JEDDAH, 4 June 2007 — A key political aide to cricketer-turned-politician Imran Khan has described the current situation in Pakistan as a defining moment in the country’s checkered history. Ahsan Rashid, who heads Imran Khan’s Tehreek-e-Insaf party in the politically crucial state of Punjab, said people were fed up with the army’s repeated interventions in civilian affairs.
Talking to Arab News yesterday during a short visit to the Kingdom, Rashid said people were clamoring for change and an end to army rule. “The people of Pakistan have given their verdict. They have decided that they want the rule of law and not the rule of the army,” said Rashid, who left Saudi Arabia last July to join active politics in Pakistan. While in the Kingdom, he was president of Al-Hamrani Fuchs Petroleum Saudi Arabia Ltd.
The people’s verdict that Rashid was referring to was the massive show of support for Chief Justice Iftikhar Muhammad Chaudhry who was suspended two months ago by Gen. Pervez Musharraf on what the legal community describes as flimsy charges.
“The struggle for the reinstatement of the chief justice is the biggest people’s movement since the creation of Pakistan,” said Rashid. “Having given their verdict in favor of the rule of law, the people of Pakistan are optimistic that they will succeed in the coming months,” he said, crediting the movement’s success to the courage of the lawyers and the media.
Rashid said the only way to get the country out of the current mess was to reinstate the chief justice. “That is No. 1. No. 2: Gen. Musharraf should find a safe exit. No. 3: The chairman of the Senate should take over as the interim president. No. 4: There should be an interim government of impartial persons. No. 5: In consultation with the opposition, a very strong and independent election commissioner should be appointed to hold free and fair elections.”
The Tehreek leader said the role of the army must be eliminated from civilian affairs and reiterated that it has no business in politics. Gen. Musharraf, he said, has damaged the prestige of the armed forces. “He has brought the institution into disrepute. The army is not as professional as it once was. It is bogged down in developing land. It is into the business of real estate. This is not the job of the army.”
Rashid admitted that there was an element of fear in Pakistan today. “Our intelligence agencies and this Muttaheda Qaumi Movement (MQM) in Karachi, which is allied with the ruling regime, believe in third-degree methods to bring politicians into line. Everyone saw what happened on May 12 in Karachi. MQM goons were let loose on opposition party members who were going to Karachi airport to receive the suspended chief justice.”
Rashid alleged that the violence against the regime’s political opponents had the blessings of Gen. Musharraf. “Gen. Musharraf played the MQM card to browbeat the opposition. Thanks to the media, the private television channels, especially Aaj TV, people saw what happened. Everyone in Pakistan knows who the culprit was. It was clearly the MQM.” In the violence in Karachi on May 12, MQM goons were seen killing their opponents on live television. Forty were killed, including 12 activists belonging to Imran Khan’s party.
Rashid heaped fulsome praise on his party chief for taking the fight into the MQM camp. “Imran Khan is riding a wave of popularity with his no-nonsense plain talk against these criminals whose boss is based in London,” he said. (Imran Khan arrived in London on Saturday to launch legal proceedings in British courts against MQM chief Altaf Hussain.)
“I am glad there is somebody in the country to speak the truth,” said Rashid. “Imran Khan has been a very upright man. He has always spoken the truth even if it was not in his interest. He is the first politician to stand up to the atrocities of the MQM.”
Rashid echoed what Imran Khan said about MQM. “It is a fascist party. The MQM has been holding Karachi hostage for the last 20 years. They have been extorting money from people; they have been eliminating people who do not agree with them, and basically it is more like the Nazi party in Germany when Hitler was winning elections at gunpoint.”
Likening the MQM chief to a mafia don, Rashid said: “Here is a man who ran away from the army and who sought political refuge in the UK. Now he is Gen. Musharraf’s partner. He refuses to come back to Pakistan. That is not understandable.”
Rashid said that as with the mafia, once you join MQM, you cannot leave. “Where is he getting the money to live in London? What income does he have? What factories is he running in Pakistan and in the UK? It is all extortion money being supplied to him from Karachi by his army of goons.”
The Lahore-based politician said he did not regret leaving the cushy job in Jeddah for the rough and tumble of Pakistani politics. “Not for a moment do I regret the job I am doing now. It is very challenging. I have never worked harder in my life than I am now. I find it rewarding in the sense that I am making a very positive contribution which hopefully will one day lead to a change in Pakistan.”
