The writer was Pakistan’s ambassador to the EU from 2002-2004 and to the US in 1999
Let us recall that following the approval of a constitution after years of endless squabbling and just after the much-awaited general elections had been announced, the army chief, who had been scheming for years, decided to seize power. The reason advanced was ‘incompetency and corruption’ of politicians. Incidentally, this was to become the constant refrain of those who chose to emulate him. Admittedly, the first military regime gave us the semblance of stability and the impression of development, but the 10-year-long despotic rule deepened social inequalities, while adding to the sense of deprivation in the smaller provinces and convincing those in the eastern wing that there was no future for them in the authoritarian state, whose ruler held them in contempt.
His successor lacked even the pretence of any interest in the country’s welfare, deciding during one of his drunken stupors to resolve the political problem confronting him in the eastern wing by ordering his soldiers to go on a rampage. The scars of those wounds continue to bleed in both its perpetrators and victims.
While the country was still recovering from the ravages of this adventure, another saviour appeared on the stage, ostensibly to end political differences between the elected government and opposition parties. That this military intervention took place soon after the two sides had succeeded in concluding their tortuous negotiations — as confirmed by credible participants — is proof of the perfidy of those who engineered an end to parliamentary democracy, once again.
The promised 90-day intervention became a decade-long nightmare, which left the body and soul deeply scarred. The bitter religious differences, the ethnic divide, the gun/drug culture and entanglement in regional superpower conflicts constitute a legacy that continues to haunt us today. When the heavens finally intervened, the peoples’ relief was palpable and their resolve to restore parliamentary democracy irresistible.
But it was to be only a short respite for the tormented souls of this country. The still fragile plant of democracy was viciously pulled out to ensure that it would eventually wither away. The democratic system was ridiculed and politicians trashed, even exiled, to usher in another long spell of authoritarian rule for this messiah of ‘enlightened moderation’. Significantly, though not surprisingly, all these authoritarian rulers were welcomed by the world’s self-appointed guardians of democracy and actively assisted in perpetuating their stranglehold over the country.
After a short spell of democratic rule, the country is faced with another crisis. The government’s performance has been miserable; its governance rightly criticised for being inefficient and corrupt. There is a fear of gradual collapse of state institutions, leading many to ascribe our failures to the inadequacies of the system. In this state of national confusion, new uncertainties have begun to emerge, with whispers of conspiracies being hatched and unholy alliances being knit together, all in the name of ‘saving the state’. But the suggested elixir, instead of giving us new life, may prove life-threatening for the federation.
A self-appointed religious authority descending down on us from his foreign perch is deeply worrying. Has he had a divine revelation or is he an instrument for others, as he was when he was an enthusiastic promoter of General (retd) Pervez Musharraf? This country has been through too many experiments by too many self-promoters. We have had four military messiahs, with both the power and pretensions to set the country on the right path. And yet, they left it politically weaker and intellectually poorer. Pakistan, as constituted, can only survive as a federal, parliamentary democracy. The need is to make it more effective and more responsive, but within the system. No more messiahs, please!
Published in The Express Tribune, January 9th, 2013.
COMMENTS (19)
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@Hamza Khan: Please ask your Messiah to come back to Pakistan and save us once again by winning the general election. Conquering your own country on the basis of 111 brigade is very easy, try to win a single seat on your own and then talk. And as far as the numbers are concerned, other people have rightly clarified, so the next time when you support a dictator, please get your facts right.
@hamza khan: If you believe Musharraf's numbers, then maybe you might want to buy my swamp land in Florida too! No one in their right mind accepts any of the economic data of Musharraf and his runaway partner Shaukat Aziz who earned the title " Shortcut" Aziz. If there was so much development, it simply wouldn't collapse in a few months. If anything, it was worse under Musharraf since he simply created easy borrowing for people and pushed everyone into debt like in Western countries who are now in recession. Musharraf and other dictators are always the worst thing to happen since they prevent a nation from developing institutions. That's why even a Zardari is better than any dictator.
my sources can be accessed here: http://www.riazhaq.com/2008/08/musharrafs-economic-legacy.html
@Truthbetold:
nonsense. the numbers cannot be hyped or fudged when they are being audited. further major investment banks and accounting firms have verified that pakistani middle class expanded drastically. analysts at Standard Chartered estimated the value of middle class in pakistan at 30 million in 2006/7 with an estimated purchasing power of $10,000 a year. are they also part of the conspiracy? were they being paid by musharraf or shaukat aziz to do this? get your head out of your a##.
