|
COVER STORY: PAKISTAN
"My Government Is More Democratic Than Any Elected
Pakistan Regime"
Despite being in power for almost two years, Pakistan
President General Pervez Musharraf insists on staying at his sprawling
army house in Rawalpindi. When he met Executive Editor Raj
Chengappa for an exclusive interview last week, he had just
played a game of tennis and excused himself for not being buttoned down
at the collar. Throughout the 40-minute interview Musharraf appeared confident,
articulating clearly his strategy for Pakistan and defending controversial
decisions with disarming candour. Excerpts:
|
|
|
Q. You have now been head of government for
21 months. What has been your experience of running the show?
A.
In the initial stages the problems were so many it was overwhelming. Those
were difficult days. But gradually I got used to my role. When I realised
that I could deliver, that I could evolve strategies to take Pakistan
forward, I started gaining confidence that it could be done. It is vastly
different though from running an army. The bureaucratic machinery moves
much more sluggishly and it can be frustrating at times.
Q. When you took over, the country was on
the brink of economic collapse and appeared psychologically broken too.
How would you describe the situation now?
A. There
is a sea change in the situation. Although we need to do a lot we are
moving in the right direction. The economy has definitely stabilised.
All economic indicators are positive. Governance too has improved. We
have addressed the issue of poverty and taken steps but their effect will
take some time to show. Political restructuring is well on its way. The
first part of devolution to the grassroots level will be complete by August
14 so I'm very happy with the progress.
Q. Your favourite phrase is "genuine
democracy". While you have held local body elections you recently
dissolved the provincial and National Assembly which had been suspended
when you came to power. So there is a political vacuum at the upper levels.
Aren't these actions contradictory?
A.
Well, yes, if you describe democracy to be the assemblies. But there is
more to democracies than just having elected representatives sitting in
the assemblies. Democracy has much to do with governance, with empowering
the people. This is the essence of the democracy that I am trying to introduce.
And we need to introduce it bottom up. So on August 14 when all the local
governments come into place at the grass roots level we would have real
democracy which was never there before. My Government is more democratic
in its functioning than any elected government in Pakistan. And I say
this with full conviction because I know the so-called democratic governments
that have been in Pakistan.
Q. Political parties say that you dissolved
the national and provincial assemblies because you were afraid that they
would not legitimise your presidency. Is the charge justified?
A. It
is absolutely baseless. Never in my wildest dreams have I thought of reviving
these assemblies and getting elected as president through them. I came
in because of the misdeeds of the previous government and elected representatives.
How could I even imagine that the very people I removed or who got removed
when I came in would be revived? It would have been absolutely unrealistic.
Q. There is also concern that you will amend
the Constitution and make the prime minister a puppet ruler. Would you
be making any radical changes to the Constitution?
A. I am going to ensure checks and balances. But that doesn't mean
that I want a puppet prime minister. These checks and balances were always
there in our system. In fact, the Constitution was amended and those checks
and balances were removed. The former prime minister completely usurped
power by amending the Constitution. So we need to have a healthy balance
of power between the power brokers in this country. We have seen that
there were no constitutional answers to political crises in the past.
That is why the army had to step in. I would like to remove these irritants
for a better, healthier, democratic environment in Pakistan. To that extent
there may be minimal constitutional changes. Certainly there will be no
attempt to restrict the authority of the prime minister to govern Pakistan.
The checks will be to ensure that he governs well.
Q. You have set up army monitoring cells
in every institution. Won't this become intrusive? Is this a forerunner
to martial law? Are you planning to permanently institutionalise the role
of the army in administration?
A.
No, certainly not. When I was thrust into power, we had to think deeply
whether to impose martial law. It was a major decision. In the past whenever
we imposed martial law the military used to take over the civil structure.
And when it left the civil structure remained as it was. So martial law
is not the right way of doing things. If one has to improve the situation
one needs to only monitor the civil administration and coax them to perform
instead of taking over from them.
So the monitoring system from the army that
I have introduced is not intrusive. They are there to watch, they act
as my eyes and ears. Wherever people are going wrong they report on them,
check them and punish them. And I must say it has had a very salutary
effect in that all over Pakistan there has been an improvement in governance
because of the fear of the monitoring teams.
Q. The GDP growth has fallen to 2.6 per cent.
So how can you say that the economy is doing well?
A.
No, GDP growth is not the only measure. A drought season caused the GDP
growth to fall below 3 per cent. However, if you remove agriculture which
is 30 per cent of our GDP and you take the other 70 per cent, the growth
has been 4.8 per cent. Exports have risen in the past two years by 20
per cent to touch a record Rs 914 crore. Revenue generation is positive,
remuneration has increased, our forex reserves have improved, inflation
has been kept low at 5 per cent. So all other economic indicators are
very positive.
|
METRO TODAY
Web
Exclusives
