MUSHARRAF: operation whitewash?
by B.Raman
The strong criticism of the activities of Islamic
extremist groups by Gen.Pervez Musharraf, the self-styled Chief Executive
of Pakistan, while addressing the annual Seerat Conference in
Islamabad on the Holy Prophet's birthday on June 5 has been interpreted by
many in India as made largely with reference to India and, hence, welcomed
as a positive indicator of his likely attitude during his forthcoming
visit to New Delhi for talks with the Indian Prime Minister,
Mr.A.B.Vajpayee.
However, a careful reading of his address would indicate
that it was made against a much larger background such as the decline in
educational standards in Pakistan due to the influence of the religious
organisations on the educational system, the consequent difficulties faced
by the economy in modernising itself for want of the required human
resources, the worsening of the Shia-Sunni violence in different parts of
the country, the consequent deterioration in the law and order situation
and its negative impact on the flow of foreign investments, the impact of
the activities of the extremist organisations on Pakistan's relations with
other countries and the resulting negative image of Pakistan as a failed
state and as a state-sponsor of terrorism.
His reference to the Indian context was in passing and
related to the concern caused in the minds of Indian Muslims by such
extremist activities of Pakistani religious organisations and their
anti-India rhetoric. He has taken great care to avoid any
misinterpretation that the rebuke administered by him related to the
activities of the jehadi organisations in Jammu & Kashmir (J & K).
His rebuke, so far as their activities against India are
concerned, relates mainly to their propaganda that J & K is the
gateway to India and that the objective of their jehad is not just the
merger of J & K with Pakistan, but also the "liberation" of
the Muslims living in other parts of India. What he has, in effect,
deplored is their claim that their final objective is the re-establishment
of Muslim rule in those parts of India, which were under the Moghul rule,
and the hoisting of the Moghul flag in the Red Fort in New Delhi.
While criticising the misuse of money collected ostensibly for the jehad
in J & K, he emphasised that he was committed to the so-called Kashmir
cause and would advance it in whatever way he could.
As Mr.Ayaz Amir, the well-known columnist of the
"Dawn" of Karachi, has remarked: "Mr Vajpayee has already
welcomed it, a circumstance which almost ensures that it will be read in
the context of India-Pakistan relations whereas to isolate it thus is to
give it a wrong meaning."
The rebuke was preceded by the visit to Pakistan by some
eminent Deobandi leaders from India to attend a Deobandi conference in
Peshawar in April and by the Imam of the Jumma Masjid in New Delhi to meet
the leaders of the traditional Islamic parties of Pakistan such as the
Jammat-e-Islami (JEI). While it is not known whether the Indian
Deobandi leaders met the General, the Imam had called on him. During
their discussions in Pakistan, these Indian Muslim leaders reportedly
conveyed to their Pakistani interlocutors their concern over the likely
negative impact of the anti-India rhetoric of the Pakistani fundamentalist
organisations on the welfare of the Indian Muslim community.
During their stay in Pakistan, these leaders took care
not to associate themselves with any controversial statements relating to
either J & K or the condition of the Muslims in India. Their
stance has definitely had an impact on the mind of the General and
underlines the need for greater interactions between the mainstream
religious leaders of the two countries. At the same time, it would
be unwise to interpret the General's rebuke as a precursor of a likely
reining in of the jehadis in J & K by him.
The General's rebuke came on the eve of four important
developments, which could have an adverse impact on his relations with the
Mullahs:
* First, the budget for fiscal 2001-02 to be released
end-June. The previous budget of June 2000 covered the last months
of the Nawaz Sharif Administration and the first months of the military
rule. The forthcoming budget, which would be the first one
exclusively relating to the military rule, is expected to show (unless
the budget is fudged by the General in a big way) a deterioration in the
economic situation since the Army took over, with the GDP growth rate
declining to below 4 per cent, an increase in the trade deficit, a
failure to meet the targets laid down by the IMF as a condition for its
rescue package of November 2000, a decrease in the spending on the
social and economic development of the underprivileged sections of the
population and a dramatic decline of 74 per cent in foreign
investments. If the correct figures are released by the General,
these would damage his credibility and his claim that only his continued
rule could put the economy on the recovery path.
* Second, the impending expiry on June 30 of the
deadline fixed by the Shariat Court for the Islamisation of the economy,
without any progress made so far. Some banks of Pakistan, at the
instance of the General, have already requested the court for an
extension of this deadline.
* Third, the impending expiry on September 30 of the
duration of the stand-by credit of the IMF and of the re-scheduling of
the overdue external debts by foreign creditor banks. Unless a
fresh stand-by credit is given by the IMF and the banks agree to a
further rescheduling, there is danger of Pakistan defaulting in its
external financial obligations. While the IMF and the banks are
unlikely to let this happen, the IMF is likely to further tighten up its
conditionalities, triggering off a fresh round of protests by the
fundamentalist organisations, which have been calling for the
Islamisation of the economy and the rejection of the IMF
conditionalities.
* Four, the visit to Washington from June 18 to 20 by
Mr. Abdul Sattar, the Foreign Minister, for talks with the members of
the Bush Administration, when in addition to nuclear non-proliferation
issues and the restoration of democracy, the failure of the military
regime to moderate the activities of the jehadi organisations and the
Taliban and the violation of the human rights of the religious
minorities in Pakistan are expected to come up. Another subject of
concern to the Bush Administration is likely to be the association of
the Chinese with the development of the Gwadar port on the Mekran coast
in Balochistan and the reported offer by the military regime of naval
base facilities to the Chinese fleet at Gwadar, which could pose a
direct threat to US interests in the Gulf.