@Mr T:
thats faulty rationale..firstly, agricultural growth was slow in the early part of 2004/05, but picked up significantly in 2006 and 07, averaging nearly 5% growth. apart from that, manufacturing growth was significant for nearly 5-6 years preceding 2008, peaking at 10% in 2006. services sector growth was nearly 8.5% and peaked at more than 9% in 2006. these factors are also cooked, fudged? i am surprised that people are falling for this nonsensical 'hype' logic. perhaps someone here can tell me why goldman sachs was also part of this conspiracy. pakistan was accepted into the N-11 economies by GS in 2007 as a result of its strong economic growth. regardless of whether poverty went from 33% to 18% is irrelevant. it declined, significantly. and certainly was as a result of organic growth in the economy, not stupid income support programmes like BISP.
@ mr. meekal ahmed
sir, i respect your views alot and read your articles keenly. i can understand that the MoF may have adjusted the basket of goods used to measure inflation or adjusted how poverty is measured, but no one in their right mind can deny that the pakistani middle class was booming, partly as a result of strong consumer demand. what causes consumers to demand goods and services? money. where does the money come from? partly from ample credit, but also from better job opportunities in the cities and villages. the resultant growth from this is still available. apart from just economic growth, pakistan saw massive social investment in health and education under president musharraf, the latest legacy of which the PPP has decided to kill in the shape of HEC.
@x: If you have nothing to say on the subject article then don't spread hate. He may be wrong but he has a right to like or dislike whomever he wants. If you have any argument against this article or his comment then state so but you don't.
@ hamza khan
Musharraf's performance is now accepted as hyped. He never did any good work. His figures were fudged up. There must be an correction in Pakistan's GDP downward very soon. Realistically, Pakistan and Bangladesh are in the same boat now. In some cases even behind.
And democracy left Pakistan strong? What did the ZA Bhutto years achieve? What did eleven years of democracy in the pre-Musharraf era bring?
@Mirza: One of the most fair and balanced Op Ed that I have read in a long time. You say that about every article. as in every article which seems to favor or defend PPP governance or goes against PTI or military. Please get a life. Please.
"The still fragile plant of democracy was viciously pulled out " Of course you and lot like you would cry over this sham demmocracy, as you yourself are nothing less of a stooge of Nawaz Sharif and we all now it. Whatever happens to this country, or to the poor masses you dont care, as you and i am sure your family are well placed for the present and the future. If your political masters are to be dragged and drowned of course where would the lot like you go? Please have a class sir, you were once an Ambassador, a civil-servant, just go back to those days when you would have joined the Walton Academy, think about the ideals that you would have had back then..and then compare it with nawaz Sharif, is this a person worthy to be played second fiddle too? are any of those worthy? and you still do it for what???? Its a pity when educated people stoop to such low levels, and try and provide a moral support to people like nawaz sharif and etc etc, protecting them through their appearances on tv shows, writing articles, subverting the truth, while our country bleeds... SHAME, wut a shame indeed...
@hamza khan: Numbers do lie Mr. Hamza Khan. Take up the Economic Surveys of Pakistan from 2003 to 2007. Check out the growth rate figures of Agriculture sector in the years 2003 to 2007. You will find out that on average the Agriculture sector grew on a rate of less than 2% per annum in these five years. With 70% of your task force employed in Agriculture sector and the Agriculture sector showing poorest of performances from 2003 to 2007, how on earth did Musharraf manage to bring down the poverty levels from 33% to 17% defies any understanding of development economics. Or maybe Musharraf eliminated poverty by eliminating the poor.
