Europe is keening waiting for the holding of a “free, fair and peaceful elections” on February 18 in Pakistan. If elections are rigged or manipulated—a possibility the country’s mainstream political parties, namely the PPP and PML-N, fear until now—then Pakistan’s relations with the European Union (EU) will be strained.
The EU, Pakistan’s second largest trading partner, has clearly linked the outcome of the elections with its future ties with the country. While meeting Mr. Musharraf on Monday, EU’s Foreign Policy Chief Javier Solana warned him that “elections have to be fair and free and secure…Our co-operation, our level of engagement will be in view of the results of the process.”
A Difficult Mission
Since Sunday, Mr. Musharraf has been on a PR mission in Europe’s four most important destinations: Brussels, Paris, Davos and London. The country he left behind is in the grip of a severe grain and electricity shortage, a continuing war with extremists and a highly uncertain political climate, which has worsened by the assassination of Benazir Bhutto on December 27.
There must be a very important, rather unavoidable, reason why he had to travel to Europe for an unusually long duration at this very crucial time facing the nation. Not long ago, Mr Musharraf enjoyed an unquestionable support from Western leaders, including those from Europe. When George Bush was with him, how could Tony Blair not be?
Over time, however, not only have leaders changed, issues have also assumed a different direction.
Instead of Mr Blair, Britain has Gordon Brown as Prime Minister, even though from the same Labor Party, who just a week before meeting Mr. Musharraf in London, stood shoulder-to-shoulder with his Indian counterpart in New Delhi telling the world that India deserved a permanent seat in the UN Security Council commensurate with its rising global economic and political profile.
In France, Mr. Musharraf had a more welcoming person, President Nicholas Sarkozi, an ultra-nationalist figure devoutly supportive of Mr. Bush’s War on Terror. Mr Solana, is an old face in European affairs. He also served as NATO’s Secretary General during the time of the Yugoslavia’s onslaught on Kosovo in 1999 and is credited with a proactive leadership of the Alliance in its successful handling of this last major crisis of the Balkans. For the past several years, he has served as EU’s Foreign Policy Chief.
Among the several engagements that Mr Musharraf had during his European tour has been his address to joint meeting of the European Parliament’s foreign affairs committee and the assembly’s South Asia delegation and meetings with Mr. Solana, NATO Secretary General Jaap de Hoop Scheffer and Belgium’s caretaker Prime Minister Guy Verhofstadt in Brussels on Monday; meetings with Mr. Sarkoz and EU external relations commissioner Benita Ferrero-Waldner and speech before French Institute of International Relations in Paris on Tuesday.
During the World Economic Forum at Davos, Switzerland, which has emerged as an important place for the world’s leading political and corporate leaders to interact, Mr Musharaf met with US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice, his Afghan counterpart Hamid Karzai and Iraqi Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki. He was to conclude his European tour with a meeting with British Prime Minister Brown.
Support on Counter-Terrorism
There is no doubt that Pakistan’s role in the War on Terror that European leaders still consider Pakistan’s role in the War on Terror as quite crucial, as clear from the remarks of Mr Sarkozy. The same is also amply clear from the statement of NATO Secretary-General Scheffer, which he made after meeting Mr Musharraf.
“NATO in Afghanistan and he [Musharraf] in Pakistan, we are fighting the same demons, the same terrorists who are trying to destabilize Pakistan and also trying to destabilize Afghanistan…and {it}is also true in the opposite direction, so to say,” said Mr Scheffer.
However, there is a simultaneous concern about the deteriorating security situation and chaotic political climate in the country, including concerns about the safety and security of Pakistan’s nuclear assets.
The latter reflects a growing European fear, equally shared by the Americans, which Mr. Musharraf tried to dispel during his talk before joint meeting of the European Parliament’s foreign affairs committee and the assembly’s South Asia delegation and speech before French Institute of International Relations in Paris.
