Recently an article by Farahnaz Isphahani titled “Democracy does deliver” (dated September 29, 2009) appeared in a section of the press. Having read some of Ms Isphahani’s previous security papers I can appreciate her mastery over words. However if I was expecting something ethereal from this piece I was sorely disappointed. What she lauds as a diplomatic win and which she considers a proof of democracy’s deliverance unfortunately is nothing more than the assurance of further foreign aid and not any historic empowerment of this nation. If my memory serves me right aid was given during the time of the recent dictator too. Similarly events like the FoDP also used to take place including Musharraf’s groundbreaking address to the American Jewish Community. Hence I hardly see it as sign of democracy delivering.
If democracy indeed delivers we should have seen a government more sensitive to the wishes of its own people rather than to the foreign accolades. As a student of international politics, she knows well that words and overtures hardly matter. What matters is a government’s capacity to govern its country and hence its popularity at home. Otherwise Musharraf too wasn’t unpopular in the international circles. He lost popularity here and was shown the door. Leaders in the third world aka new world are similarly short changed every other day.
If aid were enough for our development we should have been among the considerably developed countries of the world by now. But we clearly aren’t. The president’s recent statement in the UK that Pakistan needs more trade not aid, then, is most welcome. Yet even trade without domestic production is not enough. However that seems practically impossible given the crippling power outages in the country and the government’s credibility and transparency gap. We all know that the party returned to power with the huge baggage of troubled reputation. Even if that tarnished image was a frame up, one would have hoped that this time it would have learnt some lessons, but now that too unfortunately seems akin to being foolishly simplistic. Just like the capital in economy, political capital is a precious commodity. And at the heart of this capital lies trust. If a government fails to win the trust of its citizens, the torrents of criticism reduce it to the depths of insecurity. You cut deals after deals with the devil to stay in power and yet power at this cost becomes nothing but a mere anathema. It is not a quite a hidden secret that the past two terms of the PPP were cut short by the allegations of corruption. While Mohtarma Benazir Bhutto had to go in exile, her husband and our current president had to endure a huge spell of imprisonment. So this time the party and its government could have played a more cautious role. A stitch in time saves nine, they say. And a little more attention to details, transparency and sensitivity to the public perception could have done the trick. But no sir, just like in the past, the party has alienated almost every segment of the society through its antics and semantics, within a short span of time. There must be some special recipe for such an unmitigated disaster and yet when the government cannot hide how poorly it has performed in the public opinion, it picks the gun and shoots the messenger. No doubt then that just like Joseph McCarthy its media managers spend more time in dubbing every critic, unpatriotic. This brand of McCarthyism has compromised considerable precious time which could otherwise have been used to solve a few more problems of the country. View Full Article »
Tag Archive: Democracy
I believe now that Musharraf has failed in the basic foreign policy test set forth by the Western democracies in recognizing Israel as a state, he is bound to try and charm China. Indeed in his first assassination of Ms Bhutto when the western press was challenging him eyeball to eyeball, he thundered at the journalists berating them for their gossip mongering and eulogized the Chinese journalists for reporting the truth. China and Pakistan, it must be remembered have stayed for long what qualifies in international relations as great pals. Indeed a number of Chinese friends invested their energies in learning Urdu when Pakistan was otherwise little known in the world for its culture. Chinese journalists naturally have been far more generous in their dealing with Pakistani matters than what they actually deserved. It was then the beginning of what should go down in history as Musharraf’s desperate charm China policy. In short when you are strong you cannot see any city except Washington, yet when you start losing power you all of a sudden realize that you are sitting next to Beijing. I have no illusions that this new policy like the “recognize Israel” policy, in which he never recognized Israel but always used his meetings with the Israeli leadership to project an image of moderation in the west. (Read my previous post ‘Should Pakistan Recognize Israel?’). Why do I believe it won’t succeed this time? Because I know that the Chinese leaders have enough vision and foresight not to associate them with a dying order which has only turned to China after being rejected from everywhere else and did nothing substantial for the country. China is very conscious about the sentiments of the Pakistani people and is aware of Musharraf’s standing in Pakistan. (To Read This Article in Chinese Click Here) View Full Article »