A bold, honest and dispassionate analysis that I loved reading this morning. I only wish it would be printed in our Urdu papers as well, so that a larger number could benefit from it.
@hamza khan:
"pakistan was weaker and poorer in 2008 than in 1999 when musharraf left? really mr. fatemi? perhaps your biases are getting in the way of judgement. numbers dont lie. go and look at the performance of the economy and the reality of the state. how come poverty had decline from 33% to 17% by 2008? or is the IMF and WB and every major foreign investment bank fudging numbers to help out the ‘enlightened modemphasized text*erate’ messiah?."
Only fools would believe the numbers you refer to. Musharraf and and his yes-man Aziz cooked the books and used smoke and mirrors to come up with those numbers. They inflated the GDP and reported falsely lower poverty numbers to fool the people and international investment community.
Please disclose that you have close association with N league and you folks want army to remain away not for the people of this country but to remain in power and do corruption while lawlessness prevails. In martial law and under military, management remains good and development remained at its peak until politicians spoil the show.
One of the most fair and balanced Op Ed that I have read in a long time. As we say "if it is too good to be true then it really is". Also "fooled me once shame on you, fooled me twice shame on me". When Pakistani middle class and even educated are waiting for an angel to descend from the sky and uplift their plight, they are living in fool's paradise. We have to build from ground up not upside down. We have been deceived 4 times and we want to be deceived yet one more time!
Sir,
I generally don't agree with much of what you say, nor how you say it, but this article is excellent!
Absolutely First class.
I hope it is widely read, and in Urdu as well.
@Hamza Khan, your point has some merit but is it highly contested. I (alongwith many others) suspect that there was a lot of cooking of the books to show how well the economy was doing. I confess that even the IMF, who always take away the punch-bowl just as the party is getting started, were duped as well. They failed in their primary duty: to warn countries that their policies were unsustainable, the risks were building up, and prompt and forceful adjustment of the macro-economy was warranted.
Titels of this article say,no more messiahs,please. Shouldn't it be like,No more djjals, please.After all djjal means one who decieves.There is a prediction of thirty djjals coming in this ummat before messiah descends.
One opinion suggests that the new messiah is from a political party.
Another suggests that he is from the deep state.
I subscribe to the idea that the messiah is from more than one political parties to infuse the religious idea of moderation with religious- political ideas and when election approaches he will endorse a party and people will vote en mass; perhaps a counter measure to PTI?
The idea that deep state will take over in chaos is ill founded in the present climate and Uncle Sam is not going to put the bill, even though it is very ideal in the international fronts as it always have been.
There is no doubt the PAK political parties are under pressure from both domestic situations and from international players to come up with a working solutions for a democratic system suitable for PAK in political consensus levels. And this is what happening and the new messiah is buffer for religious nuts of Punjab.
Deep state is not going to step in at this time but will negotiate a strong influence in the emerging political structure, unless the political parties are totally incompetent in coming up with solutions.
PAK has not prepared herself for a good coming election but she is better than what she was five years ago and any length of delaying the election is not going to improve the scene. So, she will go into the election as scheduled, however poorly she is prepared for it and US is bent on making sure that it will happen as scheduled and this election will be heavily monitored.
The wrangling is between political parties and unless they come up with a structure that is appeasing to the public, PAK cannot solve the domestic terrorist problems, and settle her differences between India, and AFG.
Prediction:
Coming election at federal level will be a two front coalition of parties and nearly will be the same structure at provincial levels.
pakistan was weaker and poorer in 2008 than in 1999 when musharraf left? really mr. fatemi? perhaps your biases are getting in the way of judgement. numbers dont lie. go and look at the performance of the economy and the reality of the state. how come poverty had decline from 33% to 17% by 2008? or is the IMF and WB and every major foreign investment bank fudging numbers to help out the 'enlightened moderate' messiah? (speaking of which, the country could use some enlightened moderation now, what with our people shooting 10 year old girls and murdering each other still in the name of God). so perhaps, a dose of reality will help for you mr. fatemi, sir.