Now that April is here

Collectively, we seem to be losing it in this month of April, Eliot’s “cruellest month” that mixes “memory and desire”. It could be the spring fever or the summer madness that stirs our deep insecurities. Deviant behaviour is gaining momentum at all levels. There are fresh intimations of seminal contradictions and confrontations.

Meanwhile, the saga of talks between the government and the Taliban continues against the backdrop of some major acts of terror. Once again during this phase, Islamabad on Wednesday was shaken by an explosion in which more than 20 persons were dead and more than 100 were injured. This time, it was the case of exploding guavas.

This explosion in the capital’s Sabzi Mandi came just a day after the bomb blast in the carriage of a train at Sibi station in Balochistan. As many as 17 persons, including women and children, were burnt to death. The outlawed United Baloch Army claimed responsibility.

Intriguingly, the outfit also claimed responsibility for the Islamabad carnage and said it was in retaliation to military’s operation in Kalat. The very thought that the Baloch separatists could strike such a blow so close to the citadel of power would be forbidding. In any case, the Ministry of Interior termed this claim as “ridiculous”. Intelligence agencies deciphered a foreign hand.

Expectedly, the Taliban said that they were not involved. Instead, their spokesman condemned the explosion and, yes, termed it ‘un-Islamic’. Targeting innocent people, he explained, was ‘haram’. There is no need, however, to go back to numerous other acts of terror in which innocent civilians had lost their lives. In a number of cases, the Taliban had readily claimed responsibility.

Well, these explosions wreaked havoc in a physical sense. Precious lives were lost. But there was another explosion that caused a large tremor in the minds of the people. On the face of it, the chief of the army staff made some simple remarks while speaking to the Special Services Group (SSG) commandos at a base near Tarbela on Monday. Yet it was a message sent to the civilian rulers.

Just one sentence stood out and stirred deep thoughts about our troubled history. Gen Raheel Sharif said: “Pakistan Army upholds the sanctity of all institutions and will resolutely preserve its own dignity and institutional pride”. And this became the catalyst for an anguished as well as heated debate on what it actually meant and whether it could revive tension between the civilian and the military institutions.

Even though there is so much else that baffles the mind, including the situation in Karachi, it is this statement that has attracted the most attention. Every commentator was tempted to conclude that the real issue was the army’s displeasure over treatment meted out to its former chief, Pervez Musharraf. Here, again, is an episode that is rooted in the essential predicament of Pakistan’s existence: where does power actually belong in what is supposed to be a refurbished democracy?

Indeed, Musharraf’s trial is meant to be a test case for democracy’s own dignity and institutional pride. It became possible with the advent of an independent judiciary – another national institution that is seeking to redeem itself. Besides, the government of Nawaz Sharif has been moving rather cautiously on a treacherous ground – until the possibly calculated outburst by two of his ministers.

After all this is over, Musharraf could be the central character in a dark comedy about the statecraft in a third-world country vacillating between a weak democracy and military intervention. Saad Rafique was very right in illustrating the antics of a patient lodged in the intensive care unit for so many weeks and then getting up on his feet to appear in a court. The entire security drill that was deemed necessary would be worth a long sequence to serve as a parable on the ambiguities of the dangers that we have to live with, individually and collectively.

Be that as it may, this became an additional source of polarisation that exists on different levels. The sense of how divided and vulnerable Pakistan is in its present circumstances has suddenly heightened. One question that has reverberated in talk shows, editorials and opinion columns is: what are the intentions behind the comments made by Gen Raheel? There was general agreement, however, that warning shots have been fired. It also means that civil-military tensions do exist in some form.

I find it instructive that these thoughts about the evolution of democracy are overlapped with some exceptional exercises in a democratic context. This is also why I have underlined the significance of April being here. There was this feature in The Guardian this week that I read with interest. Its title: ‘April 2014: six elections, one billion people, the world’s most democratic month’.

We may feel directly involved with two of these elections. First, presidential elections were held in Afghanistan on April 5. We know that the Taliban straddle the border between Afghanistan and Pakistan and we cannot be sure about where they are good and where they are bad. Irrespective of this, they are associated with violence and terror and it was feared that the Afghan elections would be marred by massive disruptions. But the turnout was very encouraging. Is there hope for peace in this region in a near or distant future?

The other elections that cast a shadow on our security landscape are being held in India, recognised as the world’s largest democracy. These elections began on April 7 and will continue until May 12. How this stretched operation in a vast area can be so credible is something for us to ponder. In any case, we should be familiar with the issues that are raised in India, particularly relating to corruption and religious passions. The big question is: will Narendra Modi, a Hindu nationalist, lead a secular India?

Indonesia, Hungary, Algeria and Iraq are the other four countries where elections are being held this month. Four of the six nations going to the polls in April are Muslim and whether democracy can function in these countries is an issue for us to consider in the mirror of our own experience.

Indonesia’s case is somewhat different. Parliamentary elections in the country that has the world’s largest Muslim population were held on Wednesday. It seems so far away but Indonesia’s is a success story. At the other end of the spectrum is Iraq, going to the polls on April 30. The country is struggling with full-scale insurgency.

We know that elections do not a democracy make. And we still have to figure out what it actually means and how it works.

The writer is a staff member.

Email: ghazi_salahuddin@hotmail. com