Long march: a symbol of hope or a fading struggle?

 

Ishrat Saleem

 

 

The issue of the restoration of judges waiting the elected government’s action does not concern restoring individual judges. It is no longer the issue of the independence of judiciary only. The question is whether or not the government installed after the election of February 18 considers the measures taken by the president on November 3, 2007 when he imposed emergency – as a result of which 60 judges of the high courts and the Supreme Court, including the Chief Justice, refused to take oath under the Provisional Constitutional Order (PCO) – as illegitimate.

 

Even after the passage of about four months since coming to power, it is unclear that the government led by the PPP has the will and power to undo actions taken on November 3, compelling the lawyers to march up to the capital. The purpose of the long march that started on June 10th and came to an end peacefully in the wee hours of June 14, 2006 was to compel the coalition government to fulfill the promise it made in the Murree Declaration on March 9. Lawyers, students, political activists, civil society members and ordinary citizens participated in the march with great zeal to demand the restoration of the judges through a resolution of parliament. The participants of the long march exceeded by far the numbers that were present in a gathering called by Musharraf cronies on the same venue on May 12, 2007, where the president had claimed that the killing of 42 innocent citizens was a ‘reaction’ of the people on the arrival of the Chief Justice of Pakistan in Karachi. State machinery had been employed to herd people, mostly staff of government institutions and people who wanted a free meals and free ride to the capital. However, more than the numbers, the long marcher’s commitment and passion and the initiative of organising such a huge protest without any political organisation or state machinery at their back deserves the highest praise. People of all hues and backgrounds tried to capitalise on this occasion to make their point. Thus the issues of provincial autonomy, missing persons, power shortage, unemployment and inflation resonated during the march along with the restoration of judges.

 

As the long march coincided with the presentation of the national budget, it captured the media spotlight that is usually reserved for the discussion of the budget. The government quietly used this occasion to introduce an amendment in the Judges Act to increase the number of judges from 17 to 29 through the Finance Bill. When President Supreme Court Bar Association Chaudhry Aitizaz Ahsan announced the end of the long march without staging a sit-in before parliament, bigwigs of Pakistan People’s Party (PPP) heaved a sigh of relief. The long march had managed to send a very strong message to the ruling party. It remains to be seen whether the political forces have their fingers on the pulse of the people and act accordingly or prefer behind-the-scene dealings over the mandate of the people.

 

There is no dearth of cynics who dismiss the momentous struggle sustained by the lawyers as the handiwork of the vested interests. There are also those who think that the entire lawyers’ movement is a matter of ego of one person, i.e. the deposed Chief Justice Iftikhar Mohammad Chaudhry. But the consistency and commitment with which the lawyers continued their struggle in extremely hostile conditions, being beaten by law enforcement personnel and even forgoing their incomes by boycotting the courts have earned them credibility and the respect of the people.

 

Talking to Vista in March last year, then president Supreme Court Bar Association Munir A. Malik had said that the leadership of lawyers wanted to raise awareness at three levels: first among the masses, second among the superior judiciary and third among the political forces. The lawyers’ leadership wanted to educate the masses on the concept of the rule of law, the supremacy of the constitution and their rights as stipulated in the constitution. The superior judiciary which colluded with unconstitutional governments and legitimised their rule throughout the history of Pakistan needed be made aware of its independent position and power to be able to stand for the people and uphold the sanctity of the constitution. The lawyers’ movement also sought to push the political forces to become the true representatives of the people, respect their rights and exercise the authority vested in them by the people rather than playing second fiddle to unconstitutional forces.

 

The lawyers’ struggle seems to have succeeded in the first two of its three goals to a great extent, as evident from the surfacing of an ‘activist’ class among students and young professionals throughout the country. The media too has played a crucial role during the struggle by disseminated the news, opinions and objectives of the lawyers’ movement to a wider audience. One may compare it with the consciousness of identity and self worth that Zulfikar Ali Bhutto inculcated among the masses when he launched the PPP during the anti-Ayub movement of 1968-69. Harking the revolutionary programme of the PPP, the people associated their hopes and aspirations with the party, despite the fact that the leadership of the PPP failed them more than once. At a time when people were completely disillusioned with political parties, the lawyers’ movement raised a voice against the illegitimate rule of one man and induced a hope among the masses. However, the political forces failed to take cue. It seems that the lawyers have a long way to go before they could convince the politicians to rise above their vested interests and steer the nation towards progress and prosperity.

