Between The Lines
First shot goes waste
The Nawaz Sharif episode has made one thing clear: people in Pakistan are not yet willing to come to the streets to retrieve democracy. True, four to five thousand were detained before he landed at Islamabad, and some more when they tried to enter the barricaded airport. But they were mostly members and supporters of the Muslim League (Nawaz Sharif).
There was no uprising like the one witnessed in Nepal to oust the king, to be a republic. I had imagined that people at Lahore, Faisalabad, Multan, Sialkot or at least Rawalpindi, the next doors, would defy the police in bazaars on Nawaz Sharif's landing. The enthusiasm and the dedication with which the lawyers had conducted their four-month-long agitation for the reinstatement of Chief Justice Mohammad Iftikhar Chaudhary had led me to believe that if ever the chips were down, all would be there, from far and wide, from the haves and the have-nots, to register their demand to oust the military ruler.
Yet, when the time came and Nawaz Sharif was in the Pakistan capital, there was little protest even in Islamabad. The people cannot say that they were taken by surprise. He traveled by PIA, the official carrier of the country, to make it clear that he was not entering the country furtively.
In fact, Nawaz Sharif had given out the date and place one week before his travel. He bearded the lion in his den. He dared President General Pervez Muaharraf despite dire warnings. But there was no popular response.
There can be many explanations why people did not come out. They are too burdened by the task of earning their livelihood. Or it could be that in 45-year-old rule the military has sapped their energy to the extent that they lack the courage to stand up to the government. Maybe, these reasons are valid.
Yet, the fact remains that when Nawaz Sharif was at the airport for almost three hours, the Pakistanis were quiet as usual. Probably fear gripped them. It was like when Zulfikar Ali Bhutto was hanged, with no protest whatsoever in Pakistan. India exhibited its anger, although the then prime minister Morarji Desai was against any demonstration or protest.
People saw the spectacle of Nawaz Sharif's detention on their television sets. There was hardly any public stir that could make the rulers shaky. I am not dwelling on the people's feeling of alienation, which is writ large on their faces. I am only assessing the response to the arrival of a banished leader after seven years, a Punjabi in Punjab, which has 63 percent of the population.
It is apparent that the government was not deterred by the Supreme Court's judgment that a Pakistani national had an inalienable right to return to his country. Both Nawaz Sharif and his brother, Shahbaz, were mentioned by name in the judgment. For reasons best known to the Musharraf government, it must have considered the legal aspect lest it should invite contempt of court.
It goes without saying that the judiciary is one of the pillars of the democratic edifice. Its authority safeguards an individual's rights. Still, the judiciary, however free, depends on the support of people. The intelligentsia and others showed their stamina and strength during the lawyers' agitation. But why they did not participate in the political battle when Nawaz Sharif fired the first salvo?
What had been mentioned at indoor meetings has come out in the open. Political parties would rather blot out one another than join hands to oust the military-backed rule. Pakistan People's Party (PPP), headed by Benazir Bhutto, kept its distance from Nawaz Sharif. She, in fact, attacked him by name. His "understanding" with Saudi Arabia to "escape" the rigours of jail was characterised as a sign of cowardice. Maybe, he should have preferred prison to the plush living, and kept the flame of defiance burning.
Still, he has not tried to make up with the military, which negates democracy. Despite his past -- his close relations with General Zia-ul Haq -- Nawaz Sharif has rejected all of Musharraf's overtures. Nawaz Sharif has stuck to what he said after the coup in which he was removed, that he would have no truck with the military.
On the other hand, Benazir Bhutto, with all her liberal credentials, has negotiated with Musharraf and reportedly accepted him as president, provided he gives up the uniform. In other words, all that he did to the nation in the last seven years was forgiven and swept under the carpet.
Still, more important is the principle of military-cum-civil rule. What Benazir Bhutto is doing runs counter to the Charter of Democracy which she signed with Nawaz Sharif in London. The document is a primer in people's sovereignty in the whole subcontinent. It says at the very beginning, "Drawing history's lesson that the military dictatorship and the nation cannot coexist -- as military involvement adversely affects the economy and the democratic institutions as well as the defence capabilities and the integrity of the country -- the nation needs a new direction different from a militaristic and regimental approach of the Bonapartist regimes, as the current one."
There is no half way in democracy. Either people are sovereign or they are not. Sharing power, however limited, with the military will take back Pakistan to square one and defeat all the work done so far to restore democracy. Benazir has said that 80 percent of her deal with the military was through. I can understand her anxiety to return to Pakistan to fight against fundamentalism. But this cannot be at the expense of democracy.
The role of religious parties appears opportunistic. The Muttahida Majlis Amal (MMA), the combination of six religious parties, is running the state governments in the NWFP and Baluchistan with the help of Musahrraf's Muslim League headed by Sujjat Hussain.
Whatever MMA's rhetoric, it wants Musharraf's support in the next election. He helped it to win numerous seats in the National Assembly to keep as many liberals out as possible.
Probably, Nawaz Sharif realised at the last minute that his would be a lonely battle against Musharraf. Shahbaz Sharif was asked to stay back even after he had collected the boarding card for travel with his brother. Begum Kulsoom, Nawaz Sharif's wife, has declared that she would travel to Pakistan to pick up the thread from where her husband had left it. No doubt, she can.
But she may not get much support unless the Muslim League (Nawaz Sharif) mobilises the help of other political parties and formations. For that, Nawaz Sharif would have to say goodbye to the religious elements he has gathered around him. He should think it over how to do so because his first shot has gone awry.
Kuldip Nayar is an eminent Indian columnist.
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