Apprehended Insurrections
It's a difficult call to make. To stand in judgement of decisions made by those in the midst of societal and state-shattering events. From the outside looking in, it always seems as though simpler, kinder solutions should prevail. From the standpoint of the inner circle, those facing deadly disruptions in the orderly conduct of state business, the burden of responsibility weighs rather more heavily for it is they who are held responsible, and it is their society that must live with the outcome.It's difficult not to feel a sense of alarm for Pakistan. It is critical for a society like that of Pakistan, with one foot squarely in the past, the other emerging into political maturity and modernity, to advance as the majority of its citizens would have it do. Into the larger and respected sphere of growing world democracies. Yet as with many other countries in the region, it is beset with the growing incidence of fundamentalist Islamists bent on restoring a medieval governance and society to the country.
Pakistan is a nuclear-armed state. It is a quasi-democracy, an aspiring democracy, but yet a military-ruled dictatorship. The ancient Greeks in their philosophical wisdom thought rather well of benevolent dictatorships, that they had the capacity to render unto those whom they served that which a free society sought, in large part. And security is one great big element now in disarray in Pakistan.
The country has long sought to deny the existence of, ignore the existence of fundamentalist Islamists within its borders. It has accepted the existence of rigidly fundamentalist Madrassas whose purpose it was to educate the young and the impressionable that the basic precepts of Islam exemplified by Sharia Law was their only inheritance. One that they were duty-bound to uphold and to transmit, and to worshipfully toil on behalf of.
That the toil in question would take the form of violent jihad was simply part of the responsibilities and the honours due Islam. The steadily increasing growth of bitterly fundamentalist Islam equally slowly began to energize the military rulership of the country - once its anger and denunciations took an internal twist, threatening to destabilize the country and imperil its rule. President Pervez Musharraf has been left twisting in the wind.
On the one hand he has been excoriated by his allies in the West for not taking a firm hand earlier with the fundamentalists turned terrorists who threatened stability in neighbouring countries. On the other hand, those same Western allies have been encouraging him mightily to turn his military rule into the democracy that most Pakistanis would like to have reflect their government. As it was before his intervention, but without the endemic corruption.
Pakistan, like Turkey, both once fairly secular in governance and in their societies and gradually becoming more influenced by traditional religion, have seen a growing incidence of hard-line fundamentalism challenging the integrity and viability of their struggling-toward-modernity governance. It's hard not to feel some regret and compassion for General Musharraf, who seems genuinely to love his country and wishes to contain its enemies.
It's not too difficult to feel alarm for the people of Pakistan who have now seen a clamp-down on political dissent within the judiciary and opposition political parties, and as a result, on their liberties. As is usual, when such desperately untoward events take place - of acts akin to war measures to lock down societal dissent - the media have been affected, so news is now controlled.
There is danger to this country wherever one looks; in the actions of General Musharraf, desperately pleading for patience and understanding from the international community; in the real and present danger of envelopment by a violently energized tribal region reacting to the destruction of the Red Mosque and the unhappy sacrifice of its reactionary principals.
He is convinced, he has convinced himself that he had no other option but to act as he has done, to save his country from being overtaken by hostile religious forces and enemies of the people. His international audience has responded with condemnation, tempered with worry over the possibility that a nuclear state could succumb to the onslaught of rabid jihadists.
His people are outraged at the direction in which General Musharraf's personal ambition has taken him and them both. On the other hand, the dangers surrounding the ability of the country to counter terrorism are real and present, not as remote as once it seemed, when the battle to contain it was low-key and not all that concerned. Signally, India's reaction to the situation has been measured and muted of any hint of censure.
Yet Canada's reaction, reflective of much of the West, is to condemn. As a Canadian, I have a vivid enough memory of the relatively innocuous FLQ wreaking havoc in Quebec in their quest for national identity outside confederation. Their placing of little explosives in mail boxes, their kidnapping of Quebec politicians and unfortunate murder of one individual can be seen in the present context as minimally alarming.
Yet our prime minister of the day, the level-headed yet impulsive democratically leftist Pierre Trudeau did not hesitate to enact the War Measures Act resulting in summary arrests and imprisonments of suspects without due process of law, despite long and loud protests from Canadians.
Labels: Political Realities, Terrorism
posted by Pieface @ Monday, November 05, 2007
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