Pakistan: The struggle for democracy
Ray Fulcher
[This piece is a write-up of an educational talk given to Melbourne DSP branch on June 30, 2007.]
On June 5 2007 Farooq Tariq, General Secretary of the Labour Party Pakistan (LPP), and hundreds of other democracy activists were arrested across Pakistan
The arrests were part of a crack down by the military dictatorship of Pervez Musharraf against a rising democracy movement. The social upsurge was sparked by mass protests by Pakistan’s legal fraternity against the treatment of Chief Justice Iftikhar Mohammad Chaudhry by the military dictatorship.
The protests grew to massive size especially where CJ Chaudhry visited, as hundreds of thousands of ordinary Pakistanis lined the streets to cheer on the Chief Justice who had stood up to Musharraf.
In response to protests, including international protest, the authorities released Farooq Tariq from Kot Lakhpat Jail, Lahore, on Tuesday 19 June. At around the same time all the other political prisoners were also released. This was a victory of the movement.
The protest movement represents the biggest challenge yet to the power of the Musharraf dictatorship. It represents the best opportunity for a return to democracy that Pakistan has seen in almost a decade. The protests represent more than a concern about the treatment of one judge. CJ Chaudhry is merely a focal point around which the Pakistani people’s frustrations and anger at the dictatorship has coalesced.
This article will assess the political background to the movement around CJ Chaudrhy. I will address the political movements under the Musharraf dictatorship and analyse the political and economic role of the military. I will then explain the evolution of the current movement sparked by CJ Chaudhry
Pakistan under Musharraf
Musharraf is not the first military dictator to beset Pakistan. There have been three others since Pakistan’s independence in 1947.
Mohamed Ayub Khan was the first (1958-69), followed by Yahya Khan (1969-71) and the most brutal of them all – Zia ul Haq (1977-88).
To understand the complexity of Pakistani politics there are a few background things to keep in mind:
Religion.
In Pakistan Islamic fundamentalism is strong, especially in the North West Frontier Province and Balochistan where the Muttahida Maijlis-I-Amal (MMA) has won state government in the past.
The MMA is a coalition of Islamic fundamentalist groupings. Musharraf has relied on the MMA and MQM at various times to support his regime. The MQM (United National Movement) is a far-right fundamentalist group based originally in the Urdu speaking migrant community in Karachi following partition in 1947. Musharraf is engaged in a balancing act with the fundamentalists. At the same time as he relies on fundamentalists to support his government he must also play his part in the US’ “war on terror” and attack fundamentalism ideologically and some of the groups physically (though this sometimes amounts more to attacking local tribes that he wants suppressed). Musharraf also promotes fundamentalists in regions like Balochistan where he hopes they will break up the tribal loyalties of the opposition forces there. Pakistan is not an “Islamic State” as we think of Afghanistan under the Taliban or Iran. It was not until the dictatorship of Zia ul Haq that sharia law was mixed with civil law. Pakistan was initially envisioned as a “State for Muslims” not a “Muslim State”.
Feudalism
Large parts of Pakistan are still dominated by semi-feudal relationships and also by tribal loyalties, both of which over-ride duty or loyalty to the state or indeed democratic principles. From before the inception of Pakistan the different political parties have had to do deals with feudal landlords and tribal chiefs to get anywhere in the regions they control.
Geography
Pakistan has strategic importance, situated on the Arabian Sea with Iran, Afghanistan, India and China as neighbours. Its position means it straddles some of the most important oil laneways in the region. It is close to the entrance to the Persian Gulf and expected oil pipelines from Central Asia will pass through to its port at Gwadar, itself being developed as a hub for Central Asian development. With the “war on terror” Pakistan became crucial to US operations in the region, bases were made available and operations conducted into Afghanistan by US forces. Its proximity to Iran is also of interest to the US.
National Question
Pakistan could be described as a “forced nation”. There have been nationalist movements operating in Pakistan against the central government since before independence. These have been particularly strong in Sindh and in Balochistan. The mass migration that accompanied the partition of India and Pakistan caused great stresses in places like Karachi where the ethnic makeup was irrevocably altered. To get an idea of the collection of peoples that constitute Pakistan consider just the major language groups: Punjabi, Pashto, Sindhi, Siraiki, Urdu (the official national language), Balochi, Hindko, Brahvi. There are also a range of tribal dialects. A key aspect of the national question is the central role of the dominance of the Punjabi elite in the military, politics, government, industry and agriculture. Major infrastructure projects that are a feature of Musharraf’s regime, such as the Kalabagh Dam and Gwadar port are seen by most provinces as power and land grabs by he Punjabi elite. Kalabagh Dam will primarily benefit Punjabi agriculture and industry whilst turning Sindh into a desert and Gwadar will be of little benefit to the local Baloch as workers are imported and Punjabi companies hold most of the contracts.