 

By all measures the PPP-led government has failed to come up to the people’s expectations. It has now become abundantly that the PPP’s conduct is all but transparent. So far the government has not fulfilled any of its commitments it made to the nation since it was sworn to the office. The PPP has launched a constitutional package, which includes a formula for the restoration of judiciary, but in the absence of the requisite majority in Senate, it may well be an attempt to postpone the matter indefinitely. Moreover, the recent statements of the PPP co-chairman bespeak of an egotistic, feudalistic style of politics unsuited to the genius of the people of Pakistan. He dismissed the long march by stating that his party could put up a better show of strength. On the one hand, he say Musharraf is a ‘relic of the past’, on the other he refuses to impeach the president. More recently, addressing a public gathering of party activists at the Governor House in Lahore, he claiming that soon the presidency will be controlled by the PPP. This lack of consistency is strengthening the perception that the PPP is once again busy in negotiation a deal with the establishment. However, it is not without a cost; the PPP is fast losing its credibility.

 

Although Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz leadership expressed support for the long march, it lacks the requisite numbers in parliament to annul the decisions of November 3, 2007. Smaller parties such as Pakistan Tehrik-e-Insaf and Jamat-e-Islami, which have no stakes in parliament since they boycotted the elections, found it expedient to make their presence felt. Apart from the PPP, conspicuous by its absence from the long march was Awami National Party (ANP). Being a coalition partner and holding the reins of the provincial government in NWFP, which is in the grip of an insurgency-like situation, ANP’s stance on the restoration of judges is of crucial importance, and for the moment it seems to be riding along with the PPP.

 

The other day, Nawaz Sharif and Asif Ali Zardari met for what now appears to be umpteenth time to iron out their differences over judges’ restoration, but failed once again. After a second meeting in three days between the two leaders, Asif Ali Zardari was able to convince Nawaz Sharif to support the Finance Bill introduced by the PPP, seeking amendment in the Judges Act to increase the number of Supreme Court judges from 17 to 29. The inclusion of the amendment in the Finance Bill circumvents the normal legislative procedure to amend a law that requires passage by simple majority in both houses of Parliament. The Finance Bill contains budgetary provisions and is voted only in the National Assembly. The controversial amendment is being hotly contested as the lawyers’ leadership has rejected it on the ground that it is meant to accommodate the judges who took oath under the PCO. Nawaz Sharif too now seems to regret his decision as he has been disqualified from contesting elections by the full bench of Lahore High Court.

 

The failure to settle the basic question associated with the restoration of judges – what kind of political system Pakistan is going to have post-Musharraf – is distracting attention from other aspects of governance. At this point, it is essential to decide whether we want to continue with the old system of the elected government sharing power with the ‘establishment’ or shift the balance of power towards the people.

Continuing disagreements among political parties on the issue of restoration will benefit the unconstitutional forces, which want to maintain their hold over power. In the current scenario, if the political actors think they can carry on by pandering to the invisible actors rather than working to alter the configuration of power in favour of the people, they are heading for a disaster. It was hoped that time in exile/incarceration had induced some maturity among them to unite against the extra-constitutional forces, whose prime strategy has been to keep the political forces, disorganised, weak and subordinate. At least initially, this was the message that came when the PPP and PML (N) decide forget past rivalries and join hands to form the government. But if political parties give an impression that they are trying to fool the masses and in reality pursuing the vested interests once again, they will lose face in public.

Had these events happened a decade earlier, it would have been perfectly easy for the government to hoodwink the public outcry, but not this time. It is going to be difficult for both the elected government and the invisible, but ubiquitous ‘establishment’ to ignore the biggest stakeholder in the power configuration – the people. The successful holding of the long march on Islamabad should leave no space for doubt that people are alive to their stakes in the political system that governs the country, they are organised and ready to fight for their cause. Whether or not the lawyers sustain the struggle for the restoration of judiciary, the very fact that there are sizable numbers among the populace who are keenly watching and discussing the government’s conduct leaves little space for manoeuvring.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Ex-servicemen’s activism

Ishrat Saleem

President General (retd.) Pervez Musharraf’s graph of popularity has been on a constant decline since he moved the presidential reference against the Chief Justice; it received a fatal blow when he imposed a state of emergency on November 3, 2007, clamped restrictions on the media and deposed more than 60 judges of high courts and the Supreme Court to save himself from being disqualified as the president by the court. General (retd.) Musharraf’s influence considerably declined when the party which he had built as his political face was routed in the elections. Although the president still persists that he will react if parliament tries to slash his powers or impeach him, several recent developments attest to the fact that politically President General (retd.) Pervez Musharraf is on a ventilator.

