Political crisis provokes Pakistan's middle class, overshadows fundamentalists

Kathy Gannon, THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
ISLAMABAD, Pakistan - Nadia Chaudhry's hands trembled in the cold night air as she held a candle at a protest against Pakistan's emergency rule, the government's firing of judges and jailing of civil rights activists.

The demonstration was a first for the 23-year-old law student, who says she's taking up a democracy torch that was dropped years ago.

"Demonstrations by people like me are not part of our society any more," she said. "Before in Pakistan during Zia's time there used to be demonstrations by people like me, students and others," Chaudhry said, referring to resistance to 1980s military dictator Gen. Zia-ul Haq.

Pakistan's moderate, largely middle class civil society in recent years has been traumatized into silence by the country's political chaos and a succession of martial laws. Instead, protests had been dominated by angry Islamic fundamentalists ripping down placards that pictured women, burning music and video discs, and shouting slogans demanding Islamic law.

That started to change last March. Pakistan's president and military ruler, Gen. Pervez Musharraf sacked the country's chief justice, sparking a protest by lawyers. The Supreme Court later forced Musharraf to reinstate Chaudhry, but the seeds of dissent didn't go away.

Today's demonstrations aren't driven by religious zealots, but instead "by people who talk only of rule of law and democracy," says human rights activist and columnist I.A. Rahman. "From the beginning in March with the lawyers' agitation, this acquired the distinction as a secular movement."

Since March, protests have grown from the lawyers to include physicians, media personalities, university professors and students.

"We are all educated, professionals. We all suffer when there is no merit, no transparency, no rule of law," said Dr. Saddiq Abbasi of the Pakistan Medical Association. "We all had a hope that as long as there was an independent judiciary we can claim our rights."

Demonstrations escalated after Nov. 3 when Musharraf imposed emergency rule.

Army chief of staff at the time, Musharraf declared the emergency in order to sack Supreme Court judges. The court had become increasingly independent and appeared ready to rule that his election as president violated the constitution.

Musharraf has since rewritten parts of the constitution, giving his hand-picked judges the right to dismiss lawyers and installing a Supreme Court loyal to him. He has promised to lift the emergency rule and hold general elections on Jan. 8.

Almost daily protests throughout Pakistan have called for an election boycott to press for restoration of the judiciary. The largest political parties, while participating in elections, are warning of widespread vote-rigging by Musharraf.

A poll released this week by the International Republican Institute, a U.S. government-sponsored group, indicated 60 per cent of Pakistanis disapprove of the job Musharraf is doing. The finding that could foretell trouble for his party in the upcoming parliamentary elections.

The poll said 83 per cent of Pakistanis oppose emergency rule, and most supported the ongoing demonstrations. The protests often are small, only in the dozens or hundreds, but continuous.

"Pakistan's (demonstrating) citizens admittedly are relatively small in number yet huge in impact, commitment, conviction and moral legitimacy, have occupied public space and are leading Pakistan's first-ever movement politics in the age of the information revolution," said Nasim Zehra, a security analyst and columnist.

Internet-savvy students and professors sidestepped mainstream and government-controlled news by setting up websites and blogs to encourage students to demonstrate. Websites spread the word about demonstrations, urge participation, and report on students and professors arrested or charged.

Cellphone text messages announce the location of demonstrations. Each message ends with the same directive: "Pass it on".

Educated Pakistanis now "are not only conscious of their rights but are ready and willing to take to the streets to fight for them," said Ayesha Jalal, an expert on South Asia at Tufts University.

© The Canadian Press, 2007