The Coup
Musharraf seized power in October 1999 on the pretext of economic mismanagement and corruption in the civilian government and the government’s forcing of the withdrawal of Pakistani “militants” from Kargil in Kashmir, handing victory to India.
Between May-July 1999 Indian forces and some 600 Muslim “insurgents” (well armed, well provisioned, well organised insurgents, some with Pakistan army identity cards) fought around Kargil in Indian Kashmir. Pakistan’s President Nawaz Sharif ordered their withdrawal following some limited Indian successes and intense international pressure, particularly from the US.
Musharraf’s coup was initially very popular – there was corruption not just in this but also in previous governments led by the Muslim League (ML) and the Pakistan People’s Party (PPP). Both of these bourgeois parties were hated for their corrupt practices, nepotism and failure to deliver improvements in standards of living for the masses.
And there was economic mismanagement – at least as far as the IMF & World Bank were concerned – they wanted rapid privatisation that the Nawaz Sharif government could not provide due to mass opposition and large protests for improved wages and living conditions.
So on October 12 1999 Musharraf toppled the ML government of Nawaz Sharif promising to “improve the lot of the people within 3 years”.
Since then Musharraf has governed with the support of the MMA, MQM (United National Movement) and Muslim League (Q) (ML(Q)) at various times. The ML (Q) is a split-off from the Muslim League that left in order to support Musharraf.
Economy
Musharraf embarked almost immediately on a massive privatisation drive that has not abated. In fact the attempted privatisation of Pakistan Steel Mills was one of the issues that brought CJ Chaudhry into conflict with Musharraf.
Wholesale privatisation began early and has included (partial or whole privatisation of) Pakistan Telecommunications Limited, the Water and Power Development Authorities, railways, Pakistan International Airlines, Water and Sanitation Authority, national banks, state land, oil and gas fields and infrastructure and more. To get an idea of how this privatisation has been conducted the Pak Saudi Fertiliser Company, valued at Rs 40 billion (Rs = rupees, 30-35 Rs to the Aust $) was sold by the Musharraf regime for Rs 7.5 billion.
While some sectors – the industrial bourgeoisie, feudal landed elite, military – are doing very well out of Musharraf’s economic management the majority – workers and peasants are not.
Along with privatisation came increasing prices that have led to increasing poverty and unemployment.
Between 1999 and 2004 those living below the official poverty line (
Out of a population of around 200 000 000 people 71 million Pakistanis are forced to live in single room houses. 82 million lack basic sanitation. 54 million have no access to clean water. 70% of women giving birth have no access to medical facilities. So much for Musharaf’s claim that he would “improve the lot of the people within 3 years”
But some sectors are doing very nicely economically and the military are one of these.
The Military
The military have always been a political and economic player in Pakistan, under Musharraf this has been strengthened.
The military are now the largest feudal and industrial entity in Pakistan through such institutions as the Fauji Foundation (assets of $169 million) and the Askari Bank (one of a number of banks controlled by current and ex-military officers). The military run the National Logistic Cell, Pakistan’s largest freight transport company with a net worth of around $70million. The Pakistan military owns more agricultural and other land (11.58 million acres) than any other institution or group, making it the largest feudal landlord in the country.
Musharraf has retained power with the support of this military and by gaining US support and money. The “war on terror” has been a big boost to Musharraf’s coffers. The Musharraf regime received US aid worth US$9.1 million during 1999-2001, and was granted $4.2 billion over the next three. In return the US gained access to Pakistani military bases and Musharraf sent 80,000 troops to the Afghan border to fight “terrorism”. Musharraf also plays various groups (fundamentalists, different national groups) and political parties off against each other to keep his opponents divided. Musharraf’s pro-US policies however are extremely unpopular domestically and have strengthened the fundamentalists as the war on terror is viewed as a war on Islam.
Resistance
It has not however been all plain sailing and there are many factors and issues that have plagued the good general before the arrival of CJ Choudry. A few examples:
Between 2000-2002 the Alliance for the Restoration of Democracy (ARD) campaigned for an end to the dictatorship. The ARD was formed by a range of groups including the ML, PPP and the LPP. Various nationalist organisations, trade unions and civil society groups joined it as the realities of the dictatorship became apparent. Musharraf ordered the arrest of the leaders of the ARD in 2001 and they were held for a few days. Farooq Tariq was the ARD’s labour spokesperson. The ARD fell apart following 9/11 as the various groups became confused or sided with either Musharraf’s support to the US or with the Taliban. The LPP was the only party that opposed both the US and fundamentalism.
