A SKEPTIC'S VIEW OF MUSHARRAF
by B.Raman
Before Kargil, I had done a piece on Gen.Pervez
Musharraf, Pakistan's Chief Executive and President, in which I had
mentioned that he had never done a training course in the US.
A retired US military officer contacted me to say that
Musharraf had, in fact, done a secret commando course with the Green
Berets at Fort Bragg and that he had been one of the General's
instructors.
In reply to a question, he said: "Musharraf is
intelligent, but Zia-ul-Haq was astute".
When I asked him to explain, he replied:
"Astuteness is the ability to apply intelligence in practice.
If one took Zia and Musharraf to a cliff and asked them to jump down, Zia
would have asked: "Why the hell should I?" But, Musharraf would
have jumped, broken his bones and then only asked himself: "Why the
hell did I?"
That's what he did in the Kargil heights. He found
them unguarded and inviting; and had them occupied by his troops and the
jihadis without carefully thinking about the likely consequences.
Only when the Indian Army fought back ferociously and
world opinion came down on Pakistan like a ton of bricks did he come to
his senses belatedly.
The commando in him is always to the fore. Arts of
dissimulation, subterfuge, deception and surprise are the qualities
ingrained in a commando during the training. No other military
officer in Pakistan uses these qualities more effectively than Musharraf.
Even after taking over as the President on June 20, he
has been appearing in his uniform, prominently displaying his badge as a
commando, during his meetings with political leaders and newspaper editors
on the forthcoming summit. He believes that in Pakistan the uniform
evokes more fear, respect and obedience than the sherwani. The
uniform and the commando badge give him a feeling of security and
superiority.
Musharraf is not without good qualities. He is a
charmer and public performer par excellence. Look at the way he has
been everywhere in our media ever since he seized power. In South
India, more people know about Musharraf than they do about some of our own
former Prime Ministers.
He is accessible to his colleagues and staff; a good
listener who rarely gets irritated.
He is a workaholic. No other military dictator of
Pakistan was as hard-working as Musharraf is.
Despite these qualities, large sections of the people in
Pakistan look upon him as untrustworthy. Not without reason.
After taking over as the Chief of the Army Staff (COAS)
in October, 1998, he said: "The Army has no place in
politics". Today he says: "There cannot be politics
without the army."
After overthrowing Mr.Nawaz Sharif and taking over as
the Chief Executive in October, 1999, he told his people:" You would
not see uniform except mine". Today, uniform is everywhere---in
the Collectorates, the offices of the Police Superintendents, the
provincial and federal secretariats, even in the Foreign Office and the
Irrigation Ministry.
After the Supreme Court judgement of last year
validating his take-over, he promised genuine democracy by October
2002. Today, he says that democracy cannot be genuine unless he be
at the head. That too for five years.
His track record as Chief Executive has been poor.
The economic mess is messier. At least, last year, he could blame
Nawaz and the politicians. Today, he blames Allah and the drought.
Sectarian violence is on the increase. Karachi is
again hotting up with sections of the Sindhis and the Mohajirs joining
hands for the first time against Islamabad. Balochistan's night
skies are like Diwali night skies in India, with the Mullahs and their
proteges firing rockets at each other during sectarian quarrels.
The Chief Executive of any private firm, with such a
record, would have been sacked by now, but Musharraf has promoted himself.
Even with us, how vehemently he denies without batting
an eye lid that the jihadis operating in Kashmir are based in Pakistan,
though the entire world knows about it.
During the Kargil conflict, Lt.Gen.Mohammed Aziz, then
Chief of the General Staff, told Musharraf, who was in Beijing, over
phone: "The scruff of their (jihadis') neck is in our hands"
It will be unwise to totally trust such a person unless
he proves by his actions that he is trustworthy.
Pathological? Probably I am. But, it is better to
be proved wrong in one's distrust than in one's trust.
In Pakistan, the dividing line between wishful-thinking
and objective assessment is very thin. Strategic miscalculations are
more the rule than the exception.
Look at the way they have let themselves be caught in
the Afghan blackhole and yet keep thinking they have achieved the long
elusive strategic depth.
Look at their miscalculation in Kargil that
international opinion would intervene to the detriment of India before it
could recover its lost territory.
Look at the way they are using the jihadi hordes without
realising that State-sponsored terrorism could turn out to be a boomerang,
hurting the wielder more than the target.
The pre-summit debate in Pakistan suggests similar
wishful thinking and miscalculation--that there is pressure on our Prime
Minister from a battle-fatigued Army eager for a negotiated solution; that
our Prime Minister is now looking for an honourable exit…. etc.
These misperceptions need to be countered
effectively. Similarly, one should not give ground for any
wishful-thinking that India would be eager to see that he did not return
empty-handed lest the jihadis emerge stronger.
One wishes that our Prime Minister takes him to the
granaries of Punjab-Haryana, the IITs of Mumbai and New Delhi, the Silicon
Valleys of the South and even the vaults of the Reserve Bank of India so
that he can see the difference with Pakistan.
India is a growing and respected power not because of
its A-bomb, but thanks to its youth power. Indian youth is surging
ahead everywhere -- intelligent, thirsty for knowledge, imaginative,
innovative, daring to dream and daring to excel.
Pakistani youth is equally gifted. But, the
flowering of this youth has been stunted by the poisonous combination of
its Madrasas, Mullahs and Military. Unless this combination changes
its mindset and lets a hundred flowers bloom which would be possible only
if it ends its involvement in Kashmir and Afghanistan, Pakistan will
remain a nation inexorably sliding into the past.
Even if that enlightenment dawns on Musharraf, without
any formal agreement on any substantive issues, skeptics like me would
concede that his visit had been worthwhile.
(The writer is Additional Secretary (retd), Cabinet
Secretariat, Govt. of India and, presently, Director, Institute For
Topical Studies, Chennai. E-mail: corde@vsnl.com)
