On the night of Saturday, Nov. 3, Pakistani President General Pervez Musharraf declared a state of emergency throughout his country. In doing so, he suspended the constitution, fired the chief justice of the Supreme Court, shut down many media outlets and filled the capital city of Islamabad with police officers.
The state of emergency, which has effectively placed Pakistan under martial law, is still in effect, with protests being roughly shut down and opposition leaders being placed under house arrest. The move has drawn strong words from U.S. leaders, who say it threatens democracy in the country, and has gained steady media attention as a potential cause of upheaval in the region.
At Tufts, where many members of the university's thriving international relations community come from Pakistan, the situation has been discussed and analyzed throughout the past week. Pakistani students and professors interviewed agreed that the state of emergency is a ploy for power by Musharraf, but they were optimistic that his decline ultimately may lead to democracy in Pakistan.
Adil Najam, an associate professor of international negotiation and diplomacy at the Fletcher School of Law and Diplomacy who is originally from Islamabad, has been traveling to Pakistan and writing regular op-ed columns in a Pakistani newspaper. Najam said that the events currently taking place in Pakistan have been in the making for some time.
"The situation has been bad for maybe a year," Najam said. "It's not just what happened on [Nov. 3]."
Senior Rida Bilgrami agreed. She moved from Pakistan to the United States when she was 17 and her father still works in Islamabad. She said she sees the current situation as another in a string of political problems for Pakistan.
"During the years when I was growing up there, there [were] always a lot of political situations," Bilgrami said. "So this is something that's been building up for a while ... it's not something that's come out of the blue."
Musharraf has claimed that the state of emergency is necessary to curb extremist elements and secure the transition to democracy. Many, however, believe that Musharraf is using his military influence to protect his political power in the face of increasing challenges to his rule.
"The emergency has clamped down on the media ... [and] on lawyers and students," Najam said. "The emergency has got nothing to do with extremism."
Siddiq Abdullah, a lecturer in the economics department who has family in Lahore, Pakistan and who lived in Pakistan before moving to the United States, said that the state of emergency is likely a smokescreen to compensate for Musharraf's own political problems.
"The right explanation in my mind and in many other people's minds is that there was a case pending in the Supreme Court regarding the eligibility of President Musharraf's bid for reelection," Abdullah said.
Hasham Mehmood, a graduate student at the Fletcher School who lives in Hyderabad, Pakistan said in an e-mail to the Daily that General Musharraf is not heeding calls from the people of Pakistan for democracy.
"What people want is elections," Mehmood said.
Mehmood also said that people from all walks of life in Pakistan have come to see the value of democratic institutions above the leadership of any one person.
"Institutions stick around and individuals don't," Mehmood said. "An illiterate layman in Pakistan today understands this fact, and you will see this in the public demonstrations expressing the frustration with dictatorship."
While the United States has called on Musharraf to end the state of emergency, fears remain that a new leader would be unable to effectively combat terrorism.
"I do think that General Musharraf has been quite successful in selling his version of the story to the American people ... that he is the good guy and all of Pakistan is bad," Najam said. "The question that General Musharraf wants you to ask me is, 'What will happen if he's not there?'"
Mehmood also dismissed fear that elections in Pakistan would lead to the ascendancy of religious extremists in the government.
"The effect of power is to temper extremist views, such is the effect of democracy where everyone makes compromises," Mehmood said. "It is absurd to think that if a religious party came to power, they wouldn't be willing to work with secular politicians or foreign countries."
Mehmood also feels that conditions are right for fair elections to be held in Pakistan.
"The media is so strong that if elections are held they will be well monitored and largely free," Mehmood said.
According to Najam, it would be hypocritical for the United States not to lend its full support to the democratization of Pakistan.
"We keep talking about democracy in the Muslim world," Najam said. "And here is the second largest country in the Muslim world screaming out for democracy."
While Bilgrami feels that the state of emergency is not much worse than past problems in Pakistan, the situation has made her rethink how that country will figure in her plans for the future.
"[Pakistan] is home to me but it's very difficult to live in at this time," Bilgrami said. "I was very intent on going back to work in my country at some point in my life, but now I would think twice about it."
Bilgrami is also concerned about how continuing unrest in Pakistan will affect the way others view her.
"What goes on in the country [Pakistan] ... has major fallout on how I'm perceived as a Pakistani living in the states," Bilgrami said.
Despite the country's current difficulties, Najam believes that this situation can be viewed as a positive one for Pakistanis.
"This is not a moment of Pakistan's failure," he said. "This is a moment of great pride for the Pakistani people because they have risen up and said 'we want democracy.'"
Najam added that Pakistanis' willingness to put themselves at risk for the sake of democracy is particularly commendable.
"It would take a lot for you to be ready to be beaten up and put in jail for democracy," he said. "And that you have to admire."