In 2003 a major peasant struggle erupted. Centred on Okara in the Punjab but involving 30 surrounding villages. Peasants on the military-owned land (the peasant families had worked the land for decades) resisted a push by the military to increase rents and impose onerous conditions on occupancy in an attempt to drive the peasants from the land so it could be sold. The peasants resisted with mass protest and armed struggle against the military and Rangers (an elite border force used extensively for repression) as they imposed a blockade on the villages. The peasant protest was eventually broken by force, but they remained on the land.
Open warfare between the regime and local tribes erupted in Balochistan in 2005 and has tied down over 50,000 Pakistan Army troops in an ongoing conflict. A lesser known insurgency in Southern Waziristan (the southern area of the Nationally Administered Tribal Areas on the border with Afghanistan) is also tying up troops.
Protests around the Kalabagh Dam have spread nationally causing major concerns for Musharraf as the issue unites the provinces and different nationalist groups in opposition. Musharraf has threatened to sack any provincial government that opposes the dam – all provincial governments but the Punjab have come out against the dam.
2. The current movement sparked by CJ Chaudhry
On March 9, Musharraf “suspended” Chief Justice Iftikhar Chaudhry on concocted charges after the CJ had politely declined to resign. The exact charges were not made public but there were allegations of misconduct and misuse of authority.
So what has the CJ done to incur the wrath of Musharraf?
Chaudhry suspended the privatisation of the Pakistan Steel Mills over corruption charges, on the plea of the workers’ union. This jeopardised Musharaf’s whole privatisation project.
The Government-sponsored real estate project, the “New Murre” housing project, was an environmental catastrophe, but despite protests by civil society and environmental groups, the government refused to budge. Chaudhry took a suo motto action and ordered the shelving of the project.
Chaudhry took up issues of human rights and women’s rights cases, as well as offering relief to trade unions in some cases. But don’t get this out of proportion, he was still a bourgeois judge and had made judgments against unions as well.
He took up the case of disappeared activists from Baluchistan province, which has been gripped by civil war since 1999. Hundreds of nationalist activists, including journalists and poets, have disappeared. When the Human Rights Commission of Pakistan moved in the Supreme Court against these disappearances, Chaudhry accepted the plea. Balochistan is cut off from the outside world by the military who don’t want what is happening there to be made public. You can imagine the President’s ire when the CJ of the Supreme Court of Pakistan decides that an investigation is in order.
But perhaps the biggest act of “misconduct” by the CJ was when he publicly stated that Musharraf could not continue both as president and army chief beyond 2007.
Musharraf had plans to get another five-year mandate through the Supreme Court as President/ army chief, as his dictatorial predecessors had done and as he himself did on assuming power.
So Musharraf “suspended” the CJ on March 9.
The movement begins
The response was immediate as the legal fraternity took to the streets to demand the reinstatement of the CJ, withdrawal of charges and non interference by the regime in the judicial system.
In Pakistan lawyers historically have been in the forefront of every democratic struggle in the country. They were the main force behind the movement against the Ayub Khan dictatorship in the sixties and they were also responsible for keeping the democracy movement alive during the Zia dictatorship in the eighties.
In the first 6 days after the suspension of the CJ numerous hunger strike camps, protest camps, small and big demonstrations, mainly by the advocates, took place across Pakistan.
Then on March 16 lawyers took to the streets in mass protests around the country that were met by state violence. Protesters were lathi charged and tear-gassed. Police also attacked Geo TV who was covering the protest. This began a pattern where police or MQM thugs fired on and attacked media outlets that reported lawyer protests. This led to their first major ally joining with the lawyers as the journalists took to the streets demanding freedom of the press.
The movement expands
The movement picked up momentum after that and other forces from the religious right to the far left joined the protests. Opposition political parties like the ML and PPP have joined with the movement. But these are dubious allies. Benazir Bhutto, head of the PPP, admitted last month that the PPP was in contact with the military regime and were ready to share power with General Musharraf as president. This caused a huge furore in the movement as the lawyers were mostly led by PPP activists. The PPP pulled back from that road but the damage had been done.
Trade unions, peasant organisations and civil society organisations have moved into action with the lawyers. Even religious fundamentalist groups like the MMA have given support. These are also unreliable allies. It is not surprising they have come on board as they have long demanded Musharraf cease his dual role whilst at the same time supporting his government. Also the lawyers’ movement is the first time in a decade that secular mobilisations have been bigger than the fundamentalists’rallies .
