Blocking democracy

Musharraf proves unclear on concept

Wednesday, November 14, 2007

Democracy involves more than scheduling an election.

Gen. Pervez Musharraf, Pakistan's embattled president, fooled no one Sunday when he pledged to hold elections in January - while continuing to ban rallies, arrest political opponents and suspend other rights.

A legitimate election requires government transparency, freedom of expression, uncensored media and an independent judiciary that can referee the process if necessary. None of those elements now exist in a nation of 160 million people constrained by Musharraf's Nov. 3 declaration of emergency rule.

Musharraf, clinging to power with an iron grip, placed his main opposition leader, Benazir Bhutto, under house arrest for the second time since her return from exile. On Tuesday, she called on him to resign. He responded by suggesting that she had an exaggerated sense of her popular support.

"Let's start the elections and let's see whether she wins," Musharraf told the New York Times Tuesday.

The notion that a fair election could be held in an atmosphere of martial law is just absurd.

For too long, the Bush administration, as several before it, made unsavory bargains with Pakistan in order to achieve certain U.S. strategic objectives. With Musharraf, the trade-off was his willingness to help with the fight against al Qaeda and the Taliban.

But Musharraf has been less than a stellar ally. Al Qaeda continues to operate, virtually unchecked, in the mountains along the Afghanistan border. Musharraf has not allowed U.S. and International Atomic Energy Agency inspectors access to Abdul Khan, the father of Pakistan's nuclear program who is believed to have shared his know-how with North Korea, Iran and Libya.

A continued alliance with a military ruler whose forces are beating lawyers, arresting journalists, ousting judges and suppressing opposition leaders is not in the U.S. interest. Tyranny is not the antidote to terrorism.

In fact, opinion polls suggest that Musharraf's ouster, via resignation or election, would not turn the nation and its nuclear stockpile over to jihadists. A recent survey by the International Republican Institute showed that moderate opposition parties held a decisive majority; the religious parties combined would get about 15 percent of the vote.

The Bush administration needs to turn up the pressure on Musharraf. The United States should not be training troops, sharing secrets and selling F-16s for a general with no respect for democracy or the rule of law.