Pakistan's Future

Lest Bhutto becomes more romanticized than she already is, I give you Tarik Ali on the

recent news: 

 

 

   *ZNet | Asia*

 

    *My Heart Bleeds For Pakistan *

 

    *by Tariq Ali; The Independent; January 01, 2007*

 

        Six hours before she was executed, Mary, Queen of Scots wrote to
        her brother-in-law, Henry III of France: "...As for my son, I
        commend him to you in so far as he deserves, for I cannot answer
        for him." The year was 1587.

 

        On 30 December 2007, a conclave of feudal potentates gathered in
        the home of the slain Benazir Bhutto to hear her last will and
        testament being read out and its contents subsequently announced
        to the world media. Where Mary was tentative, her modern-day
        equivalent left no room for doubt. She could certainly answer
        for her son.

 

        A triumvirate consisting of her husband, Asif Zardari (one of
        the most venal and discredited politicians in the country and
        still facing corruption charges in three European courts) and
        two ciphers will run the party till Benazir's 19-year-old son,
        Bilawal, comes of age. He will then become chairperson-for-life
        and, no doubt, pass it on to his children. The fact that this is
        now official does not make it any less grotesque. The Pakistan
        People's Party is being treated as a family heirloom, a property
        to be disposed of at the will of its leader.

 

        Nothing more, nothing less. Poor Pakistan. Poor People's Party
        supporters. Both deserve better than this disgusting, medieval
        charade.

 

        Benazir's last decision was in the same autocratic mode as its
        predecessors, an approach that would cost her – tragically – her
        own life. Had she heeded the advice of some party leaders and
        not agreed to the Washington-brokered deal with Pervez Musharraf
        or, even later, decided to boycott his parliamentary election
        she might still have been alive. Her last gift to the country
        does not augur well for its future.

 

        How can Western-backed politicians be taken seriously if they
        treat their party as a fiefdom and their supporters as serfs,
        while their courtiers abroad mouth sycophantic niceties
        concerning the young prince and his future.

 

        That most of the PPP inner circle consists of spineless
        timeservers leading frustrated and melancholy lives is no
        excuse. All this could be transformed if inner-party democracy
        was implemented. There is a tiny layer of incorruptible and
        principled politicians inside the party, but they have been
        sidelined. Dynastic politics is a sign of weakness, not
        strength. Benazir was fond of comparing her family to the
        Kennedys, but chose to ignore that the Democratic Party, despite
        an addiction to big money, was not the instrument of any one family.

 

        The issue of democracy is enormously important in a country that
        has been governed by the military for over half of its life.
        Pakistan is not a "failed state" in the sense of the Congo or
        Rwanda. It is a dysfunctional state and has been in this
        situation for almost four decades.

 

        At the heart of this dysfunctionality is the domination by the
        army and each period of military rule has made things worse. It
        is this that has prevented political stability and the emergence
        of stable institutions. Here the US bears direct responsibility,
        since it has always regarded the military as the only
        institution it can do business with and, unfortunately, still
        does so. This is the rock that has focused choppy waters into a
        headlong torrent.

 

        The military's weaknesses are well known and have been amply
        documented. But the politicians are not in a position to cast
        stones. After all, Mr Musharraf did not pioneer the assault on
        the judiciary so conveniently overlooked by the US Deputy
        Secretary of State, John Negroponte, and the Foreign Secretary,
        David Miliband. The first attack on the Supreme Court was
        mounted by Nawaz Sharif's goons who physically assaulted judges
        because they were angered by a decision that ran counter to
        their master's interests when he was prime minister.

 

        Some of us had hoped that, with her death, the People's Party
        might start a new chapter. After all, one of its main leaders,
        Aitzaz Ahsan, president of the Bar Association, played a heroic
        role in the popular movement against the dismissal of the chief
        justice. Mr Ahsan was arrested during the emergency and kept in
        solitary confinement. He is still under house arrest in Lahore.
        Had Benazir been capable of thinking beyond family and faction
        she should have appointed him chairperson pending elections
        within the party. No such luck.

 

        The result almost certainly will be a split in the party sooner
        rather than later. Mr Zardari was loathed by many activists and
        held responsible for his wife's downfall. Once emotions have
        subsided, the horror of the succession will hit the many
        traditional PPP followers except for its most reactionary
        segment: bandwagon careerists desperate to make a fortune.

 

        All this could have been avoided, but the deadly angel who
        guided her when she was alive was, alas, not too concerned with
        democracy. And now he is in effect leader of the party.

 

        Meanwhile there is a country in crisis. Having succeeded in
        saving his own political skin by imposing a state of emergency,
        Mr Musharraf still lacks legitimacy. Even a rigged election is
        no longer possible on 8 January despite the stern admonitions of
        President George Bush and his unconvincing Downing Street
        adjutant. What is clear is that the official consensus on who
        killed Benazir is breaking down, except on BBC television. It
        has now been made public that, when Benazir asked the US for a
        Karzai-style phalanx of privately contracted former US Marine
        bodyguards, the suggestion was contemptuously rejected by the
        Pakistan government, which saw it as a breach of sovereignty.

 

        Now both Hillary Clinton and Senator Joseph Biden, chairman of
        the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, are pinning the
        convict's badge on Mr Musharraf and not al-Qa'ida for the
        murder, a sure sign that sections of the US establishment are
        thinking of dumping the President.

 

        Their problem is that, with Benazir dead, the only other
        alternative for them is General Ashraf Kiyani, head of the army.
        Nawaz Sharif is seen as a Saudi poodle and hence unreliable,
        though, given the US-Saudi alliance, poor Mr Sharif is puzzled
        as to why this should be the case. For his part, he is ready to
        do Washiongton's bidding but would prefer the Saudi King rather
        than Mr Musharraf to be the imperial message-boy.

 

        A solution to the crisis is available. This would require Mr
        Musharraf's replacement by a less contentious figure, an
        all-party government of unity to prepare the basis for genuine
        elections within six months, and the reinstatement of the sacked
        Supreme Court judges to investigate Benazir's murder without
        fear or favour. It would be a start.