Pakocracy

For about a month or so, Pakistan has been boiling.It's not that it was peaceful before; there has been violence associated with the Pakistani society ever since it was born. The latest spell of violence involves the convoluted games played put from the drawing rooms of Lahore to the mean streets of Karachi. Perverz Musharraf, already beleaguered by the rise of the Taliban in western Pakistan and a assertive judiciary led by Iftikar Chaudhury is fighting the only way he knows- hit first and hit hard. The first step was turning back the exiled former premier Nawaz Sharif who is a potential rival with his large support base. Sharif was not allowed to get out of the airport, and though there was widespread international and internal condemnation, Musharraf stuck to his guns.

The declaration of Emergency was the second step. This was imposed three weeks ago, before the Supreme Court of Pakistan was to hear a challenge against Musharraf's reelection as president while retaining the post of the army chief. 5 judges were imprisoned and a rubber stamp court proclaimed Musharraf's appointment as president. Pakistan has also been kicked out of the Commonwealth, and though think tanks in the US are making noises, Dubya is not going to drop him anytime soon. Meanwhile, Benazir Bhutto is preparing herself for a the upcoming elections by focussing on radio and TV as mediums instead of the traditional rallies, owing to threats on her life.

Whatever happens in Pakistan will affect India the most. Everybody knows why this is ,and most people agree that democracy is the best thing that should happen to Pakistan. But is Western style democracy really such a great thing? Just check out Afghanistan and Iraq- that brand of democracy has miserably failed.The situation on Afghanistan is deteriorating, and Iraq's situation is worse than ever. The problem is that these societies have their unique systems, and the brand of democracy goes against the very fabric of society. There can be no one size fits all solution, and what works in Western Europe or the US does not work in Asia. India seems to be an exception, though if we dig deep we would see some tweaking being done to the original model here as well.

The Pakistani society is largely feudal and driven by tribal loyalties.This society is conservative, and intensely religious. Concepts like equality of sexes, female suffrage and all men having equal rights are not accepted easily......they were not accepted until the beginning of the last century in Europe and US. The rest of the world is going to take some more time to adopt these ideas, however noble they may sound. As I see it, there is a need for reform in Pakistan. The civil society must lead this. Already they have the leadership of the law community- notice how the demonstrations of the lawyers across the country, supported by people in response to Justice Chaudhury's dismissal and subsequent house arrest resembled the Indian freedom movement.Something like that could happen in Pakistan too, though the world was a lot simpler in 1900s.

As for Musharraf, if her plays his cards right, he could remain the President for some years, without being the army head. Then again, he could be booted out soon, for Allah is definitely not on his side, and with Army gone America could loose patience. But even if he stays, his powers will definitely shrink.