Pervez's Double Game

Author: Editorial
Publication: The Times of India
Date: August 23, 2002

General Musharraf has proved himself an ardent admirer and loyal follower of the last military dictator, General Zia-ul Haq. With barely six weeks to go before elections to Pakistan's national and provincial assemblies, he has announced a whole series of amendments, reshaping the country's constitution on the Zia model. In the new arrangement, the army will exercise full veto powers over the elected assembly and the civilian government. However, the general has done one better than Zia by institutionalising the army's role in Pakistani polity by making the national security council, with a majority representation for the armed forces, the ultimate exerciser of power in the country. All these changes take place at a time the relationship between the US and Pakistani army is very close, proving yet again that whenever that happens, democracy in Pakistan suffers. At the height of the Cold War, General Ayub Khan seized power. When China wanted to ally with the US against the Soviet Union in 1971, General Yahya Khan helped the US, and consequently the US overlooked the genocide in Bangladesh. In the early '80s, as a price for his cooperation in the anti-Soviet war in Afghanistan, General Zia extracted a promise from the US that it would not interfere with the military dispensation in Pakistan or come in the way of the Chinese-supported nuclear weapons programme.

Today, for the fourth time, the Pakistani army chief is coercing the US to be a silent witness to the military takeover of governance in Pakistan. However, there is a difference this time. On the last three occasions, the enemy against which the Pakistani army's help was needed by the US was the Soviet Union - an external factor. This time the enemy is terrorism, in particular Osama bin Laden, who has slipped into Pakistan, and Al-Qaida. General Musharraf realises that the Pakistani army's utility to the US is contingent on the threat the latter faces from terrorism. The Pakistani strategy has been to allow Bin Laden and Al-Qaida to spread themselves in Pakistan and operate at a low key and at the same time offer to the US its services to fight terrorism. If this amounts to running with the hare and hunting with the hounds, the last 11 months have amply shown the utility of this strategy The new constitutional amendment is an indication that Pervez Musharraf hopes to continue this strategy into the indefinite future.
 

Back                          Top