Pakistan's Leader Vows to Establish Democracy

0 Comments | Insight on the News, April 30, 2001 | by Arnaud De Borchgrave

Gen. Pervez Musharraf recently spoke with Arnaud de Borchgrave, one of America's leading journalists, on key issues facing his country, including its support for the Taliban.

Demonization by the West of the world's most wanted terrorist has turned Osama bin Laden into a "cult figure among Muslims," says Gen. Pervez Musharraf, Pakistan's military ruler. In an exclusive interview conducted by Arnaud de Borchgrave, editor at large for Insight's sister publication, the Washington Times, and United Press International, Musharraf asserts that the world's Muslims are angry with the West because of complaints ranging from "the decline in moral values as conveyed by Hollywood movies" to a perceived pattern of attacks on Muslims in Chechnya, the Balkans, the Palestinian territories and Iraq. Wearing a tweed sport jacket and tan slacks with an open-neck shirt, Musharraf spoke at Army House, his official residence in Rawalpindi. The following is excerpted from the interview.

Arnaud de Borchgrave: What makes you believe that PaKistan can have a functioning democracy in place in the 18 months you have remaining in office, out of the three years authorized by your supreme court? Frankly, I don't understand how a very poor country of 140 million that is 70 percent illiterate and trying to cope with 2 million Afghan refugees can hope to achieve Western standards of democracy.

Gen. Pervez Musharraf: That is a very loaded question. But my frank answer is that I totally agree with your underlying assumption. The Pakistani environment is not fully conducive to real parliamentary democracy, as it is understood in the West. But at the same time, the demands of the whole world, particularly the United States, and of our own people, make it imperative that we give it our best shot.

I do not believe there is anyone in Pakistan who thinks we shouldn't have democracy. So irrespective of one's views and with the passage of time, and if we establish the conditions for the very essence of democracy -- which means beginning with the grass roots where there is none today -- I think we have more than a sporting chance by returning power to the people.

What we have to eradicate is the parody of democracy we have suffered, which was camouflage for the systematic plunder of the country by a political elite. We turn over the first new leaf next Aug. 14 with local elections. This will plant the seeds and start the process of establishing the democratic foundations for a new Pakistan.

de Borchgrave: To restore your traditional alliances, especially with the United States, doesn't Pakistan require a major voice that is respected both domestically and internationally? Right now the only Pakistani politician known abroad is [former prime minister] Benazir Bhutto.

Musharraf: Unfortunately, true. She is the darling of the Western media because they are not informed about what she really did in Pakistan. She is the one who let the country down.

de Borchgrave: Former President Farooq Leghari, who dismissed Bhutto, told me that between her and former prime minister Nawaz Sharif, some $3 billion was plundered from the country. He also said that about $50 billion had vanished in the last 20 years. Is that possible in such a poor country?

Musharraf: Yes. I cannot vouch for the accuracy of $50 billion, but I know it was many billions of dollars. As for Bhutto and Sharif, it was more than $3 billion. It all disappeared abroad into offshore tax shelters and investments through front companies and third-party names.

de Borchgrave: No one understands the Taliban in Afghanistan better than Pakistan. Could you explain what is happening in that country, where an Islamic tribe that lost its head engages in the kind of cultural vandalism not seen since Hitler, Stalin and Mao?

Musharraf: We do not attempt to rationalize vandalism. We regret it. We condemn it. It is an ignorant, primitive interpretation of Islam that is condemned by the entire Islamic world.

As to what is happening in Afghanistan, quite clearly after the Soviet Union withdrew its forces in 1989, the country splintered into small parts under the authority of warlords fighting among themselves. The Tajiks, the Uzbeks, the Pashtuns, all wanted their piece of the action. It was the dismemberment of Afghanistan that was taking place after the United States walked away from the 10-year war effort we conducted together and with Saudi Arabia to defeat the Soviet occupation.

The Taliban came in much later and reunified the country by force with the support of the Afghan people. Armed opposition groups fell like a deck of cards because they were up against people power. There is absolutely no doubt in my mind from everything we know that the people of Afghanistan are fully behind the Taliban -- drought and hunger notwithstanding.

de Borchgrave: Are you suggesting that the United States is responsible for these events after abandoning the mujahideen freedom fighters to their own devices?

Musharraf: To a certain extent, without a doubt. All their support walked away, and Afghanistan was left high and dry. The so-called Afghan Arab mujahideen returned to their native countries whence they had been recruited and where they now found themselves unwanted as terrorist suspects. Many then went back to Afghanistan. And many also came here or went to other countries in the region.