FOURTH PHARAOH OF PAKISTAN

Fourth Pharaoh of Pakistan
M Waqar New York, USA
Generals love to conquer their own country and people. Gen Mush came with great ideas and claims of modern Pakistan, secularism, his childhood love with Turkey was boiling so much that he wanted to be a Pakistani Attaturk, when he grabbed power he was shown playing with his dog like western leaders, he created NAB, punished those who were involved in corruption but then like every military dictator, he showed his real colors, who is obsessed with power and thinking like GEN Zia, Yayaha and Ayub that he will rule Pakistanis for the rest of his life. These power hungry Generals love keeping Pakistani nation in the doldrums, these Generals never hesitated to put Pakistan in Rack and ruin. These power hungry Generals worship their foreign masters in west. Nations take great pride in their armed forces, The dream of Pakistan that was visioned by Allama Iqbal and turned into a reality by the hard work and democratic struggle of Jinnah has gone sour because of these generals. The country suffered a great loss in 1971 when its own Army surrendered in shame after committing one of the worst human right crimes in history and perpetrating the holocaust of three million people who were the citizens of Pakistan. According to Article 6 of the Constitution of Islamic Republic of Pakistan : "Any person or persons who commit the act of mutiny against the parliament, judiciary and/or the elected members and officials of parliament is/are guilty of committing the highest treason. This person or persons committing such an act must be charged and prosecuted in the court of law and sentenced to death if found guilty" Army have biggest share in Pakistan’s stock exchange, operate commercial bank, airline, steel, cement, telecom, petroleum and energy, education, sports, health care and even grocery shops chains and bakeries. Pakistan army being ranked as the seventh biggest army in the world has not conquered a single inch in fact it has only brought embarrassment to the nation in the battle fields of Kargil and Dhaka. Seven years have passed since the Gen. Mush captured power and appointed himself as the president of Pakistan. In seven years Musharraf and his corrupt companions have broken all records of corruption and bad governance. Keep in mind that existing Fauji junta will never give up financial benefits, lavish life style, and luxurious pomp and show. To maintain their present comfort abilities they need some agenda to divide public on non-issues and to keep continuous flow of dollars from Washington, they need some grounds to fool American and Pakistani people simultaneously. Only way to deal with such dictator is to stop financial aid. Reason for pomp and show of generals and lavish life style is largely based on flow of free and easy money receiving on the name of “war on terror”, Pakistani generals could be distinguished among army generals of other countries, according to provision of facilities, huge emoluments, vehicles and properties which made them billionaire before retirement, is all dependent on continuous flow of easy money on the name of “War on Terror”. Regular government servants working on same pay scales are hand to mouth. Today in Pakistan, Media is under siege,, the way Mush regime banned all the channels proved that he is just trying to manipulate the press, its the worst kind of arm twisting. In no civilized country we have seen this kind of tyranny, by banning all private TV channels he has proved that he wants to only see his side of story on channels as if ptv was not enough. By depriving the nation from their basic right he has again proved that he has no tolerance for the freedom of speech. Thousand of lawyers, political workers and human rights activists have been arrested after declaration of the neo-Martial Law, I wonder what this regime is thinking about the situation in Swat? Gen. Mush is desperate to hold onto power, General has discarded Pakistan’s constitutional framework and declared a state of emergency. His goal? To stifle the independent judiciary and free media., shamelessly, he has tried to sell this action as an effort to bring about stability and help fight the war on terror more effectively. Nothing could be further from the truth. If Pakistan’s history is any indicator, his decision to impose martial law may prove to be the straw that breaks the camel’s back. Musharraf’s popular support is at its lowest ebb. Pakistan’s armed forces - repeated targets of suicide bombers - have become demoralized. It is difficult to imagine them standing with Musharraf should civil conflict erupt. Nor can a weak, embattled, Musharraf be expected to fight Islamic militancy effectively or bring political stability to Pakistan. The current regime is using militancy to its advantage and igniting this phenomenon as and when required. Whenever, the executive senses serious threats, suicide attacks and roadside bomb attacks on paramilitary forces become a regular feature.The Lal Masjid operation, when lawyers’ movement was nearing success, and Swat operation, when the Supreme Court was about to rule Musharraf’s election as president unlawful, are clear examples of operations executed by the present regime. The General, justified his crack-down as a defense against Islamic militants, but his desperate and reprehensible actions suspending the constitution, rounding up judges, beating and jailing lawyers and journalists — will embolden extremists. They will also fuel anger and mistrust among Pakistani moderates. What Pakistan is today is due to years of aid from Saudi Arabia & US. Both had vested interest and hence the nation is a failed nation. Saudis funded creation of religious school that lead to generation of fundamentalist forces. The need of the hour is to