Well, I can’t say that I have ever lived in a state of emergency / military dictatorship before, but it is not quite as exciting as it sounds. Practically, its major effect has been that we haven’t been on field visits in NWFP, but that is due more to militant activity and army response than the state of emergency per se. But I’ve been trying to make sense of the political situation, which is extremely complicated. Most of the Pakistanis I have spoken to are well informed about the situation, but opinions differ: whether military action in Swat is a good thing or not, whether Musharraf has been a successful leader, how people should respond to the state of emergency…
The Pakistani printed press is very interesting, particularly in the diversity of opinions that it illustrates. I have added some quotes below to illustrate some of these opinions. It is quite surprising that there are such outspoken criticisms of Musharraf, particularly given that some TV channels have still been banned by him. All the quotes below are taken from the Dawn News, 20 November.
‘The threat to the state’s stability and integrity, the safe-guarding of which, as President Musharraf has rightly affirmed on the past, is the government’s overriding duty, comes not from civil society, involved in the struggle for democracy, but from the insurgency mounted by extremist militants.’ Mahdi Masud
‘Western style democracy may be good for educated and responsible individuals but for a nation of 160 million ill-disciplined and uneducated individuals, most of whom still living in the stone ages, this reading is nothing more than a farce; one size does not fit all.’ Q Kazmi
Dr Israr [religious scholar] expressed his concern over a dangerous situation caused by what he described as ‘polarisation between extreme forces of secularism and the force of the people demanding enforcement of Islamic Shariah law in the country’. …He said that it was not possible to surpress the movement by use of military force. The only way to solve the problem was to take Constitutional, legal and evolutionary measures for the enforcement of Islamic Shariah’.
‘When peaceful youngsters today see unarmed lawyers, rights activists and politicians being roughened up, humiliated and arrested for demanding what the Constitution guarantees them, they add their voices to the emerging new consciousness against dictatorial rule. The crackdown on those who believe in non-violence as a means to pursue their political ideals and a right to a decent life contrasts sharply with the tolerance the regime has shown towards those who have taken up arms against the state, all in the way of God, and to subjugate the people to their own narrow minded, puritan interpretation of religion… The state’s furious response to the civilised way of registering protest exposes the gap that exists today between a modern public sensibility and the medievalism inherent in autocratic rule’. Murtaza Razvi
As to my opinion – I am not sure! I find it difficult to understand why Musharraf introduced emergency rule when the problem does not come from the vast majority of the population, but from a fringe where the army was already engaged. I don’t know whether military intervention in Swat is a good thing – it is clear that civilians have been adversely affected, but militants cannot be allowed to gain control and disrupt life so much for the ordinary population. What is clear is that the problems have had a long history – America is particularly to blame as they were the ones who initially armed the Taliban in their fight against the Soviet Union in Afghanistan during the Cold War. Any long-term solution is not going to come from military intervention. It really emphasises the importance of education – education enables people to climb out of economic poverty, it challenges people to think rather than to uncritically accept dogma, it broadens horizons and promotes tolerance and understanding of other worldviews.
All the Pakistanis I have spoken to are upset by the way that Pakistan is portrayed in the international media solely as a breeding ground for terrorists. My overwhelming impression of Pakistani people has been one of welcome and hospitality. For example, when we came back from Chakwal at 10pm the other night after a 5 hour drive and a long day in the office, our director still invited us in for a cup of tea, even when he had to get up at 6 the following morning for a 3 hour trip to Muzzafarrabad and hadn’t seen his family for days. That is hospitality way beyond the call of duty I think!
By the way, I’ve just looked at the foreign office travel advice for Pakistan. Bad idea. It makes it seem like I am in danger of a sudden and very painful death. But the one gleam of hope that I took from wading through the whole depressing thing was that although the UN have withdrawn expat families from the whole of the NWFP, they have not done so for Mansehra and Abbottabad, which are still considered safe. Good to know.
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