Q&A: &#39&#39We Plan to Handle and Control the Army&#39&#39

By IPS Correspondents Reprint | | Print |

Interview with Pakistan's Former PM Benazir Bhutto

KARACHI, Oct 9 2007 (IPS) - Of the 60 years that Pakistan has existed, a total of 40 have been under the direct or indirect rule of the army. Each round of martial law has left the army with even greater power and influence. The current cycle – that began with army chief Pervez Musharraf seizing power in 1999 – has been no different.

Hopes for the restoration of civilian rule are now being pinned on twice prime minister Benazir Bhutto, who plans to return to Pakistan this month from eight years of self-exile in London and Dubai. The daughter of Zulfiqar Ali Bhutto – a former prime minister executed by the military dictator who deposed him in 1977 – has vowed to send the army back to the barracks.

Bhutto’s return, facilitated by the National Reconciliation Ordinance, signed on Friday by President Musharraf, gives her and other political leaders immunity from prosecution against charges of corruption while in office. But the ordinance has since been challenged in court.

In an e-mail interview with IPS correspondent Karen Yap Lih Huey, Bhutto outlined a game plan – if she can return to Pakistan and her Pakistan People’s Party (PPP) win elections – to place the army under civilian control. This is something no elected ruler has been able to do. Not even Bhutto in her two stints as prime minister. The first lasted from December 1988 to August 1990 and the second from July 1993 to August 1996.

IPS: The army controls everything from defence to businesses and there are said to be, within it, those who are supporting extremism and terrorism. How would you be able to handle and control the army?

Benazir Bhutto (BB): Our first step is to separate the offices of army chief and the president. It is a negation of democracy that a serving army chief should also be the president of the country. The written undertaking given by Musharraf in the Supreme Court that he will doff uniform after his reelection and the nomination of the next army chief are steps in this direction. We would like the military sent back to the barracks. We are also aiming at restoration of the balance of power between the president and parliament.

The best way to handle and control the army is to make it work within the confines of the constitution and under the control of civil and political authority. I believe that with the restoration of the constitution and transition to democracy the army will be required to work within the confines of the constitution. That is how we plan to handle and control the military.

IPS: Critics say that you do not have the slightest clue as to how a soldier gets sandwiched between his oath as a soldier and his own conscience while killing Muslim brothers. What is your comment?

BB: I understand the conflict that you are talking about. A professional soldier is trained to follow the command orders. Any commander worth his salt would know how to provide a moral basis for the command order he gives to the troops. The formulation ‘killing Muslim brothers’ is a misconceived formulation with reference to the fight against terror in the tribal areas. The sort of conflict you are talking about is hypothetical.

IPS: What would be your ideal amendment to the constitution, if you return to power?

BB: If I can I would first like to do away with the powers of the president to dismiss an elected parliament in his discretion. Such powers in the hands of an individual over an elected parliament are undemocratic and a negation of democracy. I should also like to lift the military-imposed ban on a two-time prime minister from contesting election for a third time for the post of prime minister. Of course, legislation for across the board accountability of all institutions is also on the top of the agenda.

IPS: You mentioned the package deal with Musharraf: balance of power, reforms for a fair election, lifting the ban on a twice-elected prime minister. When do you expect these to happen?

BB: I expect these to happen in a phased manner. Some steps have already been taken like arrangements for shedding military uniform and amnesty against prosecution of holders of public office, against whom charges have not been established in any court during the past decade or so. The process will gain momentum as we move forward and general elections are held early next year.

IPS: Elaborate on what "a power sharing" deal means? Would this include the army as well since Musharraf has a hold on it?

BB: I would prefer not to call it power sharing because the issue of sharing power will come only after general elections to the nation’s parliament have been held. Which political party would form government will be determined only after the general elections. So I think it makes no sense to talk of power sharing even before national elections have been held and the will of the people ascertained.

Under a democratic government of the PPP, the army will have to be in barracks and do its duty to defend the country’s borders as its constitutional duty. We are not looking at the army sharing power with the civil and political authority. The army must remain subservient to the civil authority.

IPS: Self-exile for eight years must have changed you as a person (as a mother and wife) and as a professional politician?

BB: It has changed a lot. My husband was in jail in Pakistan for eight years without a conviction and I had to bring up small children as a single parent in exile, besides looking after my ailing mother. That has been a painful personal experience. That I was not with my people during all these years has also been a painful experience. As a politician I have always wanted to be with my people. Eight years of exile deprived me of being with them.

IPS: How would you run the country now in comparison to your previous tenures? Which issues would you give priority to?

BB: The most basic issues of the people are unemployment, poverty and lawlessness. Employment, energy and environment are the real issues and my government will begin by according to these issues affecting the people.

IPS: You mentioned before that you had better control in the tribal areas when you were in office. Things have certainly changed during the past years – 9/11 and the rising inflation rate and terrorism – in the country. How do you expect to tackle an uphill task after being out of action for eight years?

BB: The military government has relied solely on the use of force in dealing with extremism in the tribal areas. We believe that alongside the use of force, we also need to take political steps and improve the socio economic conditions of the people in the tribal area. Poverty and social isolation also breeds militancy. We will address issues of poverty and social isolation in the tribal areas. That is why my party has already filed a constitutional petition in the Supreme Court seeking the extension of Political Parties Act to the tribal areas. We want to bring the people of the tribal areas into the mainstream of national life as a tool to fight militancy and extremism.

IPS: It was understood that you tried to strike a deal with the army.

BB: I am not striking any deal with the army. I am looking at transition to democracy in which the parliament is sovereign and the military performs its constitutionally ordained duties.

IPS: Observers say the power marriage between you and Musharraf will not last due to conflicting interests, management styles and personalities. What is your comment?

BB: Time will tell. The constitution clearly defines the roles of the head of state and the head of the government. IPS: What do you think of the nomination of Lt. Gen. Ashfaque Kiani as the next army chief? He is a close ally of Musharraf. Does that bother you?

BB: I have heard that Lt. Gen. Kiani is a professional soldier and expect that he will not do anything other than soldiering. He may be a close ally of Gen. Musharraf but that does not bother me.

IPS: Your take on funds from the United States to Pakistan for the war on terror. Increasingly, there is anti-U.S. sentiment among Pakistanis because the country&#39s leaders continue to be dictated to by the U.S. government. Do you think the country still needs aid to fight terror? What would you have done?

BB: Terrorism is an international scourge and needs the collective effort of the international community to fight it. Yes, we need international assistance in fighting terror and militancy. My government will cooperate with the international community in the fight on terror.