Believe me, I am not a prophet of doom or gloom. But it doesn’t take a rocket scientist to understand that our country is in grave peril. If my memory serves me right my country was not like this. We never had fear of any suicide bomber, any angry mob crushing us to death or even general breakdown of law and order on the national scale. It was the Pakistan we grew up in. Women could drive from one city to another without being robbed or assaulted. Children could still watch what little entertainment PTV or video tapes could offer without being reminded of the V word better known to us as violence. But things surely have changed for the worse. View Full Article »
It is astounding how we mortals often take our own selves more seriously than what we are. A clear example is the struggle going on within Pakistan. Perhaps it is because we take up a principle and weave our lives and often our businesses around it. Once that principle is out of vogue or has changed beyond trace (oh yes, the principles that we prefer to call ‘universal truths’ or deep rooted principles also change with time), we find ourselves really in a fix. View Full Article »
I do not intend to add anything new to the debate today. It is the 29th death anniversary of Zulfi Bhutto and the questions that I had raised in one of my past columns have not been answered yet. That is why I am posting that column here that was originally published in the Pakistani press. While it is natural that some friends may have read it in the past I am sure my international audience will find it indeed interesting. So here is the article for your perusal. View Full Article »
Something eerie seems to be happening since the national elections. We seem to have to have forgotten all virtues of patience learnt during the time of the authoritarian regime. After their win the victors came together in Bhurban to remind us that they mean business and signed a joint declaration vowing to restore the judiciary within thirty days. There was immediate talk of a countdown. Then the newly elected premier addressing after his vote of confidence promised that the government would deliver some of its early goals within a matter of hundred years. View Full Article »
We were taught in the theories of international relations that democracies do not go to war. That notion however somehow seems lost in the erratic behaviour of the US administration regarding Pakistan. During the eight year long dictatorship in this country which also witnessed unprecedented assault on the American Twin Towers, the attitude of the US administration towards Musharraf and his regime was quite benign and full of trust. And now that the country finally has proven itself worthy of being called democracy that patience is nowhere to be seen. First Condi Rice made an uncalled for statement. Then Negroponte came rushing to Islamabad. And now Michael V Hayden the Director of the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) has made similar rude remarks. All of them have now warned us against engaging the people of the tribal areas in peace talks. View Full Article »
As soon as the popular verdict was known the incumbent government’s moles with the aid of some foreign diplomats moved with a clear view to sabotage the popular choices. The first attempt made was to cajole and coax the Pakistan People’s Party (PPP) to form a government without the Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N). That attempt as evident on March 19 blew up in their faces. But they did not give up. This is strange because a day before the elections, the PML(Q) leadership published a full page advertisement in the papers asking that had the 1970 election results been accepted by all, would Bangladesh have been created? It was a shrewd, albeit cruel, ploy to keep the opposition parties away from pre-empting the probable electoral rigging through protests. However, the league of the general has forgotten its own message. The inaugural sessions of the Provincial Assemblies have not yet been convened, which given the federal nature of the mandate seems a terrible risk. Is it that those who ruled the Islamic Republic for the last eight years are signalling us that if they do not stay in power, there would be no need for the federation itself? View Full Article »
Over last two days Makhdoom Amin Fahim, has shed all pretense and come out blackmailing the party exactly on the lines of the notoriously dubbed Operation Goodnight Plan. He is repeatedly reminding us that he is the President of the PML-Q (oh sorry I meant Pakistan People’s Party Parliamentarians). Since I am neither member of any party nor a stakeholder I am not keen to mince my words. However I also have no interest in blaming a man that I have respected thus far. Yet I cannot forget that the entire Operation Goodnight Plan (OGP) was meant to hijack the popular mandate with the help of Amin Fahim, the Election Commission and Musharraf’s cronies. View Full Article »
