Author: Ayaz Gul
Publication: Voice of America
Date: November 13, 2003
URL: http://www.voanews.com/article.cfm?objectid=3E4F13EE-A177-4F7E-9203CC98A5907D70&title=Pakistan%20Opposition%20Skeptical%20About%20Musharraf%20Government&db=current
Pakistan's pro-military government
has just finished its first year in office, but critics are skeptical about
whether a transfer of power to the elected government has really taken
place.
Under international pressure, President
General Pervez Musharraf, who took power in a military coup in 1999, held
elections late last year.
But he did so only after amending
the constitution to extend his term as president for five more years, without
giving up his job as the army chief. The changes also gave him the power
to dismiss the elected government and dissolve Parliament.
In what some international observers
described as "flawed elections" held under the new laws, Prime Minister
Zafarullah Jamali's pro-Musharraf party won a thin majority in the Pakistan
Parliament.
Major opposition groups in the Parliament
refuse to accept Mr. Musharraf's constitutional changes, known as the Legal
Framework Order, or LFO.
The chief opposition groups are
the Alliance for Restoration of Democracy, which is made up of liberal
politicians, and the Islamic Muttahida Majlis-e-Amal. Their protests against
the military's dominance of national politics has paralyzed the Parliament,
with almost no legislative business being carried out.
For most of the year, parliamentary
proceedings were marked by violent and noisy protests, with opposition
members thumping the desks and chanting anti-Musharraf slogans before walking
out of the sessions.
Raza Rabbani, an opposition lawmaker,
says President Musharraf installed the elected government, but did not
give it power to make policies.
"What we have today is a facade
of democracy," he said. "We have a facade of Parliament and an elected
government. All major decisions through out the year have been taken outside
Parliament."
Ruling party lawmakers such as Mushahid
Hussain say both the government and the opposition are responsible for
the small amount of parliamentary business completed during the past year.
He says the two sides must resolve their differences, but he rejects the
opposition's criticism of the constitutional amendments the president introduced.
"They themselves are the beneficiaries
of LFO, with the increase in number of seats in which they have also taken
their share," said Mushahid Hussain. "And then they have been given development
funds under the same system which they attack. Then they have been part
of delegations sent by the government overseas while they attack government
policies on other areas. So I think that the opposition should also not
try to have the cake and eat it too."
Mr. Hussain also rejects domestic
and international criticism that Mr. Musharraf has not yet really transferred
power to the elected government.
"We have taken steps to build up
a genuine democratic culture," he said. "I think it will take some time,
and in that endeavor the opposition and the government should jointly work
to make that attainable and for that there has to be accommodation, there
has to be compromise, there has to be conciliation."
The political tensions over President
Musharraf's constitutional amendments increased near the end of Parliament's
session this year, when a leading opposition politician, Javed Hashmi,
was arrested for allegedly defaming and trying to incite the army to mutiny.
Mr. Hashmi, who is being detained,
was arrested October 29 after publicly reading a letter critical of President
Musharraf, particularly of his decision to join the U.S.-led war on terrorism.
Mr. Hashmi said some army officers wrote the unsigned letter. The government
says Mr. Hashmi forged the letter.
He was arrested while a delegation
from the European Parliament was in Pakistan to assess whether democracy
had been fully restored. John Cushnahan was part of the delegation.
"Certainly we were concerned if
whether or not that arrest was sending a message from the military to members
of Parliament that military is not going to tolerate criticism of their
rule in the governance of Pakistan," said Mr. Cushnahan. "So I am very
worried about the lack of progress [on democracy], I am very concerned
about the continued abuse of human rights in the country."
The opposition's Mr. Rabbani says
Mr. Hashmi's arrest was meant to discourage the opposition.
"It is an attempt to browbeat the
opposition," he said. "This is an attempt to try and show the opposition
leaders that if you do not play ball then this is what is going to be meted
out to you."
The government also has come under
criticism for not improving human rights, which activists such as Asma
Jehangir say have deteriorated in the past year.
"People have lost faith in the system
of justice, people have lost faith in any other institution where people
feel that their grievances can be heard," said Asma Jehangir. "The reason
that they give us is that the tentacles of the military have gone too deep
and I believe that probably is correct."
Pakistan's powerful military has
ruled the country for more than half of its 55-year existence, and past
attempts by elected governments to reduce the army's influence over the
political process have borne little fruit.