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LONDON, September 19: Pakistan's commando president
General Pervez Musharraf has ceased to enjoy the
concession often extended to him that most of his
off-the-cuff utterances do not mean what he says
since he is a military man and all men in uniform
are not gifted with virtues of wisdom. Since they
belong to the trigger-happy clan of sons-of-a-gun,
they believe that their might is right.
On top of many issues of national importance that
form the much ambitious agenda taken upon by him
to seek, is to paint "softer" image of
Pakistan so that the world has a better and more
positive view of a country run by a military dictator.
One cannot blame him for it since slang is the normal
lexicon with the soldiers, perhaps he cannot grasp
the difference between softer image and soft porn
and has got mixed up with it as shown by his defence
of the rape of Mukhtaran Mai.
In short, in his interview to Washington Post,
he justified as to how and why Pakistan under his
so-called rule of "enlightened moderation"
has become "Rapistan" where a woman is
raped every two-and-half hour -- described by him
as the on-going lucrative business among Pakistani
women to seek "Canadian passport" and
to make money. Thank Allah for His generous mercies,
that our Don Quixote spared some respect for our
female folk by not putting it bluntly that they
enjoy "it" too.
To add insult and injury to the national honor,
his propagandists claim that traumatic victims such
as Mukhtaran Mai, Dr Shazia Khalid and Sonia Naz,
who have bravely dared to expose the rapacious crime
against female dignity, are nothing but pawns in
the hands of NGOs with foreign links who allegedly
receive enormous funds from abroad and quite a few
of them are accused to be working for the "enemies"
of Pakistan to give the country a bad name.
Obviously, in this allegation, either direct or
indirect, inference was towards the so-called "Hunood-and-Yahud"
(Hindu-Jewish) conspiracy. Now the government sponsored
"Hunood-and-Yahud" inference
orchestration will go out of fashion since the General
is out there, hands folded on bended knees, tooth-paste
ad smile running berserk on his face, seeking good
relations with India and Israel at all costs and
mostly for his personal gains.
He must have understood the message latent in President
Bush's special praise for India in his UN address
while there was no mention of the country that has
become the front line state for American war of
terror under its Knight Templar. He had sanguine
reasons to go out of the way to grab the "historic"
handshake opportunity with Israeli Prime Minister
Aerial Sharon since he has the key to many vitally
important doors in Washington.
The General also explained to Washington Post
it was vital for both national and international
interests not to denude himself of his Khaki. It
facilitated him in successfully conducting the affairs
of the state and that "he had not ruled out
keeping it on past 2007".
In a tongue-in-cheek acknowledgement that "a
president cannot be a president in uniform, and
should not be", he said his keeping it on was
imperative for meeting challenges of both domestic
and international environment confronting Pakistan.
Ominous conditions such as that within and outside
Pakistan dictate that: "I keep it on until
2007 ... the regional and international environment
demands that I keep it on. So why should I be bothered
to remove it now?"
Moreover, it was of least concern for him that the
majority of the people in Pakistan wanted to see
him without his uniform, what mattered most with
him was what Bush Sahib wanted of him. The man whose
uniform prior to 9/11 had made him a pariah military
dictator, boasted openly that never in any of his
meetings, private or official, President Bush on
any occasion asked to see him without his Khaki.
I am sure the man in White House allegedly and reputedly
fighting a life-long battle with ignorance, has
enough of Texan wisdom not to demand of his man
Friday to be without clothes when it is known all
over that Khaki to him is like hair were to Samson.
His critics at home have corrected the impression
that he had an insatiable lust for the office of
the Presidency. They are now convinced that given
a choice between the Presidency and Chief Of Army
Staff his preference would be for the latter. He
will like to have the cake and eat it too, best
of the two worlds and make most of it while the
sun of absolute power shines on him.
Coming back to Musharraf's "Rapistan",
I agree with the vast public reaction in Pakistan
to his Washington Post interview that whatever
the General said about getting raped is a most brazen
and sickening manifestation of a degenerated male
mind. Musharraf told WP correspondent: 'You must
understand the environment in Pakistan. This (rape)
has become a money making concern. A lot of people
say if you want to go abroad and get a visa for
Canada and citizenship and be a millionaire, get
yourself raped.'
Since the WP interview many innocent, naive Pakistanis
and columnists have asked the question why General
Musharraf thought it fit to make such a horrendous
statement. They must realize that it is typical
of the Praetorian mind set. Musharraf's explanation
reminds me of late General "Tiger" Niazi
who broke all previous records in genocide and massive
rapes in erstwhile East Pakistan. He indulged, patronized,
encouraged and defended rape of Muslim women (since
majority of people in East Pakistan were more religious
Muslims than their West Pakistani counterparts)
with the view to changing the ethnic complexion
of the population.
It is part of the method in the madness that military
dictators employ to terrorize and subdue the civil
population. Remember General Zia's time when tik-tikis,
a wooden structure raised from ground to expose
the posterior of a man to be administered lashes
in public. To make its impact more gruesomely effective,
whipping was done in a public place-mostly in sports
stadiums. Besides public lashing to thousands of
political dissidents, General Zia also indulged
in execution by hanging to mute democratic voices.
Our present General, more of a macho man popularly
described by his critics as YK2 (Yahya Khan 2),
has sent his spine-chilling message to every home
in Pakistan that he has given carte blanche for
the rape of women in Pakistan.
Although under tremendous international pressure,
the General has tried to go back on his words and
blamed the Washington Post, his supporters
cannot describe such horrific and sadist utterances
as slip of his tongue. Instead of sympathizing with
the rape victims and leaving no stone unturned to
provide them justice, he has been going out of the
way to prove that they themselves were the villains
of the sordid piece.
Much before investigations are started in rape cases,
the rapists are given a clean bill of health. Not
only in Mukhtaran Mai's case who was stopped traveling
abroad by Musharraf himself since he feared that
she would bad mouth Pakistan in foreign lands, he
showed indecent haste to rush to issue a public
statement in Dr Shazia Khalid's rape case where
an army Captain Hammad was allegedly the principal
accused. The General said he was sure the accused
was innocent. He had subverted and jackbooted justice
by declaring Hammad above board even before investigations
could start.
Gang-rapes, parading of women in the nude in public
and increasing number of karo-kari cases
spread like epidemics during military rule when
the dictators talk of good governance but practically
do the opposite.
The reason being very simple. Military rule provide
all sort of feudal, lustful and excessive privileges
to its personnel and to its civilian collaborators,
including police, since it is the two that have
to play the tango while the country and its people
suffer.
Moreover, since dictators are not accountable to
any one, it is the free for all sponsored by them
that becomes the order of the day. Sonia Naz's case
highlights over indulgence of police personnel in
heinous crimes including rape. It is a sordid story
of rape and extortion by a police officer that is
protected by the high ups in Musharraf regime and
it shows what happens to a society where poachers
become gamekeepers.
Indeed, Pakistan had never sunk so low morally as
now. The deepening apathy, social degeneration and
decadence, breakdown of law and order machinery,
all are sure signs of a state tethering on the verge
of collapse. And with rulers like Musharraf around
any longer, it could, may Allah forbid, mean swan
song for Pakistan.
The writer is a former High Commissioner of
Pakistan to UK |
