Musharraf recently released a ghost written autobiography. If the leaked portions of the autobiography are anything to go by, the autobiography promises to be a complete sham. For a real biography of Musharraf, join me on a small tour of this autocrat’s life.
General Pervez Musharraf, the (in) famous son of Delhi, and the de-facto “mai-baap” (mother-father) of every Pakistani since October 12, 1999, the day he led a successful coup d’etat.
General sahib was born to a respectable middle-class family in Daryanganj, Delhi in 1943. His family moved to Karachi after partition and his father went on to work for the foreign ministry in Turkey. Pervez went on to join the military, one of the few certain ways available in Pakistan to move up the social hierarchy, and rapidly climbed up the ladder thanks to foreign education and ample political ambition.
Musharraf was appointed the “Chief of Army” in 1999 by the then Prime Minister of Pakistan, Mr. Nawaz Sharif, primarily because Musharraf was considered a weak candidate given his status as a Muhajir. Muhajir (Arabic for refugee) is a mildly derogatory term (in Pakistan, in Islam it has a positive meaning) that refers to Muslims in Pakistan that came from India during partition. A brief glance at Pakistan’s politics will tell you two fundamental facts about Pakistan’s politics – that it is dominated by people from Punjab, and that it has no or little place for muhajirs (both facts are complimentary as most muhajirs stay in Karachi) except for of course the most famous one, “Baba-e-Qaum” (Father of the Nation) Mr. Muhammad Ali Jinnah.
Within a few months of his appointment, Musharraf launched a large well disguised offensive against India in Kargil, Kashmir. India, distracted with making peace overtures and conducting ‘bus diplomacy’, woke up late to the conflict but when it did it soon enough successfully (though expensively) dispelled the Pakistani attack. In all, the Kargil conflict was an abject failure for Pakistan. Nawaz Sharif cried hoarse that army had launched the attack without his knowledge and reprimanded Musharraf publicly but never divested him of his duties as the Chief of Army. Within two months of the failed operation in Kargil, Musharraf launched a successful coup against Sharif and installed himself as the leader of Pakistan.
Between October 1999 and September 2001, Musharraf oversaw a catastrophic economy and Pakistan’s slow but steady slide towards being a failed state. At the same time, Mr. Musharraf talked about how he planned a return to democracy, and how his short reign was merely intended to stabilize the country. Never mind that within a fortnight we will celebrate (?) the seventh anniversary of his rule. On to September 11th and how US undersecretary threatened to bomb Pakistan back to ‘Stone Age’ and how Musharraf bowed down to join the coalition. (Do I gather that there was an unwilling member in the coalition of the willing? ) Since I suppose Musharraf’s primary reason why he joined the fight against terrorism was fear and not genuine interest in fighting terrorism, it explains why Musharraf has never ever applied himself to the task of fighting terrorists beyond launching occasional forays in the North West for the benefit of the media. Mr. Musharraf continues to oversee a terrorist infrastructure in Pakistan that arms the Taliban in Afghanistan and the militants in Kashmir while mumbling statements with Bush and co. talking about his deep desire to fight terrorism. It begs belief when one sees Bush embracing Musharraf but then again Bush is conducting his puppet show for the unsuspecting Americans.
Let’s interrogate Musharraf’s efforts to return democracy to Pakistan. Musharraf currently holds the position of both the Chief of Army and the president of the country under a modified constitution that gives a president enormous executive power. Musharraf also oversees a puppet democracy run by Islamic parties that came to power after he disqualified most candidates from secular parties and mandated a new rule that only college graduates can run for elections. One would immediately think that limiting candidacy to people with college degrees can be seen as a progressive step that helps government be run by technocrats. But this is exactly where people like Musharraf are at their diabolical best. Two reasons – one is that most “college graduates” in Pakistan who did run in the election were graduated from unaccredited Islamic colleges, and secondly denying the right to stand in election to 9/10th or more of the population is undemocratic, if not anti-democratic. Musharraf, while mouthing niceties about democracy, has created a Pakistan where there is no second echelon of secularists. Musharraf positions himself as the sole messiah of the enlightened Pakistan meanwhile undercutting roots that can sustain a secular civil society in Pakistan.
Besides undercutting democracy and abetting terrorism, his perversity has found an outlet in two other things – supporting legislation that gives even more economic and other power to military as an institution, and waging a brutal war against people in the NWFP.
In all, it is nauseating to see Musharraf being felicitated for his contributions in the “War on Terror” while an uncomfortable morose Hamid Karzai looks on.
The worst part about these photo-ops showcasing a beaming Bush, Musharraf and Karzai is that the joke is on us.