The movement evolves
As the movement picked up momentum its agenda changed. The demand became not merely the reinstatement of Chaudhry, but the restoration of democracy.
The Bar Councils (lawyers, or advocates’ associations) started inviting Chaudhry to address them. As he travelled the country to do so ordinary Pakistanis in their thousands would line the streets to welcome him.
On May 4 Chaudhry headed towards Lahore from the capital, Islamabad, hundreds of thousands of people lined the GT Road all the way to catch a glimpse of him. An otherwise four-hour journey took 24 hours. Such a spontaneous mass mobilisation has not been seen in Pakistan since 1969, when the Ayub Khan dictatorship was toppled by the people.
The peak of the movement to date came on 14th May 2007. For the first time since General Musharraf took over power in October 1999, the whole of Pakistan shut down. It was the first political strike in seven years.
From Karachi to Peshawar, all the shops were closed and there was very thin traffic on the streets. In Lahore, the largest demonstration since 9th March took place from Lahore High Court to Governor House on the main Mall Road. Over 15,000 participated.
The strike was a solid one and even traders associated with the military regime went on strike.
The strike was a response to the massacre of protestors in Karachi 2 days earlier.
Massacre
On 12 May protestors that went to the reception for CJ Choudhry in Karachi were fired upon by the thugs of the MQM. Some 40 were killed and over 200 injured. Many more were beaten by MQM activists as they tried to escape the shooting. Activists from a range of political parties were among the dead and injured.
The MQM (who run Karachi) had earlier said they would not tolerate a rally in support of the CJ. All the roads linked to Shahrai Faisal, the main road to the airport, were blocked by massive containers and trucks. Local police and Rangers (elite border unit that is used extensively for repression) blocked the CJ at Karachi airport insisting he fly by helicopter to the Sindh Bar Association to avoid the mass receptions. He refused.
While the CJ was held at the airport MQM thugs began firing on the gathered crowds in Karachi and continued their shooting spree for 14 hours. The private TV channel Aaj tried to cover the massacre so the MQM sent some of their people to the station to fire at it for 6 hours.
The outrage at this massacre sparked a deepening of the movement that led to the national strike on May 14. Nor has the movement been cowed anywhere in the country and on June 2 hundreds of thousands again turned up to greet the CJ as he journeyed to Abbottabad. A normally 3-hour trip took him 14 hours.
The massacre also seems to be tearing the MQM apart as many in Punjab and Karachi resign from the organisation in disgust. It has also lost the regime support among the middle classes – the traditional support for the military regime and MQM. The representatives of over 480 markets of Lahore announced and acted upon the call for a shutter down strike on 12th May. It was mainly announced by the former supporters of the Musharaff regime.
The regime has miscalculated
On the night of the Karachi massacre the ML (Q) had planned a “mass” rally in Islamabad in support of the sacking of the CJ. This was a rally planned weeks earlier to counter the growing sympathies for the CJ and a growing demand for an end of the military regime.
All the state employees were asked to attend the rally. All the sanitary workers were forced to attend. The ML(Q) had promised two to five hundred Rupees ($3.5 to $8.5) for every one who attended this “historic” rally, free mineral water and food was also on offer. Despite all these efforts, not more than 20,000 attended the “rally”.
Addressing this rally general Musharraf praised the MQM, saying that “the people of Karachi had come out today”. Yes, they had come out, and were shot down by the MQM.
In the face of the rising movement the support rally was a failure.
Every strategy employed by the Musharraf regime to suppress the movement has so far failed.
In the first few weeks of the campaign the regime tried to put the lid on the movement by unleashing the police to beat up the lawyers as they protested – that failed
Then they tried to exhaust the movement by allowing protests to proceed. Far from exhausting the movement it grew as this opening up brought more people into the movement including activists of political parties mainly from the Muslim league, Peoples Party, parties associated with Awami jamhoori Tehreek, Awami National Party, National Party, Balochistan National Party, MMA, and so on. – another failed strategy
Then came the terrible massacre in Karachi that sparked the biggest national strike in a decade.
The Musharraf regime then turned to the arrests of prominent political activists identified with the movement in an attempt to behead its organisational capacity – the arrest of Farooq et al on June 5 (supposedly for 3 months but released after 15 days) – that has clearly failed
The movement, led initially by the young generation of lawyers, has spread throughout Pakistani society and grown from a protest against suspension of the CJ to a demand for democracy.
It is fuelled by a people’s anger at a regime that promised much but delivered only repression, privatisation, ½ million more unemployed and increasing prices for basic necessities.
Musharraf is in trouble, we don’t know whether this movement will ultimately topple him but it is the biggest challenge to his regime since he took power in 1999.
