Bloody crackdown as west urges end to emergency rule
Western governments yesterday united in their calls for Musharraf to restore democracy to Pakistan, as the military dictator imposed a bloody crackdown on protests against his postponement of the forthcoming elections.
Hillary Clinton has blamed the Bush administration for the situation that has developed on Pakistan:The first big street protests since Gen Musharraf assumed wide-ranging powers on Saturday were swiftly crushed. Riot police fired teargas, baton charged crowds and flung bloodied lawyers into prison vans. The interior ministry said at least 1,500 people had been picked up; opposition groups estimated over twice as many arrests.
Britain and the US urged Gen Musharraf to keep his earlier promises to restore the constitution, resign as army chief and hold elections by January.
The foreign secretary, David Miliband, suggested that Islamabad was bowing to intense international pressure to pursue an alternative course. "What's striking is that the international community and the domestic political community agreed on the steps to be taken. There was real unanimity," he said.
“Part of the reason that we’re in this very difficult and dangerous situation is because of the failed policies of the Bush administration,” Clinton told reporters on a bluff overlooking the Mississippi River. She said the administration has diverted resources and attention away from Afghanistan, ignored her suggestion to appoint an envoy to deal with border issues between it and Pakistan and has “sent mixed messages over several years now to President Musharraf that has rendered our policy toward Pakistan fundamentally incoherent.” “It’s hard to know what to do right now, given the failures of the administration,” she added.What's certainly true is that Musharraf has been put in a bind. The more the Bush administration have insisted that he pursue a basically western policy of chasing down al Qaeda, the less popular he has become amongst the Pakistan electorate.
The west are anxious that Pakistan does not fall into the hands of militants, but they have actually made this more likely by forcing Pakistan - under Musharraf - to act like a US satellite, pursuing US interests rather than those of the Pakistani populace.
There are very few of us who see Musharraf's recent actions as any more than a crude attempt for him to hold on to power, declaring a state of emergency before the Supreme Court could rule on whether or not his election was legal.
Pakistan’s ousted Chief Justice has issued a message of defiance from house arrest:
Bush last night urged Musharraf to end the state of emergency and to hold elections, but it was notable that he did not threaten to cut off billions of dollars in US aid.In a statement passed to The Independent, Judge Iftikhar Chaudhry, whose home has been surrounded by dozens of armed police and his phone lines cut, warned General Musharraf that he would not be deterred from launching a fresh struggle to restore the constitution and the rule of law. He also dismissed the general’s claims that the judiciary was interfering with the government’s efforts to combat terrorism.
Mr Chaudhry, who is now at the centre of the crisis in Pakistan after refusing to ratify General Musharraf’s order suspending the country’s constitution, said: “I and all the honourable judges of the Supreme Court were exercising our jurisdiction in accordance with the law and constitution and are determined to do so in the future.”
The judge, who has been a thorn in General Musharraf’s side for months and has become a rallying figure for opponents of the military regime, was sacked on Saturday after leading seven Supreme Court justices in refusing to ratify the decree that ushered in emergency rule.
In his statement he said: “The whole of the judiciary is struggling for the supremacy of the constitution.” Any actions taken by the government under the emergency provisions were illegal, he added, as was the detention of lawyers, human rights activists and members of civil society. “Their only sin is that they opposed the emergency.”
Musharraf is still Bush's man and he will not do anything that will fatally undermine the military dictator, even as Musharraf rips up the Pakistani constitution.
“We expect there to be elections as soon as possible and that the President should remove his military uniform,” Mr Bush said.
But softening his remarks, Bush also pointed out that General Musharraf has been “a strong fighter against extremists and radicals after all they tried to kill him three or four times”.
Of course, Musharraf's strong fight against "extremists and radicals" which has almost had him killed "three or four times" has actually been Musharraf pursuing the policies of the Bush White House, which has made him desperately unpopular in Pakistan.
Now, in order to stop that unpopularity from removing him from office, he has declared a state of emergency. A state of emergency which the Bush regime will ask him to end whilst doing bugger all to force him into doing so.
Britain has joined the US in demanding a return to democracy in Pakistan, but threatening no action at all should Musharraf fail to do so:
“We have had no assurance. We have conveyed our view very strongly to the Pakistan government,” Mr Miliband added. “Now is the time for President Musharraf to be absolutely clear that elections will go ahead on 15 January on a free and fair basis and he will resign as head of the army.”
Downing Street said the possibility of sanctions including cutting aid to Pakistan was “under review” but the Foreign Secretary ruled out any immediate move to cut the aid budget.
“Now is not the time for threats to aid for the Pakistani people. It is important we made the commitments we have to the doubling of aid to Pakistan,” he said.
The west is in a bind in Pakistan. Musharraf is "our" man, even though pursing "our" policies has rendered him deeply unpopular.
Now, as he blatantly rips up democratic ideals, we will condemn him whilst doing nothing that will actually force him to reverse course.
So David Miliband is right when he states that, "There was real unanimity" amongst the international community about what needs to be done. Unfortunately, the unanimous opinion of the international community is to issue verbal condemnations of Musharraf's actions whilst doing nothing practical to stop him.
We're winking at him, and Musharraf knows this.
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