strengthen the hands of the judiciary who should conduct elections with international observers playing a important role. Musharraf should learn to respect the judiciary and democratic institutions and form his own political alliance and then run for the elections. Mushy did what can be expected of any dictator. Cry foul and shut out your opponents. Another shameful chapter in Pakistan’s checkered history. I cannot think of one effective good leader that Pakistan has had since its founder. Not that there is a dearth of good leaders in Pakistan, rather it is the feudal and corrupt political system that has kept them out. AND also the lack of education— keep people uneducated and they’ll continue to be like sheep! Mush opened a can of worms by declaring a state of emergency, is now in a fix over what to do next, well he mentioned that he is doing this because of suicide attacks and rise of talibanism in Pakistan but is he taking any action against them, half of Swat valley is under talibans control and Mush security forces are surrendering to Talibans, so what action he is taking? Well he thinks Lawyers and journalists are more dangerous then terrorists who are killing innocent people. Pakistan is 60 years old now but is a country that is still far, far away from becoming what the world considers an industrialized nation; a country that is still full of vast slums, poverty-stricken villages and a crumbling infrastructure; let alone problems of corruption, pollution, religious violence and child labor. Global media coverage of Pakistan suggests a country consisting of Generals, corrupt politicians and bearded lunatics. Pakistan needs stability, economic vibrancy, poverty alleviation, more education. Pakistan is a country with less then 50 % rate of literacy, feudal lords control political parties,on top of that Islamic militancy is growing day by day. The population of Pakistan has increased five times since it came into existence. Now when it has crossed the figure of 150 million, the majority lack basic amenities of life. The supply of pure drinking water is still a dream while no city, big or small, has a proper drainage system. Industry is non-existent and agriculture has reached saturation point. After the setting in of the global age, the state has been left with little resources to scale up the ladder of the Human Development Index (HDI). Where to begin? It is the real question for the political parties making loud noises for strengthening of civilian rule in the country. Pakistan, over the years, received aid in billions from the West and has nothing to show for it. North Korea, Taiwan and other countries have built their nations with the aid from the West. On the other hand, the rampant corruption and relegio-political conflicts keeping the Muslim nations from achieving any semblance of the knowledge based empire that Islam had inspired. For a real democracy it is imperative that all the political parties should first bring democracy in their own folds and should allow their followers to elect their party leaders through votes like what has been doing in USA or Britain. The hereditary monopoly on the political parties first need to be ended, if the people are interested in real democracy, otherwise the dream of real and genuine democracy will never come true in Pakistan. Pakistan is in no position today, thanks to the General, to do the thing it must do to return to the comity of nations: hold elections and return to the rule of law. He has gotten us so far into the mess that it will be some time before we can extricate ourselves from it. Pakistan has become the laughing stock for the world. Things are happening in Pakistan that doesn't even happen in third rate banana republics. In order for us to become civilized again, elections must be held and soon. The army must be returned to the barracks never to come out again against its own people. They should be taking care of places like Swat where Taliban are flying their own flags in place of Pakistani flags. This never happened when civilians ruled the country. To put democracy back in action, there needs to be a government that is run by the people and for the people, and not by the agenda of one man. The one and only thing that has to be done to put the system back on track is that Gen. Musharraf should immediately resign both as President and the Army Chief as he is illegitimate for both the offices as per our constitution as well as in the eyes of billions of people of not only in Pakistan, but the whole world. Declaring emergency by an illegitimate and not officially declared president is a mockery and shows the true face and standard of the people of Pakistan that how vulnerable and senseless we are. We as a nation (which we never were and still are not) does not even know that who has ruled us so for, who is ruling us now, how they are ruling us, how they are exploiting us, how they are eating us, how they are destroying us? Pakistan can now be categorized worst than Burmese regime. In my previous letters to The Frontier Post, I mentioned so many times that Pakistan is heading towards situations like Somalia, and now I see that is happening. I hope Benazir is coming to her senses now. She should be realizing that Musharraf is a cunning and opportunist man and has no other agenda but to continue his military rule with the help of PML-Q and fascist MQM parties. People are ready to respond to her call for massive protests if she dissociates from Musharraf and come back to her people. General Musharraf should step down both from his Chief of Army Staff and President’s posts and hand over presidency to the Chief Justice of Supreme Court. Free and fair elections should be held under the watchful monitoring of The Carter Center and other independent international human rights organizations.