Takeover by bankers' favourite generals
Crackdown in Pakistan
In Pakistan on October 12, the army under the leadership of General Perez Musharraf took over control of the country from the Muslim League administration of Nawaz Sharif. Sharif was placed under house arrest, along with most of his government, and their bank accounts frozen. Only the President, Rafiq Taraar, escaped this fate.
While many in the west reacted with surprise to the coup, in Pakistan there was less surprise. After all the country has been ruled by Generals for nearly half its short life.
When Nawaz Sharif was elected in April 1997 after the dismissal of Benazir Bhutto of the Pakistan People’s Party under suspicion of corruption, he was very popular. Bhutto was fined £5 million last April after her conviction and remains outside the country.
Though Sharif had been in power before, and was himself under the shadow of corruption, Benazir had become so hated that there was a willingness to give him another opportunity.
His actions since then have completely squandered that good will – as is evidenced by the fact that there have been no mobilisations against his dismissal.
When Musharraf first took over, he did not declare martial law and indeed his statements were very unclear as to what long-term arrangements he intended to put in place.
For several days he was in frantic discussion with civilian leaders – seemingly attempted to find someone who was prepared to give his power a democratic gloss.
This attempt was not motivated by any concern for the rights of the people of Pakistan, but by something much more important.
With the country £20 billion in debt and the economy in tatters, it is the response of the IMF and the Americans that the General is concerned about. The Karachi stock exchange had fallen by 95 when it re-opened after the coup
On the other hand Musharraf must have been fully aware that the US had become increasingly unhappy with Sharif’s performance.
The state of the economy concerned them deeply, while developments in India have increasingly opened up the possibility that it was there that they should look for their strongest alliances in the sub-continent. That shift in American imperialism’s traditional allegiances had become very clear during the recent war over Kashmir.
Finally on October 14, two days after the coup the General declared a state of emergency – but not martial law. He assumed the title of "chief executive of the Islamic Republic of Pakistan" and suspended not only the constitution, but also the National Assembly, all provincial assemblies and the Senate.
The Senate chairperson and deputy chairperson and the National Assembly and provincial assemblies’ speakers and deputy speakers were also suspended.
Musharraf sacked the Prime Minister, all federal and provincial ministers and governors and the advisers to the Prime Minister and chief ministers. He proclaimed, "The whole of Pakistan will come under the control of the armed forces of Pakistan
While Pakistan was suspended from the Commonwealth on October 18 and Britain has suspended economic aid, major financial sanctions have not been imposed. Indeed Bill Clinton commented on the General’s pronouncements in an extremely muted way:
"A lot of what he said on the substance, including the conciliatory tone towards India, I thought was quite good. But I was disappointed there was no commitment to a timetable to move towards democracy, and I hope that will be forthcoming."
Yet again American imperialism has demonstrated the real extent of its commitment to democracy.