A poster of Egypt's President Mohamed Morsi saying, "No substitute for the legitimacy". PHOTO: REUTERS
Mr Mursi, who was elected with popular vote a year ago and represents the influential Muslim Brotherhood, made numerous mistakes and isolated himself through a set of policies and actions that enraged the popular opinion. His brief rule was viewed as divisive, incompetent and too heavy handed for a large number of citizens in the country. However, the real disappointment of Egyptians was related to the economy and the shrinking real incomes and scarcity of basic necessities such as fuel. Another critical factor impacting the events in Egypt has been the tacit Western support to the protests against Mr Mursi.
The key lesson from Egypt is that institutional conflict does not lead to effective governance. Mr Mursi, without consolidating his power base, took on the courts, the army, the police, the media and, therefore, opened multiple battle fronts, rather than concentrating on effective governance. The electorate voted for change in the country and expressed their rejection of the farce of secularism which the army had imposed without real democratic freedoms and political competition. Perhaps, Mr Mursi and his backers in the Islamists group took that as an endorsement of hardline policies that the Muslim Brotherhood and other radical groups have been advocating.
The Supreme Court has been complicit with the army in this derailment of democracy in Egypt. Mr Mursi may have angered people but coups are no solutions for complex political issues. In fact, such acts further deepen political crises as has been witnessed previously in Pakistan and countries of Latin America. The people of Egypt deserve better than a recourse to praetorian rule which suppresses democratic freedoms.
Published in The Express Tribune, July 5th, 2013.
Like Opinion & Editorial on Facebook, follow @ETOpEd on Twitter to receive all updates on all our daily pieces.
COMMENTS (16)
Comments are moderated and generally will be posted if they are on-topic and not abusive.
For more information, please see our Comments FAQ
Everybody interpret the events as per his/her wishes. But the fact remains, that Muslim Brotherhood was single largest Party elected to govern by the people of EGYPT in their first independent acceptably held elections in decades. First Brotherhood's main Presidential candidate was disqualified by the Court and then before couple of days from the Presidential Elections, these kangaroo Courts dissolved Constituent assembly where Brotherhood was in Majority. Right from the day when in Morsi came in Power ARMY, Liberals of the country (who are in minority), West, US, and judiciary all were creating hurdles. Finally this petition signing drama - what an eyewash. What is legitimacy of the petition, against the genuinely elected leadership of the Country
One cannot forget the deaf, Dumb & Blind behavior of this Coalition of Judiciary, Liberal of Egypt politics, US & Military against despots like Mubarak & Anwar Us sadat, when they ruled the country for decades without any moral or legal justification. Hilarious is their argument when they say that since they wanted Morsi's impeachment and there was no clause of impeachment in the constitution they had no option but to ask the ARMY to intervene. It is similar to ‘dismantling of a rooftop of a house when you don’t find a drain pipe’. These dictators never organize elections as per their commitment. The democratic process is now derailed, God knows for how many years. But Liberals of Egypt, US, and their allied Arab rulers are happy that they have buried the politics of Brotherhood. Lets see who would have a last laugh.
this thing BROTHERHOOD are not the elder brothers of Pakistani Mullah Moudoodi group, present day, Jamat e Islamai ? Anyway15 millions voted in to these religious scholars in and 25 millions co signed to kick them out.That is democracy, confirming that Egyptians do not want religious extremism in their country. WELL DON EGYPTIANS
this thing BROTHERHOOD are not the elder brothers of Pakistani Moudoodi group, present day, Jamat e Islamai ? Anyway15 millions voted in to these religious scholars in and 25 millions co signed to kick them out.That is democracy, confirming that Egyptians do not want religious extremism in their country. WELL DON EGYPTIANS
This article betrays the lack of understanding Pakistanis have of the situation in Egypt. Consider the narrative according to the organizers of the marches - millions strong...I'm privy to Arabic blogs, magazines, etc., published by the activists themselves over the last two years. The US, Egyptian military, Muslim Brotherhood and Salafis agreed to blunt the revolution by installing the likes of Mursi. The Muslim Brotherhood may be socially 'Islamist,' but it is economically neo-liberal. Since Mursi assumed office, he sidelined the constituent assembly to pass a constitution written by the MB, he continued the blockade against Gaza, broke relations with Syria and supported the worst, US/Saudi-backed anti-Assad fighters, Iran is out, and the Salafis have been let loose on the people particularly Shias - all directly in contravention of the agreements the MB made with the real leaders of the revolution to get elected. He also began negotiations with Qatar to privatize the Suez Canal, and the Sinai was being filled with Salafi fighters as the first step to breaking it away from Egypt. The revolutionaries call it the 'Pakistan Model' - a US policy first implemented in Pakistan under Zia to govern by means of a military-Salafist alliance, stoking separatism and sectarianism, inflicting the harshest social conditions on the people, while isolating the state from all but the US, Israel and certain gulf states. What the extraordinary popular turnout in the last days illustrates is the success of the revolutionary's campaign to educate the masses on these issues, drawing away the brunt of even MB supporters. They produced a petition with 20 million signatures calling for the MB government to step down; that's 10 million more than voted for Mursi in the first place. Moreover, the military's intervention is forced by the same popular activism. They had to choose between reducing Egypt to Pakistan, or bowing to popular will. It is most significant, for example, that when the general made his announcement of intervention, al-Baradei, the Coptic Pope, the Head of Al-Azhar Madrasa and other popular leaders were standing beside him. Word is that this will pave the way for a constitution to be written by the already sitting popular constituent assembly and for real elections to be held in one year. That's why the West has been so vitriolic in its defense of Mursi. Now we can wait and see how the Empire turns the screws. The Salafis have already begun their attacks on the people. The US is already talking of cutting off aid. More is to come. Whether the military lives up to its new commitments is the big question....
