Pakistan awaiting the right political players

In his August 21 press conference General Pervez Musharraf made it amply clear that he was not interested in the formalities of law or the Constitution. He had decided power was the language everyone understood and the instrument he needed personally to "reform" Pakistani state and society.

After the October elections anyone taking steps against the national interest would be "sorted out" by him. Meanwhile, those who had problems with his August 21 Constitutional reforms could go to the Supreme Court with an appeal.

That he must have said in jest because the judges who have taken oath under the Provisional Constitutional Order, PCO, cannot strike down any steps that Musharraf takes. He also announced the formalising of the military's role in Pakistani politics through the establishment of the National Security Council, NSC. As the army chief and the president he would chair the NSC.

Rather emphatically he justified the formation of the NSC by declaring that "If you want to keep the Army out bring them in." This is unacceptable logic. The way to keep the military out is to have a stronger and more competent political class.

The absence of such a class still provides no justification for the military in politics or in governance. Notwithstanding what Musharraf may argue, the military must be where it belongs - in the barracks.

For now power is defining Pakistan's political scenario. State power and not peoples' power has formed the basis of political power. Performance deficit therefore does not matter. Change comes through the barrel of the gun. The bad performers align with those who wield the coercive power of the state. There are few who see aligning with the people as a route to power.

Irrespective of what Musharraf's intentions may be, it is the establishment brand of politics that he is cultivating yet again; the familiar and the failed brand. We move ahead in time along the same faulty paths.

Welcome to the creation of a 2002 version of Islamic Jamhoori Ittehad, IJI ! Early August the Inspector-General, IG, of the Punjab Police held a meeting with all his Superintendents of Police, SPs. He informed them that the Pakistan Muslim League (Quaid-e-Azam), PML(Q) is "our party" and that it is our responsibility to help it win the elections.

He ordered the SPs to respond to any call, legal or illegal, for help that they receive from the PML(Q) candidates. The IG gave those SPs who would have a problem carrying out these orders the option of being transferred from their present position so that an SP willing to obey these orders could be posted in his place. None of the SPs present at the meeting invoked the option.

The establishment hopes to control the overall Punjab political scene by intervening at the micro-level. Jointly the Chief Secretary, Home Secretary and Chaudary Parvez Elahi, the Punjab head of PML(Q) conduct interviews of those applying for PML(Q) provincial and national assembly tickets from Punjab.

The interviews are conducted at Parvez Elahi's residence. Indeed all this is in complete contrast to what Musharraf had said that the bureaucracy will not be politicised.

In the last interview that Musharraf gave to The News panel before the controversial referendum, he had categorically stated that the referendum would not be a substitute for parliament endorsing him as president.

Uncertain of the extent to which the election outcome could be manipulated Musharraf appointed himself president and Chief of the Armed Services for five years, invoking the Legal Framework Order.

One of his initial promises to the nation was that the state apparatus will be overhauled and made more effective and efficient; that "clean politics" will flourish and finally rule of law will return to the country. That it would not be in any military or even civilian ruler's power to "deliver" clean politics to the country was clear to everybody.

Politics is a strange animal. It does not lend itself to genetic engineering. Nor to cold logic and lectures alone. It is also is in some respects a witness to truth and tribulations of a society in transition. It is the only phenomenon we know to date that forces a "rise" out of people beyond their material, hence individualistic, capacity.

It alone moves a society towards collective action demanding change. It is that phenomenon which encapsulates the many multiple and often paradoxical dimensions of human existence; of logic, passion, rationality, selfishness, magnanimity, charisma.

Politics is a combine of perplexing paradoxes. Also, it is a genie which once set free is not easily re-bottled. Repeatedly military dictators have had to confront this reality. Military dictators like General Ayub Khan and General Zia ul Haq , the all powerful dictators of their own times experienced forced exits. Ayub through the only genuine anti-establishment uprising and Zia through the tragic plane crash.

While politics does not lend itself to genetic engineering, state institutions do. There is a scientifically developed process of change management deployed by leaders like Margaret Thatcher and Mahathir to revive their decrepit state structures.

Musharraf could have started that process. Instead he opted to reconstruct the political structure in order to "clean" Pakistani politics. After three years of Musharraf in power and the NRB at work Musharraf has concluded that he must stay in power for another five years as the president and army chief to ensure Pakistan's political and socio-economic progress.

In his mind, reform and his own person have become synonymous. This is an inherently faulty premise.

In coming to this conclusion, what has Musharraf lost in the process? Credibility. Today, in search of clean politicians, the National Accountability Bureau, NAB, has opted for plea-bargaining with the corrupt and the indicted.

A point well illustrated by the key players of the king's party in the different provinces. Whatever the Chief Election Commissioner may say to maintain respectability of the current process the fact is that many state institutions are busy ensuring that the king's men and women win.

Irrespective of how bankrupt a political class may be, it is foolhardy to construct a citadel of complete control banking on the bankruptcy of either a political class or the support of external factors. Whatever power or authority that is not likely to prove beneficial for a society will never remain unchallenged. Sources of challenge maybe numerous and often not so obvious.

Whatever Musharraf may plan for post-October 10 challenges to his power will be inevitable. In the post-election phase the political forces will generate their own logic. Surprising as it may appear at this point, the Legal Framework Order, LFOs and alliances will all stand weakened. So will his authority.

There is the process of nature , of maybe divine intervention, that too plays its role to curb what ultimately undermines truth, justice and fairplay. And today the information revolution greatly accelerates this process. Today it is virtually impossible to put a lid on the truth. The most powerful cannot escape the clutches of a media determined to "bring it all out in the open".

Of the many powerful political players on the global scene, the only one who sees the exposing power of the media as an asset is the only truly Renaissance politician of our times; Iran's President Khatami.

Others, like pygmies, are unable to deliver on the "tall order" of a squeaky clean power player that the media demands from them, they simply hit back at the media. Khatami meanwhile, who also participated in c