It may not come as a great surprise that you can’t always believe what a dictator tells you. In December, Pakistani President Pervez Musharraf promised to step down as chief of staff of the army. That pledge was part of a bargain with opposition lawmakers in Parliament who agreed to go along with constitutional amendments expanding his presidential powers. But nine months later, Musharraf is reconsidering his end of the deal.
He claims 96 percent of Pakistanis want him to keep his army post and says “the security of Pakistan” may compel him to accept their ostensible wishes. His information minister even went so far as to say Musharraf would keep the army job–though he later corrected himself, insisting he was only expressing a hope.
Even critics of the general may wonder if it really matters. Whether in uniform or not, Musharraf is and will remain the undisputed ruler of the country. Back in December, many of his opponents denounced his promise to resign the army post as a flimsy attempt to conceal the reality of military rule.
But it does matter. The promise was one of the rare instances in which elected legislators managed to clip his wings. Since he seized control from Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif in a bloodless military coup in 1999, he has substantially expanded his authority, largely by unilaterally enacting amendments to the constitution.
The December agreement suggested that even Musharraf sometimes has to defer to the wishes of the people’s elected representatives. It was also a welcome step toward restoring civilian rule in a country long dominated by the military.
By repudiating the agreement, Musharraf would signal that he feels emboldened to disdain even the mildest checks on his ability to do whatever he chooses. He would also be confirming the old adage that Pakistan is not a country with an army but an army with a country.
If he reneges, he would also demonstrate that he feels no particular urgency about his promises to build “sustainable democracy” in Pakistan. Plenty of people in his country and in the rest of the world were willing to give him a chance when he took over from the notoriously corrupt and ineffective Sharif government. But so far, he has stifled the development of truly democratic institutions, while using his power to block any credible opposition leader.
It’s tricky for the United States to put pressure on Musharraf, whose help is crucial in the war on terror. No one wants upheaval in a nuclear-armed Islamic nation. Other concerns, such as preventing nuclear proliferation and fighting Al Qaeda, do demand higher priority.
But if Musharraf breaks his promise to give up his army office, the Bush administration can at least express its strong disapproval. Pakistanis should know that our partnership with him is in spite of his authoritarian instincts, not because of them.
If Pakistan is ever going to become a stable, prosperous nation, it’s not likely to happen under the rule of the military, which has repeatedly tried and failed. Despite his promises of fundamental reform, what Musharraf offers is not democracy, and it’s not sustainable.
