Where do dictators go when their time’s up? Some get executed; such as the Romanian dictator Nicolae Ceausescu who, along with his wife, was shot dead by a firing squad in the 80s. Some retire after a successful tenure of coup d’état like Turkey’s Kenan Evren, who is now being held accountable for his deeds. Some have to be forced to retire like General Pervez Musharraf who was offered a quid pro quo deal: safe exit in exchange for a resignation. The fact that he stashed away enough money to live a lavish life in Dubai is a moot point.
A few manage to escape to Saudi Arabia where they buy their own groceries making awkward rounds in superstores with their shopping carts, like Ugandan dictator Idi Amin. Some, like African dictator Jean-Bedel Bokassa, are fortunate enough to migrate to France where they buy luxury houses and spend their days lazily strolling down the Avenue des Champs-Elysees, dreaming of the good old days. Some, like General Qaddafi, live as dictators and die as dictators.
Truth be told, a dictator’s fall precedes the downfall of the country that he once dictated. Look at Africa, Uganda, Romania, Egypt and Pakistan. Some autocrats leave behind such legacies that even at a time of civilian rule, their ghosts continue to haunt us. Hence, we must cleanse our countries from negative spirits by exorcising them.
In Pakistan, such an attempt has been launched by the name of the Mehran Bank Scandal. This scandal focuses on Pakistan’s military, which overstepped its role (as always) and interfered in Pakistan’s politics in 1990 by supporting the Islami Jamhoori Ittehad to ensure a dismal defeat for the Pakistan Peoples Party. A sum of 350 to 400 million rupees was distributed to various political figures ranging from Abida Hussain (strangely she is now a PPP leader) to Nawaz Sharif (interestingly, who now voices an anti-establishment rhetoric), Pir Pagara and Ghulam Mustafa Jatoi. Pagara and Jatoi are no longer alive to give their side of the story, but even those living today, refuse to talk.
The main accused in the scandal are General (r) Aslam Beg and former ISI Chief Lieutenant General (r) Asad Durrani, who under the gracious auspices of President Ghulam Ishaq Khan, took up the task of wooing PPP opponents with hard cash. Like always, the media is hell-bent upon chasing after those who supposedly took the money, rather than focusing on who distributed some of it, while pocketing most of it themselves. The military brass, who else? They snaffled a hefty sum of 140 million rupees. How’s that for an additional figure to add to the sovereign state’s defence budget?
The petition filed by Air Marshal (r) Asghar Khan, after being put on the backburner for almost 16 years, is now back in court. It’s interesting to see Generals Beg and Durrani reveal their dark side. The former president of Mehran Bank, Younis Habib has, meanwhile admitted to providing them with the said amount – all in the name of the country’s greater good – and tendered an unconditional apology for his role in the act. General Beg however, is not asking for forgiveness. Instead, he is lauding the court for helping him achieve his hat-trick for appearing before the court.
Unfortunately for Beg, his smugness didn’t impress the chief justice much. Thankfully for the general, Akram Sheikh came to his rescue just in time. First, Mansoor Ijaz; now having to manage the general’s ego, Sheikh has a daunting task ahead. General Durrani, meanwhile, has filed an affidavit that does not contradict anything said by Younis Habib. No mean feat since he was the DG ISI when this act was being played out. Additionally, Durrani, in his affidavit, disclosed the involvement of the head of the military intelligence in disbursing funds to politicians. The plot thickens.
But the question is simple. What can be the implications of such exposés? I asked Asghar Khan’s lawyer, Salman Akram Raja, who replied with a question: “Are scalps of punished generals and politicians necessary? Can the exposure already made not be reported as the event itself?”
According to Raja, if the media links the success of this case with immediate successful prosecution of army officers and politicians then it might feel let down. “We should look to inject public morality into our political discourse, says Raja before adding: “Politicians on the take should be scorned as election frauds, puppets on a string.”
In Pakistan, the eclipse of the power of generals has diminished somewhat in the last few years. The military establishment – over the last four years – has played smart. For a change, the Pakistani ‘dictator’ has not been a uniformed general laden with guns and tanks. This time round, energies have been focused on mobilising a powerful web of loyal journalists and politicians, who in turn, dedicate their lives to undermining the present civilian government. If only wishes were horses, this government would have been ousted via a television show in its first few months, or more recently, been swept away in the tsunami of change. By no means would I want to take credit away from the present government which has done enough on its own to destabilise itself. But it is still an elected government and it must be ousted in a democratic way.
That is one lesson that our establishment refuses to learn. If it’s not a dictator taking over our country’s affairs, it is the tyrannical thought that drives this country into a state of abyss. The media must see the Mehrangate scam as an opportunity to demand an end to the pervasive role of our intelligence agencies in Balochistan, and get answers to simple queries like why some persons go missing. Questions must not start and end with why money was distributed back in 1990, but we must talk about the military’s role at present and the limits that need to be imposed. Raja is keen to point out that “court proceedings are cathartic rhetorical events and that they can help change the national mood.”
