This was Imran Khan’s message to the students of Pakistan: “The students have to be mobilised to save the judiciary.” Whether or not Khan sees a political advantage in inspiring the students to rise up is unimportant. Khan sees the need for a revolt – either through political means, civil disobedience or even violent revolution – as necessary to protect Pakistan.
Khan fears that regardless of what the Musharraf junta does regarding the emergency, even if it was to be lifted tomorrow, renders the elections meaningless. Khan’s statement could prove extremely accurate. If Musharraf was not re-elected in the election, would he simply step down, or would he prop himself up in power with the army behind him? One is reminded of the old Ford quote “You can have any colour car, as long as it’s black.” You can have anyone as president of Pakistan, as long as they are Pervez Musharraf.
Another problem of perhaps equal importance is how will the current state of affairs in Pakistan change Pakistan’s future relationship with the U.S.? At the moment the U.S. still supports General Musharraf, although it may be fair to say that the support is far more tentative than it has been in the past. However, as the pro-democracy supporters in Pakistan decry the actions of Musharraf at the same time that they see the U.S. supporting him, the popular mass pro-democracy movement in Pakistan can quite easily morph into the popular mass anti-American movement in Pakistan.
This would be something that the Americans should be trying very hard to avoid. They already suspect that Osama Bin Laden and many of his henchmen currently reside just inside Pakistan on the Afghan border, if their suspicions are correct; they will need all the support that they can get from the future Pakistani government.
The political climate currently on show in Pakistan is not unlike that in Afghanistan during the period directly before the Russian exit in the late 1980’s. Groups from all walks of life formed alliances to drive out the Russian invaders, but once the common enemy had been removed, the alliances were shattered as various groups fought for dominance in Afghanistan, until the Taliban eventually won out.
The Americans, in their support for Musharraf, could be creating fertile conditions for anti-American ‘extremist’ organisation to be conceived and grow.