Musharraf's chance to salvage democracy

Financial Times
September 30, 2002

Pakistan's parliamentary elections are just around the corner but the country finds itself a long way from democracy. Pervez Musharraf, the country's military dictator, dismissed meaningful civilian rule this year when he enacted 29 power-consolidating amendments to Pakistan's battered constitution. He alone will determine the fate of the country's future as both president and army chief for the next five years.

He will also enshrine the role of the army in civilian affairs through the enactment of the National Security Council, a kind of oversight committee, which he will also chair. Suspicions are running high that Gen Musharraf not only will rig the October elections but may even cancel them if things cannot be properly "arranged".

Sadly, this is the best the country can hope for at the moment. Pakistan is a crumbling state. It has no civilian leaders capable of eradicating the new breed of terrorists that Islamabad's political scions helped to create. Institutional erosion has left ordinary Pakistanis with few choices other than the corrupt and discredited leaders of the past.

Collapse of the education system under the weight of zealous madrassah schools, which preach hatred of the west by day and train 10-year-olds to shoot Kalashnikovs by night, has left Pakistan with a dearth of rational minds to run the country. Indeed, the only institutional framework capable of governing rationally and ensuring the safety of Pakistan's nuclear materials is the army.

Washington has been quick to reward Gen Musharraf's good intentions; by turning a blind eye to his disregard for democracy, the US administration has cast aside a bedrock of American principle. That was an acceptable trade-off for some semblance of governance. But power is going to Gen Musharraf's head and his good intentions are turning into bluster. The general must get on with fixing Pakistan. He should start by dismantling the country's feudal landholdings and entitlements, which have anointed corrupt figures as fixtures in the political landscape.

In formulating his 30th constitutional amendment, for which no parliamentary consent is needed, Gen Musharraf should force feudal families to divest their landholdings. He should begin by asking his army colleagues to set an example. Confiscation and loss of citizenship should be the ultimate penalties.

The break-up of India's feudal system in 1947 is the single most important factor in that country's successful, if still evolving, experiment in self-rule. Pakistan should follow its example.

Gen Musharraf could offer tax incentives to landholders and incoming purchasers, particularly if buyers were multinational companies with the intention of building up Pakistan's agribusiness and textile sectors. US loan and insurance guarantees would enhance marketability of the idea.

Gen Musharraf should then dismantle the culture of crony capitalism by selling state assets and he should use the proceeds to buy computers instead of missiles. In doing so, he could empower the Pakistani people to hold their leaders accountable through the power of sharing information. Today's corrupt politicians would never impose such a solution on themselves.

Modernising computer systems - for everything from tracking money flows to registering voters and improving basic education - would make democracy viable and help give rise to a different type of political leader, one whose fundamental education levels would require core competences compatible with a modern world.

If Washington is going to look the other way again, it should make clear to Gen Musharraf that the time has come to face down not only radical Islamists but feudal robber barons too.

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