Daily Times

Pakistan has offered a second chance to everyone, politicians and judiciary included. While we do not have a very short memory, we pretend to forget their wrongdoings while in power and, therefore, never ask what happened to the hundreds of millions of dollars received in the ‘Qarz Utaro Mulk Sanwaro’ exercise from the Sharifs nor of their oaths on PCOs from the judiciary. And we offer them the opportunity again in the hope of a better future. Why should we behave differently for Mr Pervez Musharraf?

Musharraf landed in the comparative safety of Karachi, and in his brief interaction with the people there, he put up his case for return and was heard vowing to give back to us Jinnah’s Pakistan. This is indeed a very big promise. He claims to be brave and often talks of his commando training but does he have the courage and determination to do so? The answer to this lies in the change from the past he needs to have brought within him. It is appropriate to analyse a few of his past actions so that both he and the people he now wishes to serve can see what needs to be changed.

One of the retired general’s first public photographs was with his two pet puppies. The people kept waiting to see their later image together throughout his stint in power. He chose to please the radicals by not doing so. Keeping pets is a serious affair. Those who have them have a strong bond with them and do not part with them on their own yet it was reported in a newspaper that one of them was gifted to Mr Imran Khan. Jinnah, our Quaid, had a strong bond with his pet dog and was never ashamed of his choice of a pet.

The former general had in his prime days all the powers vested in him. He was even empowered by the Apex Court to amend the constitution. Yet with all the might he had, he could not undertake the construction of the Kalabagh Dam, which in his own words was essential for the country. That perhaps required power within. He kept saying that he would not dither from taking hard decisions but yet could not take them when it mattered.

While all powers were vested in him he could not give us an integrated anti-terror policy when this country decided to become an ally in the US war on terror. That the government of the Pakistan People’s Party that followed him could also not do so does not vindicate him. As a result of the lack of this tactical imperative, info-sharing between intelligence agencies remains restricted and the counter terrorism response remains wanting. Thousands of our servicemen and common Pakistanis have lost their lives due to this. He had the capacity to bring on board all the power centres in the country to unite on the single point agenda that all terrorists were bad for the nation yet while the country bled, the good Taliban idea continued. The brave Benazir Bhutto became a victim of inaction and the nation is still not on one page.

In the 2002 elections, Musharraf chose the Muttahida Majlis-e-Amal, a concoction of religious right to rule the NWFP (now Khyber Pakhtunkhwa). Clarity of purpose would have let him made the people choose, and surely, the Awami National Party (ANP) would have won. The ANP perhaps did not believe in the good Taliban idea, and that was perhaps not in line with the strategy of the time. That his life is under threat from the very people he did not root out while he had the means to do so is perhaps an irony of fate.

Despite the rhetoric, Musharraf could not register all religious schools especially those that mattered. Under his nose, he let extremist religious schools function in the capital on the state land and let them be filled with arms. A state of denial was witnessed and when the situation at one of them at Laal Masjid got out of hand with open challenge to the writ of the state to show the might of the state, an operation was launched whereas a long siege could have done the job. Public opinion against extremism was never fully motivated and no planning to weather the fall-out from the operation was witnessed.

One of his ministers, Nilofar Bakhtiar, who had worked toward improving women’s social status, as well as working in areas of health and education made a parachute jump in the US intended to raise money for victims of the 2005 Kashmir earthquake. Some pictures of the lady appeared in the press that some clerics said were unIslamic. To please the extremists, the lady was very conveniently forced to resign without any credit for her service. Ms Bakhtiar complained of a campaign of intimidation against her, and told a Senate standing committee that her life was under threat.

Thanks to the war dividend that Pakistan received and comparatively better economic policies for which he deserves credit, Musharraf could have let his re-election rest on legitimate elections through a newly elected assembly. Yet, he did not want to rest his fate with the people and blundered by trying to first censuring the judiciary and then the media whom he had himself liberalised. He thus lost his most powerful ally and what later followed was a forgone conclusion. Having praised Ataturk when he assumed power, people noticed his deliberate avoidance of taking the name again. His rule in uniform saw a number of false starts and half hearted efforts. The list is not short.

The civil society will, however, forget all his wrongs if he proves the sincerity in the claim that he intends to give back to the people Jinnah’s Pakistan. Jinnah’s Pakistan had an interesting cabinet: foreign affairs with Sir Mohammad Zafrullah Khan; law, justice and labour with Jogendra Nath Mandal; finance and statistics with Sir Victor Turner, and minorities and women with Sheila Irene Pant. If he can bring back those days when Pakistanis were one nation, at peace with themselves and free from internal strife, we can forget and forgive everything. That would be a Herculean task for the man. Has he the grit and courage to take up this task? Will his party act to make Jinnah’s speech to the Constituent assembly on 11th of August 1947 a part of Pakistan’s constitution? Will he make it an election issue and a part of his party’s manifesto? The people of Pakistan deserve a quick and true answer. In case he answers correctly they will welcome his return and wish him well.

The writer can be reached at thelogicalguy@yahoo.com