Ray Fulcher
[This piece is a write-up of an educational talk given to Melbourne DSP branch on June 30, 2007.]
On June 5 2007 Farooq Tariq, General Secretary of the Labour Party Pakistan (LPP), and hundreds of other democracy activists were arrested across Pakistan
The arrests were part of a crack down by the military dictatorship of Pervez Musharraf against a rising democracy movement. The social upsurge was sparked by mass protests by Pakistan’s legal fraternity against the treatment of Chief Justice Iftikhar Mohammad Chaudhry by the military dictatorship.
The protests grew to massive size especially where CJ Chaudhry visited, as hundreds of thousands of ordinary Pakistanis lined the streets to cheer on the Chief Justice who had stood up to Musharraf.
In response to protests, including international protest, the authorities released Farooq Tariq from Kot Lakhpat Jail, Lahore, on Tuesday 19 June. At around the same time all the other political prisoners were also released. This was a victory of the movement.
The protest movement represents the biggest challenge yet to the power of the Musharraf dictatorship. It represents the best opportunity for a return to democracy that Pakistan has seen in almost a decade. The protests represent more than a concern about the treatment of one judge. CJ Chaudhry is merely a focal point around which the Pakistani people’s frustrations and anger at the dictatorship has coalesced.
This article will assess the political background to the movement around CJ Chaudrhy. I will address the political movements under the Musharraf dictatorship and analyse the political and economic role of the military. I will then explain the evolution of the current movement sparked by CJ Chaudhry
Pakistan under Musharraf
Musharraf is not the first military dictator to beset Pakistan. There have been three others since Pakistan’s independence in 1947.
Mohamed Ayub Khan was the first (1958-69), followed by Yahya Khan (1969-71) and the most brutal of them all – Zia ul Haq (1977-88).
To understand the complexity of Pakistani politics there are a few background things to keep in mind:
Religion.
In Pakistan Islamic fundamentalism is strong, especially in the North West Frontier Province and Balochistan where the Muttahida Maijlis-I-Amal (MMA) has won state government in the past.
The MMA is a coalition of Islamic fundamentalist groupings. Musharraf has relied on the MMA and MQM at various times to support his regime. The MQM (United National Movement) is a far-right fundamentalist group based originally in the Urdu speaking migrant community in Karachi following partition in 1947. Musharraf is engaged in a balancing act with the fundamentalists. At the same time as he relies on fundamentalists to support his government he must also play his part in the US’ “war on terror” and attack fundamentalism ideologically and some of the groups physically (though this sometimes amounts more to attacking local tribes that he wants suppressed). Musharraf also promotes fundamentalists in regions like Balochistan where he hopes they will break up the tribal loyalties of the opposition forces there. Pakistan is not an “Islamic State” as we think of Afghanistan under the Taliban or Iran. It was not until the dictatorship of Zia ul Haq that sharia law was mixed with civil law. Pakistan was initially envisioned as a “State for Muslims” not a “Muslim State”.
Feudalism
Large parts of Pakistan are still dominated by semi-feudal relationships and also by tribal loyalties, both of which over-ride duty or loyalty to the state or indeed democratic principles. From before the inception of Pakistan the different political parties have had to do deals with feudal landlords and tribal chiefs to get anywhere in the regions they control.
Geography
Pakistan has strategic importance, situated on the Arabian Sea with Iran, Afghanistan, India and China as neighbours. Its position means it straddles some of the most important oil laneways in the region. It is close to the entrance to the Persian Gulf and expected oil pipelines from Central Asia will pass through to its port at Gwadar, itself being developed as a hub for Central Asian development. With the “war on terror” Pakistan became crucial to US operations in the region, bases were made available and operations conducted into Afghanistan by US forces. Its proximity to Iran is also of interest to the US.
National Question
Pakistan could be described as a “forced nation”. There have been nationalist movements operating in Pakistan against the central government since before independence. These have been particularly strong in Sindh and in Balochistan. The mass migration that accompanied the partition of India and Pakistan caused great stresses in places like Karachi where the ethnic makeup was irrevocably altered. To get an idea of the collection of peoples that constitute Pakistan consider just the major language groups: Punjabi, Pashto, Sindhi, Siraiki, Urdu (the official national language), Balochi, Hindko, Brahvi. There are also a range of tribal dialects. A key aspect of the national question is the central role of the dominance of the Punjabi elite in the military, politics, government, industry and agriculture. Major infrastructure projects that are a feature of Musharraf’s regime, such as the Kalabagh Dam and Gwadar port are seen by most provinces as power and land grabs by he Punjabi elite. Kalabagh Dam will primarily benefit Punjabi agriculture and industry whilst turning Sindh into a desert and Gwadar will be of little benefit to the local Baloch as workers are imported and Punjabi companies hold most of the contracts.
