Pakistan A Dream Gone Sour

Roedad Khan
47 years after the frst military coup, we are back to square one. The country is
under military rule for the fourth time and going down the tubes. When I heard
ecretary !ice, I didn"t know whether to laugh or cry. #It is not the $akistan of
eptember %%, &''%(, she said and, #not e)en the $akistan of eptember %%, &''&(.
It is a ghost of its former self. If $akistan were to look into a mirror, it won"t
recogni*e itself. Today say+ #$akistan( and what comes to mind+ sham democracy,
fraudulent referendum, rigged elections, a ,eneral in uniform masquerading as the
$resident of this sad country, a rubber stamp parliament, a pliant -udiciary and a
fgurehead $rime .inister. #$akistan(, /r. !ice said, #Is in transition to a democratic
future(. adly, our democratic future is not in front of us. It is far behind us.
/emocracy in the west means a political system marked not only by free, fair and
impartial elections, but also by !ule of 0aw, a strong, independent -udiciary and an
independent 1lection 2ommission. 3ll these institutions are non4e5istent in $akistan
today. ince the days of 6erodotus democracy has meant, frst and foremost, rule of
the people. In $akistan, the people do not rule. The so)ereign power of the tate
does not reside with the people.
#Where ought the so)ereign power of the tate to reside(7 3sked 3ristotle. #With
the people7 With the propertied classes7 With the good7 With one man, the best of
all, the good7 With one man, the tyrant(7 8ne thing is clear. The so)ereignty of the
people is a myth. To apply the ad-ecti)e o)ereign to the people in $akistan is a
tragic farce. Whate)er the constitutional position, in the fnal analysis defacto
so)ereignty in $akistan 9.a-estas est summa in ci)as ac subditoes legibusque soluta
potestas i.e. :highest power o)er citi*ens and sub-ects unrestrained by law in the
words of ;rench <urist <ean =odin"> resides neither in the electorate, nor the
$arliament, nor the -udiciary, nor e)en the constitution which has superiority o)er all
the institutions it creates. It resides, where the coerci)e power resides. It is the
:pou)oir occulte" which is the ultimate authority in the decision making process in
$akistan. 1)en when an elected go)ernment is in power, it is the 2hief of 3rmy ta?
who is the ultimate authority in decision4making. 6e decides when to abrogate the
constitution, when it should be held in abeyance, when an elected go)ernment
should be sacked and when democracy should be gi)en a chance. =ehind the
scenes, it is he who decides whether an elected $rime .inister shall li)e or die. @o
wonder, ,eneral .usharraf is clinging to the post of 2hief of 3rmy ta? and refuses
to do? his uniform.
#!uin comes(, $lato said in A47 =2, #When the ,eneral uses his army to establish a
military dictatorship(. The army of $akistan struck $akistan"s nascent democracy
four times and has been in power for nearly half the country"s e5istence. It has cast
a long shadow o)er politics in $akistan e)en during the period of ci)ilian rule.
!epeated army inter)ention in the politics of $akistan has been a recipe for disaster.
It has thwarted the growth and de)elopment of parliamentary democracy and
destroyed whate)er little faith people had in their political institutions. What is
worse, it has eroded peopleBs faith in themsel)es as citi*ens of a so)ereign,
independent, democratic country. The country is in a mess. Today $akistan presents
an image of a country plagued by political, ethnic and sectarian conCicts. The
country appears to be adrift, lacking confdence about its future. @e)er before has
public confdence in the country"s future sunk so low.
The army has shown a greater willingness to grasp power than to gi)e it up. @one of
the frst three army chiefs who ruled $akistan 4 3yub Dhan, Eahya Dhan and Fia ul
6aq 4 ga)e up power )oluntarily. There is no reason to belie)e that ,eneral
.usharraf will act di?erently. 3 few days after the %GGG coup, his spokesman
insisted that+ :while others may ha)e tried to hang on to power, we will not. We will
make historyB. ,eneral .usharraf agreed+ B3ll I can sayB, he assured a tele)ision
inter)iewer in <anuary &''', BIs that I am not going to perpetuate myselfH I canBt
gi)e any certifcate on it but my word of honour. I will not perpetuate myselfB. 0ater
in &''', .usharraf went a stage further and said, he would respect a upreme
2ourt -udgment that stated he would remain in oIce for -ust three years. In <une
&''%, .usharraf performed a complete J4turn. ;ollowing the e5amples of 3yub,
Eahya and Fia, he made himself $resident. 3nd in .ay &''&, he held a dubious
referendum that is the basis of his rule today.
