Ayesha Siddiqua: Pakistan’s Brave Woman

Six months ago I wrote about a brave Pakistani woman who has been relentlessly fighting the two arbiters of her country’s destiny, Pakistan’s army and the US administration. (See here…) When she was virtually hounded out of Pakistan, Dr Ayesha Siddiqa sought refuge in the world of US academia.

Here is Ayesha Siddiqua’s fresh salvo from the Stanford University as reported in the Chowk. “Ayesha Siddiqa said that behind the US support for certain elements of the Pakistani society was its specious perception of modernity. She noted that whenever the western media speaks of Pakistani politicians it inevitably looks for that person’s western educational credentials, for education from Harvard or Oxford. Similarly, the West considers army generals ‘modern.’

“She accused the US of strengthening the Pakistan military. ‘Military today is a giant which has strong political control, economic control, and a very dominant social presence; a military that has over 7% share of the GDP, which controls one-third of heavy manufacturing in the country, which controls 6-7% private sector assets. It has a huge economic presence. It is a constant story of uneven development, between different organizations and institutions.’

“Ayesha Siddiqa debunked the argument that Pakistan economy has always been in better health under military dictators. She explained how Pakistan had to pay a heavy price at the end of every military rule.

“That the ‘sham stability’ under General Ayub Khan in 1960s ended with the breaking up of Pakistan, Zia’s period of ‘stability’ gave Pakistan the Jihadi culture, and now the high economic performance era of Musharraf’s rule has given Pakistan gaping fault line in the society, between its secular and conservative elements.

“Ayesha Siddiqa rebuked ‘educated’ Pakistanis who look down upon the masses, call them illiterate and accuse them of being subservient to authority. She asserted that the real stability in Pakistan would come from its ordinary people and the latest elections had shown that these ‘illiterate’ people were quite capable of making intelligent decisions.

“Ayesha Siddiqa was still excited by the election results because ‘I as an ordinary Pakistani can say that we are not a failed state. The civil society is alive. These elections tell us that we are as ordinary or extraordinary as anybody else’.

“She impressed upon the audience that Pakistan was far from being a failed state—it had an active civil society. Analyzing the recent elections she said people did not just vote against Musharraf (through voting against PML-Q), Pakistanis also rejected other symbols of authoritarianism.

“She said the army can be kept out of politics if the civil governments negotiate with the army on military’s economic interests. Ayesha Siddiqa’s expectation from the Pakistan army was that of a professional force which would not interfere in politics. Just sit back, relax, play golf and not get into politics, was her advice to the Pakistan military.” More here…