Except for allowing its favorite religious leader Maulana Fazlur Rahman to peacefully lead a small protesting contingent of his followers to the Parliament building in Pakistan’s capital, the government successfully aborted the Feb. 19 anti-cartoon protest planned by the Muttahida Majilis-e-Amal (MMA).
As the protests continue it is evident that in Pakistan, there exists a great divide on the cartoon issue. While in condemning the caricatures of the Prophet (peace be upon him) unprecedented unity was witnessed, a sharp split is evident on how to respond. The overwhelming majority is opposed to a violent response; yet the politically vocal and active minority has viewed it as the “explosive” which can help whip an anti-Musharraf political storm. And throughout history it is the reaction of those who occupy the public space that is counted. Over the cartoons issue, the religious parties are in the lead to occupy public space. Other parties are still undecided about the extent to which they want to use this issue to craft an anti-Musharraf campaign.
According to media reports, the MMA president has led the effort to turn the anti-cartoon sentiment into an anti-Musharraf and anti-US movement. In the Parliament he said that the “protests against the publication of the cartoons also reflect public displeasure over the general’s (Musharraf) cooperation with the US and its allies, the Bajaur killings, army operation in Balochistan and rising prices in the country.” He accused the government of not doing enough to protest the publication of the cartoons. He blamed the intelligence agencies and “anti-Pakistani elements” for turning the Lahore and Peshawar protests into violent ones. It is clear that four factors contributed to the continuing scuffle between street power and state power. One was the inability of the government to respond to the continuing publication of the profane caricatures by taking any proactive steps.
The brewing storm over the cartoons should have prompted Gen. Musharraf to take an initiative to call a summit meeting of Europeans and key Muslim countries in a European capital aimed at a collective agreement on how to avoid a replay of the political mayhem that followed the cartoon publication. Earlier Pakistan did call a high-level meeting in Geneva to gather support for the Oct. 8 earthquake victims. This was the time to show if Musharraf’s “Enlightened Moderation” doctrine was of any relevance.
In fact no politician belonging to the ruling group proactively engaged with the public on this issue. The few including the prime minister, the PML-Q president and the chief minister who issued statements were merely reacting to what the public was doing and demanding. The PML-Q incessantly condemned the cartoons and then advised restraint as the protests increased.
Second, for most Pakistanis their government’s participation in the war on terror remains highly questionable. Its active opponents, mostly from religious parties, would not forgo any opportunity for public protest on terrorism-related issues including national sovereignty, independence of Pakistan’s foreign policy, security at home and the limits to Pakistan’s participation in the war on terrorism. The periodic violation of Pakistan’s border by the Americans, the global broadcast of the torture, insult and injustice meted out to the Muslims of Guantanamo Bay and Abu Ghraib prisons and the continuing disturbances involving Pakistanis in Waziristan perpetuate the public discomfort about the Pakistan-US partnership on war on terrorism.
Third, the absence of a credible and authoritative state structure. When the agents of the state, often the policemen, do not command authority and respect in the public sphere, it is then a free for all. Wild rage, fury, local militias and goons then reign the public sphere — as they have done in Pakistan in cases prompting church burning, gang-rapes and murders. Since the cartoon controversy the fear of church burning has increased. The rumor that a Qur’an had been burned led to the burning of a church in Sukkur. Continued mayhem does not only point to failure of leadership but also to the serious problems with law-enforcing institutions.
Fourth, these continued protests, both violent and peaceful, also reflect Pakistan’s broader political problem. There is a leadership vacuum at the national level. In Pakistan there are no popular leaders representing national parties. Musharraf has greatly complicated matters by giving virtually no space to the political opposition.
The government does not have its ears glued to the political reality of wide discontent. It is hooked to the conventional political calculations of our establishment — that the politicians are incompetent, corrupt and dispensable.
The establishment believes that politicians are prone to manipulation and should be controlled and guided in the direction the establishment thinks best.
Behind these incessant anti-cartoon protests there appears to be an altogether different problem — the health of Pakistani democracy! But the cartoon protests are unlikely to snowball into an explosive political situation despite the growing discontent with the current state of affairs, the rising inflation and the dominant role of the military in civilian institutions.
The only way democracy will become a major issue in Pakistan is when there are thousands of people on the street agitating against the government or when the whole opposition resigns from Parliament. Neither is likely. The protests are something the rulers will not allow. Resignations are something the parliamentarians will not countenance. In addition, there are very few signs of unity among the opposition, essential for such moves.