The Coup
Musharraf seized power in October 1999 on the pretext of economic mismanagement and corruption in the civilian government and the government’s forcing of the withdrawal of Pakistani “militants” from Kargil in Kashmir, handing victory to India.
Between May-July 1999 Indian forces and some 600 Muslim “insurgents” (well armed, well provisioned, well organised insurgents, some with Pakistan army identity cards) fought around Kargil in Indian Kashmir. Pakistan’s President Nawaz Sharif ordered their withdrawal following some limited Indian successes and intense international pressure, particularly from the US.
Musharraf’s coup was initially very popular – there was corruption not just in this but also in previous governments led by the Muslim League (ML) and the Pakistan People’s Party (PPP). Both of these bourgeois parties were hated for their corrupt practices, nepotism and failure to deliver improvements in standards of living for the masses.
And there was economic mismanagement – at least as far as the IMF & World Bank were concerned – they wanted rapid privatisation that the Nawaz Sharif government could not provide due to mass opposition and large protests for improved wages and living conditions.
So on October 12 1999 Musharraf toppled the ML government of Nawaz Sharif promising to “improve the lot of the people within 3 years”.
Since then Musharraf has governed with the support of the MMA, MQM (United National Movement) and Muslim League (Q) (ML(Q)) at various times. The ML (Q) is a split-off from the Muslim League that left in order to support Musharraf.
Economy
Musharraf embarked almost immediately on a massive privatisation drive that has not abated. In fact the attempted privatisation of Pakistan Steel Mills was one of the issues that brought CJ Chaudhry into conflict with Musharraf.
Wholesale privatisation began early and has included (partial or whole privatisation of) Pakistan Telecommunications Limited, the Water and Power Development Authorities, railways, Pakistan International Airlines, Water and Sanitation Authority, national banks, state land, oil and gas fields and infrastructure and more. To get an idea of how this privatisation has been conducted the Pak Saudi Fertiliser Company, valued at Rs 40 billion (Rs = rupees, 30-35 Rs to the Aust $) was sold by the Musharraf regime for Rs 7.5 billion.
While some sectors – the industrial bourgeoisie, feudal landed elite, military – are doing very well out of Musharraf’s economic management the majority – workers and peasants are not.
Along with privatisation came increasing prices that have led to increasing poverty and unemployment.
Between 1999 and 2004 those living below the official poverty line (
Out of a population of around 200 000 000 people 71 million Pakistanis are forced to live in single room houses. 82 million lack basic sanitation. 54 million have no access to clean water. 70% of women giving birth have no access to medical facilities. So much for Musharaf’s claim that he would “improve the lot of the people within 3 years”
But some sectors are doing very nicely economically and the military are one of these.
The Military
The military have always been a political and economic player in Pakistan, under Musharraf this has been strengthened.
The military are now the largest feudal and industrial entity in Pakistan through such institutions as the Fauji Foundation (assets of $169 million) and the Askari Bank (one of a number of banks controlled by current and ex-military officers). The military run the National Logistic Cell, Pakistan’s largest freight transport company with a net worth of around $70million. The Pakistan military owns more agricultural and other land (11.58 million acres) than any other institution or group, making it the largest feudal landlord in the country.
Musharraf has retained power with the support of this military and by gaining US support and money. The “war on terror” has been a big boost to Musharraf’s coffers. The Musharraf regime received US aid worth US$9.1 million during 1999-2001, and was granted $4.2 billion over the next three. In return the US gained access to Pakistani military bases and Musharraf sent 80,000 troops to the Afghan border to fight “terrorism”. Musharraf also plays various groups (fundamentalists, different national groups) and political parties off against each other to keep his opponents divided. Musharraf’s pro-US policies however are extremely unpopular domestically and have strengthened the fundamentalists as the war on terror is viewed as a war on Islam.
Resistance
It has not however been all plain sailing and there are many factors and issues that have plagued the good general before the arrival of CJ Choudry. A few examples:
Between 2000-2002 the Alliance for the Restoration of Democracy (ARD) campaigned for an end to the dictatorship. The ARD was formed by a range of groups including the ML, PPP and the LPP. Various nationalist organisations, trade unions and civil society groups joined it as the realities of the dictatorship became apparent. Musharraf ordered the arrest of the leaders of the ARD in 2001 and they were held for a few days. Farooq Tariq was the ARD’s labour spokesperson. The ARD fell apart following 9/11 as the various groups became confused or sided with either Musharraf’s support to the US or with the Taliban. The LPP was the only party that opposed both the US and fundamentalism.