The most interesting among these is an expression of favour for democratic values by the ex-servicemen, who have been part of many a contentious decision during the current and previous military regimes. In January this year, prominent generals came under the banner of Pakistan Ex-Servicemen’s Society (ESS) and asked the newly retired President General Musharraf to resign in the “supreme national interest”. This initiative was spearhead by Lt. General Faiz Ali Chisti of Ziaul Haq regime fame. Their demands have crescendoed of late and offer some food for thought. On June 2, Lt. Gen. (retd.) Jamshed Gulzar Kiyani gave an interview to a television channel and made some stunning revelations along with demand for probe into the Kargil Operation, plane conspiracy case, missing persons, Lal Masjid Operation and imposition of emergency on November 3. On June 7, the ESS demanded a judicial trial of President General (retd.) Musharraf for the Kargil debacle in a press conference. The ex-servicemen have also expressed support for the lawyers’ movement and made it is a point to mark their presence in the long march. In fact, they announced they would set up a permanent camp outside parliament – even if the lawyers had decided to end the long march – and demand the ouster of President Musharraf.

It would be interesting to analyse the credentials of these luminaries who suddenly found is expedient to put on the mantle of ‘civil society’ and look for the reasons that prompted them to make this move now. Lt. Gen. Jamshed Gulzar Kiyani was serving in the Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI) at the time of the Kargil Operation. Immediately after the successful military coup against the elected government on October 12, 1999, he was made commander of the 10th Corp. After his retirement in 2004, he was made head of the Federal Public Service Commission (FPSC). In November 2007, through the provisional constitutional order, the president made an amendment in the constitution to reduce the tenure of the head of FPSC from five years to three year, effectively sending Lt. Gen. (retd.) Kiyani home. By this time, Musharraf had already weeded out most of his fellow coup-makers from the system he was heading.

Many of the things Lt. Gen. (retd.) Kiyani said in his interview call for a closer examination. He said that his real differences with Musharraf started after 9/11. One might argue that the differences between Lt. Gen. (retd.) Kiyani and the president started when, as head of the government, Musharraf took decisions which hurt the long-term interests of the military, e.g. a U-turn on Afghan policy that was based on the doctrine of strategic depth and a reduction in militancy in Kashmir. On the other hand, it also means that Lt. Gen. (retd.) Kiyani tacitly supports the illegitimate act of overthrowing an elected government in a coup in 1999. During the interview he went so far as to suggest that the then Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif should have waited for Chief of Army Staff to return from Sri Lanka to remove him from office. While religious parties and a dominant part of the vernacular press have hailed Lt. Gen. (retd.) Kiyani’s statement that instead of surrendering to the American threats after September 11, 2001, Pervez Musharraf had the option of holding a referendum to ascertain the will of the people, it is questionable if such a thing was possible at that time. It easier said than done that after 9/11, Musharraf should have stood against Washington, given the intensity of international pressure and the kaleidoscopic speed with which the events were taking place. The UN Security Council had passed resolutions on September 12 and September 28 calling for a stance against terrorism and anti-terrorism respectively. India had already offered support to the coalition for war against terror. The tremendous pressure under which the Musharraf regime decided to go along can also be gauged from the excerpts of exchanges between General Musharraf and Secretary of State Collin Powel as well as those between US Deputy Secretary of State Richard Armitage and Lt. Gen. Mehmood Ahmad. Therefore, Lt. Gen. (retd.) Kiyani’s assertions in this regard should be interpreted as nothing more than appealing to popular sentiments against the US and the war on terror.

It is unfortunate that ex-servicemen’s explanation of religious extremism as presented by Lt. Gen. (retd.) Jamshed Gulzar Kiyani derives its inspiration from the logic put forth by the Musharraf coterie in delaying the Lal Masjid operation and failing to tackle extremist outfits throughout the country. In the interview, Lt. Gen. (retd.) Kiyani said that the suicide attacks escalated after operation on Lal Masjid in July 2007, in which many innocent students were killed. In calling for a probe into the operation, he conveniently ignored the activities of the students of the twin seminaries from January to July and the very fact that they started openly challenging the writ of the state in the heart of the capital when the Lal Masjid administration was issued notices for vacating the madrassah built on encroached land. Musharraf supporters as well as his opponents fail to mention – for their own expedient reasons – how the Lal Masjid administration used innocent children as hostages during the operation. Lt. Gen. (retd.) Kiyani’s call for a probe could again be interpreted as a populist stance meant to resonate with the public rather than a principled and honest opinion on the issue.

