| December 27, 2003 | Saturday | Ziqa’ad 3, 1424 |
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Dangerous security lapse
THE government-MMA agreement on the Legal Framework Order has come after a long and bruising confrontation between the two sides. The MMA was supported by the rest of the opposition — a support which was withdrawn only a few weeks ago when it became certain that the MMA and the government were about to clinch a deal — and for a year parliament remained dysfunctional. Everyone feared for the future of democracy in the country, and major issues of immediate concern to the people remained unaddressed. The government had early on decided that it would talk to the MMA and have no dealings with the two mainstream parties, the PPP and the PML-N. For months there were reports of a bargain being at hand as negotiations with the MMA dragged on, with the government apparently stringing the religious grouping along. Most of the points contained in the agreement now signed, and placed before parliament in the form of a constitutional amendment bill, had been well publicized for weeks, and the row could easily have been settled without the waste of so much time.
The government had come up with the LFO as a fait accompli, thus setting the framework within which adjustments had to be made. It encapsulated the military’s thinking that it was the deciding factor where the country’s governance was concerned. This position basically remains unaltered despite claims that parliament’s supremacy has now been recognized. If concessions have been made to public opinion, it is probably because the rift between the military and the political profession was becoming too palpable to be ignored any longer. A timeframe for the president to lay down his uniform has been announced, but till that happens the chief of the army staff will in effect be in command of the country’s politics. A proviso has been made that the president’s order sacking parliament will be subject to scrutiny by the Supreme Court, but Section 58 (2)(b) will remain, although it had been scrapped by unanimous legislative and popular backing. The MMA has also agreed to the president seeking a vote of confidence from parliament and the provincial assemblies, which to say the least sets an unusual constitutional precedent. Regrettably, in his speech announcing the pact with the MMA, the president again referred to his referendum, which he had earlier himself said was not perfect.
Having said this, it should also be pointed out that some of the more undemocratic features of the LFO have been softened; there was already agreement on several other of its progressive clauses such as those relating to women’s representation. The controversial measure increasing the retirement age of judges of the higher judiciary has been withdrawn, but perhaps not without creating some embarrassment for those who had accepted the extension. The most practical approach will be to look at the agreement as a half-way house on whose basis we can strive to move towards institutionalizing a fully democratic, representative and inclusive system that is not predicated on keeping particular parties out or weighted in favour of one or another power group. If it is accepted in good faith by everyone and the military eventually reconciles itself to withdrawing from political life, the agreement can become a starting point for a stabler polity.
The PPP and the PML-N are not party to the agreement and have declared that they will oppose it. But they should look at it as providing an opportunity to organize themselves as a thinking opposition that is prepared to debate issues in parliament and influence policy-making. The people’s grievances have been mounting over the years — grievances that have to do with an acute shortage of jobs, rising prices and dwindling access to health, education and basic civic services. These need to be highlighted on a constant basis so that the pressure of democratic opinion can be brought to bear on the government to respond to the aspirations of the masses. Rabble rousing has its utility, and given the depth of popular disenchantment and frustration, it can strike a chord. However, considering the fragility of the system, a better course would still be to use the present arrangement, howsoever imperfect, as a means of establishing the supremacy of the popular will and fully exploiting the legislative forum to make the government accountable. After all, this is the first time that an agitating opposition has forced the establishment to accept negotiation as the only means of resolving political issues.
PRESIDENT Pervez Musharraf has had yet another miraculous escape in an attempt on his life — the second such attack in less than two weeks. Thursday’s suicide car bombings, which targeted the president’s motorcade and claimed at least a dozen innocent lives, have made people wonder as to how the president’s security can be so frequently and easily breached. From the precision with which Thursday’s attack and the earlier one at almost the same place was planned and executed in the high-security garrison environment of Rawalpindi, it is clear that those behind the assassination bids have either infiltrated our top security outfits or have somehow gained access to sensitive information regarding VVIP movements. The suicide bombings had all the hallmarks of well-trained terrorists whose motivation, whether religious or political, cannot be underrated. The interior ministry’s claim that it has identified one of the three suspects involved is overshadowed by its refusal to name a particular group as being responsible for the attack.
President Musharraf has made many enemies since he joined the US-led war on terror. Also, the recent crackdown on religious extremist organizations and jihadi groups within the country has not won him any new friends. For one, Al Qaida’s second-in-command, Ayman Al Zawahiri, is on record as having called on Al Qaida sympathizers within Pakistan to overthrow General Musharraf. The banned jihadi groups, comprising many an erstwhile blue-eyed boy of the military, should feel no less slighted by the president’s about-turn on them. Also, the country’s civil and military intelligence agencies have been politicized to the core. These have been repeatedly abused by successive governments to intimidate political opponents for their supposedly anti-state or anti-Islam activities. This diversion has been at the cost of their real professional aim. It is important to remember that the government has failed to review Gen Ziaul Haq’s policy of inducting personnel having an Islamist bent of mind and a sense of divine mission into the country’s civil and military intelligence apparatus. In the light of the changed religio-political scenario since 9/11, this could only have serious repercussions. The, failure to properly investigate previous terrorist or politically motivated acts designed to destabilize the country could only have encouraged present-day saboteurs. The murder of Liaquat Ali Khan and the death in mysterious circumstances of Gen Ziaul Haq remain unexplained. A thorough overhaul of the country’s intelligence services is long overdue.
The government should not rule out any possibilities as to the motives of the terrorists. With the Saarc summit only a few days away, and the Indian prime minister due in Islamabad, this month’s attacks could not have come at a worse time. If any information points to these acts as attempts to sabotage a possible rapprochement between India and Pakistan, the government would do well to reveal the identity of those involved. There is genuine public goodwill for mending fences with India, and those who wish to derail this process must not be allowed to press on with their obscurantist agenda. The results of the probe now said to be in progress should be made public. If the suicide bombers had, God forbid, succeeded in their evil designs, Pakistan would have been plunged into a chaotic situation.