WASHINGTON, Feb 14: The Western fear of militancy has further delayed the process of democratization in Pakistan, argues South Asia expert, Frédéric Grare.

In a paper, released on Tuesday by Carnegie Endowment, a Washington think-tank, Mr Grare recalls that last week’s sectarian violence in the NWFP gave the impression that Pakistan “is susceptible to an Islamic take over” at any point and the Pakistan Army provides “the ultimate protection” against such developments.

In his new Carnegie policy brief, Pakistan: The Myth of an Islamist Peril, Mr Grare challenges the status quo and argues that the risk of takeover by an extremist party in Pakistan is a ‘myth’ which allows the establishment of Pakistan to “consolidate its hold on power” in the country.

Mr Grare suggests that the West should actively promote the demilitarisation of Pakistan’s political life through a mix of political pressure and capacity building. “Enlarging the pool of elites and creating alternative centres of power will be essential for developing a working democracy in Pakistan.”

He claims that the Pakistani establishment manipulates religious political parties and militant organizations to achieve its own objectives, domestically and abroad. Thus, he says, the establishment, not the extremists, “is the real source of insecurity on the Subcontinent.” He contents that “sustainable security and stability in the region will be achieved only through the restoration of democracy in Pakistan.”

Mr Grare gives three major policy implications in debunking the myth:

• President Musharraf should be pushed to crack down on militants in Kashmir and Afghanistan for fear of causing his overthrow by extremists.

• Arms sales to Pakistan increase the Pakistani military’s leverage to block major internal reforms, and are understood as implicit approval for the military’s policies.

• Invoking the “Islamist threat” as reason to support the military regime contributes to the perception in the Muslim world in general that democracy is something to be applied selectively.

Mr Grare claims that by keeping the parties weak and allowing them to compete, the Pakistan establishment “insinuates itself as the indispensable arbiter of politics.”

Discussing the Western attitude towards Pakistan, he notes that the fear of an Islamic threat has been the driving force behind most Western countries’ foreign policies toward Pakistan in recent years.

“The possibility that violent Islamists will … throw Pakistan into turmoil, take over the country and its nuclear weapons, and escalate regional terrorism has dominated the psychological and political landscape,” says the Carnegie scholar.