From the Chicago Tribune: http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/nationworld/chi-pakistan_5s_goeringnov04,1,6159722.story
So the Pakistani president Pervez Musharraf decides to declare a state of emergency and throws the country pretty much into martial law. I like contemplating Pakistan’s political scene because, for wannabe political science students such as myself, this stuff is fodder for the Poli-Sci brain.
What you should start to note as the key elements on the way to dictatorship are the steps Musharraf has taken. Let’s list them shall we so that the grade school kids can count along:
1. Fire the Chief Justice and put the other 11 under House Arrest. Add five new judges who pledge their allegiance. ( Us in the Land of the Free might consider this a brutal version of Roosevelt’s court packing scheme!)
2. Since the judiciary is on your side, you can do no wrong. Who’s going to say you’ve broken the law?
3. Musharraf even shut down private television stations and shut down phone service. Nothing says tyranny than the control of information ( I can go on and on about this in the US with a handful of corporations controlling media but I don’t feel like channelling Alex Jones right about now.)
4. Arrest leading democracy advocates and better yet, nab the chair of the country’s human-rights commission. (who said there wasn’t a lesson to be learnt from Pinochet et al)
Ugly isn’t it? I appreciate the gravitas of suspending constitutions a tad more now that I’m in the throes of my constitutional law class. It’s evident in this country that if the Feds are motivated they can pretty much do whatever they want but to think what they would do if there were no checks and balances. I shudder to contemplate such a scenario
My favourite line to describe this mess is from a Pakistani talk-show host saying that this is one heck of a gamble and one way or the other it’s “curtains for him”.
The sad part is I actually somewhat agree with the ends that Musharraf seeks and can say that quite possibly what he is doing is probably the best thing for Pakistan right now but the million dollar question is do those ends justify the means. And the answer to that is: Probably not.
All of this got me thinking about a late night am radio show I was listening to while I was driving home from the library last week (had to switch - was losing my mind when Nickleback was on three stations at the same time on the FM dial) and one of the conspiracy theorists reminded the audience that democracy usually preceded dictatorships and despotism and not the other way around. Look at the Roman senate. Look at Cuba and don’t be surprised if Venezuela goes that route too.
Makes me wonder then if the Unites States’ attempts at exporting democracy to the masses in the Middle East might just result in another Saddam in Iraq and Afghanistan and solidify the position of the likes of the Ayatollah in Iran.
Worth a think.
