If Musharraf is trying to demonstrate how well he supports a democracy wherein other candidates are free to campaign regarding forthcoming elections, he is failing in full public sight.
An order for the house arrest of Benazir Bhutto was given and executed Friday (the middle of the night, here in the USA).
To many, Bhutto is attempting to run a campaign. But, to others, Bhutto is said to be by her very presence, purposely inflammatory, and is trying to rouse an insurrection to overthrow Musharraf. If the latter is true, that is no democracy either.
Bhutto is no Aung San Suu Kyi, as in Burma, the legally and democratically elected woman chosen by the Burmese people to lead them… at least until the bilious Senior General Than Schwe misused his military to overthrow the democratic elections, seating himself as leader.
But there are increasingly revulsive similarities between Than Scwe in Burma, who like Musharraf in Pakistan, is not only the leader of the country, but also the head of the army. One of Than Schwe’s first acts of ‘leadership’ after his power grab of Burma, was to banish the Nobel Peace Prize winner, Aung San Suu Kyi, to full house arrest …which has continued for these last dozen years.
Bhutto is far more aggressive than Aung San Suu Kyi, no doubt thinking such is necessary. But still, some see her return to Pakistan as one which has already caused mayhem immediately, a mayhem she ought have expected some say… as when her entourage was bombed last week. Bhutto was fine, but 140 Pakistanis were killed in the blast and more maimed.
Bhutto and Aung San Suu Kyi are not doppelgangers, but as time unfolds, it is startling to see that Than Schwe, the Butcher of Burma, and Musharraf, seem to be pulling pages out of a similar play book.
THAT, is a disaster for the people in both countries. Democracy: A governance elected freely and honestly by the people, rather a fiat seized by a single person who then causes the people to live in fear.
Dictatorship: suspension of civil liberties; imprisonment of perceived ‘enemies,’ silencing of radio, television, internet access and output, arbitrary rules made up on the spot by one personality instead of a reliable rule of law with case precedents; no legal recourse for wrongful arrest, abuse or intrusion; disappearances of persons while claiming no knowledge of what happened to them, confiscation of goods. Worse.
Pakistani opposition leader Benazir Bhutto has tried to breach a police cordon surrounding her Islamabad residence, hours after being placed under house arrest.
‘Get out of the way. We are your sisters,’ Ms Bhutto appealed by megaphone to police as her bulletproof car tried to break through their ranks.
“My father laid down his life for you and this nation.”
Fehmida Mirza, a close aide accompanying Ms Bhutto, told Reuters that Ms Bhutto’s vehicle, surrounded by supporters had crossed one obstacle, but a police bus blocked the narrow road at the back of the house.
Miss Bhutto’s comment about her father can surely be understood by those who know that fathers are often beloved by their adult children.
However, the similarity of calling for justice because of what happened to one’s father– or what someone threatened to do to one’s father– can make it seem that unleashing a personal retaliation is the stronger motive.
The world alreeady has enough of that kind of retaliation to last, since forever.