The strong showing by an alliance of six Islamic parties, the Muttahida Majlis-e-Amal (MMA) in Pakistan’s general election will probably be taken by the United States and its Western allies as an upsurge of extremism, especially since the major source of the alliance’s support was in Pakistan’s border region with Afghanistan, the North West Frontier Province. Such an interpretation would be only partly right.
The emergence of Islamic parties demonstrates, primarily, a rejection of the old bipolar political axis of Benazir Bhutto’s Pakistan People’s Party and Nawaz Sharif’s Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz. The bitter rivalry between these two parties often subsumed the greater interests of Pakistan. Both stood accused of massive corruption.
The second factor, but more important than the first, is ethnic. The people of the NWFP and the Taleban are Pashtuns. That is why Taleban fugitives could find ready refuge and protection in the NWFP. It was not ideology, but ethnic kinship. For that reason, the US attack on Afghanistan and the volte-face that Washington forced on Musharraf, with his abandonment of the long-established support for the Taleban regime, has angered most Pashtuns.
Washington’s financial and political promises in return for Pakistan’s support has not impressed them. The one payment they would have valued was Washington’s unqualified backing in its standoff with India. That has not come either. There is now a strong sense in Pakistan that it has been hoodwinked and betrayed by the Americans. The majority of MMA voters are deeply disturbed at the extent to which American power and influence has forced Pakistan to take a political line that is perhaps not in its best interests. The still very real possibility of further armed conflict with India does not make Pakistanis feel any easier at what they see as Washington’s manipulation. Yet, the strong Islamic vote may actually serve to strengthen Musharraf’s position and that of the political alliance which will form a civilian government for him. He may choose to represent the concerns of MMA voters and their disenchantment with Pakistan’s woeful political history as a potentially destabilizing factor, which must be addressed by Washington policy-makers. After all, though international observers expressed concern at the way the government manipulated the hustings, the actual voting has been declared to have been transparent. If the emergence of a strong Islamic voice in Pakistani politics causes concern to the Americans, it can be pointed out that it arrived in an entirely democratic way.
America’s problem remains that because it is sure that it is right, it cannot recognize genuine concerns about its policies and will not attempt to see the world through the eyes of others. The vote in Pakistan actually represents a condign reminder that there is a wider issue to be addressed than simply pursuing the goal of crushing international terrorism.
Whether Washington likes it or not, American policy is seen as anti-Islamic and the campaign against Al-Qaeda and the Taleban is viewed as a campaign against Islam. More than anything else, that is the message that the US must take from the unexpectedly strong showing of the MMA.
