LONDON: Commonwealth meeting to debate Pakistan
Updated
Commonwealth foreign ministers are meeting in London to debate a possible suspension of Pakistan. The extra-ordinary session was called after President Pervez Musharraf imposed a state of emergency last week. On the weekend, the General met his critics halfway promising to hold elections on schedule in January. But Washington says it wants the President to go further and immediately lift the state of emergency.
Presenter: Linda LoPresti
Speakers: MJ Gohel, heads London's Asia Pacific Foundation
GOHEL: This is a very important meeting of Commonwealth foreign ministers because this meeting will really effectively decide whether Pakistan should be suspended from the commonwealth, as has happened before when General Musharraf launched his coup in 1999 and usurped the democratically elected Government of Nawaz Sharif, the commonwealth suspended him and Pakistan … and then the suspension was removed 4 or 5 years later but Musharraf in 2004 promised that elections will be held and he would step down. He reneged on the promise, so there is every good reason for the commonwealth to suspend him.
LoPresti: If the meeting now does agree to suspend Musharraf what does that really mean for Pakistan? I mean surely General Musharraf's relationship with the United States is of far more importance to him.
GOHEL: I'm afraid that it is true that Musharaff is more concerned about his relationship with United States because after all the US is providing him with over 11 billion dollars in aid plus military supplies, debt write off and has overlooked a number of his other misdemeanors. So to some extent Musharraf may feel that he can ignore what the commonwealth has to say, but nevertheless the action taken by the Commonwealth will increase pressure on the Bush Administration in Washington to be more firm with Musharrraf because after all Musharraf is a military dictator. He has torn up the constitution of Pakistan, he has sacked the Supreme Court and High Court judges and he's locked up thousands of lawyers and human rights activists in Pakistan and ofcourse some action has to be taken against him, because there has to be consistency by Washington, after all Washington is fighting a war for democracy in Iraq and in Afghanistan and people are dying there, here in Pakistan where there was democracy it was usurped by Musharraf and therefore it would be inconsistent if Washington is seen to be supporting a dictator in Pakistan when the whole of the commonwealth has suspended Pakistan.
LoPresti: But the other side of the coin is I guess that General Musharraf remains a valid ally on the war on terror and no one really wants to jeopardize that.
GOHEL: There are huge question marks about Musharraf and what kind of ally he really is in this war on terror, in reality the Taliban is still operating out of safe havens within Pakistan, Al Qaeda has established its headquarters in Pakistan, the entire jihad the infrastructure is totally intact in that country and the various Islamic groups are operating there quite freely and there are real question marks in Washington now whether General Musharraf has been worth all the effort and all the money that he's been given and indeed Musharaff I think knows that a new administration in Washington may not be so lenient with him.
LoPresti: General Musharraf has said that elections will be held on January the 9th but he says the state of emergency will stay to keep a lid on trouble and to make sure that that vote is free and fair but how free and fair can elections really be under marthal law?
GOHEL: This is the biggest concern for Pakistan and for the international community that General Musharraf as a military dictator will rig any election that takes place. Within Pakistan there is a real fear that these elections are going to be meaningless because for instance all the political parties have to be allowed to operate freely. He has not permitted Nawab Sharif the Prime Minister that he usurped in 19999 to return and take part in any of the elections and under the emergency, the media will still be controlled, the military has taken on new powers whereby the military now will try people for charges such as treason and for disorder, therefore there is no real freedom for the political parties to operate and therefore the election, if it takes place will not have any validity.
LoPresti: Well there's no doubt that General Musharraf is certainly under enormous pressure both internationally and domestically, are his days numbered?
GOHEL: What we're seeing here is a military dictator clinging to power, tearing up the constitution, destroying the civil institutions, he's actually doing anything and everything possible to remain in power no matter what the consequences are to this very fragile country, to this country which has nuclear weapons and ofcourse Taliban fighters and Al Qaeda we could be seeing the end of General Musharraf. The fear now is what could happen if Musharraf clings to power. There is a real danger that Washington by supporting one military dictator will alienate a nation of over 160 million people and this could lead to civil unrest within the country and therefore it is crucially important that musharraf steps down and allows free and transparent elections to take place.
