No Time to Rush!


Written by Javed Ansari • Cover Stories • July 2010

3-1 The time is not right for Pervez Musharraf to return home - or is it? All through his illustrious army career and later as the man at the helm of affairs in Pakistan for almost nine years, it must have never occurred to Pervez Musharraf that there would come a time in his life when he would have to stay away from his beloved country for an extended period. Perhaps he is the only one among Pakistan's eminent ‘self-exiled' citizens who desperately wants to return home. And how he must rue that eventful day in March 2007, when the chief justice came calling and, from then onwards, it gradually started to become a different Pakistan for him.

Going by past record of military regimes in Pakistan, General Musharraf had already overstayed his welcome by then. It did not matter that he was a benign dictator who contributed more to the essence of democratic values and instituted more democratic practices than many a bona fide democrat before him. The fact remained that he did not qualify for civilian office for at least two years after having doffed the uniform but he continued to function as head of state after resigning as chief of army staff and even managed to have himself elected once again as president by the same parliament.

However, despite this incongruity, the key question to ask is that when Pervez Musharraf was comfortably ensconced in his position as president, was there any pressing reason for him to hurry and dispose of the reference that had landed on his desk concerning the chief justice of Pakistan? He had all the time in the world to ponder over and review the reference before referring it to the Supreme Judicial Council. After all, he had very cordial relations with Justice Iftikhar Chaudhry and if there was anything that he felt was amiss in the fat file he had received from the prime minister, he could always have had a private word with the judge. Allowing the matter to go out of hand, what with public release of the stills and TV footage of his meeting with the chief justice and later, the physical mishandling of the country's senior-most judge by police personnel, was a key mistake on the former president's part that set the wagon of his power squarely and definitely on the downhill track.

A competent officer, always admired by peers and looked up to by juniors, Pervez Musharraf turned out to be a poor student of pragmatic politics and a poorer judge of politicians. Forced to the national forefront by virtue of a coup (that many allege he had engineered in advance), Musharraf started off with immaculate good intentions and an agenda that every honest and sincere Pakistani believed in and was grateful for. His early years, when he styled himself as the country's Chief Executive and graciously allowed sitting president Muhammad Rafiq Tarrar to continue in office, was a time of hope and optimism for Pakistan. It was during this period that many well-meaning and competent people agreed to join the general in the sincere efforts he was making for the betterment of the country. The reason why General Musharraf succeeded in gathering so many good people around him was that he exuded basic sincerity and a willingness to bring the country out from the cycle of corruption and mis-governance that had deprived the people of the fruits of development and prosperity.

Somehow, the man in the street had confidence in him because he looked the sort of person who was from among them, someone who understood their problems better than the politicians who had come before him and had played their own game of musical chairs, driving the country to ruin in the process. Musharraf represented Pakistan's educated middle class, a class that understands the country's key problems, that does not have vested political interests, is not mired in corruption, does not suffer from a feudal mindset and is willing to actively contribute its expertise and skills to anything that needs to be done for the benefit of the country. In Musharraf, the country had the rare opportunity to be led by someone with a clean personal record, someone with no feudal, wealthy industrial or family-run political baggage.

Pervez Musharraf was an army general deeply steeped in a soldierly lifestyle all too evident in his cocky mannerism and a speaking style that he must have acquired during his years as an army commando. As such, on the early morning of Oct. 13, 1999, when he first addressed the nation on television, he did not quite come across as a charismatic people's man or as someone who would be aware of anything substantial outside the Army House or the GHQ. In the months and years to come, this army general showed that there was much more to him in the understanding of key issues, in people handling skills, in a clear vision for Pakistan's future and in diversity of ideas.

While Musharraf's detractors may strongly disagree, the fact is that he succeeded in translating his unquestionable good intentions into some quite concrete results. He was a military dictator in the classical sense but, despite a lot of opposition from within his government and the bureaucracy, he allowed opening up of the media and gave it the sort of free run not witnessed even in some of the world's better known democracies, though this is one decision that he probably regrets deeply to this day.

