Politics

Pakistan - In a Constant State of Emergency

By Dweep Chanana ⋅ November 3, 2007 ⋅  Email this post ⋅ Post a comment

The inevitable has happened…President Musharraf has finally imposed a state of emergency (once again), in Pakistan. This puts an end to months of wrangling and uncertainty over his future. And it means he will stay President.

In the aftermath of this decision, three things are worth noting.

The first is the reaction of the western press. CNN, for instance, says the emergency was imposed through a “provisional constitutional order” due to “increasing violence and unrest”. Unfortunately, it is wrong on both counts. There is nothing constitutional about this order - the emergency is outside the purview of an already suspect constitution. At least the BBC is more frank in calling it, “martial law” (the NYTimes concurs). And the only unrest Musharraf has faced is of his own creation - through constant meddling with the democratic process, and failure to live up to promises made when he first siezed power in 1999. Nothing more, nothing less.

More interesting, perhaps, is the initial reaction of the US and UK. U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice is merely “deeply disturbed,” but it appears will do little to further the democratic process. Her past attempts to avoid this fate for Pakistan have failed, so now the US and the rest of the world must watch Pakistan play out this latest drama of democratic mockery.

Finally, this raises the question of what are the implications for India? Not good, it would appear, because India is now surrounded completely by explicitly military regimes that are likely to remain so for the foreseeable future. Pakistan, China, Burma, Bangladesh are all dictatorships that have little respect for India. The need for a realist carrot-and-stick foreign policy that is aligned more closely to the US becomes more evident. Time, perhaps, to revisit the Indo-US nuclear deal?