Author: Agencies/Washington
Publication: The Pioneer
Date: November 12, 2002
"The US lionises President Pervez
Musharraf as one who has curbed fundamentalism in Pakistan, but he is hand
in glove with Islamists in perpetuating military rule," said South Asia
expert Selig Harrison. He agreed with former prime minister Benazir Bhutto's
description of Musharraf and Islamic fundamentalists as "natural allies".
Harrison, who has written many books
on India and Pakistan, said: "Musharraf is an obstacle to a secular Pakistan
in which there is justice for the minorities." He added there was no hope
for Pakistan as long as democracy was kept out. "The only way to make things
better in Pakistan would be a change in US policy and the use of American
economic aid leverage to push Musharraf towards civilian rule as a condition
for its aid. But I don't see that happening."
Harrison was addressing a conference
here on Saturday on "Sindh, the Water Crisis and the Future of Pakistan",
organised by the Washington DC -based World Sindhi Institute.
He said: "I don't think the armed
forces are going to give up their power, particularly their economic power
and certainly not going to let fair elections take place. The recent elections
(held on October 10) were a window-dressing for the continuation of the
military regime.
"The most unfortunate result of
the election is that Musharraf actually helped religious parties come to
power and deliberately kept other political parties divided, a situation
in which it was not possible for secular parties to form a strong government
on their own. Musharraf is running the show."
As to what the future would be for
Pakistan, the American expert who has headed several think tanks said:
"The military would continue to rule forever with the generals stashing
away cash in Swiss banks and buying off political leaders."
According to Harrison, "I also do
not think the army generals want a war. They are too busy making money
like any politician there."
He added: "If at all war takes place,
it will not be confined to (Jammu and) Kashmir. Sindh would be in the frontlines.
So, it's certainly in the interest of Sindhis to work with the other forces
in Pakistan favouring an end to Pakistani support for Islamic militant
incursions into Kashmir." Regarding Sindhis' demand for their rights, Harrison
said Pakistan is not a monolithic society like Iraq or Iran. It is multi-national
and multi-ethnic but doesn't have a national representative government
or army. Its army is a volunteer one with the rank and file coming from
only three districts of Punjab. "This is a ticking time bomb," as long
as minority groups are kept out of it.
"I hope the US will use its aid
leverage to help Sindh get justice on water and other issues in which it
is victimised at human rights level. And I hope that Sindhis in Sindh and
abroad will forge a united political movement in defence of their rights
during the difficult months and years ahead," he added. Harold Gould, another
South Asia expert who participated in the panel discussion at the conference,
said the more Islamic fundamentalism spreads in Pakistan, the more it will
hold the democratic process at bay. The military dominates the extra parliamentary
domain and gets out of barracks every time it feels like, in order to suppress
the democratic process, he said. The root cause of the problem was that
Pakistan kept the vice regal hierarchy it inherited from the British intact
to ensure that vested interests in Pakistani society protected themselves
from popular government - especially the Punjabi dominated military and
the bureaucratic class, said Gould.
