The Musharraf way

India is always on his mind. So perhaps it was only apt that when General Pervez Musharraf kicked off an electoral campaign for the April 30...

India is always on his mind. So perhaps it was only apt that when General Pervez Musharraf kicked off an electoral campaign for the April 30 referendum seeking five more years as Pakistan8217;s president, he immediately invoked comparisons with his neighbour.

Indian democracy, he said this week, is 8216;8216;a bluff8217;8217;. The temptation here would, of course, be to rubbish this as an undiplomatic comment, to lecture the good general on the dangers of articulating thoughts guaranteed to raise tensions at a time when the armies of both countries are congregated at the common border. It is a temptation that must be resisted. To summarily dismiss his words as inopportune and odious would be extremely myopic. Instead, all adherents to the democratic way, all well-meaning folks who insist that democracy is critical for the common good, should suspend instant judgement and sit up.They should take copious notes as Musharraf strides valiantly down the path towards true democracy.

Just compare, for one, the confusion and anarchy of the Indian variant of democracy with the neat, orderly countdown across Radcliffe8217;s old line. Here we are, celebrating the profusion of political contestants in election after raucous election.

It is so confusing, isn8217;t it? First one candidate leaps on to the podium with a stirring speech of what catastrophe his opponents are capable of delivering and what wonderful roads and employment opportunities he could secure for the area.

And just as one is suitably swayed, here comes another candidate, saying, oh no, it is she and she alone who can transform this anarchic belt into a veritable paradise. Choices, choices. Who does one believe? The absurdity of it all, imagine allowing each candidate to give his or her version.

Now glance at the Musharraf way, at the ease with which he has sought to spare his countrymen and women the mental agony of deciding who8217;s right and who8217;s wrong. Look at the aesthetics of the election he is springing upon them on April 30. There is one candidate, him and him alone.

His voters have just one choice to make: whether to believe him when he says he is indispensable if Pakistan is to successfully carry out its reform programme. And when he rallies tens of thousands of his faithful 8212; 8220;public servants, councillors and their constituents, plus patronage-seeking politicians,8221; as one Pakistani newspaper shortsightedly carped 8212; and lists the terrible failings of his predecessors, there is such comforting simplicity to it.

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For there is no question of bewildering the voter with any opponent8217;s version. For there are no opponents. For the general has decreed that there shall be none. And yet. And yet, to Musharraf8217;s probable consternation commentators and politicians in his land refuse to see it this way.

They actually clamour for competitive democracy. Well, some people don8217;t realise how good they have it till it is too late.