A Desperate Tyrant: Musharraf as Modern-Day Shahrayar
by Aisha Gawad
You would think that political rulers evolved over time-changed their guiding principles, their tactics. But perhaps to assume that today's leaders have morphed into stronger, wiser versions of their predecessors is to give many of them more credit than they deserve. The mythical Persian king of One Thousand and One Nights didn't cease to be relevant in a very real way in the ninth century. The insecure and tyrannical spirit of the literary Shahrayar lives on in many of our twenty-first century rulers.
Shahrayar had a love affair with his sense of self-importance, and when his power was questioned or doubted for even a moment, he became desperate and cruel in his efforts to hold on to it. His own wife shattered his delusions by cheating on him with a servant. Rather than punish his wife and be done with it, Shahrayar decided that all women were a threat to his power. Each night he took a different wife, and each morning he had that wife killed so she would never have a chance to belittle him with betrayal. He was convinced that if he continued to suppress every subject, whether disloyal or not, with an iron fist, no one could touch him. Well along comes Shahrazad (the female narrator of the tales) who warns the king, through each story she tells, that tyrants, no matter how powerful, always get what's coming to them.
Despite the Arabian Nights' place as one of literature's most valued treasures, today's dictators seem to have forgotten - or perhaps they never learned - wise Shahrazad's warning. And who fills the role of modern-day King Shahrayar? Well, for this June week at least, it's President Pervez Musharraf of Pakistan. While there are many rulers more authoritarian and oppressive than he, Musharraf is buying into the logic that all he needs to do to remain secure in his power is to silence every possible voice of opposition. What he is now discovering, a little too late, is that with every one voice he silences, more spring up in its place. So, instead of safeguarding his control, he is growing more unpopular and more insecure than ever.
Musharraf's downward spiral only became really obvious in May when he illegally suspended Pakistan's top judge, Chief Justice Iftikhar Chaudhry, for his so-called "misuse of office." This move set off huge protests across the country, as Chaudhry's supporters accuse the government of trying to suppress the voice of the independent judiciary in an election year. Musharraf apparently thought that by silencing the right person, he could easily slide into reelection and continue to hold onto his post of army chief since, according to Pakistan's constitution, he is supposed to relinquish that title because the army chief is not allowed to hold political office. In exchange for Chaudhry, he got a country full of angry protests, the most serious threat to his power yet. And to worsen his miscalculation, the international press has been harshly criticizing the Pakistani leader.
Many of the peaceful protestors, particularly in Karachi, have been wounded or killed, and some, like former Pakistani Prime Minister Benazir Bhutto, suspect a group allied with the government to be responsible. As the protests refused to die down, Musharraf enacted new media restrictions, which gives the state more power to shut down TV stations and block live broadcasts. He quickly withdrew these new restrictions, however; perhaps realizing that he was only digging himself an even deeper hole with all the negative press it attracted.
Since its independence in 1947, Pakistan has had relatively little political stability, and Musharraf's reign is no exception. He came to power in 1999 in a bloodless military coup. He still retains the title of "general" despite his promise to become a civilian president. And now, to ensure that he retains the military title, he recently announced that national and provincial assembly elections for the presidency will be held before the general elections. The Pakistani parliament is currently dominated by a pro-military party, therefore holding these elections early guarantees his reelection as president while simultaneously enabling him to remain chief of the army.
Under his rule, the military has gotten away with all sorts of human rights abuses such as "extrajudicial killings, torture, arbitrary arrests and the persecution of political opponents," according to Human Rights Watch.
As Bhutto puts it, writing an editorial in Pakistan's Daily Times from exile in Dubai: "Instead of building the strong, stable, and 'enlightened democracy' that he promised after the 1999 coup, Gen. Musharraf has undermined secular forces-by openly rigging elections, clamping down on media and free speech, failing to pursue investigations of innocent civilians who have disappeared, as well an intimidating political opponents by any means, including physical attacks."
What Bhutto writes next would make Shahrazad proud: "Yet this tiger is clearly eating his own tail. Gen Musharraf's dictatorship is fuelling instability in Pakistan: Oppressed citizens, who are denied a truly representative government that can address their most basic issues, now seek refuge in extremism and religious fundamentalism. In return, their basic needs for clothing, food, shelter and health are being met by the political madrassas."
Tiger Musharraf is eating his own tail indeed. Just as Shahrazad warned King Shahrayar of his impending comeuppance if he continued with his tyrannical ways, Bhutto is one of the many modern-day Shahrazads warning Musharraf of his vulnerability to religious extremism. The more desperately Musharraf clamps down, the more insecure he becomes. If he continues this way, all his opponents have to do is wait in the side lines until he finishes himself off. Musharraf is oppressing and alienating his people so that he can cling to the titles of president and general. But if he's not careful, he will have just that: two empty titles and zero power, like Shahrayar with a crown and no kingdom.
Sources:
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/south_asia/6738735.stm
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/south_asia/6728207.stm
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/south_asia/country_profiles/1157960.stm
http://www.dailytimes.com.pk/default.asp?page=2007%5C06%5C10%5Cstory_10-6-2007_pg3_5
http://hrw.org/english/docs/2007/05/01/pakist15806.htm
http://hrw.org/english/docs/2007/05/06/pakist15848.htm
