PAKISTAN STILL REELING OVER BARACK OBAMA'S RASH WORDS

At this early point in the 2008 presidential elections, I favor on balance Barack Obama. But I am still puzzled by his gratuitous statement that he would have U.S. forces go after Qaeda types in Pakistan if Pakistan itself took no action.

Assuming President Musharraf said the same about the U.S., i.e., that Pakistani forces would enter the U.S. to chase after some American terrorist threatening Pakistan, why the whole American people would rise up and react with anger and insult. So we can understand Musharraf's annoyance at Obama's gaffe.

In celebration of Pakistan's 60th anniversary of independence from British-ruled India, Musharraf again bristled at Obama's American moralistic unilateralism. Writes the BBC:

"President Musharraf marked the anniversary by staunchly defending sovereignty and calling on the nation to unite against terrorism . . .

"Both President Pervez Musharraf and Prime Minister Shaukat Aziz launched strong defences of national sovereignty to mark the day.

"In comments released by the state-run Associated Press of Pakistan, President Musharraf fiercely rejected allegations that his anti-terrorism platform was for the benefit of the US.

""We are not confronting terrorism for America, we are doing it for ourselves," he said.
"I see everything from Pakistan's point of view. Now if Pakistan's point of view suits America, all right." "

Here we see the results of the American heavy handed diplomatic (?) approach to Pakistan and Musharraf. "If you're not with us, your against us," as Richard Armitage, then deputy Secretary of State, was reported by Musharraf to have told the Pakistan government after 9/11. In other words, do what we Americans tell you to do.

No awareness of what the Pakistanis think. No awareness of how Pakistanis view extremists jihadists. No respect for the sovereignty of Pakistan.

Add to this Barack Obama's unilateralism and we are on the verge of making a friendly nation into a hostile one.

RULE OF LAW WINS OUT IN PAKISTAN TODAY

Instead of falling down and rolling over before Pakistan's leader, Pervez Musharraf, the Supreme Court of Pakistan stood up for the rule of law and re-instated Iftikar Chaudhry as Chief Justice of the court. Chaudhry had been suspended by Musharraf because Chaudhry resisted allowing Musharraf to remain both president and army chief in violation of the Pakistan constitution. See my post on March 21, 2007,and my post on May 5, 2007.

This re-instatement is a victory for all of Pakistan's lawyers who took Chaudhry's cause to the streets in all the major cities of Pakistan. Musharraf tried to arrest many, had the state police break into lawyers' offices, and otherwise harassed the demonstrators.

But Musharraf lost his unconstitutional argument today, and now the Supreme Court is once again being led by Justice Chaudhry. The rule of law has won out.

GEN. MUSHARRAF RESCUES SELF FROM POLITICAL DEFEAT BY GOING AFTER ISLAMIC RADICALS IN RED MOSQUE

Aamer Ahmed Khan writes for the BBC that Pakistan's Pervez Musharraf has emerged from the Red Mosque uprising as the West's best hope against Islamic extremism. This was the same General Musharraf who two weeks ago was fighting for his political life as a result of his peremptory firing of the Chief Justice of the Pakistan Supreme Court, Iftikhar Chaudhry. Se my post here on May 7, 2007, and here on May 5, 2007.

With a perceptive and analytical pen, Khan writes:

"The war drums being beaten by the opposition at home were reaching a crescendo. [Musharraf's] battle with the country's chief justice had taken a serious toll on his image as a military man who loathes the pettiness of everyday politics. More importantly, perhaps, his Western allies seemed to be getting increasingly impatient with his seeming inability to deal decisively with Islamist extremists."

Musharraf was then faced with the "moral police," young students of the Red Mosque, who were going around confronting music store owners and women working in massage parlors.

"Demanding strict enforcement of Sharia (Islamic law), Red Mosque clerics had let loose moral squads on the capital to "prevent vices and promote virtue" - a concept first institutionalised by the Taleban in Afghanistan.

"These moral squads, consisting of armed male and female students, were going around the city threatening music shop owners, and kidnapping women over allegations of operating brothels."

For the general, this confrontation was a lucky distraction from his undemocratic dealings with the chief justice. But Musharraf did not want to go in and kill everyone in the mosque for fear of being called a slayer of his own people.

