Army rule, a cancer for society
( This paper was presented on behalf of the Sindhi Association of North America, SANA, by Mr. Aziz Narejo, Editor quarterly ‘Sangat’ North America and ex-Editor daily ‘The Chronicle’, Islamabad: )
Members of the press corps, ladies and gentlemen,
We are here today to present the case of the people of Sindh and Pakistan who have long been suffering under military regimes. The years of autocratic rule in the country have played havoc with the psyche of the people. The military rulers have introduced large-scale corruption that has damaged and mutilated the face of the society beyond recognition. They have created a class of people, with a vested interest in the continuation of army rule - a worst kind of opportunism with an inborn malice towards democratic set up and disregard for the law of the land and the Constitution.
The history of the armed forces invasion of the civil society goes back to the early 1950s when the army under its ambitious commander, General Ayub Khan started to spread its tentacles. General Khan maneuvered to subjugate all branches of the society. He engineered frequent dismissals of the governments and the dissolution of the elected assembly. He finally captured power on 27th October 1958. Since then, army has been ruling the country - for most part through direct rule - and for the remainder – through its proxies, by intimidation and the brute use of the rangers and the intelligence agencies. The present regime is the continuation of that evil scheme of things.
To perpetuate its hegemony, the army has imposed a Unitarian set up, which denies provincial autonomy to the provinces. A large part of the national budget is appropriated for the armed forces exclusive use. To further control the things, a huge demon has been created in the form of ISI, the Inter Services Intelligence agency. First established in 1948, it was strengthened under the army dictators, Ayub Khan and Zia to consolidate the junta role in all the spheres of the society.
We hear of a state within a state or a government within a government but in this case, we have a state ABOVE state and a government ABOVE government. ISI, which has grown too big for its boots, is no longer answerable to anybody. The result is that there has been no real supervision of the ISI. Corruption, narcotics, and big money have all come into play, further complicating the political scenario. Drug money has been used by ISI to finance not only the previous Afghanistan war, but also the other ongoing proxy wars. It has large sums of money at its disposal, which are used very effectively to enforce ironclad hold over society in the country and create mischief elsewhere.
It were the intelligence agencies, which created and supported fundamentalist forces in the country. These forces have continuously been used against the secular and democratic forces. Later they were also used to train ‘Mujahideen’ for wars abroad. And now one of their utilities is to create a ruse to blackmail the United States and other western countries.
ISIs Political wing with enormous resources at its disposal, has been used to manage, or in other words, rig all the elections held since 1980s in order to deny the popular, secular, democratic political forces any effective role in the affairs of the state. The formation of Islami Jamhoori Ittehad, IJI, in 1988, to defeat and or to contain the Pakistan Peoples Party of Benazir Bhutto and the distribution of huge amounts of money to achieve that goal, have been acknowledged by former ISI operatives.
Ladies and Gentlemen: Pakistan happens to be situated right in the heart of a very sensitive part of the world. A war on terrorism is underway in Afghanistan and within Pakistan's own borders. Its next door neighbors in Central Asia claim huge oil and gas reserves. An outlet, a pipeline, to carry natural gas, could pass through Pakistan. It has countries like Iran, India and China surrounding it. And then there is its proximity to Russia, the Persian Gulf and the Middle East.
I fail to understand how such an important country has been left to a highly unstable government? That is what Musharraf government is, a government based on fraud and illegality. An artificial set up. A general, who was dismissed by a Prime Minister, instead of respecting his authority, staged a coup against the government. He committed high treason according to the Article 6 of the Constitution and imposed himself on the country without any mandate.
This shaky government, which has no roots in the ground, can perish in thin air at any time leaving behind a great mess as such governments have in the past. This government is creating divisions in the country and pushing it to destruction and disintegration as such governments have in the past. This government can bring wars and sufferings to the people as all the past wars have been fought under military governments. How can such an unstable government serve the interests of peace? Interests of the civilized world?
Ladies and Gentlemen: The majority of the people of Pakistan consider the present government and the army rule as a cancer for the society. All the political parties worth a name want a return to democracy, provincial autonomy and restoration of the 1973 constitution in its original form. They are protesting in the parliament and the provincial assemblies and marching on the streets. The lawyers, as the other sections of the society, have categorically rejected the whimsical ‘Legal Framework Order’, the LFO, issued by dictator Musharraf, unilaterally amending the constitution.
The regime is unleashing state power to silence all the opposition. It has arrested, tortured, kidnapped and imprisoned elected representatives of the people. The regime has denied basic human rights to the people. It has curbed the press freedom. It uses all the means to keep the media in line! It uses high-handed methods when some journalists stand up and refuse to bow down. Such journalists are manhandled by the plain-clothes men, a code word for ISI thugs.
Some incidents to point out are the recent resignation of the editor of weekly Independent. The editor, a courageous journalist, who refused to cower down, was pressured to resign from his paper, which subsequently changed its policy. Supporting the regime now! Another case in point is that of a senior journalist, former Chief Correspondent of Pakistans leading English daily newspaper 'Dawn' and ex-editor of daily 'The News', another major newspaper from Pakistan. When he exposed the corruption in the government, he was forced to resign. That courageous journalist, Mr. Shaheen Sehbai, started a weekly Internet newspaper, satribune here in USA. When he continued exposing the real face of this so-called clean government, his relatives were maltreated in Pakistan. False cases were registered against one of his relatives. And now the government has blocked his paper through the servers over which the government has monopoly in the country.
Ladies and Gentlemen: I think the crimes of the dictators should be considered as crimes against humanity. And with shrinking international borders, if SARS doesnt take too long to reach the shores of North America, so may these crimes against humanity. They may affect the polity in the civilized world and may endanger the institutions here as well.
I would ask you to consider just one scenario: I know it is unthinkable but just for the sake of making a point: suppose one fine morning an army general captures power in a civilized country, imposes Martial Law and changes the constitution at will. And then think of a foreign country that supports, protects and does business with that general. What would you think of that country, which is supporting and protecting the usurper? Unfortunately, that is exactly the perception that the people of Pakistan have about the
United States support to all the military dictatorships in that unfortunate land!
In my opinion, the policy makers of this nation, would do a lot good to their long term objectives if they would elect to side with the people of Pakistan – the democratic forces in the country - instead of supporting and protecting the corrupt to the core military officers, who by now are universally despised in the country. And one should not forget that anybody seen doing business with them wouldnt earn friendship of the common men - that is the men and women on the street.
In the end, I would like to request members of the media, the think tanks, the intellectuals and all the pro-democracy people to come to the aid of the people of Sindh and Pakistan. Please extend a hand of real friendship to the people - not to the army men, who have become parents of all the ills in Pakistan and have occupied every thing of value in the country: They are of course the military bureaucracy but now they are the civilian bureaucracy as well. They have become the feudals, the industrialists, the businessmen, the traders, the diplomats, the owners of prize real estate, smugglers of the contraband and most of all the armed Mafia!
The people of Sindh and those of many other parts of Pakistan don't want a big army. They don't want the arms race in the region. They dont want the dirty bombs. They don't want any chemical or atomic explosives.
Ladies and Gentlemen: so many people have said it for so many times, but I would still like to repeat it that the people of Sindh and Pakistan don’t ask for the stars or the moon. They just want to live in peace with rights that are taken for granted in the civilized, democratic world. They want a rightful, dignified place in the comity of nations. Let’s help them achieve that achievable goal.
Thanks