Democracy first!

PRIMA facie, it looks as if the well-entrenched political entities in Pakistan have stolen the wind out of Pervez Musharraf’s sails. This, within days of the president shedding his uniform and being sworn in again as the civilian head of state. What course the political process in Pakistan will now take is anybody’s guess; what is clear so far is that democracy there has got a long-awaited shot in the arm. Well, it is not yet time to say the die is cast, as there are many imponderables. Yet, the limited understanding the two popular leaders, Benazir Bhutto and Nawas Sharif, have reached, if only to take on the man at the helm, and also to ensure free and fair elections, is an achievement in itself. After so many negative turns, here now is a positive one. The two will, to start with, not be working at cross purposes, but seek to get the government agree to take extra steps for trouble-free polls. The moot point is whether the two can stand together in the long run, as one can win only at the expense of the other, both being contenders for the ultimate executive power. Yet, the two have no way other than joining hands. At least, their alliance will make sure that Musharraf can no more lord over their fate. The threat that the two have hurled at Musharraf is all too serious. So much so, a refusal to concede their charter of demands would mean a joint boycott of the January polls; something that will rob the election process of its very legitimacy. It will, therefore, be in Musharraf’s interests that Sharif and Benazir, as also their parties, are involved fully in the January hustings.
There are allegations that local officials were kind of patronising Musharraf’s favourites even as the poll process was set rolling. The reason why the two leaders are demanding an independent election commission to oversee the vote. This is over and above their demand to lift the Emergency — a call that Musharraf is duty-bound to pay heed to. However, of great significance is the fact that, by jointly pressing the demand for a new poll panel, Benazir has come to Sharif’s rescue. She is lending her powerful voice to the chorus of protests against the present election panel’s decision to keep him out of the polls. It is also of significance that both the leaders have decided to take on Musharraf on many critical fronts, like his indulgences with the independence of the judiciary under the PCO and the gagging of the media. It will be naïve, however, to assume that Musharraf no more has any cards up his sleeves. That adds to the suspense of the current political drama. All the same, the demand for fair elections, and for conditions facilitating such polls, is the minimum that is to be expected from the Opposition. To that extent, the two leaders, their wrong deeds of the past apart, cannot be faulted. But, there are grey areas, like who is, and who is not, acceptable to be ultimately part of the panel overseeing the vote. Pakistan is at a critical juncture in history. Many are of the view that it is at the crossroads — a dangerous side being held by the all-too-powerful militants and extremists there. For people’s leaders, however, the lead slogan cannot but be ‘Democracy first’. This is time for all sides to forge consensus and speed up the process. Leave the rest to the people. They hold the key to power.

 

The crime of Guantanamo

WHILE the Bush administration plays with words like “noncombatant status” to try and avoid its obligations under the Geneva Convention, the harsh reality is that Guantanamo Bay is a hell hole that is driving its inmates mad. The Algerian prisoner of six years who recently slashed his throat with a sharpened fingernail is proof positive of the obscenity of this institution and the Kafkaesque way it is run. And even here, the US authorities are still juggling words, insisting that the Algerian was not seeking to commit suicide but merely indulging in “self-harm”. There can be no doubt that some at least of the 305 remaining detainees in the US Cuban base are dangerous Al-Qaeda bigots. But this is no reason to treat them with the same ruthlessness that they would treat those they consider to be their enemies. By lowering his administration’s standards to pretty well the level of the kidnap gangs in Iraq, Bush has brought shame on America. His odious policy even has kidnappings as part of its mix, since the “extraordinary rendition” — more word play — has seen suspected terrorists seized on the streets even of European countries and spirited away to Guantanamo. Is it any wonder Al-Qaeda thugs have for the cameras dressed up their own luckless prisoners in the bright orange fatigues of the Guantanamo detainees? Yet Bush remains indifferent to the enormity of what he has done, in throwing over the very principles upon which his country is built and which in two inaugurations, he swore solemnly to uphold.
The US courts, however, are not so blind to the injustice. In 2004 judges found that despite the extrajurisdictional nature of Guantanamo, the US court system could hear cases brought by detainees protesting their incarceration. Two years later the courts struck down Bush’s order that the “enemy combatants” should face military tribunals in Guantanamo. Undeterred, Bush used his then Congressional dominance to pass the Military Commissions Act, which sought to remove the right of habeas corpus from the detainees and make it possible for them to be tried by military commissions. It is a challenge to this act in a case originally brought by two prisoners, now expanded to cover 37, which is being considered by the US Supreme Court. Though it has been argued that the nine judges split five to four in terms of conservatism, the Bush administration cannot necessarily expect a sympathetic decision. There will be detailed, maybe abstruse legal arguments. But more important than that, the elephant in the courtroom will be the moral case against what Bush has done. If the Guantanamo detainees are guilty of plotting or carrying terrorist crimes, they should be brought to trial. If there is insufficient evidence for a prosecution against any of them, they should be released. Those trials could be held in the US or The Hague. But trials there must be. It must be hoped that the Supreme Court will accept this and that this wicked, hole-in-the-corner crime of Guantanamo will be brought rapidly to an end.

—Arab News