ON MUSHARRAF COUP 2.0 IN PAKISTAN

ON THE BLEEDING EDGE

"Police battle Lawyers in Pakistan", states the headline in the New York Times story on the current situation in Pakistan:

"ISLAMABAD, Pakistan, Nov. 5 — Police armed with tear gas and clubs attacked thousands of protesting lawyers in the city of Lahore today, and rounded up lawyers in other cities as the government of the Pakistani president, Gen. Pervez Musharraf, faced the first signs of concerted resistance to the imposition of emergency rule.

An estimated 150 lawyers were arrested in Lahore after a pitched battle between police and lawyers who stood on the roof of the High Court throwing stones at the police below. Some of the lawyers had bleeding heads as they were shoved into police vans, and some fainted in the clouds of tear gas."

We're used to hearing about protests in the streets under an autocratic government, but they're usually lead by students.  Or sometimes by monks as the situation in Burma a few weeks ago.

But lawyers??

Mainstream members of the establishment, generally the silent majority, with a lot to lose for themselves and their families?

Out in the streets getting attacked with batons and tear gas-wielding police?

Not something one sees in the usual protest anywhere.

This time it's a bit different in Pakistan.

Haven't seen something like this in this part of the world since Mahatma Gandhi, a lawyer by trade, lead protests over a number of years against the British occupation of India and what is now Pakistan. 

And the stakes are just as high this time around.

Not only for them, but for us over here.  At least as important as the stakes for us in Iraq and Afghanistan.  Perhaps more so.

Comments

[Alex Tolley]

"And the stakes are just as high this time around."

Unfortunately the desirability of the outcome depends on who you are. For Pakistanis, overthrowing the coup and getting their democracy back, such as it is, should be important. Musharref has been very canny with his deals to stay in power, but he quickly reverted to authoritarianism when his hold on power was threatened by the judges.

The US has been a strong supporter of Musharref, believing he was an ally in the "war on terror". The US has essentially given Pakistan a free pass on the proliferation of nuclear weapons technology, while we are prepared to fight a war in Iran to stop them from even acquiring the rudiments of this technology. In effect we are yet again supporting a dictator who we think, probably wrongly, is a bulwark against Islamic fundamentalism. A pattern that we have tried and failed before during the cold war and our misplaced zeal to contain communism.