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More reviews by John Walsh
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In the Line of Fire by Pervez Musharraf
Pervez Musharraf is the head of the Pakistani army who took control after a coup d'etat and subsequently arranged to have himself elected as President. His justification for seizing power to end what he calls, using speech marks himself, 'the "dreadful decade of democracy"', was that the democratically elected Prime Minister of Pakistan was trying to replace him with a rival. The democratically elected Prime Minister is entitled to replace an army chief whom he believes is acting against the best interests of the country and he had reason so to think after Pakistan was impelled into a needless and inconclusive border war with India possibly (although this is lengthily denied by Musharraf) without political authorization or even knowledge. There followed a scene of some dark comedy as Musharraf and his family, returning to Pakistan on a scheduled flight, was forced to circle round low in a plane low on fuel while the government refused to let them land. Musharraf managed to establish contact with loyalists on the ground and they seized control of the airport.
Democracy was over -- it may not have been the best form of democracy in the world but it did offer people a chance to vote. Musharraf swiftly proved that he had learned the lessons of tyranny that have been seen in so many countries even in the current century: first, blame the people as not fit for democracy, because of local factors, using as evidence the fact that the people vote for corrupt politicians; second, characterize all politicians as corrupt and politics a luxury which the country cannot afford when there is a need for 'national unity' -- he also claims that Pakistan was on the verge of being considered a `failed state;' third, silence all opposition. Amnesty International points out that many crimes against human rights have been carried out using the 'War on Terror' as a pretext (http://web.amnesty.org/library/index/engasa330362006).
With all of this achieved, unelected and unaccountable technocrats can be put in power to run the country in such a way as to benefit the power elites who put them in their positions under the guise of the national interest. Musharraf was not slow to associate himself with the same old moneyed interests who had done so well under the British colonial rule and afterwards. Promises made to the poor and the marginalized were soon revealed as meaningless but, by that time, Musharraf had cemented himself in power through membership of the late and mostly unlamented General Zia Ul-Haq's Pakistan Muslim League machinery. More important, his position was secured by support from the US, who needed bases for the war against Afghanistan and who were prepared to turn a blind eye to human rights violations and creation of nuclear weapons, as long as a plausible attempt was made to bottle up Osama bin Laden and his Al-Qaeda comrades on the Afghan side of the border. Musharraf makes much here and elsewhere of the numerous successes of the Pakistani army and, indeed, the quality of that army. Of course, he claims a significant role in transforming that force into some sort of world class fighting force which yet remains completely honourable and interested only in serving the national interest and promoting unity.
It is, if not unprecedented, then at least extremely unusual for a serving head of state to take to write -- well, dictate -- memoirs for immediate publication. Musharraf is presumably not short of things to do, since he has hardly started on the once-ambitious agenda of reform he once outlined.
So, what is the purpose of the book? It is edited so as to be a coherent although not always credible read and it certainly concerns issues of international interest. But more likely as a motive is that, having being threatened with being bombed back into the Stone Age by the ever-charming American foreign service, Musharraf has embraced the so-called 'War on Terror' and adopted the role of faithful ally of the West and wants some credit for it. His reputation in his own country has declined considerably over the past few years and only a minority can read English in any case: it seems most likely that this book, therefore, is aimed at a western audience and persuading it of what a good job Musharraf has been doing and why he should enjoy continuing support. A swift return to democracy would seem to be a better bet.
John Walsh
01/03/2007
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John Walsh is Assistant Professor at Shinawatra International University, Bangkok. |
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