The Chinese have been going ahead in full steam with the
development of the Gwadar port. Within a month of the agreement in
principle on this subject being signed in Islamabad during the visit of
the Chinese Prime Minister, Mr.Zhu Rongji, last month, a high-power
Chinese delegation led by the Chinese Communications Minister is already
in Balochistan to start the groundwork.
This project was drawn up in 1992 and it was proposed to
be implemented by the Benazir and Nawaz Sharif regimes with the assistance
of Omani and US companies. Following difficulties in implementation due to
the post-Chagai economic sanctions, the military regime has awarded the
contract to Beijing, which would be funding the project, reportedly in
return for the grant of base facilities.
In view of the vulnerability of Karachi to Indian naval
blockade in the event of a war, the military regime has already
inaugurated a new naval base at Ormara and Gwadar, when completed, would
add to the naval infrastructure in Balochistan. Keeping in view the
location of a number of sensitive Chinese-aided projects, with military
implications, in Balochistan, the military regime has already started
harassing the members of the Hindu community in Balochistan, in order to
force them to leave the province. There have been reports of the
local authorities and clerics not allowing Hindu girls to marry unless
they embrace Islam and choose a Pakistani Muslim as their husband. There
have also been reports of the forcible marriage of Hindu girls to Muslim
boys.
There has been an alarming increase in attacks on
Ahmadiyas and on the Hindus of Balochistan since Gen.Musharraf seized
power. The "Friday Times", the highly-respected weekly of
Pakistan, reported in its issue of March 23-29, 2001, as follows:
* Persecution of the Ahmediyas seemed to be on the rise
across the country last year with about 2000 incidents. The
incidents included the murder of four Ahmediyas, forcible seizure of
their places of worship, bodies of Ahmediyas buried in graveyards being
disinterred and fatwas issued against the Ahmediyas by Sunni
Mullahs. While the military regime has not been permitting the
Alliance for the Restoration of Democracy (ARD) to hold rallies for
democracy, it did not stop a public function in a Multan mosque by Sunni
extremists to award the title of the "Conqueror of Ahmediyas' to
Maulana Manzoor Ahmed Chinioti, a Sunni extremist, who has been in the
forefront of the campaign for the extermination of the Ahmediyas.
* "Hundreds of Hindus have been forced to flee
their homes and cross over into Sindh. Three Hindus were reported
to have been killed in the town of Chaman after clashes between Hindus
attempting to protect their homes and Muslim mobs in October.
Temples and homes were set ablaze and property, including Hindu shops,
destroyed as the growing social intolerance assumed alarming new
proportions in Balochistan. In all cases, local extremist groups
played a role in triggering the attacks.
* "Though the precise number of families which
fled was unknown, reports suggested almost half the community of 10,000
Hindus in Lasbela had been forced to leave their homes over the
year. In almost all cases, the increased activism by militant
religious groups imposed new strains on relations between the majority
Muslim and the Hindu communities, who had lived peacefully alongside
each other for many decades.
* "The efforts to forcibly convert the Hindus,
especially female school students, had a direct role to play in violence
against Hindu settlements.
* "At least five Hindu temples were vandalised
over the year, with their structures damaged and the idols and other
objects of worship broken. Amidst the uproar caused by the conversion
issue in Lasbela, activists of religious parties launched an assault on
two old Hindu temples and threw to the ground the idols placed in
them."
While the rest of the world has condemned the
destruction of the Buddha statues by the Taliban in Afghanistan and its
orders to the Hindus to wear a yellow piece of cloth as a mark of
identification, neither the rest of the world nor the Track II
personalities in India, including the members of the high-profile Belusa
group of Mrs.Shirin Tahir Kheli who have been in the forefront of the
"Love Musharraf" campaign, have even taken notice of, not to
talk of condemning, the persecution of the Hindus of Balochistan since the
military regime came to power.
At least, one official of the Bush Administration has
taken note of the shocking atrocities on the religious minorities under
the military regime. In a letter to Gen.Colin Powell, Secretary of
State, Mr.Elliot Abrams, Chairman of the US Commission on International
Religious Freedom, has urged him to press Mr Sattar during the latter's
visit "to make serious and sustained efforts to promote and protect
the religious freedom of all citizens of Pakistan". He has said
that the Sattar visit "provides an occasion for a serious discussion
on religious freedom, tolerance and sectarian violence in Pakistan".
The recent admonition of Gen.Musharraf to the Mullahs
should be viewed in the proper perspective as a purely tactical move
against this background and India should not unwittingly fall a prey to
attempts to re-package him as a man of peace and goodwill until his
sincerity in wanting to control the rogue Mullahs is proved through
concrete actions on the ground and he reins in the hordes of the
irrational Pakistani jehadis let loose by the Inter-Services Intelligence
(ISI) in J & K and other parts of India.
(The writer is Additional Secretary (retd), Cabinet
Secretariat, Govt. of India, and, presently, Director, Institute For
Topical Studies, Chennai. E-Mail: corde@vsnl.com)