Writes Khan:

"But every time they [the clerics] took the law into their own hands, the government had opted for negotiations, arguing that any use of force was likely to lead to bloodshed.

"Emboldened by the government's perceived pussy-footing, Red Mosque clerics kept raising their public profile until they became a major embarrassment for the government.

"However, President Musharraf kept advocating restraint on the basis of intelligence reports which warned of the presence of a large number of suicide bombers inside the mosque and its affiliated seminary."

The BBC and Khan report that Musharraf's decision to use force occurred when the "moral police" arrested a number of Chinese women working in Islamabad allegedly in a massage parlor:

"The turning point clearly was the abduction of the Chinese massage parlour girls," says a senior diplomat in Islamabad.

"We know that the Chinese sent a very strong message that they could take losses in Balochistan or the tribal belt but were not prepared to see their citizens abducted and tortured bang in the heart of the capital."

Gen. Musharraf emerges from this clash with the students and clerics of the Red Mosque in a far stronger political position that he was only two weeks ago. Then he appeared anti-democratic and despotic. Today he seems to be the West's last hope against Islamic clerics and fundamentalist students.

Khan writes:

"As the nation inches closer to elections later in the year and a decision from General Musharraf on his dual role as president and army chief, he will be focusing all his energies on getting just one message across: He is still the West's best bet against radical Islam who can move decisively as and when needed.

"Whatever the level of truth or reality in this assertion, it is a political reality he is desperate to create as he heads for a make-or-break phase in his eighth year in power. "

CONSTITUTIONAL CRISIS IN PAKISTAN OVER SUPREME COURT JUSTICE

I wrote on May 5, 2007, of General Pevez Musharraf's seeming belittlement of the Pakistani Constitution, as indicated in his 2006 autobiography, In the Line of Fire. Yesterday, Al Jazeera quotes Iftikhar Chaudry, the Supreme Court Chief against whom Musharraf has brought charges, describing Musharraf's actions as being in opposition to the Constitution:

"But Chaudhry's message was clear. He said: "Nations and states which are based on dictatorship instead of the supremacy of the constitution, the rule of law and protection of basic rights get destroyed.""

Al Jazeera reports that when Chaudhry arrived in Lahore for his hearing on the charges, thousands of Pakistanis met him on the streets, many of whom were lawyers.

"Pakistanis waited through the night to offer a rousing welcome to the judge who defied the country's president as he arrived in Lahore on Sunday.

"Iftikhar Chaudhry, the chief justice, later spoke in the compound of the Lahore High Court to thousands of lawyers, 17 of Punjab province's 23 judges, and opposition activists outside on the street."


(Photo from Reuters. Chaudhry received a hero's welcome when he arrived in Lahore to address lawyers on Sunday.)

DISAPPOINTMENT OVER MUSHARRAF'S ABUSE OF RULE OF LAW

When I read Pervez Musharraf's 2006 autobiography, In the Line of Fire, I was perplexed by the following on pp. 152-153:

"If the nation goes, so does the constitution. But if the constitution especially a flawed one, goes, the nation still remains and can always give itself another constitution or correct the flaws in the first one. Thus our ultimate duty is to preserve the nation. The choice may be stark, but it is obvious: Pakistan comes first - always."

Pakistan's president says the nation comes before its constitution. Do away with the constitution if it means saving the nation.

Is this why General Musharraf feels unconstrained in attacking the Pakistani Chief Justice? Today the BBC reports that the Pakistani government has detained "hundreds" who had turned out to support the ex-Chief Justice Iftikhar Mohammad Chaudhry.

"Hundreds of people have been arrested in Pakistan to prevent them attending a rally in support of the ousted chief justice, activists say."

When I read Musharraf's book, notwithstanding the passage quote above, I came away with a overall sense that he was an honest, intellectually and morally capable leader. I read with interest his exploits in the Army and his brushes with death, such as being in an airplane crash and the target of several assassination attempts. I also was struck with his commitment to a democratic Pakistan.

However, I am truly disappointed about Musharraf's lack of respect for the Pakistani courts and judges. This respect forms the basis for a rule of law, where an independent judiciary is free and unfettered to protect minority rights. Musharraf has sacked the Chief Justice and brought charges against him. Pakistan's lawyers have protested and as a consequence suffered arrests and beatings. (See my previous post on March 21, 2007.)