Font size: 
In recent years there was clear consensus that the people wanted not a military regime but a democratic government. Even the support the military dictator received from superpowers did not deter the people of Pakistan from pursuing their desire to see the end of militarism.
It is a sad reflection on some democracies in developed countries that they failed to support the people in their struggle for democracy and instead supported a military general. That notwithstanding, the people have been able to push back the military agenda.
General Musharraf’s game was to play the terrorism issue in such a way that he could suppress the rights of his people. This indeed is a game played by many others throughout the world, including in some neighboring countries. Entire institutional structures of democracy are being destroyed under the pretext of fighting terrorism. It is even argued that the destruction of democracy and the enhancement of militarism is a precondition in this fight.
There are also those who argue that militarism is more conducive to economic development than democracy. The people of Pakistan have the bitter experience of experimentation in these matters, which has destroyed their security and every decent aspect of their lives. They have fought and they have won. Thus, they have not only made history but also contributed to the contemporary discourse on these matters.
What is unique in this experience is that the military general who tried to oust the chief justice, Iftekhar Chowdhury, is the one who is the loser in the end. It cannot be denied that the struggle for the independence of the judiciary and the rule of law was the central theme in the struggle against Musharraf. That struggle is also connected to large numbers of disappearances that have occurred in the name of antiterrorism.
Musharraf’s downfall is a damning condemnation of the strategy of the destruction of human rights under the pretext of fighting terrorism. This same strategy permits disappearances, extrajudicial killings, torture and the abuse of all the rights of human beings, all in the name of defeating terrorism.
The people’s historical victory on this occasion is only the beginning of a new discourse. Democracy must prove capable of resurrecting the basic institutions of stability, which are the police, the prosecutors, the judiciary and the bureaucracy involved in all aspects of the civil service.
This of course is a gigantic task. However, the nature of the people’s struggle in recent years in Pakistan suggests that a large section of the population is well aware of the challenges ahead. For them these years of street movements were not just spent on protests but also on reflection. All those who have played a significant role in this struggle are aware that systemic issues are at stake. It is toward these systemic issues that the intellectual and other energies of the people of Pakistan need now be directed.
For its neighbors in Asia, Pakistan should provide an example of how to deal with their own dictators. If anyone believes that dictators are invincible, the people of Pakistan have proved convincingly that they are not. While saluting and congratulating the people of Pakistan the world must show solidarity in support of the people’s democratic movement in Pakistan and elsewhere.
Now the immediate challenge is the restoration of the chief justice and other judges who were ousted by Musharraf. The ruling regime must honor its promise to restore the judiciary within three days after the resignation of the retired general.
Throughout this struggle international opinion played a very important role in support of the judiciary and rule of law. It must be mentioned particularly that many lawyers’ organizations and civil rights movements have shown extraordinary solidarity with the people of Pakistan on this issue. Such pressure needs to be kept up at the present juncture, when it has become possible to achieve some of the basic reforms that the lawyers’ movement in Pakistan has dreamed of.
It is rare that such situations favorable to achieving positive and long-lasting results appear. The support given to the people at this stage may produce results capable of sustaining the democratic aspirations of the people for a long time to come. It is in times such as this that great traditions can take root.
--
(Basil Fernando is director of the Asian Human Rights Commission based in Hong Kong. He is a Sri Lankan lawyer who has also been a senior U.N. human rights officer in Cambodia. He has published several books and written extensively on human rights issues in Asia.)
