave the country. Although this might end up as a hoax after all, but the mechanism of judicial activism in divulging and delaying serious issues has been the most utilised means of the ruling elites that fail to resolve them. This in itself lays bare the extreme conflicts and contradictions the various institutions of the state are beset with. The severe economic crisis and the influx of the massive black economy have decayed and hollowed the state’s institutions, often ending up in clashes with and between different pillars of the state’s edifice.

The military coup that Musharraf carried out in October 1999 was in no way or in any shape a commendable measure but it, in itself, reflected these conflicts. No honest political analyst can absolve him from this odious act. However, a wide spectrum of our political parties welcomed this coup and broad sections of so-called civil society welcomed the ‘liberal dictator’ Musharraf. Most political parties participated in his democratic manoeuvres and even the PML-N was part of the parliament that took oath under Musharraf after the 2002 overly manipulated elections. This was, in fact, a tacit endorsement of his regime. Even the present chief justice had initially taken oath under Musharraf’s doctrine of necessity and was part of the judicial setup that sold its soul to the military devil and not only sanctified the coup but also provided legal authority to Musharraf to abrogate and amend the constitution. The actual conflict came much later — a conflict based less on a principled position and more on conflicting interests and privileges of various organs and sections of the state.

However, 1999 was not the first time that Pakistan came under direct military rule. There have been eight coup attempts by the military in Pakistan. Four of them were from the lower ranks and were aborted. The top brass, through the proper chain of command of the armed forces, led those that succeeded. These coups brought the dictatorships of Ayub Khan, Yahya Khan, Ziaul Haq and Pervez Musharraf.

However, Musharraf’s military rule was perhaps the mildest. He did not even declare a martial law. Unquestionably, the most atrocious military rule was that of the Islamic fundamentalist Ziaul Haq, a coup sponsored and perpetuated by US imperialism. The constitution and article six were adopted in 1973. General Zia’s imposition of martial law was the first abrogation of this article and the constitution. There was much talk of invocation of this article against Zia but it remained just that: mere rhetoric. Zia himself once said that he could tear apart the constitution, which is not even worth the paper it is written on. He was not far away from the mark. The wily Zia knew that the real power in this system rests not in the people or the constitution but in the international and domestic power brokers who call the shots. The imperialists needed Zia to nurture fundamentalist Islamic terrorism to further their regional interests and the ruling classes need him to acquire their industries and the assets that had been nationalised by Bhutto. The mullahs got a free ride on this journey from rags to riches. They were an important tool in the imposition of the extreme repression and tyranny unleashed by Zia in the name of Islam. That intrusion of religious bigotry in the institutions of the state and society has become an integral part of the rotten system.

The Sharif’s wealth and political ascendency came from none other than Zia’s brutal military dictatorship. It is ironical that these very products of the most heinous despotism in the country’s history are now manipulating the invocation of article six against Musharraf and posing as the stalwarts of democracy. It is not just this political elite but a whole layer of the intelligentsia, writers, artists, sportsmen and other prominent celebrities in different walks of life who prostituted their professions, ideologies and principles to endorse and substantiate Zia’s harrowing actions. People were flogged in public, hanged for their ideological commitments and a whole generation of the left was devastated by this Islamic regime. Women were desecrated and subjected to the most horrendous laws, stifling them in society. All those who are crying hoarse about the sanctity and upholding of the constitution do so conveniently by ignoring that this constitution is riddled by the draconian dictates of Zia. The tumour of Zia’s cynical fundamentalism is still a curse in the social life of the country.

Why is Musharraf the only one who is being tried for treason? Why not bring to justice all those who had supported and facilitated the previous abrogation of the constitution? Who will dare to do that? After all, how many from this corrupt and criminal ruling class would be willing to get themselves prosecuted for the crimes they had committed? When the prosecutors and the prosecuted are from the same class, and are sometimes even the same individuals, how can any execution of justice ever be envisaged? Why were those articles (articles 3 and 38), which ensured access of the basic provisions of life for the masses never invoked by any parliament or regime? The capacity of any alleviation of poverty and the provisions of health, education, water and other basic needs within the confines of capitalism is sheer utopia. The elite know that. Hence, to confuse, deceive and swerve the masses, they resort to this hideous gimmickry like the theatrics of the Colosseum in ancient Rome orchestrated by the Caesars of the time to divert mass dissention. However, these crimes, if investigated honestly and completely, will have to convict a much larger class and state officialdom if any justice has to be seriously done. The present system does not have the capacity or the courage to indict itself. No ruling class in history has ever given up their power, privileges and wealth voluntarily. This had to be overthrown through revolutions.

The writer is the editor of Asian Marxist Review and international secretary of Pakistan Trade Union Defence Campaign. He can be reached at ptudc@hotmail.com