"Pakistan must not be sacrificed for the sake of its leader.": Eric Margolis

Pakistan faces a possible melt-down
BY ERIC MARGOLIS
Khaleej Times, 21 May 2007

THIS high-mileage columnist has covered Pakistan since the mid-1980's, appeared frequently in its fiercely independent media, gone through heavy fighting on the Kashmir and Siachen borders, and developed a strong affection for this turbulent, fascinating nation.


Never in the past two decades have I see Pakistan so racked by tensions and fury at its government, and never before have I seen it so close to a dangerous explosion that could confront South Asia with a host of unpredictable dangers.

Today, Pakistan's President-General Pervez Musharraf, seems prepared to see his nation destroyed rather than loosen his grip on power.

Pakistan has been convulsed for months by riots and demonstrations calling for the ouster of Musharraf and his cronies. Open opposition to Musharraf's rule was sparked by his firing of Pakistan's courageous Chief Justice, Iftikhar Chaudhry, who was blocking the president's efforts to get himself re-elected in violation of the constitution.

Pakistanis are fed up with Musharraf's war against Pashtun tribes in Pakistan's supposedly autonomous tribal territories, and his campaign against rebellious tribes in Balochistan, which were launched at the urging of the president's patrons in Washington.

There is widespread anger against Musharraf, who came to power in a 1999 coup, for bowing to US pressure by abandoning Pakistan's strategic interests in Afghanistan and allowing the US to use Pakistan as a base for operations against Taleban. Pakistanis are also enraged by what many call Musharraf's betrayal of the struggle to oust Indian control of the eastern two-thirds of Kashmir, long regarded as Pakistan's most sacred cause.

Hailed by Washington as a ‘democratic statesman,' Musharraf's government has arrested and jailed large numbers of people without trial. Many have been tortured. Elections have been crudely rigged, legislators and judges bribed, and most of the army and intelligence service's most capable, patriotic officers, were replaced at Washington's demand by compliant yes-men. Now, Musharraf's security forces are intimidating Pakistan's free Press, one of its few remaining active democratic institutions.

What an irony that while Washington claims to be waging war in Afghanistan to bring democracy, it is upholding Pakistan's military dictatorship.

Some Pakistani critics keep reminding me of my past support and admiration for former military ruler, Gen Zia ul-Haq. True enough. I knew and indeed greatly admired Zia. After interviewing Musharraf in 1999, I said to myself, ‘Musharraf, you are no Zia!' President Zia was a true Pakistani patriot who prevented a Soviet invasion of Pakistan, won the war in Afghanistan, and advanced his nation's strategic interests in Afghanistan and Central Asia. Even though he was very wrong to execute the deposed Ali Bhutto, Zia was courageous, tough as steel, and refused to be intimidated by anyone.

Musharraf outraged his countrymen by obsequiously kow-towing to foreign demands while neglecting Pakistan's needs. Turning Pakistan into Washington's sepoy in exchange for billions in overt aid and hundreds of millions more in secret CIA stipends used to rent loyalty to the military regime has shamed many Pakistanis and further enflamed anti-Western groups in this important nation of 162.5 million.

Now, thanks in part to Musharraf's wrongheaded policies over Afghanistan, the conflict there is starting to lap across Pakistan's Northwest Frontier. Pakistan is facing one of the gravest national crises since its creation in 1947 as a beacon of honest, democratic government for the Muslim world. Sixty years later, Pakistan has become a poster child for self-serving, undemocratic government that often does not even represent the best interests of the nation.

The Bush Administration keeps patting Musharraf on the back as unrest worsens and Pakistan heads towards a potential explosion that could destabilise the entire region.

Quickly restoring democratic government is the obvious answer. Pakistan's banned opposition leaders, Benazir Bhutto and Nawaz Sharif, must be allowed to return and wage free elections. Miss Bhutto appears as the most effective antidote to the current military regime.

Washington needs to press Musharraf to retire as armed forces chief and run for office as a democratic politician. Time is fast running out. A nuclear-armed Pakistan facing regional, tribal and ethnic unrest or conflict is a hugely dangerous threat demanding urgent action. Pakistan must not be sacrificed for the sake of its leader.

Eric S. Margolis is a veteran American journalist and contributing foreign editor of The Toronto Sun