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| A memoir meant for himself | | Musharraf tells little about world leaders | |
by S. Nihal Singh
Surely, the most fascinating aspect of Gen Pervez Musharraf?s memoir is what he reveals about himself, rather than his justification about specific events. An account of a life of a serving president and Army chief can only be self-serving. He has followed his role model, Field Marshal Ayub Khan, in proclaiming that he has come of age and his hope will be that he does not follow his mentor in tracing a graph of political decline after ?Friends, Not Masters? saw the light of day.
Altaf Gohar, the ghostwriter of Ayub?s memoir, gave me an advance copy in Rawalpindi in the late 60s and I recall the bitterness of the Pakistani leader?s feelings about India. General Musharraf?s ?In The Line Of Fire?, reportedly ghost-written by Altaf?s son Humayun, is somewhat less bitter about India. In a generational change, those who have been moulded in the crucible of Pakistani Army life see India as enemy country without the sentimental baggage of Ayub and his contemporaries.
Indeed, the picture that emerges of General Musharraf is of a rather average Pakistani Army officer with a lot of horse sense and a rare chutzpah accepting the parameters of cantonment conventional wisdom. He is only too happy to voice his contempt for politicians, is convinced of the unselfish nationalist timbre of the military and its destiny as the guiding star of the country?s future. A sample of his attitude to politicians was encompassed in the following tribute he pays to Z.A. Bhutto: ?He was really a fascist ? using the most progressive rhetoric to promote repressive ends, the first of which was to stay in power forever?.
Turkey was a strong formative influence on General Musharraf, who lived several years there by virtue of his father being attached to the Pakistani diplomatic mission in Ankara as an accountant. Apart from the love of dogs he acquired, his young mind was doubtless influenced by the fact of the Army?s presence in the governance of the country. Ataturk elevated the Army to the state and, apart from periods of direct rule, the Army remained a deciding political factor in Turkish politics.
Quite apart from General Musharraf, the Turkish model has appealed to the Pakistani Army establishment. In fact, General Jehangir Karamat?s forced resignation as Army chief demanded by Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif ? the only instance of its kind ? followed his suggestion for incorporating an Army-inclusive National Security Council to help govern the country. The attempt was and remains a mechanism to give a supervisory role for the Army in Pakistan?s governance, whatever the form of the government.
Army generals have always justified coups, but in President Musharraf?s case, he quotes Abraham Lincoln and offers us the following gem: ?I know that in western democracies, military persons on active duty, especially the chiefs, are not supposed to make political statements. But then, in western democracies neither do the heads of government and state perennially drag Army chiefs into politics. In a country where such a practice is rampant, an Army chief cannot be blamed for getting involved, if he acts sensibly?. And he adds: ?I still am struggling to convince the West that Pakistan is more democratic today than it ever was in the past. Ironically, to become so it needed me in uniform?.
Earlier, General Musharraf was happy to coast along as an Army officer, after his moments of puppy love, in the second instance for a Bengali girl; it was over because she migrated to the then East Pakistan. He was quite happy with the conventional match secured in the conventional manner and revelled in the machismo culture of his commando outfit, proud of his physical prowess and what he believed were his superior qualities as leader.
General Musharraf?s tenure with a commando outfit was a considerable source of pride. He harks back to it often and recalls it when he faced two unsuccessful assassination attempts. To his mind, he won the admiration of the men he commanded by being as good as, if not better than, his men. And even in his transformation from an Army officer to the head of his country?s government, he credits the commando experience as a valuable formative experience and quickly comes to the conclusion that Pakistan?s outfit is the world?s best.
General Musharraf believes in Pakistan?s need to match India, despite the great disparity in size, population and resources that exists between the two countries. After America gave him an ultimatum to join the ?war on terror? or else, the President revealed that he chose to side with Washington after he had ?war gamed? his Army and resources with America?s and came to the conclusion that he would be no match. There is no suggestion that he or the Army ever ?war gamed? the resources of India and Pakistan. The successful quest for an atom bomb and missiles ran parallel to Pakistani efforts at securing strategic depth in Afghanistan, sadly interrupted by the ?war on terror?.
The Pakistani leader is keen to present himself as a moderate Muslim although he proved flexible enough to team up with religious parties to marginalise the two main parties after he had deprived them of their respective leaders. He has harsh words for General Zia-ul-Haq?s Islamisation programme and finds it difficult to turn the clock back on such issues as the Hudood Ordinance. Nor does he have kind words for Mr A.Q. Khan and his nuclear proliferation activities while maintaining the fiction of it being a one-man exercise.
President Musharraf gives little away in informing his readers about his interactions with world leaders, except in instances that help serve his purpose, as for instance with Mr A.B. Vajpayee and Prime Minister Manmohan Singh. But he does make an exception in the case of China?s then premier Zhu Rongji. ?Investors, he (Mr Rongji) said, are like pigeons. When a government frightens them with poor decisions, they all fly off together. When the government improves its policies to attract them back, they return only one by one?.
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