Why not a deal with the militants?

Sardar Mumtaz Ali Bhutto
Dawn, 5 November

IF at the end of six years of open war against the so-called militants and loss of thousands of lives of citizens and soldiers, Gen Musharraf can make no better showing than yet another bomb blast close to his residence on Oct 30 and one in Sargodha the next day, the time has come for him to admit defeat.

It is now abundantly clear that getting citizens and soldiers killed achieves nothing but wanton death and destruction, which necessitates an immediate change of direction.

Even the United States and the United Kingdom, for whose satisfaction Gen Musharraf has plunged the country into a bloody civil war, are visibly dissatisfied with the results and are now experimenting with an alternative by incorporating the PPP into the ruling partnership of the Muslim League-Q, the MQM and the generals, an arrangement which already shows signs of going sour.

It is a matter of record that immediately after 9/11 when the American ultimatum that ‘you are with us or against us’ came, this writer was among those invited to the President House, Islamabad, for consultation and the only one to advise caution with no greater involvement in the American course of action than that of other Muslim countries in the region. It was not very difficult, even at that stage, to see that President George Bush and his henchmen were heading for serious trouble, and just as in Korea and Vietnam, attitudes would harden and resistance grow, plunging the world into a state of insecurity and fear, the worst hit being the United States and Britain themselves.

This has now come to pass. Muslim reaction to the American onslaught is no longer a local issue visible only in some Muslim countries. It has become a matter of honour, for one-fifth of the population of the world, to take a stand, in one way or another, against the persecuting forces. The youth is attracted by the challenge and glamour of confronting the infidel. Many young men see themselves as Salahuddin Ayubi and find glorification and martyrdom in sacrificing their lives. The commitment is so deep that the pain fades into insignificance.

This is a no-win situation that Gen Musharraf is caught in and the disastrous outcome is breaking the back of the country not only in terms of loss of life but also economically. As a payment for our joining the war against Muslims, our loans have been rolled over thereby making us debt ridden forever. We have been promised $700mn over a period of five years which is a cruel joke and ‘peanuts’ as General Zia would say.

There is, of course, the clandestine payment of one billion dollars a month but this is purely for military purposes and of no use to the vanquished people of Pakistan who are sinking in the evils of lawlessness, corruption, rising prices, unemployment, poverty and scarcity of all basic needs such as clean drinking water, electric power, medical treatment, education and hygienic conditions.

Trapped in such deprivation, they are being smugly told by the rulers how good the economy is and there is prosperity all around, conveniently trying to conceal that it is the bankers, industrialists, traders, smugglers, hoarders, black-marketers, ministers, parliamentarians, nazims, and bureaucrats who are raking in the loot.

The rulers have to admit that they have no defences against the militants and cannot protect the citizen anywhere in the country. It is only the president, prime minister and now Benazir Bhutto who enjoy the security of bullet-proof vehicles and hundreds of guards, but even then the general and his prime minister are lucky to escape attempts on their lives while Benazir Bhutto just happened to descend into her bullet and bomb proof saloon on wheels when the explosion occurred killing 140 people and injuring 550.

Thus the ordinary people are at risk at all times with no protection. Such is the degree of the government’s failure that it is not just the militants but also the ordinary criminal against which it is helpless. The law enforcement agencies stand totally licked even on this count. They are reduced to the humiliation of appeasing criminals, performing services for and making deals with them.

So where does the salvation for the people lie? Deals not only with criminals but also political opponents have suddenly become the order of the day. The deal to facilitate Gen Musharraf’s election as president in return for withdrawal of cases of multiple murder and loot of public funds to the tune of many billions of dollars cannot be justified in law or morality. The funds are not his to barter away and the murdered, including Mir Murtaza Bhutto, are not his kith and kin for him to forgive. The matter is in the Supreme Court and it will be astounding if it decides to the contrary.

Such being the case what would be wrong if a deal with the militants is brokered when it brings the desperately needed security of life and property, which the rulers cannot provide and the citizens are clamouring for?

Of course, deals of sorts are being made in the tribal areas which appear not to be working, seemingly because of the rulers’ overall commitment to the unholy war and the outside pressure which keeps them fighting. It cannot, however, be forgotten that after all it was the Americans and the generals who brought the militants into existence by recruiting, training, arming, financing, motivating and launching them against the foreign occupation of Afghanistan. This is what they are tuned into and this is exactly what they are doing.

Furthermore, it was during the prime ministership of Benazir Bhutto that Interior Minister Gen (retd) Naseerullah Babar went to Afghanistan and established direct government to government links with the Taliban. Not only that but in the current political dispensation the self-styled pundits, as a manifestation of their dubious wisdom, loftily declare that there is nothing final in politics (Hobbes, Locke and Rousseau must be retching in their graves).

In other words, there are no ideologies, principles, manifestoes, commitments and loyalties in politics and it is all a mad rush for personal aggrandisement. Thus there being no restraints even on crooked deals, an honest one to bring safety and security to the man in the street is the very least the ruler must do to compensate the people for the woe and bloodshed that they have inflicted on them.

This need has become all the more urgent since the Americans, in their usual blundering manner, have inducted Benazir Bhutto in the ruling team, who can do nothing more than carry on a loud and highly provocative tirade against the militants. This will no doubt please her sponsors but only aggravate the situation on the ground, the requirement being to sooth tempers and work out a solution which brings peace and harmony to the country.