political opportunism or principled politics?

the following came in the newspaper.thought i'd post this alongwith some commentary.


WASHINGTON: Syeda Abida Hussain and Fakhar Imam told a meeting here on Tuesday that Pakistan’s salvation lies in the return of a genuinely elected government and a sovereign parliament, not in a system where all power resides in a single individual.

The two visiting politicians had been invited by the Middle East Institute to speak about the political situation in Pakistan. The small invited audience consisted of some of the leading South Asia experts in the US capital. Ms Hussain was ambassador to Washington during the first Nawaz Sharif government.

The couple was introduced by Marvin Weinbaum who praised the political acumen of the two and listed the highlights of their long and eventful political careers. Syed Fakhar Imam was invited to speak first. He began by saying that Pakistan had been unable to stabilise its institutions and unless it did so, its future would not be as bright as it could be. “That’s the essence of where Pakistan stands today,” he added. He said President Pervez Musharraf and his group lack legitimacy and as is the wont of such governments, they are constantly groping for mechanisms that will give them what they lack. He said Musharraf like Ayub and Zia might have found external acceptance but he has failed to match that domestically. The parliament has played no role in the selection of the three prime ministers that have been imposed on the country. All important functions continue to be performed by Gen Musharraf, who has gained enormous powers, thanks to the 17th amendment. A National Security Council had been formed which is presided over by the President, with four uniformed men among its sitting members. It is they who call the shots. The prime minister does not have the moral courage to object to anything, while the cabinet is inconsequential in terms of political authority. Even Zia in the end was persuaded not to set up a National Security Council, he added.

The former speaker of the National Assembly rejected the Musharraf claim that there was no alternative to him. What, he asked, would happen were he to leave the scene for some reason? He also rejected the regime’s claim that the economy is doing well. What space has been created economically is because of the turnaround taken by Islamabad after 9/11, he added. Inflation is running at 10 percent and poverty is up by 34 percent, which means that 45 million to 50 million Pakistanis now live on less than a dollar a day. There is no law and order in the country and sectarian killings are going ahead unabated. The smaller provinces are unhappy and feel alienated. “We have a techno prime minister but in the five and a half years he has been around, he has failed to announce the National Finance Award, which should have been announced three years ago,” he pointed out. He said if Pakistan is to gain stability, free, fair and impartial elections under an independent commission must be held. The sooner the elections are held the better, even this year. A truth and reconciliation commission must also be constituted, he added. “Pakistan, he reminded the audience, was brought into existence through a popular vote. The country’s roots are embedded in democracy, he added. Syeda Abida Hussain began by declaring that Gen Musharraf had given the people “precious little” since assuming power, but there had been a lot of talk of what was going to be done. “He talks and he travels, having beaten Benazir Bhutto’s record in the latter department,” she quipped. He travelled all the way to Argentina, she said, to sign trade treaties with a country with which Pakistan can have little if any trade. She said the 14 years during which civilians had been in power after Zia, it was really the GHQ that was calling the shots and pulling the strings. At the PMA, cadets were trained to govern rather than fight. She regretted that the people of Pakistan had never had the opportunity of voting out a government. It was galling for Pakistanis to be told that they were not fit for democracy. If India had done it, why couldn’t we, people asked, she said. The military, she stressed, was best protected when it was not governing. Today, the military was running everything. The local government system was a disaster. The devolution plan had led to internecine fighting for power and pelf at local levels. She said the people of Pakistan longed for the day when someone holding power would walk away from it. He would be a true hero, she added. She confessed that for a time she thought Gen. Musharraf might be one such man, but he had turned out to be no different from earlier military rulers.

Ms Hussain said it was the right of the people of Pakistan to be empowered to vote in and vote out governments. The governments that come to office should enrich the people, not themselves. She hoped that the United States would use its influence to have true democracy come to Pakistan. Pakistan and the people of Pakistan have tremendous potential but it cannot flower under military rule, she declared.

A lively question-answer session followed the two presentations. Asked if the army would be able to relinquish power, Ms Hussain replied that it had done so on four occasions in the past, so why could it not do so today? It should find it easy to disengage, once the top brass goes back to the barracks, she added. Imam joined the argument to stress that all political parties should agree on a minimum political programme. Asked about the current Indo-Pakistan peace process, Ms Hussain said after the two countries became declared nuclear states, there remained no reason for them to fight. However, peace must be made by taking the people’s elected representatives into confidence. It should not lie in the power of one individual to make peace or war, she emphasised. Imam criticised the President for making off the cuff comments at dinner parties about Kashmir. He called for parliament to be consulted and taken into confidence. It should not be a “one-man show.” Decisions must not be taken behind closed doors but in full public view.

Another attendee wanted to know if the war on terrorism could be effectively conducted were Musharraf not on the scene, to which Ms Hussain said that it certainly could. She charged that the jihadi groups were a creation of the army. Imam held these groups responsible for the sectarian war that had been raging in Pakistan for the last 15 years. He said a political government would be better equipped to deal with the forces of extremism. Answering another question, he said that little had been done to bring about curriculum or madrassa reform though much had been claimed. He said it was the public sector schools where the majority of children go that need reform of the curriculum. He called “enlightened moderation” a couple of “buzz words that nobody quite knows what to make of.” When reminded by a questioner that big business was quite happy with the present government, Imam answered that big business and the army had always gone together. However, there was no economic boom as claimed by the government, except that the wealthy were getting wealthier and the middle class was going under barring those in its upper reaches. He said if Pakistan is really doing as well as is being claimed, why is foreign investment not coming to the country?

arrgh.firstly these two were amongst the first to break away from nawaz sharif to support the general.secondly when their group got sidelined by the chaudries of gujrat in the battle for PML(Q) they alongwith the erstwhile Imran khan (loved him as a cricketer and love him for his hospital(s)) became the strongest proponents of democracy.sounds like sour grapes to me.their comments on the economy well i dunno if the upper classes are the ones buying all those motor cylcles,tractors etc.maybe its the upper classes buying all the mobile connections they can get their hands on.or maybe just maybe its the upper classes who are going to fill in the 50000 jobs created in one week in rural chakwal district due to the creation of three mega cement plants.i wont deny the rich havent gotten richer.but theyve become richer not by looting tax payers or anything (though they may be guilty of tax evasion some if not most of them) but theyve become richer by investing more money in the economy.by expanding capacities.by building new projects.and so far Pakistan does not have an automated workforce.hence theyve created jobs.the reason why inflation has happened in the first place apart from rise in oil prices i.e is because of the surge in demand and the resulting shortage in supply.to be fair there are people who have missed out and continue to live in poverty.in fact many millions belong to that boat.some millions have been lifted up though.so to expect miracles in 5 years is a bit of a stretch considering how thingts were messed up in the past.we are on the right path.its not perfect but things are progressing in the right path.