Financial Times Editorial Comment: Ruling rekindles hope in Pakistan
Financial Times Editorial Comment: Ruling rekindles hope in Pakistan
Copyright The Financial Times Limited 2007
Published: July 22 2007 19:54 | Last updated: July 22 2007 19:54
The Supreme Court decision on Friday to reinstate Iftikhar Mohammed Chaudhry, Pakistan’s top judge who was fired in March by Pervez Musharraf, its president and army chief, is a big chance for the country.
Rebuke though it is to General Musharraf’s overweening ambition, it could just prove his and Pakistan’s salvation – provided he uses the ruling to regroup around the constitution and the rule of law. There is, so far, no sign of that.
When he seized power eight years ago, after two terms each of venal and incompetent rule by now exiled prime ministers Benazir Bhutto and Nawaz Sharif, Gen Musharraf had a chance to relay the foundations of stability and democratic rule. Instead, his whole purpose has been to cling to power, civil and military.
His tactics have been to co-opt Pakistan’s Islamists, while appeasing his allies in Washington by striking episodically at Taliban and al-Qaeda forces dug in inside Pakistan’s frontiers, and pushing aside the country’s mainstream parties. That is not a triangle that can be squared, even by a master tactician such as the general. Blocking Pakistan’s mainstream has given force to its violent Islamist tributaries.
That should have become clear after the jihadis brought their challenge from the lawless frontiers to the capital, leading to this month’s commando assault on the Red Mosque – and the continuing barrage of jihadi bombings in reprisal.
Gen Musharraf is using the attack on the Red Mosque for tactical purposes that will prove evanescent. He has rekindled support in Washington, but that could flicker and die once he starts putting out peace feelers to the jihadis – as he will. And he is seeking re-election as president in October without stepping down as army chief – arguing that no civilian government could handle the Islamist extremists.
The truth is that Gen Musharraf fears political competition from the mainstream parties he needs to fight extremism more than he fears the risk of jihadist violence seizing hold of Pakistan. Despite the collapse in his domestic support and the creeping Talibanisation of Pakistan, he is presumptuous enough to think he can still act as puppeteer of the religious right and jihadis.
He is wrong, and the US, rightly concerned by the reconstitution of al-Qaeda on the Pakistani frontier, would be shortsighted to believe him. There are no risk-free policies in Pakistan. But better to back civil society mobilised around Mr Chaudhry, and an open political contest to mobilise the nation against extremism, than continue betting on a general who is too clever by half and an army ambivalent about jihadism.
Copyright The Financial Times Limited 2007
Published: July 22 2007 19:54 | Last updated: July 22 2007 19:54
The Supreme Court decision on Friday to reinstate Iftikhar Mohammed Chaudhry, Pakistan’s top judge who was fired in March by Pervez Musharraf, its president and army chief, is a big chance for the country.
Rebuke though it is to General Musharraf’s overweening ambition, it could just prove his and Pakistan’s salvation – provided he uses the ruling to regroup around the constitution and the rule of law. There is, so far, no sign of that.
When he seized power eight years ago, after two terms each of venal and incompetent rule by now exiled prime ministers Benazir Bhutto and Nawaz Sharif, Gen Musharraf had a chance to relay the foundations of stability and democratic rule. Instead, his whole purpose has been to cling to power, civil and military.
His tactics have been to co-opt Pakistan’s Islamists, while appeasing his allies in Washington by striking episodically at Taliban and al-Qaeda forces dug in inside Pakistan’s frontiers, and pushing aside the country’s mainstream parties. That is not a triangle that can be squared, even by a master tactician such as the general. Blocking Pakistan’s mainstream has given force to its violent Islamist tributaries.
That should have become clear after the jihadis brought their challenge from the lawless frontiers to the capital, leading to this month’s commando assault on the Red Mosque – and the continuing barrage of jihadi bombings in reprisal.
Gen Musharraf is using the attack on the Red Mosque for tactical purposes that will prove evanescent. He has rekindled support in Washington, but that could flicker and die once he starts putting out peace feelers to the jihadis – as he will. And he is seeking re-election as president in October without stepping down as army chief – arguing that no civilian government could handle the Islamist extremists.
The truth is that Gen Musharraf fears political competition from the mainstream parties he needs to fight extremism more than he fears the risk of jihadist violence seizing hold of Pakistan. Despite the collapse in his domestic support and the creeping Talibanisation of Pakistan, he is presumptuous enough to think he can still act as puppeteer of the religious right and jihadis.
He is wrong, and the US, rightly concerned by the reconstitution of al-Qaeda on the Pakistani frontier, would be shortsighted to believe him. There are no risk-free policies in Pakistan. But better to back civil society mobilised around Mr Chaudhry, and an open political contest to mobilise the nation against extremism, than continue betting on a general who is too clever by half and an army ambivalent about jihadism.
posted by Carlos T Mock at 6:37 AM
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