Nasim Zehra: What ails Pakistan is a divisive polity

This is what endless political battles produce: shrill instead of sober reflection; bitter divisions where unity is needed; verbosity where discretion must prevail; personal attacks where a macro focus is an imperative.

Here is a concrete sample of what Pakistan's deep political divide produces. In his June interview to a national daily Pakistan's former Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif said: "Inshaallah the true version of the misadventure of Kargil shall not remain a secret like the truth behind the fall of Dhaka.

"The facts shall be brought before the public and all those responsible shall have to account for their deeds. Kargil is a skeleton in Musharraf's closet. For the time being, I can only say I took every thing on my shoulders to save our army from a major embarrassment."

Subsequently, in her interview with India Abroad published on August 22, another former prime minister, Benazir Bhutto, explained her negative response when asked if General Musharraf is a "pretty bright man" by narrating an account of a national security meeting. Although the former prime minister and various Pakistani writers have alluded to an earlier unexecuted Kargil plan, it was the first time that Bhutto divulged details of the meeting.

Afghan policy

Critiquing Pakistan's Afghan policy the Bhutto repeated what she has often said before: "It is under Musharraf's watch that the Taliban have regrouped." Broadly she criticised Musharraf under whose watch, she maintained, "the home grown militants are dictating the foreign policy of Pakistan".

On Al Qaida, she said: "We would have been deeply concerned about the fact that Al Qaida people are turning up in our country. And we would have made the situation very difficult for them to either seek refuge in Pakistan or for the Taliban to regroup in Pakistan or for our own homegrown militants to use Pakistan as a base for launching attacks on other countries."
This is Benazir no holds barred‚ fighting her political battles.

Similarly, another section of the opposition criticises the Musharraf government for being too hard on the Taliban and on the reported Taliban sympathisers. Within the parliament virtually the entire opposition is demanding an inquiry against the Generals.

Reacting to reports that a few Pakistani army officers are being investigated for supporting the Taliban an united opposition claimed that since all army Generals from Zia ul Haq to Pakistan President General Pervez Musharraf supported "militancy or resistance in Afghanistan, everyone should be probed".

The MMA leader, Hafiz Hussain Ahmad, pointedly questioned: "Can anyone deny that General Musharraf did not help the resisting forces (Taliban) before the incidents of September 11, 2001?"

The Opposition also criticised the government for allowing the FBI to investigate Pakistani army soldiers and protested against the arrest of some army officers on charges of having links with the Afghan resistance. They wanted factual information on the issue.

All this continues alongside the political battle. The Opposition now fights in the media limelight. Not in small numbers on hot and deserted streets. The Opposition leaders have come up with new slogans such as: "Article 6, Musharraf in fix", "No to the rule of dictatorship" and "No to the military uniform-led government". The protests continue to keep Musharraf away from addressing a joint session. Party switching earns some titles of "hired soldiers" and others sheer disdain. Usual name calling continues.

Inside parliament the reality of Pakistan's current political phase is apparent. The battle goes on between the establishment, supported by its political partner the PML-Q, and all other opposition parties.

The MMA is now the leading democratic group. It is fighting for constitutionalist measures on the army-promulgated Legal Frame-Work Order, for the rights of the parliament and of the opposition and for the parliamentary election of Musharraf.

Contrary to analysts' and the Establishment's expectation of being able to buy and sell MMA constituents, the alliance functions in a unified and principled manner. It works through an astute political strategy and seeks quid pro quo on negotiable issues. Key demands include elements from its electoral manifesto Islamisation package.

So amidst these political battles the national security issues are regularly dragged in. Often national interest suffers at the altar of internal dissensions. Our internal political crisis perpetuates a self-destructive mode of power wielding.

In our country national enemies and traitors proliferate. Today Pakistan's political score card reads: shaky credibility, distrust and systemic fragility.

A divisive and angry polity, such as Pakistan's, does immense damage. Political processes and approaches greatly determine the context within which a nation progresses. A continuously aborted process will never gather the strength it requires to serve as a framework for a nation's healthy existence.

In addition, this constant battling over national security issues provides grist to the external propaganda mill working overtime. There is no country in the entire world that faces the kind of formidable transition challenge that Pakistan does. Imagine what is being expected of Pakistan: to battle on multiple internal fronts and miraculously clean-up and, on the external front, to open up all spaces to foreign demands in fighting terrorism.

Reorientation

Pakistan's own national interest, too, requires re-orientation but this re-orientation requires simultaneous movement towards establishing rule of law while facilitating re-integration of those into the mainstream who were yesterday's anti-Soviet State Department and CIA supported jihadi heroes. In these testing times for the entire Muslim world, credible policies on issues like Iraq, Afghanistan, Palestine and Iran are necessary. Internal unity is required for all Pakistanis to believe that Pakistan's vision and agenda is not a derivative one viewing itself as a mere front-line state for anti-terrorism. It's agenda is a positive and proactive one promoting the interests of its own people while contributing to international security.

Within Pakistan our old ghosts are kept alive while new ones are rapidly created.

Pakistan's national security matters get reduced to point-scoring matters between the two major contenders for power - the army and the civilian politicians.

The answer is national reconciliation alone. Statesmanship is needed to lead a political process forward by playing by credible rules.

For a politically unstable Pakistan, that is the only way forward.

Nasim Zehra is Harvard Fellow, Harvard University Asia Centre