General Pervez Musharraf has little patience with traditional notions of democracy. Pakistan’s president, who seized power in a coup eight years ago, prefers to measure public approval by his own standards. ”The vast majority is with me,” he insisted in an interview with the BBC last year. ”The day I come to know I’m not popular, I’ll quit. But, more than that, they’ll be out in the streets, and I would not be allowed to stay.”
Over the past month, vast numbers have been doing just that — taking to the streets in Islamabad, Lahore and Karachi in opposition to London and Washington’s favourite military dictator. But so far he shows no sign of quitting.
The trigger for the protests was Musharraf’s decision on March 9 to sack Iftikhar Chaudhry, Chief Justice of the supreme court, whose case was heard this week. Lawyers’ strikes, court boycotts and demonstrations erupted across the country. Within days, their ranks were fortified by civil society groups and opposition parties. The police responded with baton-charges, rubber bullets and tear gas.
The press was also punished for relaying images of bloodied protesters and the mushrooming hostility towards the regime. Geo TV had its offices smashed by police and its staff beaten; Aaj TV was temporarily taken off the air; and journalists elsewhere have spoken of attempts by senior government officials to frustrate their reporting.
When Musharraf appointed himself president in October 1999, it was, he claimed, to throw off ”the yoke of despotism” and ”sham democracy”. From the outset, the general assumed all executive powers and proceeded to install uniformed officials in positions of authority. Within months, he banned strikes, demonstrations and public rallies — measures that remained in force through the rigged 2002 elections.
The chief source of strain, however, has been Musharraf’s close alliance with George W Bush and Tony Blair. He defied the will of 80% of Pakistanis by signing up to Bush’s war on terror. The fallout from the 2001 US invasion of Afghanistan has brought hard-line Islamist parties to power in the North-West Frontier province, introducing al-Qaeda and Taliban elements into Pakistan, and triggered waves of terrorism that now threaten the major cities.
Musharraf, who trained the Taliban in its earlier incarnation, is now under US pressure to crack down harder on its Pakistani bases.
Musharraf has said he intends to continue as president and chief of army staff for the foreseeable future. To do so, he needs a pliant judiciary — hence the move against Chaudhry, who had made clear he would not countenance this continued double role.
There are signs Musharraf’s US sponsors may be tiring of him and toying with a return to office by Bhutto and Sharif, who lead the main parties. By assaulting the media and judiciary, he may have done his people a favour. It now seems likely that a popular movement for free and fair elections and the restoration of democracy will haunt his regime to its end. — Â