A million Egyptians take to the streets to protest Morsi and Pakistani's blame the USA - go figure. Anti American blather and conspiracy theory remain the hallmark of Pakistan. You can slice/dice the overthrow all you want but when the dust settles this is an Egyptian led revolt - Muslim Brother hood had there chance and failed and that's not the fault of the USA, the West or anyone other than the Muslim Brotherhood.
When the Arb spring was in full bloom - I had suggested to a Tunisian friend who was very enthusiastic about the change in rulers.....that it is not the person per se (Ruler) that will decide the future course of the country but the Constitution.
A weak non inclusive Constitution will be divisive and will always bring peiople on street.
Syria, Egypt, Turkey.......all on the boil.
It seems US has understood from the peaceful transfer of power in Egypt and Tunisia that Arab Spring, if allowed to take its own course, will result in Muslim brotherhood's government in Jordan, Syria, Mali, Saudi Arabia, Kuwait, etc, in addition to Egypt & Tunisia. This situation will announce death to the agenda of US, its Arab Stooges & Israel, in the region. The only solution they found now is to inject militancy in the movement. They did it successfully in Libya, in Syria, in Mali. By injecting militancy it becomes easier for the governments to launch killing spree against the forces of change, as is done Bashar Ul Asad. I agree with Mr. Muhammad there is danger that some kind of militancy may be initiated in Egypt as a reaction to this quo, which will pave way for the military to do larger scale cleansing operation against Muslim Brotherhood. Similar to the one carried out by their forefathers Jamal Nasir, Anwar Us sadat.
Every one has own view point. Last year when Morsey took over as President I happened to be in Egypt. People were delighted and hoped for the better outcome. This year in the month of June when I again visited Cairo I could see the unrest and deplorable situation every where. To me one reason was a wrong selection of personality. Morsey had never been a competent or charismatic leader. He was an average man with lower IQ and capabilities. It was bad luck for the nation to have such leader for the top slot. It is true he made many mistakes and nation has to suffer the consequences. However since the Egyptians now know how to get rid of incompetent leaders so rest assure Army rule will not prevail that long. People need positive actions rather than empty promises. In case some thing concrete is not coming up soon the Tahrir Square will again be live with people demanding change.
i think Egypt just signup up to a civil war
I can understand the irritation of the liberals and secularists in Egypt Military. The people have elected an Islamist Govt.
Even in Pakistan the trend is similar - People have elected a Govt which actually supports a sectarian militant group and in another province a former Cricketer who wants to talk to the Taliban and wants Drone attacks against them stopped.
Same has happened in Turkey, when in the last election people chose an Islamist Party.
In the next election the Islamist party is expected make a big comeback.
Only in Muslim countries are such problems existent. I wonder why!
It is shameful how these men with guns treat the aspirations of the common man. To them there doesn't exist anything called respect of the will of the people. Moorsi, however uncompromising he was, was a true representative of the people of Egypt, who elected him after 25/30 years’ dark period of authoritarian regime of Military favored Dictators. But the junta refused to tolerate him for more than a year.
Disgustful is the only word for those western democracies who are searching for words to condemn this heinous act of robbing the will and mandate of people of Egypt by the Military of Egypt. The solution presented is filled flowery words - introducing the "Technocrats Government", restoration of constitution, etc. What they are under estimating is the backlash of public reaction. The reaction may cross borders of Egypt and enter into those Arab states who are quietly supporting this quo to avoid any political uprising in their own political backyards.
Catch-22 situation for us. Some of us hate democracy ad love the mullahs/ army......here, they all seem to be working against each other, but not in the exact way, we would like. Ideally we would have loved an Army coup, which would have unhinged a democratic Govt and allowed for Islamic rule. Here there was an Army coup alright...but for an opposite cause.........really Catch-22!
Military coup is not a solution to the problem as it provides temporarily relief but over time undermines path of inclusive development. Forcing the Muslim Brotherhood to the sidelines is not the way forward. Inclusivity is a key to sustainable socio-political and economic development.
Egypt needs to openly turn this into a "war on terrorism" in order to win support internationally & end it fast.
@Fareedon: And the Americans are saying this is not a coup?? Looks like an inside job all around. Total lunacy is this coup.
US ambassedor to Egypt is none other than Ms. Anne W Petterson( US ambassedor during Gen Musharrafs presidency). Is it a surprise there is a coup?