Is history going to repeat itself with no lesson learned by anyone? The Western powers or its backed regimes have time and again refused to accept the people’s mandate in rarely held free elections in the Arab world (for instance, in 1991 in Algeria and later in WB and Gaza etc). We all know the turmoil that this has caused hasn’t been in the West’s favour at all. Then why to again take that route?
Swords are out in Egypt as its citizens are facing an armed forces’ backed judiciary coup against their mandate. The Egyptian Supreme Court has nullified the last year’s parliamentary elections, practically giving the legislative powers into the hands of the ruling Supreme Council of Armed Forces (Scaf). Perhaps the Scaf-Judiciary nexus is looking forward to work with an incoming president who will have neither a parliament nor a constitution – that means the status quo is to continue. Swords are out even to cleanse the presidential elections due in next few days. Justice ministry announced on Wednesday that army personnel would have the right to detain civilians during the election period, later to be tried in the military courts. In other words, it’s reinstatement of the decades-old emergency law that ended just two weeks back.
Though the army has pledged to formally hand power to a new president by July 01, however, it may be merely a theoretical exercise as generals expect to continue to wield their influence on the state. Egyptians are rightly predicting very difficult and troublesome days ahead. It’s true that centuries-old customs of dictatorship don’t die in one day -let’s hope this difficult time will pass without much bloodshed on Cairo’s streets.
MASOOD KHAN
Saudi Arabia
