Media coverage, including live TV coverage of parliamentary proceedings, not to mention State legislatures, shows up many of our politicians in poor light making us often wonder why we elect such people to represent us and, worse, make laws that we have to follow. But, then, the shouting and the mayhem, the heated debates and sharp exchanges between rival political party leaders, can happen only in a democracy.

That our democracy is both robust and unshakable is reinforced each time the people and politicians of our troubled neighbour Pakistan have to wage a battle to restore democracy. A common cliché in Pakistan’s political history is that in 60 years of its independence, it has barely seen democracy for half that period — 27 years to be specific. But with the Pakistan Supreme Court deciding to flex its muscles following the unceremonious sacking of its Chief Justice, Iftikhar Chawdhury, by the President, General Pervez Musharraf, the clamour for restoration of full-scale democracy through a free and fair election, is growing.

After the Chief Justice’s successful restoration by the apex court, but not before a huge struggle by the legal community and civil society against the Musharraf administration through protest marches, procession, media campaigns, etc, now, it is the turn of the supporters of the former Pakistan Prime Minister, Mr Nawaz Sharif, to begin a battle for his return to Pakistan.

Ousted from power in a bloodless coup in 1999, in a country where memories of the hanging of another Prime Minister, Zulfiqar Ali Bhutto, by another military dictator — General Zia ul Haq — were still alive, Mr Nawaz Sharif was allowed to escape with his life. This, thanks to a deal between General Musharraf’s regime and the Saudi dispensation which facilitated his exile to Saudi Arabia where he spent the last eight years.

With another former Prime Minister, Ms Benazir Bhutto, also being prevented from returning to Pakistan, with a plethora of corruption and fraud cases filed against her, the ground was clear for General Musharraf to conduct elections and install a government of his liking. For instance, the present Pakistan Prime Minister, Mr Shaukat Aziz, a former Citibank executive, was handpicked by Musharraf to head the government.

But during all these years, the strings of power have remained in the hands of the General, who has increasingly come under pressure to either shed his Army Chief post or that of the President. Till now he has held on to both; if this required tinkering with the Constitution, he did just that. His moment in the sun came soon after 9/11 when he did a quick turnaround, dumping Pakistan’s long-term friends in the Taliban regime in Afghanistan, and made a grand declaration of joining forces with the US in its “war against terror”. At that time, the educated middle-classes welcomed this move seen as a warning to the Islamist ultras that extremism and hanging out with terrorist outfits would only lead them and the country to the brink.

Also, there was not much of a protest at the incarceration of either Mr Sharif or Ms Bhutto because each of them had presided over corrupt regimes and were facing grave charges of acting in the business interest of their family members and friends. While Mr Sharif hails from an industrial family, Ms Benazir’s husband, Mr Asif Zardari, had been nicknamed “Mr 10 per cent” during her years in power. In a country disenchanted with its political elite, there were not many to shed tears over the ousting of Mr Sharif.

But the General’s honeymoon with the Pakistani middle-class was a brief one, as over time it was discovered that all his tall talk about restoring democracy to Pakistan was mere lip service. The “democratically elected” coalition government he had put in place was led by mostly by “yes men”.

Also, there was no sign of the clampdown on Islamic extremism working, particularly in the north-western provinces of Pakistan, which not only share borders, but also religious and cultural ideology, with Afghanistan’s Taliban leaders put on the run by the US-led attack on the country in December 2001. As the judiciary and civil society, together with the political classes, began speaking out against the General, his fall from grace began.

It is well-known that General Musharraf has been rather desperate to clinch a deal with Ms Bhutto, under which she is allowed to return to contest the elections and he gets the Presidency as a gift for the favour. But Mr Sharif, who was lying low for the first few years of his exile, spoiled the party; aiding him to do so was Pakistan’s Supreme Court which cleared the way for his return by its judgment of August 23. It was politically naïve on the part of the General to think that one of the two principal political players in Pakistan would sit on foreign soil and simply watch the power game in his country being put in the hands of his bitter opponent.

Conciliatory noises concerning the recent meeting of the two leaders to restore democracy in Pakistan cannot go beyond a point. As the classic Hindi adage goes: Ghoda agar ghas sey dosti karenga tau khayenga kya? (The horse can ill-afford to make friends with the grass; it will only starve). Similarly, Ms Bhutto and Mr Sharif are bitter political rivals and expecting them to come together to form a grand political alliance is akin to expecting the Congress and the BJP to form an alliance and contest elections or form a coalition government.

It remains to be seen how the Pakistan Muslim League takes up the issue of Mr Sharif’s second exile. India has refrained from giving an official comment on this episode. Describing Mr Sharif’s deportation as an “internal matter” of Pakistan, all that External Affairs Minister, Mr Pranab Mukherjee, said was a terse: “We want a peaceful, prosperous and stable neighbour.”

Britain, on the other hand, has been more forthright. Quoting a spokesman of the British Foreign and Commonwealth office, the Pakistani daily Dawn said the British government had urged Pakistan government to respect the normal democratic process including the role of the superior courts. “We strongly support a level-playing field for fair and free elections in Pakistan that allows full participation of all political parties and their leaders,” he said, adding that due legal and judicial process should be followed in the case of Mr Sharif, who should be dealt by the courts under Pakistan’s laws.

Court battles and protests will continue in Pakistan to ensure that this time around there is no window-dressing of any kind and full-fledged democracy returns to their country. But one country and one man who can have immense influence on the General and make him see reason in restoring full-fledged democracy to Pakistan is the US and its President Mr George W. Bush. But if the US administration or Mr Bush succeeds in putting some sense in the General, the loser once again will be Pakistani pride.

How many times one has heard the lament in that country that its leaders — both political and military — have always been led by the nose by the US leadership and danced to its tunes.

Aiding the mujahideen in Afghanistan to take on the Soviet troops at the behest of the US continues to be a bitter memory in Pakistan even today. But if the General is put on the right course by the US this time around, a degree of relief might temper the jokes regarding ‘His Master’s Voice’ in Pakistan.

© Copyright 2000 - 2009 The Hindu Business Line