Gen. Musharraf’s Re-election: Who’s Gonna Stop Him?

"Democracy means majority, whether there is opposition or no opposition,” said Gen. Pervez Musharraf, military ruler of Pakistan, after he got an overwhelming majority in a recent “presidential election”. It seems that Musharraf is now out to teach the world what democracy is all about! What an irony! A military ruler who captured the power in Pakistan through a coup is now delivering lectures on democracy. Who has given him the authority to hold the election? He is nothing more than a self-styled "president" of Pakistan.

But, is there any real need for Mr. Pervez Musharraf to hold an election? I believe that he can stay in power as long as he wants. Because, military rule in Pakistan has become a normal thing for the ordinary people and they have accepted it as their destiny.

That’s why we can’t see any backlash against his rule all these years. The protests we have seen so far inside Pakistan are not against Musharraf’s illegal occupation of power. Some of the protests came from fundamentalists - those opposing his support to the US led operation in adjoining Afghanistan border. Another range of opposition came when he sent troops into Laal Masjid; that’s too from the fundamentalist groups. We also witnessed another nationwide protest by the lawyer community in Pakistan, when Musharraf dismissed the chief justice. He handled all these with ease and put himself back into the position of comfort.

But, no real protest from the general public or no political movement against his illegal rule. We have seen what people and political movement can do to a king in Nepal. Popular outrage has already started in Bangladesh just after a few months of illegal rule. The only exception is Pakistan, where people has learnt to live under military rules and compromised with their democratic rights. People of Pakistan show their anger against the US led invasion of Iraq, but not against the invasion of their own parliament and democracy. They come out to the street to protest against the killings of Taliban militants, but not against the person who threw out their democratically elected prime minister and his government.

So, I think, it’s a safe haven for Gen. Pervez Musharraf to continue his illegal rule in Pakistan with the blessings from the president of the United States of America, who considers Gen. Musharraf as a “trusted ally” in his so called “war against terrorism”.

But, I really don’t understand why these people are holding this drama of election? Is it to gain some sort of legitimacy? Is there any need for that? He is the “Boss” out there. He can do anything. Who’s going to stop him? People of Pakistan can’t do that, neither the US has any such intention. So, stay in power Mr. Pervez Musharraf, but please don’t call it a democracy for the sake of democracy.