Pakistan is about to taste the democracy cup of tea after eight years of dictatorship in the coming elections which are to be held on Feb 18’ 08. The democracy which the undemocratically elected President of Pakistan had offered his people will be more suited to the genius of the country. Several of the preceding military dictators of this country had over the years given their own brands of democracy a go after the country’s first coup by Iskandar Mirza, scrapping in 1958 the Constitution of the country. Field Marshal Ayub Khan gave his own twist to the Pakistani tale with Gen Ziaul Haq not lagging behind to add his own spin to the mess.
President Musharraf wants to be counted among the great leaders in the war against terrorism. Maybe, in the process terrorism has hit his own country in a big way. He is already taking in terms of his King’s Party, the Muslim League (Q), being willing to enter into a coalition with the People’s Party now headed by Asif Zardari, the late Benazir’s husband. Pakistani people are in disciplined, they are feudal and tribal and therefore not ready for democracy. The politicians are all corrupt. The judiciary is corrupt, given to nepotism. The media is undermining the armed forces and the country as a whole.
President Musharraf simply refuses to accept the western concern for restoration of genuine democracy in the country. Listening to Musharraf one would imagine Pakistan is still steeped in the medieval age, and not the vibrant nation of some 16 crore people who have constantly been denied by a succession of self-seeking military leaders to take their place in the sun. The country has any number of brilliant young scientists, technologists, administrators, lawyers, and other professionals.
Musharraf told an interviewer that he would leave power when he is convinced that the people of Pakistan want him to quit. But for that to happen it must be his gut feeling that he is not wanted anymore and not the will of the people of Pakistan as expressed in a genuinely free and fair poll. He is not bothered really about what the Pakistani people think of him as long as long as he feels assured that the Armed Forces are with him. Musharraf could well take credit for having widened the base a little more by involving the Army in most businesses and even in civil administration.
It is time to wait and watch and Pakistan would surely be a happier place if the retired Army General Musharraf were somehow to ensure that people of Pakistan are allowed to have a genuinely free and fair poll. Any attempt to subvert the outcome the results, would push even the civil society of his country into the embrace of violence.