Analysts believe that the damage to the image of army as an institution during Musharraf’s nine-year rule is being viewed with grave concern by the serving and retired military officials. To keep an upper hand in the political process in the country, it is necessary to restore a positive image of the army in the eyes of the public. With Musharraf’s rule going through its last leg, when he does not enjoy support in any section of society, his stay in power can cause further damage to the army’s reputation. Therefore, sacrificing Musharraf for saving the institutional interests of the military would not be a bad deal. It is not then a coincidence that going by popular sentiment, the ex-servicemen have joined the chorus of ending army’s intervention in politics. Since assuming charge as the Chief of Army Staff, General Ashfaq Pervez Kiyani has paid special attention to restoring the image of the military. The calling of serving officers from civilian institutions was a step in this direction. The statement of Lt. Gen. (retd.) Jamshed Gulzar Kiyani that Musharraf should be made an example to prevent the emergence of future dictators should be taken with a pinch of salt. Interviews such as these appear to be a PR exercise rather than a change of heart of these gentlemen.

Since the struggle for the restoration of judiciary took off last year, many questions have been asked regarding the role of military in politics. It is for the first time in the history of Pakistan that the military’s misdoings have been so consistently and openly condemned in the public with the call to end military’s intervention in national affairs. The ex-servicemen’s organisation could well be a reaction to the lawyers’ movement. The latest recruit to the society is the former governor of Sindh and the former Minister of Interior, Lt. Gen. (retd.) Moinuddin Haider. Commenting on ex-servicemen’s activism in her article (‘The wannabe heroes’ Dawn, June 13, 2008), Dr. Ayesha Siddiqua, author of Military Inc. Inside Pakistan’s Military Economy, argued that this is the natural consequence of entrenchment of military in politics. According to her, the serving and retired officers and a few civilians, whose interests are associated with it, are all part of the ‘military establishment’. In the absence of institutional mechanisms for internal dialogue, opinions of different lobbies within the military establishment are given voice through the media and ex-servicemen. These do not represent the independent views of these individuals but reflect a deepening of friction within the military establishment. The retired officers serve as the informal conduit for reaching out to the public or conveying views of one section of the establishment to the other through the media. She cautions the discerning onlooker to analyse the real intent of these people, which is not upholding of democracy. They struck when Musharraf is most vulnerable and sat silent when the incidents on which they are showing their reservations now were taking place.

Here, a brief look at the credential of members ESS and would be in order. Lt. Gen. (retd.) Faiz Ali Chisti, the author of Betrayal of Another Kind, was the Corp Commander based in Rawalpindi at the time of the coup in July 1977. In his book he claims that “he was in charge of planning the take over in the capital and it went off like clockwork.” Another prominent name is General (retd.) Mirza Aslam Beg, who has publicly admitted to his role in manipulating the election of 1990 (although he is now rumoured to have left the ESS on the plea that it is headed by a lower ranking ex-servicemen!). Then there is Lt. Gen. Hamid Gul, former head the ISI, whose ties with the Taliban are well known and who has also admitted to political manoeuvring. General Lt. Gen. (retd.) Asad Durrani is also the former head of the ISI. These gentlemen have an entrenched view of Pakistan as a security state as opposed to a welfare state. Their views on terrorism, national security, regional peace, human development, economic globalisation, provincial autonomy, etc. conflict with those of liberal democratic forces. Their model of an ideal state favours constant external frictions and an authoritative state structure. In the face of the fact that Musharraf is counting his days in the president’s office, the signs of the presence of a powerful military establishment that is not ready to let go of the power it has exercised in national affairs for long does not bode well. Pakistan ill-affords to continue with this configuration of power, as people are becoming more organised and aware and would not put up with a weak elected government for long, which is unable to take decisions on issues of critical importance.