For instance, in his speech before the French think-tank on Tuesday, Mr Musharraf categorically ruled out any possibility of Pakistan’s nuclear arsenals getting into the hands of extremist forces, saying “a competent command and control system is in place to look after these national assets.”
Mr Musharraf said if al-Queda or Talibans wanted to get hold of our nuclear assets, they will have to defeat Pakistan Army or they will have to win general elections. “I do not see nay of these happening thus there was no chance our arsenals get into unsafe hands”, he stated.
Concerns Regarding Democracy
Europe has credible stakes in the counter-terrorism effort in Afghanistan, since over 35,000 troops from its various member-states are part of NATO forces fighting the Taliban. And NATO needs Pakistan’s cooperation to succeed in Afghanistan.
However, simultaneously, unlike the Americans—which may ignore the country’s domestic political situation for the sake of ensuring continuity in its frontline role in the War on Terror—the Europeans consider the revival of democracy in the country as a principal requisite for combating religious extremism and terrorism from the region.
That explains why the European leaders seem to attach so much significance with the holding of a “free, fair and peaceful elections”—to use Mr Solana’s words—in the country.
Pakistan’s trade volume with the EU is over US$9 billion—and to ensure that this economic partnership, on which depends the survival of the country’s industrial sector, especially the textile, continues and grows in future—the country’s leadership has to deliver on its promises regarding the February 18 polls.
While assuring the European leaders, including even the NATO Secretary General, about the free, fair, transparent and peaceful nature of these elections, Mr. Musharraf has attempted to create justifications for the difficulties involved in the process.
For instance, he told the select gathering of European parliamentarians in Brussels on Monday, “You have taken centuries in reaching wherever you have come. Allow us time for going for the values that you have established for yourselves. We have a feudal tribal environment in some of our provinces, therefore in accordance with our environment we have to adapt democracy, human rights, and civil liberties.”
Rather than criticizing Pakistan on count of democracy and human rights, Mr Musharraf added, Europe should help Pakistan in combating extremism and terrorism. He questioned the European “obsession” with democracy and human rights in the country.
This is not a stuff a European audience is generally prepared to listen from the leader of a developing country, especially one with a military background. The EU, as a grouping, is highly sensitive to issues of democracy, liberty and human rights, which, in its perceptions, cannot be overlooked by any security-related justification.
Having sent up to 100 election monitors to Pakistan, the EU has a special stake in ensuring that the polls are not rigged – and that security is ensured for voters. The EU also wants action to restore the independence of the judiciary and the reinstatement of top judges he removed from power last year. The EU also wants an end to all restrictions on political parties and the media – in short to ensure the rule of law in Pakistan.
At the time of imposition of Emergency Rule; i.e. on November 3, the European Parliament had reacted severely, urging the Musharraf regime to restore the Constitution, the judiciary, and lift the media curbs, and making it conditional upon the EU’s ties with the country.
Even during Musharraf’s present trip, European civil society has been equally vocal about the deteriorating state of human rights and democratic freedoms in the country.
For instance, on Monday, the International Federation for Human Rights (FIDH) urged the EU leadership to ask him to ensure a free and fair vote.
"Only strong democratic institutions and strict respect of human rights can serve as a solid basis to fight against any kind of extremism and other forms of religious fanaticism," the group said in a statement.
A day before, London-based Amnesty International also issued a statement, saying “Europe's leaders have the chance to urge President Pervez Musharraf to end human rights violations in Pakistan when he visits Europe this week.
"Amnesty International has collected a wealth of evidence on human rights violations and the breakdown of rule of law, which are sowing the seeds of a political catastrophe, with devastating consequences for ordinary people," said Amnesty International's Secretary General, Irene Khan.
"Arbitrary arrests and detentions, enforced disappearances, and torture and ill-treatment – coupled with pervasive political violence undermine the prospect of free and fair elections planned in February."
Given all of the above, Mr. Musharraf may end his four-nation European trip with a lot of self-praise for having helped improve the country’s image abroad, the fact is that this image will only improve only if the elections are not rigged.
