Pervez Musharraf

On Thursday evening we attended our first lecture of the St. Louis Speaker Series, put on by Maryville University. The speaker Pervez Musharraf was the president of Pakistan for 7 years, up until last August. He was president on 9/11 and has been an ally of the U.S. in the War on Terror, and has survived two assassination attempts by the Taliban. He also weathered the assassination of Benezir Bhutto, a political rival. He was both the president of the country and a general in the army for quite some time, and resigned from the army in order to be seen as a legitimate democratic leader. I'm not exactly sure about what happened at the end of his terms. The best I can understand it, he legally declared a state of emergency in Pakistan, under which he suspended the constitution and fired the supreme court justice. A year later, rivals threatened to impeach him because of this, and he resigned under pressure. He claims to be a champion of democracy, but I don't know enough about the inner workings of Pakistani politics to know whether he's really committed to democracy or not.

Mr. Musharraf spent the first half of the speech giving an overview of Pakistani history, which also touched on politics with and in India and Afghanistan. Part of me was embarrassed that a head of state was giving what was probably a 5th grade history lesson, but at the same time, how many Americans really know anything about the history of Pakistan, and what better way to learn about it than from its president?! I thought I'd share some of my notes from his history lesson:

• Some 25,000 mujaheddin (i.e. jihadists) left Pakistan to fight the Soviets in Afghanistan in the 70's and 80's.


• Afghanistan is made up of 4 ethnic groups, which were tenuously united under a king. When the Soviets deposed the king, it removed the glue that was holding these groups together.


• After the removal of the Soviets from Afghanistan, no thought was given for what to do with these 25,000 people who had fought. Restless religous warriors were attracted to the violent and religiously motivated Taliban.


• He expressed great bitterness that Pakistan had sided with the West during the Cold War, but when the Soviet Union collapsed and the wall fell, the attention was given to Europe and no recognition was given to Pakistan and the Cold War fight that had been happening in Asia.


• He said that 4 million refugees left Afghanistan once the Taliban took over and came into Pakistan (bigger than the population of some entire countries, as he put it). No assistance was given Pakistan from the West to handle the influx.


• He chose to recognize the Taliban government in Afghanistan, and was one of only 3 countries to do so. American gave him pressure to not recognize them as a legitimate government, but his thought was that it would be easier to exert control over them if he didn't antagonize them. (I wondered if this was a back-handed way of suggesting how the U.S. should recognize rogue states, specifically Iran.)


• The Pashtun ethnic group is a very large portion of the Afghan population, but Afghanistan has frequently been controlled by ethnic minorities. He suggested that this is why many of the Pashtun people joined the Taliban, because they finally had a voice. However, he made clear that while it's true to say many Taliban are Pashtun, it's not fair to say all Pashtun are Taliban. (i.e. it's not fair to point fingers at one ethnic group.)

He also made some other interesting observations, which I'll share in no particular order.

• Regarding Pakistan's nuclear capability, he implied that no one would care if Indian and Pakistan had nuclear weapons if it weren't for the fact that they've been at war over Kashmir since the birth of Pakistan in the 1950's. In other words, they both have fairly stable governments. (Note, however, he actually fought in Kashmir in his early days in the army, so I'm assuming I know where he lies on the issue.)


• When asked what he thought of Iran's nuclear program, he answered that if a country has an "imminent threat" from another country with nukes, it only seems fair for a country to have the right to also develop nukes. [What a nice self-justification for Pakistan and India!] He said that while Iran "has every right to nuclear energy", since Iran has no immediate enemy looking to take it down, it's not good for them to develop weapons and further destabilize the area.


• When asked what the misperceptions that Americans have of Pakistan, he said that Americans think there are weapons and bombs everywhere, whereas fighting is only in the border regions. He said Americans think Pakistan is all rocks and caves and rural areas, whereas the land is very diverse in its landscape, and there are lots of progressive towns.

Powell Symphony Hall, St. Louis Location for the St. Louis Speaker Series

I got the feeling toward the end of the speech that I was listening to a campaign speech, because he started talking about all the things he accomplished as president. I have to admit, to his credit, Pakistan has progressed in the last decade. He said that during his presidency, the economy grew by 175% and the per capita income increased by 200%. That's nothing to sneeze at. He also said emphasized multiple times that he's removed discrimination laws against women, he's emphasized education for women, and that now something like 12% of government officials are women.

When asked if he aspires to return to the presidency, he answered that since he believes in democracy, he's waiting until enough people want him back that he could win an election. (I guess that answer's a "yes" to the question.) That being said, I wonder how many of his comments about his accomplishments were meant for Pakistani ears.

It was a privilege to hear from a man who has been such a pivotal figure in a pivotal part of the word, and who might again be a part of the political process.