The Democracy To End All Democracies.

It’s sad that my generation and many others had to live to see the day when ideals like Justice, Equality and Freedom would have to be set aside in order to further American strategic aims. In Pakistan, supposedly America’s closest ally in the war on terror, General Musharraf, the American supported dictator, has imposed a state of emergency citing rising extremist and terrorism in the country. In fact General Musharraf was about to be ruled against by the Supreme Court that his holding office was unconstitutional. This state of emergency also helps to indefinitely delay elections that had been promised by the end of this year and guarantees absolute power to the general. All this is acceptable to the U.S because it ensures that as long as their dictator is in place, the American military will be given continued access to secret bases within Pakistan and the Pakistani military. Two things that the people of Pakistan or a democratic government would never have allowed.

Pakistan is a country that unwillingly finds itself becoming the front line in the war against terror and as a result the country has had a gradual rise in terrorist incidents like bomb blasts and kidnappings, but there had been nothing major happening in the time period that Musharraf declared emergency. Indeed there had been a much bigger threat to national security only a few months previous to the declaration, when extremists took over a mosque in the capital city of Islamabad and were threatening the government and the capitals inhabitants. Then the government decided to conduct a full blown military siege without declaring emergency the but now that elections were drawing closer and Musharraf could feel the heat from the Supreme Court, The real nature of the emergency became clear to him. Throughout this time the U.S continues to support Musharraf, both with military equipment and monetarily while only showing token resistance in the form of “deeply distressing” feelings expressed by the white house and hollow ultimatums.

Meanwhile Musharraf has used the increased terror fighting capabilities bestowed upon him by this state of emergency to dismantle the Supreme Court (the real threat to international peace and prosperity), swear in new judges overnight, scrap the country’s constitution, arrest all opposition political leaders, shut down television channels/news presses and issue a new provisional constitutional order that revokes all rights from the citizens and the media and gives the General absolute power. The international community has tried to put pressure on Musharraf, the commonwealth has issued an ultimatum for Musharraf to step down and the U.S is now trying to convince Musharraf to step aside and let the corrupt Ex-Prime Minister, Benazir Bhutto to take office so that an illusion of democracy can be maintained.

While this entire power struggle is going on in the capital with everyone concerned with who gets to play the big boss for the next few years, the real reason for the war on terror, the Islamic Extremists, have taken full control of the SWAT region in the North West Frontier of Pakistan and the place has become a no-go area for security forces. Everyone’s too preoccupied with playing king to notice that the foundations on which the throne stands are cracking. The government is now also faced with a huge crisis in the Balochistan province with separatist rebels who after years of neglect by the government and having their requests for assistance repeatedly ignored have vowed to seek independence from Pakistan.

Meanwhile the state of injustice and poverty that is the breeding ground for dissention and terrorism is growing worse by the day. Curfews and barricades mean that the few schools in the country stay closed and children go without education. Closed markets mean that the poor don’t get to make the meager wages that they used to make. The military and police are also having a field day terrorizing the public, openly beating and arresting students, lawyers and anyone else who dares to come out in the street to demonstrate against the tyranny, hence effectively forming a whole new generation of terrorists. 2 days ago, 26students for the Lahore University of Management Sciences, the top rated business and management school in Pakistan were arrested for protesting against the government, there have been hundreds of arrests in the past few days from opposition leaders to anyone who dares to speak out against the government. Those arrested tend to disappear into secret prisons run by the military intelligence agency ISI, notorious for being a state within a state, with no way of accounting for how many people were abducted and what became of them.

Overnight this once proud democratic country has become a picture of military fascism very similar to the Germany of old right before Hitler took power and subjected the world to his wrath. If Pakistan descends into Civil war which is most definitely a possibility, then the U.S would have found itself a democracy to end all democracies, an ex-democracy dismantled by U.S meddling and now a nuclear power possibly run by the very enemies the U.S vowed to destroy. Wouldn't that be cause for a whole list of new neat 3 digit date references? Let’s hope the people of Pakistan can handle the mess we made and the rest of us never have to find out.