The fact of the matter is that no national security state will become an iridescent democracy overnight. No judgment will help change the mindset of some self-righteous, ambitious generals. But Mehrangate may be the first solid step in exorcising the dictatorial demons that continue to plague democratic regimes. But exorcism is tricky; it will fail if the spirit manages to retreat to the nearest vacuum left by bad governance. It’s time (once again) for the civilian government to please stand up – not to your own political victimisation woes, (not more of that again, please) but to assert control and ensure civilian authority.
A few manage to escape to Saudi Arabia where they buy their own groceries making awkward rounds in superstores with their shopping carts, like Ugandan dictator Idi Amin. Some, like African dictator Jean-Bedel Bokassa, are fortunate enough to migrate to France where they buy luxury houses and spend their days lazily strolling down the Avenue des Champs-Elysees, dreaming of the good old days. Some, like General Qaddafi, live as dictators and die as dictators.
Truth be told, a dictator’s fall precedes the downfall of the country that he once dictated. Look at Africa, Uganda, Romania, Egypt and Pakistan. Some autocrats leave behind such legacies that even at a time of civilian rule, their ghosts continue to haunt us. Hence, we must cleanse our countries from negative spirits by exorcising them.
In Pakistan, such an attempt has been launched by the name of the Mehran Bank Scandal. This scandal focuses on Pakistan’s military, which overstepped its role (as always) and interfered in Pakistan’s politics in 1990 by supporting the Islami Jamhoori Ittehad to ensure a dismal defeat for the Pakistan Peoples Party. A sum of 350 to 400 million rupees was distributed to various political figures ranging from Abida Hussain (strangely she is now a PPP leader) to Nawaz Sharif (interestingly, who now voices an anti-establishment rhetoric), Pir Pagara and Ghulam Mustafa Jatoi. Pagara and Jatoi are no longer alive to give their side of the story, but even those living today, refuse to talk.
The main accused in the scandal are General (r) Aslam Beg and former ISI Chief Lieutenant General (r) Asad Durrani, who under the gracious auspices of President Ghulam Ishaq Khan, took up the task of wooing PPP opponents with hard cash. Like always, the media is hell-bent upon chasing after those who supposedly took the money, rather than focusing on who distributed some of it, while pocketing most of it themselves. The military brass, who else? They snaffled a hefty sum of 140 million rupees. How’s that for an additional figure to add to the sovereign state’s defence budget?
The petition filed by Air Marshal (r) Asghar Khan, after being put on the backburner for almost 16 years, is now back in court. It’s interesting to see Generals Beg and Durrani reveal their dark side. The former president of Mehran Bank, Younis Habib has, meanwhile admitted to providing them with the said amount – all in the name of the country’s greater good – and tendered an unconditional apology for his role in the act. General Beg however, is not asking for forgiveness. Instead, he is lauding the court for helping him achieve his hat-trick for appearing before the court.
Unfortunately for Beg, his smugness didn’t impress the chief justice much. Thankfully for the general, Akram Sheikh came to his rescue just in time. First, Mansoor Ijaz; now having to manage the general’s ego, Sheikh has a daunting task ahead. General Durrani, meanwhile, has filed an affidavit that does not contradict anything said by Younis Habib. No mean feat since he was the DG ISI when this act was being played out. Additionally, Durrani, in his affidavit, disclosed the involvement of the head of the military intelligence in disbursing funds to politicians. The plot thickens.
But the question is simple. What can be the implications of such exposés? I asked Asghar Khan’s lawyer, Salman Akram Raja, who replied with a question: “Are scalps of punished generals and politicians necessary? Can the exposure already made not be reported as the event itself?”
According to Raja, if the media links the success of this case with immediate successful prosecution of army officers and politicians then it might feel let down. “We should look to inject public morality into our political discourse, says Raja before adding: “Politicians on the take should be scorned as election frauds, puppets on a string.”
In Pakistan, the eclipse of the power of generals has diminished somewhat in the last few years. The military establishment – over the last four years – has played smart. For a change, the Pakistani ‘dictator’ has not been a uniformed general laden with guns and tanks. This time round, energies have been focused on mobilising a powerful web of loyal journalists and politicians, who in turn, dedicate their lives to undermining the present civilian government. If only wishes were horses, this government would have been ousted via a television show in its first few months, or more recently, been swept away in the tsunami of change. By no means would I want to take credit away from the present government which has done enough on its own to destabilise itself. But it is still an elected government and it must be ousted in a democratic way.
That is one lesson that our establishment refuses to learn. If it’s not a dictator taking over our country’s affairs, it is the tyrannical thought that drives this country into a state of abyss. The media must see the Mehrangate scam as an opportunity to demand an end to the pervasive role of our intelligence agencies in Balochistan, and get answers to simple queries like why some persons go missing. Questions must not start and end with why money was distributed back in 1990, but we must talk about the military’s role at present and the limits that need to be imposed. Raja is keen to point out that “court proceedings are cathartic rhetorical events and that they can help change the national mood.”
The fact of the matter is that no national security state will become an iridescent democracy overnight. No judgment will help change the mindset of some self-righteous, ambitious generals. But Mehrangate may be the first solid step in exorcising the dictatorial demons that continue to plague democratic regimes. But exorcism is tricky; it will fail if the spirit manages to retreat to the nearest vacuum left by bad governance. It’s time (once again) for the civilian government to please stand up – not to your own political victimisation woes, (not more of that again, please) but to assert control and ensure civilian authority.
