Pakistan: Fatal remedies

Mir Adnan Aziz

In the time of Julius Caesar, the absence of leap years in the calendar had caused it to lag behind the seasons by three months. To fix the problem, Caesar decreed that 23 extra days would be added to February and 67 more stuck between November and December. The year, which the Romans called the 'year of confusion', was 46 BC.

Almost 2053 years on, 2007 AD, we had what was deemed an ill, 'chaos creating unwanted judges', and they were summarily 'fired'. The lawyers and members of the civil society terming it more a decapitation than a cure started agitating. They were brutalized and incarcerated. Then there was what was seen as a gallivanting media. It was duly gagged and trussed ending its chivalrous forays into unwanted domains. Such are the enforced fatal remedies of our modern day Caesars. What they do instead is add to our woes, bestowing on an already fatally sick and bewildered people 'years of pain and confusion'.

The post January elections will usher in what will only be a fragile democracy. The scene is already being set by the major contesting parties crying foul before the elections have commenced. A polarized nation, the doing away of the 'unwanted judges' agitating lawyers and a gagged media will continue to pose daunting challenges.

The President's transformation to a civilian does nothing to better the situation. His ordinances providing 'cover' to all actions taken and the judges issue as contentious as ever, may well derail everything. In the process hopes for a transparent and sustainable democracy may yet again be dashed into the doldrums of history.

Compounding the problem is the government's undemocratic hostile attitude towards the press and branding those who dare speak as chaos-creators. The hostile nature towards the press is not a new phenomenon in global politics. Insecure governments world over have resorted to this, seeing the free media as a foe - an archenemy. These restrictions on freedom of the press undermine democracy. Freedom and opinion of the press is the key to any democratic success, as it makes public figures accountable and responsible to their respective constituents.

An army General, if holding a civilian office, should not be untouchable in terms of accountability. Challenging such rights not only undermines democratic values, but also constitutes a repugnance of mankind. This also poses as a threat to any viable and sustainable democracy.

For our nation to score well in its democratic credentials the media laws must be repealed and all impending 'threats' against journalists and the entire media fraternity must seize. A truly representative media is and will always maintain its position as a partner and facilitator in the development of society. A total lack of credibility of the government manifests itself in the negligible following, if any, of the state media. A fundamental attribute of the media is enlightenment and awareness in the parables of public discourse. Such an attribute must not be viewed as a threat but a mechanism of empowering citizens to be aware of changing realities and ushering in appropriate courses of action in handling those realities.

The right to freedom of information and expression contributes to educating people, brings issues into the public, and contributes to the "checks and balances" of a country. The suppression of those rights significantly contributes to the demise of democracy and freedom throughout the nation.

Changes in the judiciary, curbs on the media and restrictions and detention of those who were agitating against the government policies have produced a vacuum in which abuses go unchecked. There is little hope for the full restoration of rights even after lifting the state of emergency. Likewise, it is doubtful the President will give up executive power any time soon, as he has declared that the very survival of Pakistan is at stake if he does. What we have is a '57% mandate' Messiah who has vowed to cure us of all the virulent strains we might possess.

President Musharraf has repeatedly denounced any possibility for a dialogue or political solution to the conflict and its root causes. What we have instead is a campaign claiming that the doses administered were necessary to control the 'terrorists'. It has though been an exercise in futility, as none see these moves necessary for peace and progress nor, unfortunately, the President as the 'protector' of the country.

Insecurity has increased with violence on the rampage everywhere. All state and civil society mechanisms for monitoring, reporting and prosecuting the perpetrators are paralyzed. The suppression of the right to information and expression has further undermined democratic principles and allows for abuses to occur without fear of judicial prosecution. The human rights and media communities are badly affected due to increasing interference, and surveillance of their movement and activities. Many lawyers are still under detention.

What is increasingly being portrayed is that to oppose the President is to be an anti-nationalist or a 'terrorist' supporter. Abraham Lincoln during his first inaugural address on March 4,1861 said: "This country with its institutions belongs to the people who inhabit it. Whenever they shall grow weary of their existing Government, they exercise their constitutional right of amending it, or exercise their revolutionary right to dismember or overthrow it."

In 1918 another American President Theodore Roosevelt said: "To announce that there must be no criticism of the president, or that we are to stand by the president, right or wrong, is not only unpatriotic and servile, but is morally treasonable to the American public."

Many of our political leaders invariably, when behind bars, find a love for reading and that too the history of that truly great leader, Nelson Mandela. If the grey cells absorb any of it is always mysteriously inevident. Likewise President Musharraf has taken to quoting Abraham Lincoln in his speeches. He would do better by giving an unbiased closer look and get a better and clearer perspective of what those leaders said and delivered. During the most adverse of times they led their people by example and symbolized their aspirations to build and bequeath on them a nation, a country to do them proud.

(miradnanaziz@gmail.com)