He set about rationalizing the national economy and made every effort to strengthen the country's financial health. Pakistan's foreign reserves hit 16 billion dollars; its exports crept out of a dismal 8 or nine billion dollars and surged to 17 billion dollars while overseas Pakistanis, encouraged by the positive vibes coming from home, remitted up to 6 billion dollars a year. It was the Musharraf regime that went a long way in reducing Pakistan's dependence on international donors and the country even bid farewell to the IMF, while its international financial ratings achieved a new high.

It was a mark of the emerging economic stability that so many new projects were initiated in the country. Pakistan entered an IT and communication revolution and the higher education sector was given due attention for the first time. From a paltry spend of Rs. 200 million in 1999, the government was spending Rs. 20 billion on this sector in 2007. There was a substantial increase in women's representation in the assemblies, with 33% seats reserved for women in all three tiers of local government and 17% in the national and provincial legislatures. As a result, Pakistan was recognized as having made the most progress in women's representation in parliament in all of South Asia. The women's protection act was also passed during Musharraf's era.

It is worth considering that while Musharraf gathered a worthy team around him, what broke the magic spell was the 2002 general elections. The lot that he put his bets on was hardly the kind he should have consorted with. He floundered in his zeal to give his presence in power the label of democracy and lost his way. The political elements that were put together to form the PML-Q - a.k.a. the king's party - successfully ripped apart the edifice of peace and prosperity the general and his associates were so laboriously engaged in constructing.

It was evident that by then Gen. Pervez Musharraf too was beginning to enjoy power and was gradually becoming less open to advice from well-meaning supporters though he used to be described as a ‘collegial' person by some of his close associates earlier. While the west and particularly the US had hardly acknowledged his presence until 9/11 came along, he became their favorite leader in the aftermath and all because Pakistan was the most convenient staging ground for their invasion of Afghanistan - a country that the Taliban had until then turned into a ‘no-go' area for the Americans and their cronies. That his ‘friends' like the ungrateful Bush administration later became the cause of his undoing by forcing him into deals such as the infamous NRO, is of course another story.

When Pervez Musharraf announced his resignation from the office of President on August 18, 2008, the parting remark in his farewell speech was ‘Pakistan ka khuda hi hafiz!' (It is only God that can save Pakistan). In their eagerness to get rid of Musharraf, most Pakistanis did not realize then what lay in store for them in the post-Musharraf days but they would later discover, much to their misfortune, how true the departing president's words would prove to be. Perhaps it should suffice to say that the individual who came to occupy the presidency after Musharraf left - and his lackeys - have demonstrated in no uncertain terms how Pakistan can be effectively run into the ground.

Perhaps it is the little prayer that Musharraf uttered at the time of his departure that continues to protect the people of this country so far or to save whatever is left of its meager resources from the massive onslaught of corruption and plunder let loose by the present democratic dispensation.

Over the past two years, Pervez Musharraf has succeeded in building for himself a reasonably good following on social networking websites such as facebook and twitter. In fact, his popularity is quite unmatched and he has even been declared ‘'connector of the day'' by CNN. But what is even more important is the following that is building in his favor on the streets of Pakistan. The memory of the Pakistani masses is said to be generally short. However, just two years of ‘real democracy' seems to have driven them to the edge and people from across the social strata now recall Musharraf's days with a wistful look in their eyes. They realize that his ‘authoritarian' rule was a better option.

This does not mean that the time is opportune for Pervez Musharraf to return home and start jockeying for another stint in power. His party - the All Pakistan Muslim League - was recently launched in Karachi but the event did not get much media attention. It is being assumed that this was the first step towards paving the way for the former president's homeward trek. However, the wise among his supporters are of the opinion that this is not the right time for Pervez Musharraf to plan his return. They would prefer him to wait and see how events turn out; there is no need to rush. They say he should continue to build his credentials as a man who has a vision for a successful Pakistan - a vision that will cut through the gloom spread by the idiocies of an inept leadership - and there will come a time when he will be hailed back by the suffering masses.