In 2003 a major peasant struggle erupted. Centred on Okara in the Punjab but involving 30 surrounding villages. Peasants on the military-owned land (the peasant families had worked the land for decades) resisted a push by the military to increase rents and impose onerous conditions on occupancy in an attempt to drive the peasants from the land so it could be sold. The peasants resisted with mass protest and armed struggle against the military and Rangers (an elite border force used extensively for repression) as they imposed a blockade on the villages. The peasant protest was eventually broken by force, but they remained on the land.
Open warfare between the regime and local tribes erupted in Balochistan in 2005 and has tied down over 50,000 Pakistan Army troops in an ongoing conflict. A lesser known insurgency in Southern Waziristan (the southern area of the Nationally Administered Tribal Areas on the border with Afghanistan) is also tying up troops.
Protests around the Kalabagh Dam have spread nationally causing major concerns for Musharraf as the issue unites the provinces and different nationalist groups in opposition. Musharraf has threatened to sack any provincial government that opposes the dam – all provincial governments but the Punjab have come out against the dam.
2. The current movement sparked by CJ Chaudhry
On March 9, Musharraf “suspended” Chief Justice Iftikhar Chaudhry on concocted charges after the CJ had politely declined to resign. The exact charges were not made public but there were allegations of misconduct and misuse of authority.
So what has the CJ done to incur the wrath of Musharraf?
Chaudhry suspended the privatisation of the Pakistan Steel Mills over corruption charges, on the plea of the workers’ union. This jeopardised Musharaf’s whole privatisation project.
The Government-sponsored real estate project, the “New Murre” housing project, was an environmental catastrophe, but despite protests by civil society and environmental groups, the government refused to budge. Chaudhry took a suo motto action and ordered the shelving of the project.
Chaudhry took up issues of human rights and women’s rights cases, as well as offering relief to trade unions in some cases. But don’t get this out of proportion, he was still a bourgeois judge and had made judgments against unions as well.
He took up the case of disappeared activists from Baluchistan province, which has been gripped by civil war since 1999. Hundreds of nationalist activists, including journalists and poets, have disappeared. When the Human Rights Commission of Pakistan moved in the Supreme Court against these disappearances, Chaudhry accepted the plea. Balochistan is cut off from the outside world by the military who don’t want what is happening there to be made public. You can imagine the President’s ire when the CJ of the Supreme Court of Pakistan decides that an investigation is in order.
But perhaps the biggest act of “misconduct” by the CJ was when he publicly stated that Musharraf could not continue both as president and army chief beyond 2007.
Musharraf had plans to get another five-year mandate through the Supreme Court as President/ army chief, as his dictatorial predecessors had done and as he himself did on assuming power.
So Musharraf “suspended” the CJ on March 9.
The movement begins
The response was immediate as the legal fraternity took to the streets to demand the reinstatement of the CJ, withdrawal of charges and non interference by the regime in the judicial system.
In Pakistan lawyers historically have been in the forefront of every democratic struggle in the country. They were the main force behind the movement against the Ayub Khan dictatorship in the sixties and they were also responsible for keeping the democracy movement alive during the Zia dictatorship in the eighties.
In the first 6 days after the suspension of the CJ numerous hunger strike camps, protest camps, small and big demonstrations, mainly by the advocates, took place across Pakistan.
Then on March 16 lawyers took to the streets in mass protests around the country that were met by state violence. Protesters were lathi charged and tear-gassed. Police also attacked Geo TV who was covering the protest. This began a pattern where police or MQM thugs fired on and attacked media outlets that reported lawyer protests. This led to their first major ally joining with the lawyers as the journalists took to the streets demanding freedom of the press.
The movement expands
The movement picked up momentum after that and other forces from the religious right to the far left joined the protests. Opposition political parties like the ML and PPP have joined with the movement. But these are dubious allies. Benazir Bhutto, head of the PPP, admitted last month that the PPP was in contact with the military regime and were ready to share power with General Musharraf as president. This caused a huge furore in the movement as the lawyers were mostly led by PPP activists. The PPP pulled back from that road but the damage had been done.
Trade unions, peasant organisations and civil society organisations have moved into action with the lawyers. Even religious fundamentalist groups like the MMA have given support. These are also unreliable allies. It is not surprising they have come on board as they have long demanded Musharraf cease his dual role whilst at the same time supporting his government. Also the lawyers’ movement is the first time in a decade that secular mobilisations have been bigger than the fundamentalists’rallies .
The movement evolves
As the movement picked up momentum its agenda changed. The demand became not merely the reinstatement of Chaudhry, but the restoration of democracy.
