LAHORE, Pakistan — It was close to midnight last
Saturday when Gen. Pervez Musharraf finally
appeared on state-run television. That’s when
police vans surrounded my house. I was warned not
to leave, and hours later I learned I would be
detained for 90 days.
At least I have the luxury of staying at home,
though I cannot see anyone. But I can only watch,
helpless, as this horror unfolds.
Police watch as lawyers demonstrate against
President Pervez Musharraf in Islamabad
yesterday. (By Wally Santana — Asssociated Press)
The Musharraf government has declared martial law
to settle scores with lawyers and judges.
Hundreds of innocent Pakistanis have been rounded
up. Human rights activists, including women and
senior citizens, have been beaten by police.
Judges have been arrested and lawyers battered in
their offices and the streets.
These citizens are our true assets: young,
progressive and full of spirit. Many of them were
trained to uphold the rule of law. They are being
brutalized for seeking justice.
Musharraf justified his draconian measures by
saying he needed to be able to use all his might
to fight the terrorists infecting our country.
Yet the day after he declared an emergency, the
Dawn newspaper reported that scores of terrorists
were released by the government. While tyranny
was being unleashed on peaceful citizens, the
notorious militant Fazalullah (also known as
Maulana Radio) had seized the beautiful town of
Madyan, according to the Daily Times, and hoisted
his “Islamic” flag over buildings while the
security forces surrendered.
Musharraf has implied that militancy increased in
Pakistan because of judicial interference in
governance. But until this past March, the
judiciary had yielded to all executive demands.
Five years ago, the general dismissed the
then-chief justice and his colleagues, charging
that they were obstructing his process of
democratization. What is democratic about a
judiciary that’s not independent?
In recent days police have raided the home of the
president of the Supreme Court Bar Association —
his wife has gone into hiding — and the law
chambers of two former presidents of the bar.
Their clerks have been harassed. Military
intelligence officers are interrogating leading
attorneys. Meanwhile, unknown lawyers are being
elevated to the bench.
Since Saturday, police officers have barged into
my house twice after receiving (false) warnings
that I had escaped. On seeing me, they sheepishly
admitted they were misled.
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I have tried to make them understand the
difference between people such as myself and
terrorists. "If I did run away, how far would I
go?“I asked them.”In any event, I am not likely
to blow myself up around the corner." One police
officer said that he agreed but that his job was
at greater risk if I got away than if a terrorist
escaped the law. Terrorists, he pointed out,
outnumber rights activists in our country.
The officer argued that lawyers and judges hamper
law enforcement. "How can we bring law and order
if we cannot torture criminals? We must be given
a free hand to deal with terrorists, and the
chief justice has no business to ask us to
produce them in courts. We are itching to lay our
hands on all those judges who humiliated us for
carrying out our duties," he told me. When I
asked how he knew who the terrorists were, he
insisted that the intelligence was infallible.
Yet he didn’t know I hadn’t escaped from my house.
The international community is alarmed at
Musharraf’s actions, but Pakistanis expected
this. The Bush administration had built up the
general as moderate and benign, but the true face
of this regime has been exposed.
A balanced picture of Pakistan had begun to
emerge in recent weeks. Thousands turned out to
greet Benazir Bhutto upon her return last month;
Pakistanis were progressive-minded enough to
elect a female political leader years ago.
Hundreds of progressive-minded lawyers have
rallied for democratic values. I welcome Bhutto’s
call for the Pakistan People’s Party to join the
demonstrations.
But Pakistan is threatened by Islamist militants,
and our civil society suffers the worst of this
creeping Talibanization. Woefully, the Musharraf
regime is neither inclined to reverse this trend
nor capable of doing so. No one has exact
solutions, but there is virtual unanimity that
Pakistan’s political leadership must take charge
and that the military must cooperate with an
elected civilian government.
Musharraf’s promises to hold elections by Feb. 15
or to resign from the army are a red herring. He
has pledged before to give up his uniform and
failed to follow through. Any election held under
these circumstances will not be free and will
only put the crisis on hold. Furthermore,
militarization will kill the spirit of the
progressive forces while boosting the terrorists’
morale.
A transition to democracy is crucial, but unless
freedom of the press and the judiciary’s
independence are restored, any changes will
remain toothless. It will be difficult to put
Pakistan on the path to democracy, but we must
begin now, before it is too late.