By Ershad Mahmud
Islamabad – Many Western media and policymakers appear preoccupied with the danger of Pakistan’s nuclear weapons falling into the hands of extremists– whether small terrorist groups or organized political parties who may try to take power in upcoming elections. Their immediate concern is not the independence of the judiciary or the establishment of democracy, but rather Pakistan’s internal stability in the immediate-term, and the protection of certain Western interests abroad.
That’s a mistake. By focusing almost exclusively on the ‘terrorist threat’, these individuals are in fact supporting the government’s imposition of emergency rule. This focus has helped divide international opinion over President Musharraf’s recent declaration of emergency rule: although most commentators share in widespread condemnation of recent undemocratic actions under emergency rule, international opinion is now divided over whether “terrorist threats” may have justified Musharraf’s initial decision to impose it.
President Musharraf took full advantage of these Western apprehensions when he denounced the judiciary as a terrorist ally. However, this argument was turned upside-down when the same judges who had passed orders to release some of the Red Mosque’s alleged terrorists were sworn in under the PCO.
There are many indicators that Western worries about terrorism are unfounded. To date, the army has not faced any significant internal strife from Pakistani terrorist groups. Domestically, such individuals have limited social sanctity and are referred to as terrorists, not freedom fighters or revolutionaries. Thus the survival of armed vigilantes in Pakistan is unlikely in the long run, irrespective of who leads the country, due to such groups’ illegitimacy in the eyes of the people.
The same is true for al-Qaeda, which is a foreign outfit with no significant domestic support. The fear that such groups can take control of Pakistan’s nuclear arsenal seems exaggerated. This is not meant to trivialize real concerns about growing radicalization; however, an exclusive focus on this issue simplifies the situation, ignoring the actual diversity in Pakistani culture and politics.
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