The Bar Councils (lawyers, or advocates’ associations) started inviting Chaudhry to address them. As he travelled the country to do so ordinary Pakistanis in their thousands would line the streets to welcome him.
On May 4 Chaudhry headed towards Lahore from the capital, Islamabad, hundreds of thousands of people lined the GT Road all the way to catch a glimpse of him. An otherwise four-hour journey took 24 hours. Such a spontaneous mass mobilisation has not been seen in Pakistan since 1969, when the Ayub Khan dictatorship was toppled by the people.
The peak of the movement to date came on 14th May 2007. For the first time since General Musharraf took over power in October 1999, the whole of Pakistan shut down. It was the first political strike in seven years.
From Karachi to Peshawar, all the shops were closed and there was very thin traffic on the streets. In Lahore, the largest demonstration since 9th March took place from Lahore High Court to Governor House on the main Mall Road. Over 15,000 participated.
The strike was a solid one and even traders associated with the military regime went on strike.
The strike was a response to the massacre of protestors in Karachi 2 days earlier.
Massacre
On 12 May protestors that went to the reception for CJ Choudhry in Karachi were fired upon by the thugs of the MQM. Some 40 were killed and over 200 injured. Many more were beaten by MQM activists as they tried to escape the shooting. Activists from a range of political parties were among the dead and injured.
The MQM (who run Karachi) had earlier said they would not tolerate a rally in support of the CJ. All the roads linked to Shahrai Faisal, the main road to the airport, were blocked by massive containers and trucks. Local police and Rangers (elite border unit that is used extensively for repression) blocked the CJ at Karachi airport insisting he fly by helicopter to the Sindh Bar Association to avoid the mass receptions. He refused.
While the CJ was held at the airport MQM thugs began firing on the gathered crowds in Karachi and continued their shooting spree for 14 hours. The private TV channel Aaj tried to cover the massacre so the MQM sent some of their people to the station to fire at it for 6 hours.
The outrage at this massacre sparked a deepening of the movement that led to the national strike on May 14. Nor has the movement been cowed anywhere in the country and on June 2 hundreds of thousands again turned up to greet the CJ as he journeyed to Abbottabad. A normally 3-hour trip took him 14 hours.
The massacre also seems to be tearing the MQM apart as many in Punjab and Karachi resign from the organisation in disgust. It has also lost the regime support among the middle classes – the traditional support for the military regime and MQM. The representatives of over 480 markets of Lahore announced and acted upon the call for a shutter down strike on 12th May. It was mainly announced by the former supporters of the Musharaff regime.
The regime has miscalculated
On the night of the Karachi massacre the ML (Q) had planned a “mass” rally in Islamabad in support of the sacking of the CJ. This was a rally planned weeks earlier to counter the growing sympathies for the CJ and a growing demand for an end of the military regime.
All the state employees were asked to attend the rally. All the sanitary workers were forced to attend. The ML(Q) had promised two to five hundred Rupees ($3.5 to $8.5) for every one who attended this “historic” rally, free mineral water and food was also on offer. Despite all these efforts, not more than 20,000 attended the “rally”.
Addressing this rally general Musharraf praised the MQM, saying that “the people of Karachi had come out today”. Yes, they had come out, and were shot down by the MQM.
In the face of the rising movement the support rally was a failure.
Every strategy employed by the Musharraf regime to suppress the movement has so far failed.
In the first few weeks of the campaign the regime tried to put the lid on the movement by unleashing the police to beat up the lawyers as they protested – that failed
Then they tried to exhaust the movement by allowing protests to proceed. Far from exhausting the movement it grew as this opening up brought more people into the movement including activists of political parties mainly from the Muslim league, Peoples Party, parties associated with Awami jamhoori Tehreek, Awami National Party, National Party, Balochistan National Party, MMA, and so on. – another failed strategy
Then came the terrible massacre in Karachi that sparked the biggest national strike in a decade.
The Musharraf regime then turned to the arrests of prominent political activists identified with the movement in an attempt to behead its organisational capacity – the arrest of Farooq et al on June 5 (supposedly for 3 months but released after 15 days) – that has clearly failed
The movement, led initially by the young generation of lawyers, has spread throughout Pakistani society and grown from a protest against suspension of the CJ to a demand for democracy.
It is fuelled by a people’s anger at a regime that promised much but delivered only repression, privatisation, ½ million more unemployed and increasing prices for basic necessities.
Musharraf is in trouble, we don’t know whether this movement will ultimately topple him but it is the biggest challenge to his regime since he took power in 1999.
No comments:
Post a Comment