Pakistan Takes a Step Backwards
A Fruitful Beginning?
Amidst the virulent power vacuum that seeks to suck the life-blood of a nation already wrought with corruption, nepotism, and ethnic strife, the results of the general election will only serve to worsen the already chaotic situation.
Since the inception of the Muslim state in 1947, Pakistan is the state equivalent of a drug addict constantly in and out of relapse. With successive failed democracies, the military has continually had to come in to save the nation from inevitable collapse, and, in the process, consolidated so much power that it has controlled every facet of public life, sometimes to the detriment of the nation itself.
After nine years of military rule, the Islamic Republic of Pakistan is again flirting with democracy, except this time it is doing it with the same tried and tested failures that almost destroyed the nation. With the Pakistan People’s Party (PPP) and Pakistan Muslim League (N) (PML N) winning most of the seats, the new government could be a repulsive partnership between Asif “Mr. 10 per cent” Zardari and former exile Nawaz Sharif - both who should be in jail for corruption, extortion, and murder charges. The Pakistan Muslim League (Q) (PML Q) was predictably the big loser which probably suggests that Musharraf did not utilize rigging tactics that were as aggressive as those employed by all the other parties, perhaps to avoid escaping a third assassination attempt. In regards to the PPP, Fatima Bhutto, a journalist and the niece of the late Benazir Bhutto, said in an interview on Democracy Now:
...“There is incomplete voter lists that were being used at every polling station with, you know, five to six hundred names with the name, a birth date and a father’s name, but no national identity card number. Now, for that vote to be legally cast, the voter would have to bring in a birth certificate, which of course didn’t happen.
...You also have very open rigging, ballot stuffing in several areas known to be PPP areas in Larkana. I personally witnessed them and saw ID cards being used by their voters. Now, we know that they’re voters, because outside of the polling station in Pakistan, there was a camp set up by every political party contesting, and their voters have to come to them to get a slip of paper with their voter ID number. Four cards we confiscated in the Murad Wahan polling station in Larkana were all carrying PPP slips of paper with a voter number. These were ID’s that were duplicates, not originals, which are illegal. These are ID cards without photographs, which is also illegal. You know, there was one woman who I took an ID card from who was not much older than I am. She was in her early twenties, and she had a one-year-old baby, but a birth date of 1955 on her ID card.
There are also irregularities concerning the numbers. There has been an extremely low turnout across Pakistan, but notably thin because of fears of violence. And, you know, the government is claiming that 40 percent of the population voted, which is a gross exaggeration. PPP candidates are claiming wins of 80,000 and 70,000 votes. It just doesn’t add up.” (http://www.democracynow.org/2008/2/19/pakistan)
The mainstream media’s constant praise for the elections as some sort of second coming for the state is a damn joke.
The Other Players
Imran Khan’s Tehreek-e-Insaaf (Movement for Justice Party) boycotted the elections under the guise of opposing the military, but in reality he knows that his small party has no chance against the two larger and long-standing rivals. He needs more time to establish a base, garner further support from the younger masses, and build a party brand that is essential in a climate where personality politics reigns supreme.
Irrelevant from a national perspective, the Muttahida Qaumi Movement (MQM) swept urban Sindh through a combination of vote rigging and sympathy votes by Karachiites who’s feeling of isolation has not subsided since the introduction of the quota system and the carnage that was the 1990’s. No other party needs an overhaul and a different leader more than this one.
Perhaps the only good news of the elections was the convincing defeat of the Muttahida Majlis-e-Amal (MMA), a coalition of religious parties primarily based in the Northwest Frontier Province who were elected only because of the emotions associated with the attack on Afghanistan after 9/11. The people of that region felt that their voices were not being heard and they acted on it.
And then you have Musharraf, an overly agreeable dictator turned tyrant who’s popularity plummeted after the Chief Justice fiasco, the State of Emergency, and the Lal Masjid debacle, and who continues to wage war on his own people in order to take pressure off NATO troops that are foolishly battling the Pashtun population in Southern Afghanistan.
What’s Next?
Pakistan’s pathetic display of democratic wannabe’s is a sign of inevitable despair and this experiment too will fail. Not mentioned is the fact that Pakistan continues to be a hotbed for proxies from Iran, Afghanistan, India, and remains a sphere of influence for the United States.
With no alternatives, what Pakistan needs is a benevolent, strong dictator that will act in the best interests of the state and its people. Someone with the industrial fortitude of a Joseph Stalin and the nationalistic fervour of a Mohammad Mossedeq would qualify although such a figure is probably unlikely. Unfortunately, even the military is now under American wraps with the recent introduction of General Ashfaq Kiyani as the new army chief.
The future looks bleak, but if there is any hope for the nation, it is that Pakistan has been through much worse and has survived.
The drug addict has not overdosed yet.
