A service former President must not abandon
Dr Ali Mohammad
After some three months of silence since he resigned, President Pervez
Musharraf is back in the news. His supporters want to see him play a
more active role in national affairs. Opponents see no place for him in
any capacity in the national life and would like to have him tried in
the court of law for his “heinous” crimes. In the middle are those who
would forgive him if he would stay away from politics. For his part, the
former President has indicated that he is enjoying time with his family
and friends, and meeting with those who wish to be in his audience. It
is also reported that he is considering writing another book and
embarking on a public talk series.
As an economist, a consultant, and advisor to various foreign
governments and agencies, I have followed his past economic policies and
performance. I believe that the former President who has a wealth of
experience and good health and stamina, must serve the country more
actively — rather than be content to be a retired spectator while the
country is going through difficult times. How he is going to rise to the
occasion, we will let him decide. But he must not abandon serving
Pakistan he often has dubbed his “first love”. It is recognized that
some individuals would not absolve him for his “mistreatment” of them
during the 1999 to 2008 period. It is also true that the former
President had some failings to which we shall refer below, but until
this day, not even his worst enemies have blamed him for corruption. As
the country is suffering from double digit inflation rates, serious
shortages of flour and essential commodities, prolonged hours of load
shedding, falling stock exchange rates, fast depleting foreign reserves,
and above all increasing foreign threats, we need to put our heads
together to surmount the obstacles in these difficult times. Futile
competition for power and petty rivalries has often brought the country
to the brink of ruination. In a recent article, (“Time to honor a proud
nation”, Pakistan Observer, November 8, 2008) I stated that “failure to
develop economic potentials, and failure to prevent the country’s
dismemberment, urban violence, sectarianism, and the drug menace is
largely due to the selfish, incompetent, and corrupt leadership. It is
the failure of the political leadership, not of the state, the nation,
or its people”. Our political leadership must be forward thinking and
show magnanimity towards friends and opponents alike. It must also
galvanize all segments of the society into one force to fight domestic
and outside adversaries. We recently saw an example of this gracious
behavior at the end of the American elections in which both candidates
exchanged kind words and promised to work together to overcome critical
economic and security problems in their country. If we must emulate the
West, this is an excellent example to follow. We need to bring all our
expertise on board whether it is Pervez Musharraf, Shoukat Aziz, or
anyone with a sound background in running the affairs of our country. We
are encountering a real opportunity to rise above personal pride and
failings and prejudices to meet both internal and external challenges in
a united manner. We must think about Pakistan first and last.
Perhaps the biggest mistake of former President Pervez Musharraf was
that he did not take the Parliament into confidence while making
critical decisions. This was particularly true in the case of dealing
with the USA and Allied Forces in the war against terrorism in 2001.
There was a serious omission in not differentiating between terrorists
and genuine freedom fighters. This led to a nightmare for the country as
incursions by American drones into Pakistani territory go on without any
befitting response. He also failed to understand that his “friends”
could betray him someday. History is replete with regime changes,
illegally enforced from outside powers, such as in the case of Iraq’s
Abdul Karim Qasim, Iran’s Mossadaq, and in Afghanistan, Georgia, the
Ukraine, and many other countries in Central and South America, Africa
and Southeast Asia, not to mention several times in Pakistan. Similarly,
when President Musharraf initially took a firm stand against corruption,
the nation was exuberant, but as the time passed the success of NAB
became nebulous; the NRO demoralized the masses.
Nonetheless, in my opinion, the former President’s best quality is his
humility and frankness. He is also an honest and patriotic man. He has
tackled national problems admirably and often presented workable
solutions. His greatest contribution to the country is economic reforms,
which brought about significant economic stability. He is also
responsible for a smooth running of government and completion of the
Parliament’s mandated tenure of five years. In the past, the
parliament’s tenure averaged a little over two years. The credit of free
and fair elections in February 2008 also goes to him. Unlike the past
elections, nobody has complained about “rigged” and “engineered”
elections. He should also be credited with the freest media in the
world.
Opponents of Pervez Musharraf blame him for the current economic and
financial problems. These accusations are not supported by reports
published by international agencies until 2007. They reveal that the
country had achieved over 5-7% annually, during the 1999-2007 period;
its foreign reserves had reached over $16 billion compared to $450
million in 1999; per income was above $3,000; poverty had come down to
25%; Pakistan had paid off many expensive foreign loans, and it was no
longer dependent on foreign aid. Moreover, the tax to GDP ratio of 10%
in 2007 was about to be raised to 15% within the next few years. By the
end of 2007, due to the investment friendly environment, direct foreign
investment had risen to $6 billion, while the volume of trade had
increased above $50 billion. Moreover, the country had developed a fully
operational nuclear delivery capability to counter any aggression. Also
the former President’s opponents point to his domestic and foreign
policy failures. But it is ironic that after eight months in power and
three months since President Musharraf’s resignation, the ruling
coalition of the major parties has not divorced itself of his policies.
We are still fighting the insurgency in FATA, the CJP has not been
reinstated, economic and financial management teams are largely composed
of the same officials, and several ministers in the ruling government
have also been members in the previous government. These trends show
that the policies of the previous government are still a valuable guide
to the present coalition.
In sum, Pakistan is maturing as a democracy in an increasingly difficult
world — a world that faces problems of war, bigotry, environmental
decay, health and educational conundrums, and economic and political
problems of increasing complexity. For the sake of the country and its
citizens, the political leadership must rid itself of the revenge
mentality and follow a healthy rule of live and let live. President
Zardari has shown a tremendous capacity for reconciliation and
accommodation with many parties in the country. Other political leaders
should also now establish a tradition of forgiveness and munificence.
They could benefit from a wealth of insight contained in a letter from
Hazrat Ali (AS) to Malik Ashter, the then governor of Egypt, which is a
masterpiece and blueprint for running the affairs of government and
administration. The fundamentals of a good ruler, this letter signifies,
are higher values of morality, justice, and benevolence and mercy (Nahijul
Blagha). As for the people, they should simply ask themselves if they
are better off today than previously. They should request the leaders to
reveal the hard facts and remind them that they were elected to serve
the public. Finally, it is urged that the former President Pervez
Musharraf consider as to how to be more actively involved in helping the
country now and in the future. His prayer that [Allah give him] The
chance to serve the Nation as I deserve (In The Line Of Fire, p.80)
needs to be revisited for the sake of the country— in his words,”
Pakistan First.” |