Cluster munitions: a harrowing aspect of modern warfare

Ishrat Saleem

Where advances in technology have unimaginably eased the life of people by providing modern gadgets and means of communications, they have also produced fearful weapons for militaries. Cluster munition is one such kind of weapons, which helps the military to achieve its objectives with precision, but pose a grave danger to the population of the area. Cluster munition has earned this name because each such bomb, artillery shell, or rocket eject a cluster of small bomblets, which are spread over a wide area. However, wherever they have been used, civilian populations have paid a heavy price over many years after the conflict ended. The main threat of cluster bombs does not come from bomblets that exploded. It comes from those that did not explode and, like landmines, pose a long-term danger to unsuspecting civilians, who may hit them unwittingly and cause an explosion. It is extremely expensive to locate and remove unexploded munition left by cluster bombs.

 

The increasing number of victims and the scale of use of cluster munitions prompted Norway to take initiative to gather support again the use of cluster munitions and start what is now called ‘Oslo process’ a year earlier. This process matured after meetings in Lima, Peru, and Vienna, Austria last year and yielded a draft declaration at a meeting in Wellington, New Zealand in February this year. The draft was again taken up again in Dublin and after 12 days of intense negotiations, members agreed on the final draft. On May 30, 2008, the United Nations approved the draft of a convention to ban on cluster munitions. Delegates of some 111 countries were present in Dublin, Ireland, to approve the draft of Convention on Cluster Munitions (called Wellington Declaration). The convention bans the use of cluster munitions, requires the destruction of stockpiles within eight years and provides for helping victims and clearing contaminated areas within 10 years. This convention will be opened for signature in December. However, like all UN conventions will come into force after a specific number of signatories ratify it. In this case, the number is 30.

 

Although major cluster bomb stockpilers and producers – United States, China, Russia, Israel, India and Pakistan – did not participate in negotiations, those campaigning for ban on the clumber bombs described the adoption as hugely significant. They hope to stigmatise cluster bombs as much as landmines and shame the non-signatories into not using them. This treaty has been hailed as a real contribution to humanitarian law. Among the supporters are important nations such as Britain, France, Australia, Norway, Belgium, Canada, Germany, Japan, Netherlands, South Africa and Ireland. British Prime Minister Gordon Brown has confirmed that Britain would discontinue its use of two cluster munitions: an Israeli-designed artillery shell and a US-made rocket system for use on Apache attack helicopters.

 

Cluster munitions have been used by as many as 14 nations since the creation of the United Nations. These include former Yugoslavia, Russian, Eritrea, Israel, Saudi Arabia, Ethiopia and United States. The nations that have used cluster bombs but now support Convention on Cluster Munitions are France, Netherlands, Sudan, United Kingdom, Monaco, Nigeria, and Tajikistan. About 28 countries, including Pakistan have produced cluster munitions, while about 75 countries have stockpiles of these weapons on their soil.

 

The United States has refused to be a party to this treaty on the plea that elimination of its stockpiles would endanger the lives of its soldiers and coalition partners. It may be remembered that the US extensively used cluster munitions during attack on Afghanistan and Iraq, leaving hundreds killed or maimed, while unexploded bombs still pose danger to whoever steps upon them. Likewise, Israel rained Lebanon with cluster bombs during the war in 2006. You would wonder why vast tracks in Southern Lebanon had not been sown, as is the centuries-old practice. The reason is that they have been sowed by enough unexploded bomblets that it is extremely dangerous to even walk through the area.

The statistics about unexploded submunitions lying dormant in the fields and roadsides of Southern Lebanon are frightening. About 40 percent of the bomblets dropped on Lebanon did not explode. In early 2007, the United Nations put the number of unexploded bomblets present in Southern Lebanon at about a million – more than the number of people. They lie in tobacco fields, olive groves, on rooftops, in farms, mixed in with rubble. Several people have lost their lives or got injured by these munitions.

 

It is encouraging that the 111 nations across the globe realise the danger that these weapons poses to the population. The treaty, however, leave the door open for the future production and use of this kind of munition (if the number and weight of submunitions meets the criteria laid out in the treaty and it contains auto-self-destruct mechanism). The Convention allows military cooperation of member countries with non-signatory nations and is silent on the presence of a foreign nation’s stockpile of cluster munitions on a member country’s soil. Despite these drawbacks, the Convention is a significant achievement. Cluster munitions ban campaigners should keep on working to gather more support and also address the loopholes in the treaty to make the world a safer place.

 

Countries that ratify the convention are obliged “never under any circumstances to”:

(a) Use cluster munitions;
(b) Develop, produce, otherwise acquire, stockpile, retain or transfer to anyone, directly or indirectly, cluster munitions;
(c) Assist, encourage or induce anyone to engage in any activity prohibited to a State Party under this Convention