Our army cannot arrogate to itself the exclusive right of having an established chain of command and a peaceful change of command. Political institutions also deserve similar chain and change of command. A country which ought to show to the world the book of constitution changing hands of political leadership, showed an army general handing over to his handpicked successor a 3 feet long baton and describing it as a step towards democracy. The message was "loud and clear", as they say in army–the Pakistanis are ruled not by a constitution but by a baton. Some people may see the ceremony as a message for former Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif that this was the way to affect change of command in the army and not the "timid and unceremonious" manner in which he sacked General Pervez Musharraf on October 12, 1999.
On November 28 the change of command ceremony took place in Rawalpindi hockey ground. As the book of constitution was gathering dust in some cupboard of Judge Advocate General (JAG) branch of army's General Headquarters (GHQ), the unwritten conventions and traditions of the British army were immaculately performed in the army's change of guard ceremony on Wednesday. The cane of the chief of army staff, the "guard of honor", and the body language of the smartest of the army soldiers marching past the dais are some of the traditions that have come from uninterrupted and undiluted military rhythms developed over centuries.
The discipline, honor, and institutional rhythm are essential to every political process as well, but unfortunately the same was never allowed to be developed. During the sixty years of independence Pakistanis were made to celebrate and commemorate every historical day with military fervor rather than political or civic zeal. On 23rd March we celebrate Pakistan Day to mark the historical passage of "Pakistan Resolution" in 1940. Ironically while army had no role in the independence of Pakistan in 1947, in fact the freedom was never achieved through army, yet on this day every year, we roll out on the roads of Islamabad and Rawalpindi our tanks, guns, aircrafts and missiles to mark the day. Some also call it a republic day, a day when constitution of Pakistan was enforced. But by now, we all should have understood that such a display of military hardware on a "constitution day" is a mockery of the whole concept of a constitution. To have a separate parade ground built in Islamabad for this purpose will only add to this mockery. Isn't it for the parliament and the parliamentarians to gather outside the parliament house to mark the day along with, executive and judiciary who owe their existence to the constitution?
Similarly, the lack of an established political chain and change of command is also the result of civil-military axis of evil. From the 1977 martial law by General Zia ul Haq till today the people of Pakistan were never allowed to vote out a government. From Junejo to Benazir to Nawaz Sharif to Benazir to Nawaz Sharif all governments were kicked out by the boots directly or indirectly. Every time people were asked to exercise their right to vote the politicians in but they were never given a chance during this period to vote them out. Today once again people are being asked to vote these politicians in.
The problem is with our political past. The civil military bureaucracy over the last three decades deliberately destroyed the process of politics and political institutions. The unions were banned in colleges and universities in the name of law and order depriving the youth of even healthy political activities and training to become future leaders. The civil-military "axis of evil" could not hold onto power with politicized youth of the country out on roads challenging their legitimacy. The institutions of political training, the unions, remained banned and banished over the past three decades. Even the so-called civilian and democratic governments did not dare to revive them. In the absence of popular support from youth the political leadership found it convenient to surrender its political space inch by inch to our own ambitious army. This subsequently helped unhindered and unpunished direct and indirect military interventions. They negotiated and compromised with Generals and gained power not with people's mandate but with manufactured and engineered mandates. Afraid of genuine grassroots charismatic political leadership the military always wanted a politically uprooted leadership who should owe it to the army and not the people.
Only if we are able to take these basic steps towards democratization and demilitarization of business and politics in Pakistan, we will be able to preserve the rule of law. In this way our citizenry and next generation will grow as bold people who know how to stand up for their rights, shout for these on streets and if time comes fight all kinds of internal and external aggression from any army. Only in this way we will have democracy and an independent judiciary preserved, and we might even be able to save our national freedom and even legally defend it under our constitution, whatever is left of it or may become of it.
In Pakistan a dangerous and so-called legal trend is developing. Under the international law and precedence the provisional constitutional orders are issued by occupying forces and not by national armies. We have seen this in Iraq and other countries in the last century with different names. The enforcement and acceptance of such PCOs by different institutions in Pakistan have ironically set a dangerous precedence for Pakistan. This joke of PCO, as lawyers may call it, can go as far as, God forbid, some enemy country waging war against Pakistan and then through some PCO justifying her aggression against Pakistan as per the laws and past judgments of our Supreme Court. In such a worst case scenario one can even imagine the judges taking yet another oath, the lawyers challenging it before the PCO-judges of the PCO-Supreme Court. And then, the same might even be justified under the doctrine of dire necessity followed by all those things that we saw every time our own military took over. We shouldn't be surprised if even then the PTV (Pakistan Tunnel Vision) tells us that the new leader will take oath under our constitution. We might even see another "change of command".
Regrettably media too has extensively used the official description of subversion of constitution and military aggression against the people. A term that people are now getting used to, thanks to media, is the constitution being held in "abeyance" or in some cases "suspended". The world actors too for their own interests did not even describe it as military rule or martial law and hence in the name of "attributions" and "quotes" the official versions gradually become journalistic parlance.
After every military takeover the lawyers challenge it in the courts and then ironically discuss every word of it on merits under some "suspended constitution" before those judges who would already have taken oath under the so called Provisional Constitutional Order (PCO). Such farcical processes are meant to pacify and delay spontaneous public reaction, if any, to the act of war against the people. Then comes the farcical of process of elections, which is a great temptation for any political party like it has happened once again. Political parties' belief of not leaving the field open to a dictator is rooted in the fear of not being able to mobilize the masses on the street in case of a boycott. Since 1999 similar concessions had been given to General Musharraf with the hope to get rid of him but he hasn't gone anywhere and he continues to shift the goal posts for the political parties. Whether it was 2002 elections, referendum or presidential elections, or Supreme Court allowing the presidential poll process to go on with frivolous condition like withholding of notification, all these concessions were abused by Musharraf to extend his rule.
Pacifying the nation may be necessary at times but to desensitize and depoliticize them through gagging by brute force has consequences. Such a policy may ultimately lead to a docile population that will prefer to watch it on cable TV as entertainment rather than fighting shoulder to shoulder with army Jawans for freedom against a foreign aggression. No army should instill fear in the hearts of citizens by teaching them to be submissive and docile. Citizens should never get used to the army rule because if today they can be ruled by their own army tomorrow they can be ruled by any army. If you are a cruel father, your child, if abused, will neither have resisted it nor reported it to you. The reason is simple. He or she is not trained to resist and shout.
(Matiullah Jan is an Islamabad based freelance journalist who specializes in court reporting and media issues)
