The United Stated, that touts itself as champion of freedom and democracy, may not be good for Pakistan’s democracy, according to an article published by Foreign Policy.
Michael Kugelman, in his piece for Foreign Policy, noted that Washington’s policy towards Pakistan is actually widening the civil military imbalance instead of helping strengthen democracy.
“…Sharif is back in Washington. Unfortunately, democracy in his country not only remains incomplete, but has also grown increasingly imperiled. In Pakistan, the idea of any semblance of a civil-military balance is a sham — and U.S. policy, unfortunately, helps widen the divide,” he writes in his piece.
Kugelman talks about the 2014 anti-government movement led by Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) Chairman Imran Khan, and says that it was likely sponsored by the establishment itself to bring Sharif down. After the protests, Sharif gave up many of his portfolios and “his policy space shrunk swiftly.
The military swooped in to fill the vacuum. Ever since, Sharif has ruled more like a governor than a premier — he sets the agenda on domestic affairs, but defers to higher powers on foreign affairs.” Kugelman writes.
The piece talks about relations with India and how any hopes that the civilian government may have had to undo damage therein were torpedoes by a ‘hardline military’. Pakistan’s leaders have followed the breadcrumbs left by the establishment and pushed the anti-India rhetoric as well.
“The widening civil-military imbalance was crystallized on Oct. 18, when Pakistani officials divulged that Khan Janjua, a general who had conveniently retired just a few days earlier, had been appointed as the new national security adviser. He is accompanying Sharif on his trip to the United States,” Kugelman points out.
There are signs that democracy is trying to fight through in the country. Kugelman also references instances where democratic processes came through for the country, including the parliament rallying behind Sharif during Khan’s protests, when it rejected Saudi requests for Pakistan’s intervention into Yemen, and much more.
In previous years, Sharif’s removal would have meant that a coup was about to take place. However, Kugelman points out that right now the situation is different. “In the present era, however, the Pakistani government is already operating in lockstep with the military, negating the need for a takeover. The military has another strong incentive not to seize power outright: Rawalpindi likely reckons that it’s best not to be saddled with Pakistan’s staggering and arguably unprecedented domestic challenges. These range from energy and education crises to multiple public health epidemics.”
While Sharif is on visit to Washington not much progress will be made. The US interest in Pakistan is one that almost always focuses on security. “This entails a need to heavily engage and frequently charm Pakistani military officials… Washington pulls out all the stops during their visits to the United States, which tend to be quite long and sometimes involve awarding them prestigious honors,” the piece outlines.
In terms of Pakistan, the US has its priority on security and not democracy or the wellbeing of the country itself.
“At the end of the day, when Washington needs to get something done to serve its chief interests in Pakistan, one can assume it goes to the generals, not the civilians. This is incredibly ironic and misguided — given that the generals imperil U.S. interests in the region with their sponsorship of non-state militants — but nonetheless a fact of life for U.S.-Pakistan relations,” Kugelman says.
While Obama will meet Shairf, not much can be expected from the meeting itself. The many areas under discussion, including counterterrorism cooperation and nuclear security, are domains that lie with the military and not the prime minister.
“To that end, there is another Obama-Sharif meeting that is much more consequential than the one happening this week — a summit between the U.S. president and Pakistan’s military chief, Gen. Raheel Sharif, which is scheduled to take place next month (incidentally, Prime Minister Sharif’s visit was immediately preceded by one from Lt. Gen. Rizwan Akhtar, who heads the Inter-Services Intelligence, Pakistan’s spy agency),” the piece states.
