Dear Friends,
 
Greetings and a very Happy New Year to you, your families and everybody you care for.
 
As you are aware, tragedy has struck Pakistan with the politial murder of Benazir Bhutto. My latest article "Lessons on December 27" appeared on Wed. Dec 31st. I thought you might like to look at it.
 
Your comments will be appreciated.
 
Best of regards,
Dr. Haider Mehdi
 
 

Lessons from the December 27th  Tragedy

By Dr. Haider Mehdi

 

Pakistan is virtually burning with grief.  How can anyone put the feelings of anguish into words?  It is an impossibility.  This nation of gentle God-fearing people, lovers of poetry, folk songs, saints and tales of ancient romances have been tormented by the unabated distress ever since the infamous telephone call of General Colin Powell to General Pervez Musharraf at the time of the 9/11 incident.  Since then, this nation has been subjected to volcanic terror, and now, December 27th is symbolic of the ultimate political ugliness and atrocity – a Black Day in the history of this nation -- the infliction of unending pain in the form of the assassination of Benazir Bhutto.  How much more dreadful and agonizing can it get?

 

The question that every Pakistani, whether pro or anti-Benazir, should be asking is not who murdered Benazir, but what failures of the contemporary political system and its dispensation has driven Pakistan to the edge of an abyss; this act of political murder may cause a civil war and a future disintegration of this country.  Another vital question is: who is responsible, in the final analysis, of this chaotic state of political affairs?  And a third important question is: what is to be done to save this nation and give it a healing touch at this time of national suffering?

 

The fact of the matter is that, given the extent of the current political chaos in the country, the incumbent government in Islamabad and all of its associated political establishment, including the care-taker set-up in the center as well as in all provinces, must resign at once.  This is what would happen in any civilized and legitimate politically democratic society.  After all, the political establishment in power is responsible for law and order and the safety of its people, isn’t it?  How much more evidence is required to prove the lack of appropriate direction and vision, inept and dysfunctional political management, and the illegitimacy and unconstitutionality of this regime?

 

The incumbent President must resign now.  The eight-year rule of the current military-political pseudo-democratic leadership has had the worst come to Pakistan. Twice martial law has been imposed, the constitution suspended, repeatedly judges of the superior courts axed, national sovereignty compromised, violence against citizens of the country peaked unimaginably, the media subjected to coercive measures, military force used within the country unprecedentedly and unnecessarily, and American interference in the internal and external affairs of this nation has been allowed shamelessly.

 

The failures of this regime have not only been political. At the masses level, this nation has become a wasteland of economic, social, civil, cultural and psychological deprivations.  The military has become the most powerful business enterprise and the generals the richest elites in the country.  Political, economic and foreign policy mismanagement is evident at every step of the last eight years.  The moment of truth has arrived.  Pervez Musharraf must quit now.

 

For national reconciliation and healing in the wake of Benazir’s merciless political murder, a new national interim government needs to be constituted immediately.  My suggestion is to form such a government with Nawaz Sharif as the interim Prime Minister (not to seek re-election as the prime minister in the next elected administration) with representation from every political party in the country (these party representatives would not be eligible to run for an office in the next elections).  The task of such a government would be to conduct free and fair elections, restore the constitution in its full implementation, bring the judiciary back to its November 3rd status, constitutionally bar the army from political participation and intervention, and redefine Pakistan’s foreign policy vis-à-vis the US and Western Europe.  The so-called “war on terror and extremism” must also be circumscribed and defined in the parameters of reconciliation and the national interests of Pakistan, rather than following US-British dictates.  Such measures are the only hope to keep this nation together, united, and free to pursue its dignity and sovereignty.

 

If the PML-Q leadership has any spine and political self-confidence (as the Chaudhry brothers claim), then they should join all other political parties in boycotting the elections under the present regime (whenever these elections might be) and force the president to accept an exit strategy.  This is the time when the PML-Q leadership can play the most formidable part in a revolutionary change of the current political context and restore its party’s credentials as legitimate political actors in the process of national reconciliation and the restoration of a constitutional democratic set-up.  My suggestion to the PML-Q leadership is an imaginative leap – it needs self-faith, self-esteem, political maturity and bold political management decision-making and, above all, caring for public sentiment and political demands.  Should the PML-Q leaders fail to act in this radical manner, they face a bleak political future.  Make no mistake about it.

 

The suggested interim government must also constitute a committee of scholars, academics, journalists, lawyers and members of civil society to thoroughly examine Pakistan’s relationship and military collaboration with the US and reassert a new direction in its foreign policy.  The fact of the matter is that Pakistan’s historical alliance with the US has been the major cause of successive military dictatorships and the national failure to cultivate true democratic institutions.  This alliance in its present form must cease to continue.

 

In the midst of this anguish, pain, grief and sorrow that has touched every one of us, we can all stand in togetherness, steadfastness and make some bold determinations to unite and hold this country and its people together – and to do the needful at this moment.

 

And that is to make Benazir Bhutto’s cherished dream come true -- to restore a democratic polity in Pakistan…And to mobilize the entire nation to this end!

 

God bless Benazir in eternity!  Amen!

 

 

The Nation, December 31, 2007