Musharraf's Operation Silence and its echo

I am shocked over the comparison made between the Operation Bluestar at Amritsar and Pakistan's Operation Silence on the Lal Masjid at Islamabad. The Golden Temple is the Sikhs' Vatican. The entire community considers it sacred and looks up to it for guidance on religious matters. Thousands from other communities also pay obeisance at what is respectfully called the Darbar Sahib.

On the other hand, the Lal Masjid is one of the thousands of mosques in Pakistan. This is not the Mecca of Muslims, nor the most revered mosque. Some fundamentalists and clerics captured and used it for nefarious propaganda and activities, to the embarrassment and anguish of the Muslim community. The masjid never represented the Muslim community on the whole, but only a few fanatics.

Muslims were not against what was done to the Lal Masjid. In fact, they had wanted an early action against those who misused it because it was a blemish on the Muslim community.

The Golden Temple when attacked shocked the Sikh community in India and abroad. The Army's entry into the Golden Temple was considered sacrilegious. The Sikhs have not yet recovered from the pain it caused to them. Operation Bluestar was wrong while the action against the Lal Masjid is justified.

The inept comparison indicates once again the pathetic ignorance Indians have about Pakistan. No doubt, it is a military-run country but people there want as much democracy as any sovereign nation would. The misinformation is because of the estrangement between India and Pakistan. This is partly because of lack of contact and partly because of the hangover of partition which resulted in the killing of more than one million people and the uprooting of 20 million.

Lately, there has been a bit of improvement in relations between the two countries. Even the limited people-to-people contact has reduced the tension and the government-level talks have narrowed down the differences. But they still have a long way to go.

Talks have slowed down, not because of any disagreement between the two but because, as Prime Minister Manmohan Singh has said, the Pakistan government is too occupied with its domestic problems. It would take time before the thread is picked up from where it had been left off. But this may entail quite a time.

The impending return of Benazir Bhutto, head of the Paksitan People's Party (PPP), may change things drastically. She is for a borderless subcontinent but is a hardliner on Kashmir. That she is coming back is more or less a settled fact because she seems to have entered into an agreement with Musharraf.

Maybe, New Delhi would have to wait until things settle down in Pakistan. Another development which indirectly concerns India is the meeting of the opposition parties in London at the invitation of Nawaz Sharif. He has reportedly spent Rs 10 crore because he had to lodge and board the representatives of different political parties. In many cases, he had to pay for the air tickets both ways.

Indeed, it was the most representative meeting since the exit of Benazir Bhutto and Sharif from Pakistan. Although Benazir Bhutto was conspicuous by her absence at the meeting, her five-member delegation was present and had the sanction of Benazir Bhutto to agree to most of the things that Sharif wanted.

For example, the PPP too would seek the resignation of Musharraf to pave the way for fair elections under a neutral caretaker government. Yet, in view of the understanding between Benazir Bhutto and Musharraf, the PPP did not go the whole hog. It did not agree to "resist the re-election of Musharraf by the incumbent assemblies through a collective action, including resignations."
Even Fazal-ur-Rahman, heading the Muttihada Majlis-e-Amal (MMA), a combination of six religious parties, had reservations. But he did not make them an issue. Therefore, what political parties, except the PPP, have agreed is to resign from their assembly seats if Musharraf tried to get himself re-elected by the present assemblies.

In contrast is Musharraf's warning a few days ago at Islamabad. "I want to make it clear to the people who say they will not contest elections in my presence that come what may, I am going to fight and stay."

Although his statement makes a mockery of the Pakistan constitution, he has repeatedly made it. That the President should get himself elected for five years by the assemblies which end their tenure a few months hence (November) is rather odd. The political parties have no option, after agreeing at the London meeting, except to quit the assemblies so that their resignations jeopardize the re-election of Musharraf.

The Pakistan constitution requires two-thirds majority for his re-election. The threat of resignations may well be the reason why Altaf Hussain of MQM has become a key person. It looks as if the MQM must vote with the new possible combination of Muslim League (Qaide), Musharraf's blessed party, and the PPP to provide the necessary number.

The manner in which Musharraf has crushed the challenge that the Lal Masjid fundamentalists posed has, no doubt, enhanced his reputation. An average person in Pakistan is opposed to the religious extremists and applauds when strict action is taken against them.

Some do blame Msuahrraf for allowing the situation to build up in order to divert the nation's attention from the lawyers' agitation. Indeed, he has an upper hand for the time being. Yet, the disorderly and fundamentalist forces which have got entrenched in the country cannot be checked, much less blotted out, without the liberal, democratic forces giving them a fight. That means there will have to be free and fair elections soon.

This is what Benazir Bhutto has also been saying. Whether her return is supported by the opposition parties or not, it does change the scenario: the extremists have to be exterminated. How far the religious parties go with Islamabad in doing so is a problem. They draw their strength from fundamentalists, although they do not favour the latter's confrontation with the government. How does democracy accommodate the dictates of religion is the biggest challenge before the Pakistani society. This is apart from the permanent role the military wants in the affairs of the country.