VIEWPOINT: Our pretend democracy

It was exactly a month ago that the US Navy SEALS, violating our national sovereignty, raided a residential compound in Abbottabad to find and kill the world's most wanted terrorist, Osama bin Laden, whose presence they had used to wreak unspeakable death and destruction in Afghanistan as well as in Pakistan. We still do not know who hid him in that garrison town and why.
All we know is that our security establishment had no convincing explanation to offer. So it decided to take the cover of a democratic institution, saying that it would explain its side of the story to the people's elected representatives in an in-camera briefing.
Some have tried to make a big thing out of the appearance that the ISI chief and deputy chief of the air staff made before a joint session of the Parliament, describing it as some sort of civilian triumph in a country where the military either directly or indirectly exercises political power. True, this was the first time that men in uniform accepted failure for something before the people's representatives, and the ISI chief even offered to resign. But then they had bungled up big time, and needed the Parliament to fend off internal and external criticism. A weak and corrupt executive was more than willing to offer a helping hand. That enabled the establishment even to show some attitude to the Americans who were hurling accusations of complicity/incompetence its way. Unlike in normal times, when our leaders fall over one another to be with the visiting Americans, when Secretary of State Hillary Clinton came calling a few days ago to soothe frayed nerves, and addressed a news conference along with Mike Mullen in Islamabad, no one from the Pakistani side was present. That was not because they had nothing to say, they wanted to exhibit annoyance. This was obvious also from what information minister Firdous Ashiq Awan had to state at a media briefing later in the day. She said that Clinton was told that the government had every intention to implement the parliamentary resolution that seeks a review of terms of engagement with the US in the war against terrorism, if the US administration continued to pursue its policy of drone attacks and unilateral actions in Pakistan.
The US badly needs Pakistan's help to resolve Afghanistan, and to get over what admiral Mullen described as "challenges under which this relationship now labours." So it was willing to ignore some of the things it wouldn't have otherwise. Clinton iterated that there is no evidence that anyone at the highest levels in Pakistan government knew about bin Laden's presence in Abbottabad, also underscoring the need for acting together - as opposed to taking unilateral action like the Abbottabad raid. Clinton having managed to put the relationship back on track, it was soon business as usual. According to Prime Minister Gilani ISI-CIA relations have improved to a great extent, while it was admiral Mullen who announced in Washington on Monday that Pakistan would launch a major offensive in North Waziristan, pointing out "it is a very important fight, and a very important operation."
The operation is very important from our perspective as well, since the so-called Pakistani Taliban, causing horrific violence in our cities, also use the two Waziristans as their base of operations. The US interest, though, is in fighting the al-Qaeda and its affiliated groups, the centre of its attention being the powerful Haqqani network, a major source of trouble for its troops in Afghanistan. There certainly is a confluence of Pak-US interest in taking on al-Qaeda and other extremist groups camping in North Waziristan. Our side, however, is unlikely to take on the Haqqanis, who in fact are viewed as an asset since they wield considerable influence in Afghanistan. We have demonstrated time and again that when it comes to what our security establishment regards as core interests - in this case in seeing a post-war Afghanistan which is friendly to us - Islamabad-Rawalpindi accept no amount of money or any other enticement to change policy. It is fair, therefore, to assume that the impending fight in North Waziristan will be against the al-Qaeda type violent extremists, not the Haqqanis. Proceedings at a recent US Senate Foreign Relations Committee hearing indicated that Washington understands the issue, and would not be averse to the idea of Pakistan having the Haqqanis cut off ties with the al-Qaeda and bring them into the ongoing negotiations process with the Taliban. Still, as the endgame in Afghanistan moves towards culmination, there will be moments of disagreement between the US and Pakistan, but they will find ways around their differences.
What we need to worry about is the domestic front, where democratic institutions remain weak and ineffective. The establishment, aided by a pliant executive, had hoped that the unanimous resolution the joint parliamentary session had passed would be forgotten in due time. It mattered little that non-implementation would undermine the Parliament's authority. The resolution had called for the setting up of an independent inquiry commission to investigate the whys and hows of the US' military raid in Abbottabad, and demanded an end to drone attacks saying " such drone attacks must be stopped forthwith, failing which the government will be constrained to consider taking necessary steps, including withdrawal of the transit facility allowed to Nato." As for the drone strikes, they have gone on unhindered. When reminded of the issue during his press talk on Sunday, the Prime Minister resorted to his usual empty rhetoric, saying that no compromise would be made on the sovereignty and self-respect of the country, and that drone attacks are counterproductive since they unite the Taliban, frustrating the government's efforts to deal with the problem.
Thanks to a relentless campaign mounted by the Opposition after much foot-dragging, the government has finally announced the setting up of a five-member commission to investigate various aspects of the Abbatabad episode. Nonetheless, it looks like a mere formality rather than a sincere attempt to get to the bottom of things, and hold those to account who failed to do their duty, causing the people a huge embarrassment, a sense of insecurity and helplessness. The commission members' names have been announced without consultation with the Leader of the Opposition, whose party has strongly objected to the commission's composition. The establishment's apologists, of course, are trying their best to prevent a proper investigation, accusing those seeking to pin responsibility of undermining the nation's defence forces. Patriotism, as somebody famously said, 'is the last refuge of scoundrels'. Accountability will only strengthen, not weaken our security. We must replace the present 'pretend-democracy' with a real, functional democracy.
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