Elections versus democracy

IS staging elections the same thing as promoting democracy and respecting human rights? No, says the Human Rights Watch in its latest annual report. And that puts the Watch’s perception at variance with the standard set by the Western democracies. “It’s now too easy for autocrats to get away with mounting a sham democracy”, adds the HRW’s Executive Director, Kenneth Roth, in a statement released with the report. Among the countries named as major violators of democratic credentials in 2007 Pakistan is second after Kenya in the company of Nigeria, Russia and Saudi Arabia. The report also enlists Pakistan, along with the United States, Britain and France, among the countries who committed human rights violations in the name of fighting the ‘war on terror’. Rightly then President Musharraf’s statements made in European capitals during his recent tour, conforms to the truth in the HRW’s verdict. His message that ‘don’t look at us through your prism, it took you centuries to perfect democratic process and that you are unduly ‘possessed’ of human rights in Pakistan,’ was what they wanted to hear. So they must have said ‘the president was right and that the judges’ issue could wait.’ Historically, human rights and democracy took a back seat whenever the Western governments found them clashing with their national interest. In fact, these are the members of civil society that keep aloft the banner of human rights, people’s freedom and their dignity, in pursuance of their conviction that the individual comes before the state. No where does this divergence in approaches appear more pronounced than in Pakistan. While the Musharraf-led regime is treated as darling of the West for joining the United States in the war on terror, the non-governmental organisations of those countries have shown increasing concern about the shrinking space available to the individual in Pakistan. These NGOs never hesitated in expressing themselves on their instance that human rights are being usurped by the state in the name of combating terrorism, political stability or any other pretext. One such organisation is International Republican Institute (IRI).
It is a familiar name among the leaders of civil society and media for its periodic surveys which help one judge the state of the nation’s health from political, economic and social angles. IRI’s last few surveys showed the regime isolated and unpopular, something which the regime was not prepared to accept. So this reported refusal to renew visas of senior staffers of the IRI, provoking PPP leaders to launch a protest against this “institutional rigging” just few a weeks ahead of the parliamentary elections. Throwing out independent observers of the scene, is counterproductive, for the situation we are presently in is too grave to brook administrative manipulation. Instead of impeding access by the NGOs, the government should welcome non-partisan neutral observers because that would lend the much needed credibility to the electoral process. The bitter fact is that most of the civil society is not on board, as was reflected in the countrywide Justice Iftikhar Day the other day and throughout the country the members of legal community staged demonstrations demanding reinstatement of the sacked judges. Their protests almost coincided with a meeting of several hundred ex-servicemen who set up a five-member committee to force President Musharraf to step down. Will the coming elections satisfy the lawyers and ex-servicemen? We don’t think so. Ours is a grave crisis, much bigger for one election to overcome, especially when even for that one election a level playing field is not being provided to all players.
 

Unending strife

THE tragic irony of the latest civil strife in Chad is that just as some 250,000 Sudanese fled west into Chad from Darfur, so now many thousands of Chadians are themselves fleeing west from their capital N’Djamena, this time into neighboring Cameroon, whose border is close to the Chadian capital across the Chari River. If it is indeed true that the rebels seeking to overthrow President Idriss Deby have only made a tactical withdrawal from the capital, as they claim, then probably many of N’Djamena’s 700,000 population will try to get out before the insurgents launch a new assault. Rebel claims, however, that they want an evacuation in order to avoid civilian casualties should be treated with skepticism. They were perfectly happy to make their initial attack without such a warning and it, therefore, looks as if forces loyal to the president have beaten them back. This is clearly far from being the end of the violence. Too much is at stake, including Chad’s oil wealth which Deby and fellow members of his minority Zaghawa tribe are accused of plundering since the first wells came on stream five years ago. Ranged against him is an alliance of three rebel groups including one dominated by Gorane tribesmen, whose kinsman President Hissene Habre was ousted by Deby in a 1991 coup backed by Libya. But Chad has 10 principal tribes, roughly evenly split between ethnic Arab Muslims in the north and Christian and animists in the south. Since independence from French colonial rule in 1960, the country has suffered four violent coups and long periods of guerrilla fighting. Part of this violence stemmed from age-old tribal enmities. Unfortunately, at varying times, outside forces, including the French, the Libyans and the Sudanese, have added their support to these essentially local disputes and so dangerously inflated them.
Deby himself has been guilty of similar interference in Sudan where directly or indirectly he has countenanced the arming of some of the Darfur rebel groups. Though Khartoum denies it, it is almost certain that Sudan has now repaid this support by backing at least two of the rebel groups seeking to oust Deby. The timing of the rebel assault may be significant. Last Friday the first elements of an EU force were due to be deployed in eastern Chad as protection for the quarter of a million Sudanese refugees from Darfur in the camps. These unfortunates have come under increasing attack from pro-Khartoum forces which include at least one of the Chadian rebel groups, the United Force for Democracy and Development (UFDD). Brussels has suspended the deployment. Strategically this is understandable since, if Deby is overthrown, the European troops around the camps could find themselves under threat. From a humanitarian point of view, the delay could be disastrous for the refugees. Once again, the highest price is being paid by innocent civilians while strongmen and their outside backers jockey for power.

—Arab News