PERSPECTIVE on Pakistan

NMU prof keeps eye on turmoil in his homeland

By MIRIAM MOELLER Journal Staff Writer
MARQUETTE — Aurangzeb Syed says the media has not painted a balanced picture when describing the current power struggle in Pakistan.


Syed, a political science professor at Northern Michigan University, was born and grew up in Lahore, Pakistan, moving to the United States in his 20s. He later became a U.S. citizen.


Syed, who visits his cousins in Pakistan at least once a year, last traveled to his native country in July. He has been studying the political situation in Pakistan for years.


“I’m sad because the arguments of both sides are correct in theory, and they’re clashing,” he said. “The argument of the historically fragmented opposition, they are basically looking at the situation from the point of view of civil liberties. On the other side, Prime Minister Gen. Pervez Musharraf and the government is looking at the situation from the point of view of national security in terms of the expansion of the Al Qaeda complex.”


Syed claims that the purpose of the state of emergency ordered by Musharraf on Nov. 3 was not to suppress anyone or out of self-interest but to protect Pakistan from terrorism.


As for Benazir Bhutto, Syed said, she is not as democracy-loving and innocent as she seems.


“She is the self-declared life-chairperson of her political party which does not quite give credibility to her claim to be the ‘champion of democracy,’” he said. “She comes from an aristocratic feudal background and has never experienced the life of ordinary Pakistanis and allegedly amassed a 1.5 billion dollars fortune during her two tenures as the Prime Minister in the late 1980s and 1990s through corruption.”  


Further, he added that Bhutto, who is also a former prime minister of Pakistan, had to leave her country several years ago after allegations of corruptions warranted her arrest. She fled to Dubai where she went into a self-imposed exile. In October, under pressure from the U.S. government, Musharraf granted her amnesty and withdrew the corruption charges.


“This was a Western solution,” Syed said. “Bhutto is seen by the West as a moderate secular leader. Musharraf is also seen by the West in the same way. The West wanted the two to come together and agree.”


For her arrival, Bhutto wanted a glorious welcome, so she asked the people of Pakistan to parade her into the city, Syed said. The 200,000 people showed up against the warnings of Musharraf who feared a terrorist attack. Half way through the parade, a bomb exploded killing 140 people and injuring 500, Syed said.


“She said the government did it, which is a total lie,” Syed said. “The whole thing fell apart.”


Since then the two have been fighting for the power to rule Pakistan. Syed said unless the two come together, they cannot fight the terrorists.


“Either the state will survive or the Al Qaeda complex will take over,” Syed warned.


He added that the terrorists both hate Bhutto and Musharraf equally. However, from a national security point of view, Musharraf has been more effective in fighting terror.


For instance, In July, Pakistani law enforcement stormed a Mosque in Islamabad where Al Qaeda affiliated extremists had housed a school with some 5000 students, Syed said. The Mosque was close to the governments’ quarters and posed a threat to the state of Pakistan, Syed said. Leaders of the Mosque, the Ghazi brothers, were starting to challenge the government, according to Syed.


“The state had to act,” he said. “Musharraf ordered an attack on the Mosque ... that’s the day I arrived in Pakistan.”


In the attack, 100 were killed and 160 militants were captured, Syed said.


“It was clearly Al Qadea and a terrorist camp right in the heart of Islamabad,” he said. “This made shock waves throughout the world. If you can’t control your federal capital, what help are you in a global war on terror?”


But Chief Justice Iftikhar Muhammad Chaudhry, who had been working against the government and siding with Bhutto, released the 160 imprisoned militants, Syed said. Shortly after this order, terrorist bombings increased throughout Pakistan, he added.


Syed added that the people of Pakistan are sick and tired of both Musharraf and Bhutto. They are focused on survival, not politics, he said.





When Syed sees pictures on TV from places in Pakistan where people are supposedly demonstrating, he often recognizes the places, he said.





“They make it like the people have risen,” he said. “This is completely manufactured. They’re going for survival. This is the game of the elites.”





Syed’s cousins say both sides are wrong, but they favor Musharraf. He added that what the media does not report is that Musharraf has actually done some good things for Pakistan’s democracy. For instance, he created a district government, empowering people — including many women — of the local government.





“He reserved seats for workers, peasants and women,” Syed said.





The whole situation is warped, Syed added, criticizing Bhutto for presenting herself as a freedom-loving democrat. However, in reality Bhutto wants to be prime minister of Pakistan and she will not rest until she has that power, Syed said.





“She uses the right words, she’s a woman. She thinks she gets more mileage by taking this political stance,” Syed said. “She can criticize the ministers, but in this national security, she can’t give a voice to the state. This is not freedom, it’s anarchy.”