It is not morning in $akistan. It will take us more than faith to get us through this
dark night. 3ll the trappings of democracy are there but e)eryone knows where )ital
decisions are made. 3ll the pillars of state ha)e collapsed. 8ne of the most serious
in-uries the state can inCict on its sub-ects is to strip the country of its constitution,
aptly described as a #transparent garment clinging to the body politic(, and commit
the people to li)es of perpetual uncertainty. This kind of e5istence, as we know )ery
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well, is like a -ourney full of dangerous obstacles and risks undertaken in total
darkness. ,eneral .usharraf, following the e5ample of his military predecessors,
has defaced, disfgured and decimated the constitution. The result is what we ha)e
today. 8ne doesn"t ha)e to be a great constitutional e5pert to reali*e that we are
back to pre4independence ,o)ernment of India 3ct %GAK with a powerful $resident,
a non4so)ereign parliament and a puppet $rime .inister.
$arliament is one of the chief instruments of our democracy. Is it consistent with the
principle of parliamentary democracy to empower the $resident at the e5pense of
the $rime .inster7 3nd is it consistent with the principle of parliamentary
democracy to di)est the parliament and pass on its functions to an un4elected body
like the @ational ecurity 2ouncil dominated by the armed forces. @ot surprisingly,
the parliament is cowed, timid, a )irtual paralytic, o)er paid and under employed. In
$akistan political principle is a Ce5ible commodity. $ragmatism and artful dodging
are not seen as Cip4Copping. They are sa)ored far more than loyalty, consistency
and steadfastness. $arliamentary membership is the key to material success, a
passport and a license to loot and plunder. @o wonder, it is not a check on the
arbitrariness of the e5ecuti)e and nobody takes it seriously.
Today -udiciary is the weakest of the three pillars of state. It has su?ered a steady
diminution of power and prestige. Its image is tarnished. Things ha)e been downhill
e)er since the infamous .unir -udgment. !egrettably, -udiciary has been turned into
a fg4leaf for unconstitutional and illegal practices. It is a matter of great regret that
<udges ha)e been collusi)e in the erosion of the constitution and the !ule of 0aw in
this country. .r. <innah did not reali*e that one day -udges of the superior courts
would be appointed not because of their ability and sterling character but loyalty to
the e5ecuti)e and their political aIliations. Today nothing pre)ents the e5ecuti)e
from court4packing and appointing party loyalists with limited knowledge and
e5perience. If the idea was to degrade the superior courts and to fnd the worst
men, some of our go)ernments succeeded brilliantly in doing so. LThe $resident
may slipL, Tocque)ille wrote in %MA7, Lwithout the state su?ering, for his duties are
limited. 2ongress may slip without the Jnion perishing, for abo)e the 2ongress
there is the electoral body which can change its spirit by changing its members. =ut
if e)er the upreme 2ourt came to be composed of corrupt or weak or rash persons,
the 2onfederation would be threatened by anarchy or ci)il warL. 8ne of the lessons
of history is that when -udiciary functions at the behest of authority and allows itself
to be used against the citi*ens, the dykes of law and -ustice break and re)olution
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begins. The history of $akistan might ha)e been di?erent if -udges of the superior
courts had stood their ground and refused to collaborate with the usurper. $akistan
will be $akistan again the day a -udge of the superior court, in e5ercise of his
awesome powers, interposes the shield of law in defense of the constitution.
,eneral .usharraf"s authoritarian regime, far from being temporary, is acquiring the
mantle of permanence. Jnless checked, the country will settle into a form of
go)ernment with a democratic faNade and a hard inner core of authoritarianism O an
iron hand with a )el)et glo)e. This is not what .r. <innah en)isaged for $akistan. If
anybody in this country or abroad thinks that ,eneral .usharraf will hold free, fair
and impartial elections in this country in &''7 and retireP that a genuine transfer of
power to a ci)ilian go)ernment will follow the election and the army will return to
the barracks, he must think again and ha)e his head e5amined. The lesson of
history is that a person who possesses supreme power, seldom gi)es it away
)oluntarily. #@o de)il(, Trotsky wrote long ago, #has e)er cut its claws )oluntarily(.
L@o manL, $resident !oose)elt once remarked, Le)er willingly gi)es up public life 4
no man who has e)er tasted itL.
3s the public mood shifts from fearful to defant, the %GGG coup seems more of a
farce than a tragedy. 8ur window of opportunity is getting narrower by the day. I
belie)e that if only all the intellectuals could get together and blow their trumpets,
the walls of :<ericho" would crumble. The walls of autocracy in $akistan will not
crumble with -ust one good push. The present order will not go quietly. It will be an
uphill struggle to redeem our democracy and fashion it once again into a )essel to
be proud of.
If democracy is good for ,eorgia, Jkraine and now Drygy*stan, why is it not good
for $akistan7 Why is ecretary !ice asking the people of $akistan to be patient and
wait for elections in &''77 3merica ga)e its full support to pro4democracy 8range
and Qel)et re)olutions in ,eorgia and Jkraine. Why is it perpetuating
authoritarianism in $akistan7 Why this double4talk7 Why this double standard7 Isn"t
it shrieking hypocrisy7 Isn"t it -ust !ealpolitik7 Isn"t it sacrifcing democracy,
freedom, supremacy of ci)ilian rule on the alter of self4interest7 Isn"t it a repudiation
of e)erything 3merica claims to stand for7
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