Freedom 0, Terrorism 1. Terrorists already have their airports, phones, technology, and vehicles in this nation. The terrorists have forced this democracy to turn into a police state, a gain in their ultimate push for revolution. The terrorists have more popular support than this nation’s government, and nearly succeeded in murdering one of this nation’s ex-Prime Ministers. The terrorists are frighteningly close to gaining their nuclear weapon, as well as an arsenal of weapons that could rival India’s in this country. Worst of all, this people’s government, the government charged with controlling and eradicating terrorists, has all but given those terrorists an impetus for revolution. Sound like Iraq? Surprisingly, it’s worse. Afghanistan? This nation envies Afghanistan’s situation. Is this Iran? Even Iran isn’t this malicious. This nation is, in fact, one of the United State’s allies, a nation whom we gave three F-16 fighter jets. This nation is Pakistan, a nation which is making itself more susceptible to terrorist rule by the day.
Pakistan, one of the US’s most important allies in the ongoing fight against terrorism, has turned into a nation more dangerous than any other. Only a few weeks after nearly losing its ex-Prime Minister Benazir Bhutto to assassination, Pakistan lost its status as a democracy when last weekend President Pervez Musharraf declared a State of Emergency, the suspension of the Pakistani Constitution, martial law, and the arrest of all dissenters on November 3, 2007. Pakistan is, in the words of Benazir Bhutto, “going to dictatorship once again,” in addition to being a safe haven for many al-Qaeda terrorists. Even worse, Musharraf’s declaration was largely due to his fear of losing power. After Musharraf promised to restore elections and end his reign over Pakistan by January 2008, the Pakistani Supreme Court announced a case that would question the constitutionality of the 2007 election that named Musharraf President of Pakistan. Musharraf, after hearing that the Supreme Court would expedite the case, declared a State of Emergency, and proceeded to declare that anyone who question Musharraf’s rule would be sentenced to a minimum of three years of jail time and a $70,000 fine. Musharraf subsequently sent his army to invade the Supreme Court and remove its chief justice from office, making clear the ulterior motives for his new, super-constitutional government.
If Americans seek to prevent terrorism from spreading within the Middle East, Musharraf isn’t the solution. He is, after all, not only a power-hungry dictator, but the perfect lightening rod for any terrorist organization seeking to grow its popular bases. Musharraf has, after all, destroyed democratic institutions, and has sought to suspend elections for two years. Musharraf has arrested Pakistani cricket hero Imran Khan, and has imprisoned many more moderates, on the grounds that he is “controlling terrorism.” Musharraf, furthermore, has- in the name of “regional stability”- American support, and has defied Pakistani will on many occasions. And Musharraf now has scrapped the Pakistani Constitution, censored the media, and curtailed the rights of the common man. To the average Pakistani considering extremism, Musharraf is the evil conqueror, the American invader, the Muslim traitor, whereas al-Qaeda is the defender of the common man—the holy liberator.
In declaring a police state in Pakistan, Musharraf stated that terrorism forced him into such regrettable circumstances, and that his police state will primarily attempt to curtail al-Qaeda attacks; however, the Pakistani government has simply let itself become the victim to the growth of an unprecedented terrorist organization. The impetus for the fermentation of pro-terrorist sentiments is clear given Musharraf’s already unpopular decision to declare a dictatorship in Pakistan. Pakistan, furthermore, is home to many of the terrorists who fled Afghanistan, and has sufficient technology and air facilities to act as al-Qaeda’s de facto hub. If the terrorists were to take over Pakistan, as it seems as they might do any day, Pakistani terrorists would inherit American F-16s, billions of dollars in already-donated American aid, and nuclear weapons. Pakistani terrorists in control of the Pakistani government apparatus would, effectively, improve on any base they ever had in Afghanistan, Iraq, or even Iran. Pakistani terrorists would be an unstoppable nation, a nation capable of thwarting American efforts in Afghanistan and Iraq, while sabotaging Indian economic developments.
The fall of democracy in Pakistan is, thus, tragic not only because an American ally has defected from the American Cause, but because our own ally could fall into the grip of extremist control, with a government more virulent than our minds can even conceive, a government that Musharraf conceived when he declared martial law in Pakistan.
