Musharaff Promotes Fundamentalists To Stay In Power

PRLog (Press Release) – Apr 30, 2007 – As Gen. Pervez Musharraf prepares his country for the next general election and getting another five-year term for himself as President-in-uniform, the Islamists have activated themselves all over Pakistan in order to make a better showing. While trying desperately hard to ward off American pressure to perform more on the anti-terrorism front, he is again raising the bogey of a possible Islamist takeover of his country, in case he was eased out. He used the same strategy during the 2002 election in which the fundamentalist parties, helped by the state organs, demonstrated extraordinary strength at the expense of the mainstream Pakistan People's Party and Pakistan Muslim League (Nawaz) and now control the NWFP and Balochistan provinces.

India would want democracy to be given to POK and Northern Areas with free and fair elections. The International Crisis Group has noted that the demand for independence from Pakistan is gaining ground in the Northern Areas. The constitutional status of Gilgit-Baltistan remains undetermined, with political autonomy a distant dream. The rise of sectarian extremism (Shia-Sunni) is an alarming consequence of this denial of basic political rights. Taking advantage of the weaknesses of the imposed dispensation, religious organisations espousing a narrow sectarian agenda are fanning the fires of sectarian hatred in a region where Sunnis, Shia and Ismailis have peacefully co-existed.

Northern Areas are not included in the Pakistan Constitution, nor represented in parliament. People believe that sectarian bias is behind the decision to maintain widely different political arrangements for the Northern Areas. Unlike Pakistan occupied Kashmir, which has an overwhelming Sunni majority, Northern Areas are the only Shia-majority region under Pakistani control. Islamabad violated a Supreme Court Order in 1999 which directed it to extend, within six months, fundamental freedoms in these areas, allowing its people to be governed by their elected representatives. But Islamabad refused to implement the judgment.

The regions are still ruled by "Executive fiat" from Islamabad through the Ministry of Kashmir Affairs and Northern Areas. By depriving elected institutions even a modicum of authority, Islamabad has allowed sectarian groups to secure a firm foothold in the region. The military has forged alliance with Sunni extremists, further weakening the forces of modernization. The political vacuum is being exploited by extremist groups to promote their sectarian goals. Implementing the Supreme Court's recommendations and extending basic rights and political freedoms to these areas is the only way to prevent mismanagement of the situation.

For that to happen, however, Pakistan itself must have a democratic dispensation. Democratically-elected governments in Islamabad have initiated whatever political development has taken place in the Northern Areas. But, under the military, the people cannot except any move towards democratization of the Areas' administration and giving the people a say in running their affairs. Musharraf is not inclined that way, having giving only a sham democracy to Pakistan with the backing of the King's Party created by the Army and intelligence agencies.