"Musharraf’s Defeat: India Should Wait and Watch"
The people of Pakistan have spoken. They have shown the way to deal with military dictatorship by voting for the late Benazir Bhutto’s Pakistan People’s Party and Nawaz Sharif’s PML(N) and discarding Musharraf. Besides, they have also sent a clear signal to the Islamists that they are not wanted by Pakistanis anymore. It would serve Pakistan well to take a leaf out of India’s thriving democracy since its independence in 1947. The clinching substantiation to that effect are the elections of 1977, 1980, 1989, 1991, 1996, 1998 and 2004 in which the then ruling parties were booted out because Indian citizens were unhappy with their performance.
While there is no doubt that India will be eager to help Pakistan in nation-building and go the extra mile to help the terror-ravaged country, Indian authorities should watch out. For time and again, we have received nothing but a stab in the back from our neighbor across the border.
To trust the power of the so-called “democratic forces” in Pakistan with a blindfold on would be naïve on our part. However, it is somewhat naïve for us to put an extraordinary trust in the transformative power of the so-called democratic forces in Pakistan. We should not forget that there never have been any “harmonious” ties between India and any of the “civilian” or “military” governments in Pakistan. Both the military regimes and democratic rulers have been outright hostile to India or hidden their hostility under a thin veil of friendship. PPP’s “moral” support to Kashmiri militants under Benazir Bhutto’s prime ministership and the Kargil misadventure when Nawaz Sharif was in power illustrate Pakistan’s treachery in a very explicit manner. Just because socalled “democratic” politicians in Pakistan oppose military dictatorship, it does not necessarily bestow democratic legitimacy on them.
Neither should we overlook the fact that in absence of a real political party system (the existing parties are feudal fronts for authoritarian politicians) in Pakistan, we cannot hope for a genuine, free and fair democracy like in India. Bangladesh experience has showed us that replacing a military regime with a civilian government will never ensure that Pakistan will tow the refined rules of international behavior. It is time that India also stops giving into the American idea that only democracy in Pakistan will help weed out terrorists hiding in that country or that it will help the Pakistani population to be mobilized against terrorism. Instead of jumping at joy that a military dictator has been toppled, India should wait, watch and proceed with caution..
- Editor
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